Characters

One of the main characters in the short story “The Knife Thrower” by Steven Millhauser is the audience as a collective character. The collective character takes on the role of witness to the events, as they observe and comment on Hensch’s actions, but do not interfere – even when they think they should.

Another main character is Hensch, the knife thrower, who is the driving force of the events in the story and the focus of the audience’s mixed attitude and thoughts. Hensch’s increasingly questionable acts create an inner conflict in the audience, which remains unresolved. Since we only see Hensch through the eyes of the audience, we do not know anything about his motivations. There are hints, however, that he has found a way to act upon his violent impulses and present them as art. 

Hensch’s assistant is important because of her relationship with Hensch. She follows his orders and repeatedly refers to him as “the master” (p. 51, l. 21), which indicates unquestioning loyalty. The same loyalty can be seen in Thomas, the boy who is wounded, since he, too, allows himself to be hurt by Hensch. Laura, the woman from the final act, is unknown to the people of the town. We cannot say whether she is someone from the town, if she was killed by Hensch, or if she is part of Hensch’s act. It is, however, heavily implied that she was killed.

You can read a full characterization of the audience and Hensch in the following pages.