Charles

Charles is a peripheral figure in the social world of Kitsey Barbour, appearing only in a brief mention during the engagement party preparations. He is one of the friends Kitsey hopes will attend an after-dinner gathering, and his name is listed alongside Bette's as part of the couple's social circle. The reference to Charles serves to illustrate the dense network of acquaintances that surrounds Kitsey and the Barbour family, a world of inherited wealth and casual social obligations that Theo finds both alienating and oppressive. Charles himself has no dialogue or action in the novel; his function is purely contextual, marking the kind of person—well-connected, leisured, and part of an established social set—that Kitsey expects Theo to socialize with as her fiancé. The fleeting mention of Charles, like the many other names that flash past in the party scenes, reinforces the theme of social performance and the pressure Theo feels to conform to a life he does not genuinely want.