Although the boy who narrates Uncle Willy's story says very little about himself, he is a recognizable version of other juvenile narrators in Faulkner's fiction, and a way for Faulkner to provide a perspective on both the story's unconventional protagonist and the conventional small-town world of Jefferson. He likes playing baseball with his friends and eating the ice cream that Job makes at Willy's drugstore, is uncomfortable in school, and is willing "to do anything [Willy] asked me to do" (239).
Willy's last name is Christian, his first name is probably William, and as the narrator says, "he wasn't anybody's uncle" (225). The narrator and the other boys with whom Willy associates call him "uncle" as a sign of affection. Other people call him "Mr. Christian and Uncle Willy and Willy, according to how old they were or how long they had lived in Jefferson" (230). He was born in Jefferson soon after the end of the Civil War, the son of a man who opened a drugstore in town in the 1850s; Willy still owns the store, but keeps it mainly as a way to supply his own morphine addiction.
The man whom the narrator calls "Uncle Robert" (239) is presumably his biological uncle, the brother of his "Papa" or "Mamma" - although given the other "Uncle" in the story (i.e. Willy, who is not related to the narrator), and the most familiar non-familial use of the term "uncle" in Southern culture (an older black male), it's hard to be certain of that.
"Brother Miller" leads the adult men's Bible study class at the Protestant church that the narrator and Willy attend (227). In his case, "Brother" is a ceremonial title, reflecting his place in the church fellowship.
"Sister Schultz" is probably Reverend Schultz' wife (229). Like "Brother Schultz" and "Brother Miller" (229, 227), the title "Sister" most likely is a ceremonial title, indicating their fellowship as members of the same church.
Reverend Schultz is "the minister" of the Protestant church that both the narrator and title character of "Uncle Willy" attend (227). Along with Mrs. Merridew, he leads the campaign to "cure" Willy of his addictions (232). The narrator, who admires Willy Christian but not the town's 'Christians,' describes Schultz in the Sunday school class for adult men this way: "sitting in the middle of them . . . like he was just a plain man like the rest of them yet kind of bulging out from among the others like he didn't have to move or speak them reminded that he wasn't a plain man" (228).
Mr. Barbour is the narrator's Sunday school teacher at the Protestant church. He is apparently willing to let Willy sit in on the class, but he never calls on him.
This icon represents one of the two groups of "customers" who patronize Willy's drugstore (226); these are sharply distinguished by race - and by the kinds of things they buy. This is the group that the narrator refers to as the "niggers" who "buy cards and dice" (226).
This icon represents one of the two groups of "customers" who patronize Willy's drugstore; these are sharply distinguished by race - and by the kinds of things they buy. This group is the "country people buying patent medicines" (226); they are white.
Hoke Christian, Uncle Willy's father, opened the drugstore that Willy still owns before the Civil War. He seems to have been a much more exemplary member of the community than Willy, but it's hard to determine his class. Faulkner may intend Hoke to represent an example of the old southern aristocracy that has degenerated since that war was lost. In addition to his business, he owned at least one slave, Job, and slave-owning is a characteristic of Yoknapatawpha's upper class families. Talking about Hoke's son Willy, Mrs.
