Connell Waldron, one of two main characters in this novel, is Marianne Sheridan’s friend and intimate, and the two of them influence one another in important ways over the course of the story. At the beginning, Connell is a conventional, popular high school student. Although less bullying and boisterous than many of the other boys in his social group, he keeps himself at a remove from his own bookish, introspective tendencies. He likes being a part of a social group, even if he occasionally finds it stifling, and he does not examine his feelings too closely. 

Marianne causes Connell to see what he has been missing in his regular social life: namely, real communication, as opposed to ritualized gatherings and outings. Although Connell was sexually experienced before he became involved with Marianne, she is the first girl with whom he actually enjoys sex. She is also the first girl with whom he talks about what is on his mind—thus actually discovering what is on his mind. Marianne influences Connell, for better or worse, to study literature at Trinity College in Dublin rather than to study law at a school nearer to their hometown. She encourages Connell to take a lonelier, riskier path than the one he might have taken had they not met, but it’s a path that’s deeper and more rewarding as well.