Gordon Comstock
Often thought to have been based on Orwell himself, Comstock is the hero of the novel but is extremely hard to like because he is primarily entitled and resentful. A few generations ago, Gordon's family was both wealthy and upper class, but inherited money has been whittled away, and now all of the current Comstocks must work for a living, which Gordon is deeply resentful about. He feels that he is entitled to be supported by his family whilst he finds himself as a poet. Although a couple of his poems have been published in a slim volume, he struggles with expressing himself on paper and suffers from writers' block most of the time. His view of himself is sometimes grandiose; he calls his poetry his "magnum opus".
Gordon resents people with money, and at some point this resentment turned into a resentment of money itself. He feels that money is held in too high esteem by society, and that it is given too much importance. He also feels that having enough money is a preoccupation that has too much influence on the decision making process of the average person; for example, when Rosemary won't sleep with him because he has not brought contraception he gets angry with her because he says that if she wasn't so scared of losing her job, and her paycheck, she wouldn't be scared about having a baby.
Gordon has a talent for shooting himself in the foot; just when it seems that his life is on track, he quits his job. After he is fired from the part time job he takes instead, he is forced into taking an even lesser paid job, moving into a single room in a home with a horrible landlady, and having to borrow money to buy a pint in the pub. Sometimes it seems that he would actually rather like to return to polite society, because his life of self-imposed poverty is wearing a little thin, but his pride prevents him from doing so. That is why his girlfriend's pregnancy is a blessing for him; he is able to return to the workforce under the guise of "doing the right thing" without having to abandon his principles. At the end of the novel, Gordon lives a conventional middlle class life in suburbia, complette with aspidistra plant in the living room window.
Rosemary Waterlow
Rosemary is Gordon's long-suffering girlfriend. We do not get to kow her particularly well in the novel; we know she met Gordon whilst they worked together at the advertising agency, we know that she continues to work there, and we know that she works behind the scenes to have his job held open for him in the hopes that she and his sister can persuade him to go back to it. We also know that she is a good girl from a good family and should she have a baby out of marriage, she will be ostracised by them.
Beyond these basics of her life, we don't learn much of her character. She is a paradox in many ways; she seems strong enough to manipulate Gordon, refusing to sleep with him one minute, spending the day with him the next; giving in to him and then disappearing for a month or so without a word. We learn that she is on good terms with his sister and that the two women try to intervene in Gordon's unraveling life. At the end of the novel, Rosemary, who is far more even-keeled than Gordon, is less conventionally middle class than Gordon has become, fighting him every step of the way on the acquisition of the aspidistra.
Philip Ravelston
Another character based on a real-life person, Ravelston is a champagne socialist, publishing a Marxist journal whilst living the high life on family money himself. He is one of the few people who remains friends with Gordon even at his most unpleasant, and even tries to help him by persuading a contact in the publishing industry to publish the small body of poetry he has put out into a slim volume. Gordon never learns that it was Ravelston who enabled him to become a published poet.
Ravelston has a roving eye when it comes to women and aggressively flirts with Rosemary which makes her uncomfortable, and Gordon angry. They remain friends of sorts throughout the novel.
Julia Comstock
Despite coming from the same family as Gordon, Julia has none of his sense of entitlement, or resentment for having to work. She does not see herself in any grandiose way, or feel that she should not have to work, like the rest of the population. Julia and Gordon are an example of the nature/nurture debate, in that it is obviously Gordon's nature, and not the way in which he was raised, that makes him as unpleasant and petty as his is. Julia is neither of these things. She cares a great deal about her brother and has helped him out financially on many occasions, despite the fact that he is poor from his own choosing, and also despite the fact that she can ill afford to do so since she does not have much more money than he does.
Eventually, Julia also loses patience with Gordon's ideological poverty and conspires with Rosemary to make him go back to work.
Mr McKechnie
Mr McKechnie is the Scot who presides over the bookstore where Gordon works part-time. He is lazy but decent. He does not drink and does not approve of those who do, but he likes to indulge himsellf in the habit of snuff taking.
Mr Erskine
Gordon manages to make Mr Erskine look a fool by allowing him to promote him at the Albion Advertising Agency and then promptly walking out. Erskine is the company's account manager and sees enormous potential in Gordon's ability as a copywriter. He remains convinced that he has talent, and offers him his old job back at Rosemary's request.
