West Side Story

Tony, “a good-looking sandy-haired boy” (12), was once Riff’s second-in-command, the co-founder of the Jets. Now, he has grown out of gang life and works at Doc’s drugstore. Tony is an optimistic dreamer, who admits to Riff, “Every single night for the last month, I wake up and I’m reaching out” for something that’s “right outside the door, around the corner” (14). When he meets Maria, the world falls away. They are “completely lost in each other; unaware of anything, any place, any time” (24). Tony romanticizes Maria, falling in love in less than five minutes, singing her name–one of the very few things he knows about her–over and over, and deciding that life is no longer worth living if she is dead. Tony’s optimism causes him to ignore the major issues and obstacles that lead to his death. When he learns that Maria is Bernardo’s brother, he persists in seeing her even though Bernardo has warned him to stay away. Tony’s belief that he can stop the gangs from fighting leads him to stand between Riff and Bernardo, which distracts Riff and allows Bernardo the opportunity to kill him. Tony is responsible, however, and plans to turn himself in to the police. But when Maria begs him to stay with her instead, he imagines that they can escape and find a place where they can be together peacefully. Tony dies dramatically, romantically, and impulsively, seeking out Chino instead of verifying that Maria is dead.

As the text describes, “The most aggressive [Jet], Action [is] a catlike ball of fury” (1). Action is a hothead, always looking for a fight, as his name suggests. He is angry, quickly offended when the police or Doc call him and his fellow gang members “hoodlums” (3), even lunging at Schrank when he insults Action’s mother. He is eager for a fight with the Sharks, and Riff must constantly work to keep him in check. When Riff asks the Jets for their thoughts about challenging the Sharks to the rumble, Action responds, “I say go, go!!” (7) He wants to be Riff’s lieutenant, and is the first to insist that Tony no longer belongs with the gang, but after the rumble, Action is the one to remind the gang that they need to look out for Tony because he showed up and is one of them. During the rumble, as Bernardo antagonizes Tony, Action is the first to shout, “Murder him!” (76) Even after the rumble, he pushes his fellow Jets to “make sure those PRs know we’re on top” (100)

A-rab is a Jet, “an explosive little ferret who enjoys everything and understands the seriousness of nothing” (1). He’s a joker, always mocking Anybodys for hanging around the gang. After the rumble, when the Jets are in hiding, A-rab expresses fear and regret, commenting, “I wish it was yesterday” (92). He tends to follow his fellow Jets, right or wrong.

A Jet and “the youngest member of the gang” (1), Baby John is “awed at everything, including that he is a Jet, trying to act the big man” (1). He follows A-rab and seems to look up to him. When the Jets discuss potential weapons for the rumble, Baby John suggests, “I say let’s forget the whole thing” (7). Anybodys calls him “Jail Bait” (47) and suggests that she has beaten him up more than once. Baby John isn’t mature enough to handle the serious violence that occurs at the rumble, and seems to be disturbed when he asks A-rab if he got a good look at Riff and Bernardo. While the Jets are in hiding, Baby John suggests running away and admits that he is afraid.

Anybodys is a “scrawny teenage girl, dressed in an outfit that is a pathetic attempt to imitate that of the Jets” (5). She desperately wants the gang to accept her, but they tease her constantly and send her away. But she is always nearby, and after the rumble, Anybodys is the one who drags a stunned Tony away from the scene. She has her moment to shine when, after the rumble, she sneaks around Puerto Rican territory and overhears Chino promising, “If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get Tony” (102). When Action finally praises her, saying, “You done good, buddy boy” (103), she immediately falls in love with him. At the end of the play, she emerges from the shadows as Tony is yelling for Chino and tries to convince him to stop. But when Tony responds, “You’re a girl: be a girl!” (118), she withdraws.

The Jets act as a unit, backing the loudest members of the gang. They include Big Deal, “A bespectacled self-styled expert” (1), Diesel, Riff’s “lieutenant” (1), who is “big, slow, steady, nice” (1), Snowboy, Gee-tar, Mouthpiece, and Tiger.

