Characters
- Gojiro Kiryu: The main character who recently arrived in America from Japan in order to find his missing brother Rando. Stern and tacit, he is driven only by his pursuit of honor and the warrior's code.
- Ralph: A mysterious gunman who quickly becomes an ally of Gojiro, providing him with information and help in fighting Goldberg. He is, in reality, a U.S. Army officer tasked with the mission of gathering information necessary to bring Goldberg to justice.
- Rando Kiryu: Gojiro's older brother. Once an honorable samurai, he was defeated in combat by a gun-wielding enemy, causing him to lose faith in the traditional mode of combat to which he was familiar. As a result, he abandoned both his homeland and samurai ways, coming to America to master the use of guns himself.
- Claudia: An attractive woman who runs a local saloon. The current situation of the town has left her in a sour mood, causing her to be unfriendly to strangers. She is a friend of Rando, and after meeting Gojiro can not understand the conflict between them. She tries unsuccessfully to convince them to mend their relationship without the use of violence.
- Anne: A teenage girl who resides in a local ghost town. As all of the adults of the town had been captured and forced into servitude by Goldberg, she is left in charge of taking care of the town's children. Gojiro comes to the aid of her and her charges several times.
- Donald: The sheriff of the town. Overweight and somewhat dimwitted, he has a good heart and is intent on dispensing justice to his town. After an initial misunderstanding with Gojiro, he becomes a friend and ally. Coming to greatly admire the honorable samurai way, he aspires to become one himself.
- Goldberg: A ruthless tycoon who rules the region with an iron fist. Obsessed with creating his own utopia in the American West at any means necessary, he has hired many thugs and outlaws to do his bidding.
Read more about this topic: Samurai Western
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“Of all the characters I have known, perhaps Walden wears best, and best preserves its purity. Many men have been likened to it, but few deserve that honor. Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sties by it, and the railroad has infringed on its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation. The characters in a novel are made out of the sentences. That’s what their substance is.”
—Jonathan Miller (b. 1936)
“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
—Clifford Irving (b. 1930)