The Dream of a Ridiculous Man characters

Appears from the start

An unnamed man in St Petersburg who has become convinced that nothing matters. His despair has hardened into indifference, and he has bought a revolver with the intention of ending his life. A distressed child's plea unsettles that certainty and precedes the extraordinary dream in which his outlook changes.

Appears from the start

A frightened little girl who stops the narrator in the street and begs him to help her mother. He drives her away, but his shame about doing so disrupts his belief that actions have no importance.

First appears in chapter 2

A mysterious being who raises the dreaming narrator from his grave and carries him through space. The guide answers few questions but takes him to a world resembling Earth.

First appears in chapter 3

The people of an Earthlike world untouched by deceit, cruelty, or possessiveness. They live in effortless fellowship with one another and with nature, and they welcome the narrator without fear.