The protagonist of the novel is an unnamed man, introduced as “a young, slim man” (Paragraph 2) who appears distressed. He is both a round and dynamic character, changing throughout the story. He has a weighted posture that draws a nearby sailor’s attention. His body language reflects his conflicting feelings about accepting the food from the sailor; he ultimately decides not to and chooses to try to find work to feed himself. This choice characterizes the young man as someone who is trying to adhere to the capitalist social code—one must work to survive—though doing so hasn’t positively affected his circumstances. Despite his resilience, his hunger undermines his ability to perform labor-intensive work. As such, his circumstances at the start of the story represent the paradoxical nature of capitalism; workers are exploited to maximize profit, even though these working conditions inhibit their ability to work. 

The young man’s moment of physical suffering from exhaustion and starvation, when he hallucinates and sees his family back home, is an anagnorisis or epiphany of sorts; after this moment, he decides to steal food to survive, in contradiction to his earlier actions. As he eats the stolen milk and cookies, he feels guilty and weeps.