Anthony, Damian’s older brother, serves as the novel’s deuteragonist and a foil to his younger sibling. A round and dynamic character, Anthony is defined by his pragmatism and cynical understanding of the adult world. While Damian sees the found money as a gift from God, Anthony immediately recognizes it as a material asset. His first instinct is toward finance and investment. He is keenly interested in real estate, the stock market, and the impending switch to the euro, viewing the world through a lens of economic opportunity and risk. He tells Damian, “It always comes down to money” (1), a philosophy that directly contrasts with Damian’s spiritual worldview and establishes the central conflict between the brothers. Anthony’s practicality is his primary tool for navigating a world that he believes is fundamentally transactional. He understands social hierarchies and adult systems, using this knowledge to his advantage.

This worldly wisdom often manifests as a manipulative streak. Anthony’s most notable tactic is his repeated and calculated use of their mother’s death to elicit sympathy and material gain from others. He coldly advises Damian, “Tell them your mum’s dead and they give you stuff” (8), a strategy he employs to get everything from Pringles to lenient treatment from adults. While this behavior appears callous, it is also a coping mechanism and a form of protection. He acts as Damian’s shield against the world’s harshness, using his cynicism to solve problems that his brother’s innocence cannot. He protects Damian from bullies and takes the lead in fabricating lies to keep their possession of the money a secret from their father and other authorities. This dual role of manipulator and protector makes him a complex figure, one who has adopted the cynical rules of the adult world as a means of survival for both himself and his brother.

Despite his initial focus on personal enrichment, Anthony undergoes his own character arc and moral development. He is the one who discovers that the money is stolen, a revelation that forces him to confront the dangerous reality of their situation, especially because of his brother’s inability to do the same. His plan to buy a house is a practical solution to the problem of hiding and preserving their illicit wealth while also indicating his underlying desire for stability, emphasizing the fact that Anthony, like Damian, is grieving his mother. His fear of the robbers and his frustration with Damian’s naivete reveal a deep-seated anxiety and a sense of responsibility. Furthermore, his hostile reaction to Dorothy’s presence in their lives exposes the depth of his grief and his fierce loyalty to his mother’s memory.

Though he resists Damian’s charitable plans, he ultimately acquiesces in the decision to fund the wells, demonstrating a capacity for altruism that his initial pragmatism concealed. By the novel’s end, Anthony has not abandoned his practical nature, but he has allowed it to be tempered by a grudging acceptance of his brother’s moral vision, showing that even he is not immune to the pull of doing good.

As the widowed father of Damian and Anthony, Dad is a central figure whose grief and parental struggles form the emotional backdrop of the novel. He is a round, dynamic character, initially depicted as a man overwhelmed by the dual burdens of loss and single parenthood. His interactions with his sons are often distant and mediated by practical instructions left on the fridge, a sign of his difficulty in providing emotional support while managing the logistics of their lives. He is particularly perplexed by Damian’s intense religiosity, viewing it as a worrying behavioral issue rather than a coping mechanism for their shared loss. His instruction for his sons to “[b]e excellent” reflects his desire for them to be self-sufficient and untroublesome, a plea born from his own emotional exhaustion. His character embodies the strain placed on a family after a loss, and his journey is one of slowly re-engaging with both his children and the world.

The discovery of the stolen money tests Dad’s moral fortitude and exposes his vulnerabilities. While he initially represents a source of ethical authority for the boys, the pressures of financial hardship and the shock of a home burglary lead him to a significant moral compromise. He decides to keep the stolen money, arguing, “I work every minute God sends just to cover the mortgage […] This is payback time” (202). This decision marks a critical moment in the novel, illustrating the moral ambiguity of the adult world, where a principled adult succumbs to temptation under duress. His choice temporarily aligns him with Anthony’s pragmatic worldview and distances him from Damian’s idealism, showing the boys that the adult moral compass is not always fixed.

Dad’s relationship with Dorothy becomes the catalyst for his emotional recovery. Her presence brings warmth, laughter, and a sense of normalcy back into the home, allowing him to reconnect with the more joyful aspects of his personality. Through their interactions, he begins to emerge from the fog of his grief, and his decision to allow Damian to donate the remaining money to charity marks his moral redemption. In this final act, he relinquishes his own desire for financial security in favor of his son’s altruistic vision, reaffirming the values he sought to instill in them from the beginning. His journey from a grieving, distant father to an engaged and morally redeemed parent is a testament to the family’s capacity for healing.

Dorothy is a key supporting character who enters the story as a representative for the charity “Change for Change” and acts as a catalyst for the Cunningham family’s development. She is a round character who, while not undergoing a major personal transformation, is revealed to be more complex than she initially appears. At first, she seems to be a purely altruistic figure, passionately advocating for charitable causes like building wells in Africa. However, she later reveals a more pragmatic and professional side to her work, admitting that she is an agency worker who collects for whichever organization pays her. This worldliness contrasts with Damian’s pure idealism, yet she is not portrayed as entirely cynical. She forms a genuine connection with the family, particularly with Dad, bringing a much-needed sense of humor and vitality into their grieving household.

Dorothy’s role in the family and the plot becomes pivotal in the final acts. Anthony suspects her of being one of the train robbers, casting her as a potential antagonist and adding a layer of suspense. This suspicion proves to be unfounded, but Dorothy’s actions remain morally ambiguous. She encourages Dad to keep the money after their house is burgled and briefly absconds with the cash herself before returning with a new family car and the remaining euros. She explains her actions as practical, arguing that she was simply helping them convert the sterling before it became worthless. Her statement that “[t]he only wealth is life” suggests a complex philosophy that values human connection and well-being over money itself (196), yet she is not above keeping a portion of the funds for herself. Ultimately, Dorothy embodies the novel’s exploration of the gray areas between self-interest and altruism, serving as an agent of change who helps the family move forward.

The man with the glass eye is a minor antagonist who embodies the tangible threat of the criminal world. As a flat and static character, his purpose is to personify the violent and dangerous origins of the money, directly contradicting Damian’s belief that it is a gift from God. He is the physical manifestation of the moral ambiguity of the adult world. His first appearance is in Damian’s hermitage, a sacred space of childhood imagination, which he violates with his intimidating presence. His motivations are simple and predatory: He wants his share of the stolen cash and relentlessly pursues the boys to get it. His pursuit injects a palpable sense of danger into the narrative, culminating in his confrontation with Damian during the nativity play and his secret infiltration of the Cunningham home. His eventual capture by the police provides a resolution to the external conflict, removing the physical threat and allowing the family to address the internal, moral questions posed by the money.

The Latter-day Saints missionaries are Damian’s neighbors and a collective minor character. As flat, static characters, their primary function is to complicate Damian’s naive understanding of charity and piety. Damian, with his deep interest in saints, initially views them as a perfect outlet for his charitable ambitions, assuming that their self-proclaimed sainthood equates to a life of poverty and good works. He gives them a significant amount of money, believing it will be used for a higher purpose. However, the missionaries promptly spend the cash on consumer goods like a plasma-screen TV. This outcome is a crucial lesson for Damian in his developing understanding of wealth, charity, and the adult world, demonstrating that good intentions do not guarantee good results. Their behavior highlights a central aspect of the theme of How Wealth Complicates Moral Decision-Making, revealing that giving money away is a complex act whose consequences are determined by the recipients’ values, not the giver’s. They are not malicious figures, but their worldly desires challenge Damian’s simplistic moral framework.