Congregationalist minister John Ames is scholarly, devout, and, to his chagrin, elderly. At 76, John feels his age. He wishes he were younger and stronger because after many years of loneliness, he has been blessed in his advanced age with a young wife and son. Now his health is failing, and he knows he will not live to see his wife grow old or his son become a man. His wife, Lila, likens John to “all them old men in the Bible” (8) and softly laments, “why’d you have to be so damn old?” (50). John has a gentle, self-deprecating sense of humor and most of the time can poke fun at his age, such as letting his son pull and play with his bushy old-man eyebrow hairs (167). Other times John is regretful and bitter, telling his son, “I don’t want to be the tremulous old coot you barely remember” (141).

John is deeply self-reflective. He spends a great deal of time in prayer and analyzing his emotions and fears, which are largely about his approaching death and his troubled feelings about Jack. John refers to a weight in his chest “telling me there is something I must dwell on, because I know more than I know and must learn it from myself” (179).