16. Reuben Pantier
Reuben Pantier, product of a broken home - a father defeated by his wife, a mother disgusted by her husband. A boy with all the wrong role models, learning, from his father, that men can take what they desire from women, and, from his mother, that women will discard their men like so much garbage. No wonder that young Reuben little respected anyone, including - or, maybe, especially - himself, adopting a life of debauchery, such that he was deemed the "worthless son of Benjamin Pantier" by A.D. Blood, a view probably held communally. Pantier acknowledges this effect his parents had upon him, maybe seeing it as his excuse for the life of "wine and women and joy of life" he fled towards after his "trouble" with the Millner's daughter, Dora Williams. His lifestyle, like the young man himself, is a product of his upbringing, adopted without thought or care, a seeking after those immediate gratifications that serve to fill the void in the lives of those w...