The Jet girls are tough as nails. When Riff is planning the War Council and tells the girls that they will leave when the Sharks show up, Graziella illustrates their nerve, retorting, “We might, and then again we might not. I and Velma ain’t kid stuff, neither” (49). Velma, Riff’s girlfriend, is “terribly young, sexy, lost in a world of jive” (22). The rest of the Jets Girls include Minnie, Clarice, and Pauline.

Bernardo is “the leader of the Sharks: handsome, proud, fluid, a chip on his sardonic shoulder” (1). He is also Maria’s older brother and Anita’s fiancé. Bernardo’s anger and hatred toward the Jets is much deeper than a turf war. He resents the Jets as a symbol for the privilege afforded those who are born in the United States. Although the Sharks are, as Puerto Ricans, US citizens, they are repeatedly blamed for the neighborhood’s decline. He is very protective of his little sister, and brought her to the United States with the hope that she would marry his fellow Shark, Chino. At the dance, he is the first to accept Glad Hand’s challenge to mix up the gang members, “leading Anita as though he were presenting the most magnificent lady in all the world” (22). Bernardo is also the one to break the rules of Glad Hand’s challenge and dance with a Shark girl instead of a Jet girl as the game intended. To the Jets, Bernardo presents a hard, hate-fueled front, but Maria identifies her brother as “afraid” (33). Bernardo is angry that Puerto Ricans are treated as second class citizens, and that the Jets, who are American-born but the children of immigrants, are not. Bernardo reveals that the Jets started the rivalry by attacking him the first day he moved to New York. Like Riff, Bernardo agrees to a fair, weapons-free fight, but brings a knife anyways. Before the rumble, Bernardo refuses to shake hands with Riff, asserting, “Look: I don’t go for that pretend crap you all go for in this country. Every one of you hates every one of us and we hate you right back. I don’t drink with nobody I hate, I don’t shake hands with nobody I hate. Let’s get at it” (73). In the fight, he becomes particularly angry when Tony arrives, and his rage, like Riff’s, leads to a knife fight and his death.

The younger sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks, Maria is “an excited, enthusiastic, obedient child mixed with the temper, stubborn strength and awareness of a woman” (17). She is a girl who becomes a woman over the course of the play. Before the dance, Maria is entirely naïve. She is new to the United States and a novice at relating to the opposite sex. Maria is dying to be an adult, begging Anita to make her dress sexier for the dance. She loves her family but does not share her brother’s fierce need for street justice. After Bernardo catches Maria kissing Tony, he yells at her, calling her a child. She romanticizes Tony, although she understands that he is forbidden, and shares Tony’s sense of optimism. She too dreams that they can escape to a place where no one can find them or tear them apart. In the second act, after the dance, Maria as a new-found sense of confidence as she sings “I Feel Pretty” (79). Maria begins to grow up once she learns of the deaths at the rumble. She makes a decision to choose her love for Tony over loyalty to her family. Maria and Tony spend the night together, an iteration of Romeo and Juliet’s wedding night. After Tony dies, she takes Chino’s gun as if Chino is a child and she is a parent. She threatens members of both gangs, seeing what they don’t – that the deaths of Riff, Bernardo, and Tony, are all of their faults. She forces the two gangs to stand together at the end, and makes the choice not to commit suicide, unlike her alter-ego Juliet. 

Anita is Bernardo’s fiancée, “a Puerto Rican girl with loose hair and a slightly flashy ‘American’ dress” (17). She is “knowing, sexual, sharp” (17). Anita acts like a sister to Maria, who is much younger emotionally than she is, but also urges Bernardo to let Maria have fun. She loves Bernardo fiercely, but has no trouble teasing him or speaking out when she feels that he is wrong. Anita relishes life in America, although she does not see it through rosy-colored glasses. Anita is smart, and recognizes the gang-fighting as a method of releasing aggression, telling Maria, “You saw how they dance: like they have to get rid of something quick. That’s how they fight” (61). Anita begrudgingly supports Maria’s love for Tony until Tony kills Bernardo. With Bernardo’s death, Anita loses her joyful spark. When she discovers that Maria is still seeing Tony, she becomes angry until she realizes how much Maria loves him. Anita sets aside her fury and sorrow to help Maria. She warns Maria that Chino is after Tony with a gun. However, when the Jets harass and abuse her, Anita makes the decision to keep Tony and Maria apart by lying and saying that Maria is dead. Whereas Anita has viewed Bernardo’s participation in the gang as a way of claiming power and working through anger, she takes up her dead fiancé’s hatred, swearing, “Bernardo was right… If one of you was bleeding in the street, I’d walk by and spit on you” (114).

