Revolutionary Road characters

Appears from the start

A young husband and father living in a Connecticut suburb and commuting to an office job in New York. Frank takes pride in believing that he and April are more perceptive than their neighbors, but he has no clear plan for turning that self-image into a different life.

Appears from the start

Frank's wife, a former acting student whose leading role in a local amateur production opens the novel. April shares Frank's contempt for suburban conformity but is less willing to accept their dissatisfaction as permanent. Their marriage is both the center of her hopes and the arena in which their disappointments are most fiercely expressed.

Appears from the start

The Wheelers' neighbor and closest male friend. Shep presents himself as a practical family man, but he is privately drawn to April and increasingly invested in the Wheelers' domestic drama.

Appears from the start

Shep's wife and April's friend. Milly shares the routines of suburban parenting and social visits with the Wheelers while remaining unaware of the full intensity of Shep's feelings about April.

First appears in chapter 2

A real-estate agent who sold the Wheelers their house and continues to take a proprietary interest in them as the kind of promising young family she likes to place in the neighborhood. Helen's cheerful management of appearances extends to visits involving her troubled adult son.

First appears in chapter 2

Helen's quiet husband. Howard generally retreats from his wife's flow of plans and judgments, using his hearing aid to control how much of the surrounding conversation he must absorb.

First appears in chapter 3

A young secretary at Knox Business Machines. Maureen is impressed by Frank's rehearsed sophistication, and his attention to her provides him with an easy opportunity to feel more decisive and worldly than he does at home.

First appears in chapter 5

A senior executive at Knox Business Machines who takes notice of Frank after an assignment unexpectedly displays ability. Pollock offers a path toward advancement within the corporate life Frank has claimed to despise.

First appears in chapter 6

Helen and Howard's adult son, temporarily released from a psychiatric hospital for family visits. John speaks with unsettling directness and quickly recognizes the gap between the Wheelers' account of themselves and the choices they actually make.

First appears in chapter 2

Frank and April's young daughter. Jennifer and her brother are often kept at the edge of their parents' arguments, though every plan the adults make will determine the children's home and future.

First appears in chapter 2

Frank and April's young son. Michael is too young to understand the larger conflict between his parents and depends on decisions they are increasingly unable to make together.