American Buffalo

Teach is the play’s antagonist. He enters the stage in a fury that never abates throughout the play. Teach is a nervous and aggressive character who is friendly but impatient with Donny, and his friendship with Donny seems to be based on the opportunity for personal gain. Though Teach puts on an air of confidence, his nervousness betrays deep-seated insecurity. As the oldest character in the play, Teach’s insecurity is rooted in his fear that he has become irrelevant to his community and failed to achieve the economic potential he feels should define him as an American man. Teach insists on his indispensability to the heist, claiming that he is uniquely equipped to crack a safe and find creative means of entry to the target’s home. He puts down others, such as Fletcher and Bobby, to make himself seem more capable. His defense of his experience and skills is an attempt to undermine the younger generation of men that he fears will replace him. Teach’s frustration eventually results in physical violence at the end of the play, suggesting the detrimental, wide-reaching effects of personal feelings of displacement and the equation of American capitalism with self-esteem .

Teach is Donny’s foil. His temper and rage highlight Donny’s comparative kindness and magnanimity. 

The stage directions describe Bob—who the other characters refer to often as “Bobby”—as “Don’s gopher.” It is clear that Donny genuinely cares for Bobby, whom he sees as his protégé. Despite being young, reckless, and prone to mistakes, Bobby demonstrates shrewdness. He manages to wrest $50 from Donny, which allows him to procure a buffalo nickel from a local coin collector. Ironically, Bobby’s manipulation of Donny is motivated by his desire to earn the older man’s admiration and approval. As the youngest character in the play, Bobby represents how notions of American masculinity and economic potential evolve over generations, even as they are affected by the values of the previous generations.

Unlike Donny, Bobby, and Teach, Fletcher never appears on stage. In Act I, he is the subject of ample discussion. Donny cites him as an example of someone with street smarts and the gumption to act on instinct. Fletcher exemplifies a vision of success that Donny wants for himself.

Fletcher’s skill and integrity are dubious. First, Bobby suggests that Fletcher stole pig iron from Ruthie. Later, Teach claims that Fletcher cheated Donny out of a winning hand at poker by pretending to spill his soda. At the play’s conclusion, Fletcher, who was supposed to participate in the robbery, is in the hospital. Though Fletcher is only ever discussed by others, he is important to the development of the plot.