Rudy Baylor is the main protagonist and the novel’s autodiegetic narrator. He is a young man in his 20s who is in his third and last year of law school. The only reason Rudy chose the law profession was to spite his father, with whom he had a strained relationship. As his education approaches its conclusion, Rudy increasingly wonders whether or not he actually cares to be a lawyer. He is a compassionate and sympathetic young man who does have ideals of helping people in need, but he also does not make any qualms in admitting that he hopes to make it rich as a lawyer. His idol in the lawyer world in Jonathan Lake, who made millions right out of law school. In fact, Rudy openly admits to reproaching his friend from his undergraduate years for wanting to become a teacher when there was so little hope for a decent pay. Rudy continues to study and work in hopes of a big payout.

It is this hope that initially attracts Rudy to Miss Birdie and the Blacks. At the very beginning, Rudy humors these characters simply because he has to for a class, but once he finds out that there is might be high sums of money involved, he sticks around.