Chino, a Shark, is “a shy, gentle, sweet-faced boy” (20). He is supposed to be Maria’s future husband, and although Maria doesn’t love him, she accepts her fate. Chino defends Maria when Bernardo yells at her at the dance, but ultimately follows Bernardo’s orders and takes Maria home. When Maria sees Chino after the rumble, she notes that he looks like he has been fighting, which isn’t like him. He tells Maria about Bernardo’s death, asserting, “Nobody meant for it to happen…” (85). But when Maria asks about Tony instead of her brother, Chino changes. No longer timid, he becomes swallowed by rage and his desire for revenge. Chino locates Bernardo’s gun and swears to hunt Tony down. But at the end of the play, after Chino has shot Tony and Tony has died, he reverts to the reticent boy he was. He “stands very still, bewildered by the gun limp in his hand” (118). When Maria holds her hand out for the gun, he gives it to her without question. Chino demonstrates how anger can cause a person to act impulsively, leading to regret.

The rest of the Sharks stand behind Bernardo as a unified voice. They include Pepe, Bernardo’s lieutenant, Indio, Luis, Anxious, Nibbles, Juano, Toro, and Moose.

The Shark girls are beautiful if not always brilliant. Rosalia is “quietly dressed in Spanish undertones. […] She is not too bright” (37). She makes witless comments such as, “That’s a very pretty name: Etcetera” (42), and in the song “America” (42), expresses her desire to return to Puerto Rico. Consuela is “a bleached blond, bangled beauty” (37). The rest of the Shark girls include Teresita, Francisca, Estella, and Margarita.

Doc, a “little middle-aged man” (47) has run Doc’s drugstore for twenty-seven years. He takes Tony under his wing, offering him employment and then help when Tony wants to flee with Maria. Doc tolerates Tony’s Jet friends, but warns them repeatedly to stop fighting. He asks why they couldn’t play basketball to settle their differences instead of rumbling. Doc sees that they will meet a bad end, predicting, “I’ll dig your early graves” (48). But although he means well, the gang members have a strong distrust of adults and authority figures, so Doc can only watch with frustration as they tear their lives apart. When Anita tells him that Chino killed Maria, Doc faces the Jets and demands, “What does it take to get through to you? When do you stop? You make this world lousy!” (114-115) Action shoots back, “That’s the way we found it, Doc” (115). Doc offers Tony an embrace after telling him about Maria’s supposed death, but Tony runs away.

Lieutenant Schrank is “a plainclothesman. […] Schrank is strong, always in command; he has a charming, pleasant manner which he often employs to cover his venom and fear” (1). He constantly appeals to the Jets to give him information so he can clean up the streets and protect his job. As he tells the gang, “If I don’t put down the roughhouse, I get put down – on a traffic corner. Your friend don’t like traffic corners. So you buddy boys are gonna play ball with me” (3). Schrank is racist, and shows clear bias toward the Jets against the Sharks. He blames the Puerto Ricans for the state of the neighborhood. When he hears about the rumble, Schrank says, “I’m for you. I want this beat cleaned up and you can do it for me. I’ll even lend a hand if it gets rough” (58). But without the cooperation of either gang, Schrank is helpless to do anything.

Schrank’s partner, Officer Krupke, is “a big, goon-like cop” (1). He follows Schrank’s lead, and often serves as a target of mockery by the Jets, as in the song “Gee, Officer Krupke” (95).