Clay Puppington

Clay is a man with a painful past and a lot of regrets. He is a deeply depressed, frustrated individual who never learns from his mistakes. He is ill-equipped to deal with life's problems and takes out his anger and insecurities on his family, friends, and the whole of Moralton. He despises and fears the reality of his life and himself. He also hates being ignored, brushed off, and feeling worthless. He is irresponsible and immature, and often mocks or ignores anyone who tells him he is wrong, especially Orel and Bloberta. His adult life bears the fruits of his spoiled and unbalanced childhood. His marriage is a lie, and everyone but Orel knows it. When he makes a mistake, he blames it on other people to mask the fact that he is not perfect.

When he was in his twenties, he appeared to be calm, friendly, and mild-mannered until he started drinking, which he did in excess immediately. This shifted his personality, and according to Bloberta was "his true nature coming out."

The scars of Clay's childhood are evident in the way he acts as an adult, where he bounced between the extremes of being his mother's overindulged darling to a solitary, neglected boy who confused his emotionally withdrawn father's physical abuse as a sign of validation and that he was "worth it". Internalizing both of these styles of parenting, Clay grew up into an utterly narcissistic man who only cared about himself and others in relation to how they affect him or his reputation. He despised his father for withholding his affection and making him feel worthless, yet recreated his father's pattern of abuse in the way he teaches and disciplines Orel. However, this gesture is emotionally hollow, as Clay is too internally desolate to have real love or care for his son. Instead, he only cares about Orel as a reflection of himself as a father and places more emphasis on his son obeying or not embarrassing him than his emotional well-being.

As shown throughout the series and in the prequel, Clay avoids his family due to his repressed lack of confidence or hatred for them and himself, while spending most of the time in his study brooding over his misery and drinking. Clay's obsession with his study could be seen as symbolic, as it was the place his father handed Ol' Gunny to him and fully solidified his disowning of Clay, suggesting how he is still very rooted in the traumas of his childhood and the damage they have caused him.