The Man Who Lived Underground characters

Appears from the start

A Black working man seized by police for a murder he did not commit. Beaten and forced to sign a confession, he escapes into the city sewer system. The underground world separates him from ordinary rules and lets him observe churches, businesses, and entertainment spaces from hidden openings behind their walls.

Appears from the start

One of the police officers who interrogates Daniels. He treats a confession as more important than the truth and uses violence to force the case into the shape the authorities have already chosen.

Appears from the start

Daniels's pregnant wife, from whom his arrest and flight abruptly separate him. The thought of her anchors him to the life above ground even as his time in the sewer alters his sense of that world.

First appears in chapter 5

A night watchman employed in one of the businesses Daniels enters from below. He becomes vulnerable when money disappears from premises he was supposed to protect.

First appears in chapter 3

A preacher whom Daniels secretly observes from behind the wall of a church. His sermon and the congregation's worship become part of Daniels's detached study of the beliefs and rituals practiced above him.