Minor Characters
Abel
Abel is a representative of the labor movement that works with Robin and Victoire after they take over Babel. As a character, the novel uses Abel to suggest that there is solidarity and common ground between anti-colonialist and workers’ rights movements.
Miss Betty
Miss Betty is a woman who Professor Lovell paid to teach Robin English while he was growing up in Canton, China. Miss Betty’s role reinforces the idea that Professor Lovell only fathered Robin to supply Babel with students fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Colin
Colin is a middle-class student who lives in the same building as Ramy and Robin. He is racist and status-obsessed. The novel compares him with Elton to show how racism animates the actions of White students at Oxford across socioeconomic lines.
Elton
Elton is a popular student at Oxford. He represents the undue privileges afforded to people as a result of their Whiteness and wealth, particularly because Elton is portrayed as racist, insufferable, and talentless.
Mrs. Piper
Mrs. Piper is Professor Lovell’s housekeeper who treats Robin with kindness.