The unnamed narrator is the protagonist and main character. He is a writer, though he does not provide details on the nature of his work; he has clients, meaning he writes on contract rather than creatively. His main characterization is his disillusionment with the efforts made by others over the course of his life to effect change in society. He notes how he grew up with the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, and, when the counterculture faded, he was disappointed and became embittered to his own sense of hope for change in the future. The narrator is a cynic, meaning he lacks faith in grand ideals, but this cynicism is undercut by a latent hope and desire to be proven incorrect, which establishes his archetype of a student. He appears to be well-versed in some elements of social unrest and criticism, such as his acknowledgments of patriarchal social structures and racial prejudice.

The narrator serves two roles in the novel: First, he is a representation of Daniel Quinn, as he is the author of the book, much as the narrator relays the story of Ishmael to the reader; secondly, he is a representation of the reader, posing questions and piecing together Ishmael’s story much as the reader is.