Meatball is a central character in this story, but he is also something of a cipher. We know him as the host of an ongoing party and know his attitude towards the party and his guests to be one of bemused resignation. He does not seem to be particularly enthusiastic about any of his guests—invited or uninvited—but neither does he go as far as to kick anyone out. Even when his party is crashed by a group of thuggish US Navy men who mistakenly believe the apartment to be a brothel, Mulligan’s demeanor remains mild. He says to them merely, “This is not a house of ill repute. I’m sorry, really I am” (94).

The nickname “Meatball” suggests a straightforward and prosaic nature, and it also suggests someone very American. Although Meatball is part of a hip, sophisticated circle of European expatriates (such as his Hungarian friend Sandor Rojas) and disaffected American intellectuals (such as his friend Saul), he himself does not seem especially tortured or complicated. He seems rather like an easygoing creature of the moment, his American-ness coming through in his apparent absence of history (the only thing that we learn about his background is that his given name was Gerry, after the jazz man Gerry Mulligan) and in his disregard for the past.