Charlie is the narrator’s grandfather and the main character of the story. Charlie isn’t religious for most of the book, but he lives by his own moral code: He thinks stealing is wrong, but he doesn’t see anything wrong with drinking his own homemade whiskey. He is a loving father and is the center of his children’s lives, and he is a good husband who works hard to provide for his family. Although he makes his living by roofing, construction, and digging wells, he also makes money by distilling his own whiskey, a skill he learned from his father.

Charlie can best be described as a dualistic character. On the one hand, he is a family man who loves his children and respects his wife. He never lets his children go hungry, and his wife is more his partner and friend than most women were to their husbands at that time. However, he also loves to drink, and he comes home drunk on many occasions. He always keeps his family and his drinking separate, in that he never drinks while he’s around his family, but his family sees the aftereffects of his drinking when he comes home drunk.