AP English Character Identifications
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- The Lady in Black
- vacationer in Grand Isle, embodies the patient, resigned solitude that convention expects of a woman whose husband has died, but her solitude does not speak to any sort of independence or strength, remains silent throughout the novel which contributes to her lack of individuality and to her role within the text as the symbol of the socially acceptable husbandless woman
- The Farival Twins
- fourteen year old girls who vacation at Grand Isle, frequently entertain their other guests by playing the piano, represent the destiny of adolescent Victorian girls: chaste motherhood, dedicated to the Virgin Mary at birth
- Mademoiselle Reisz
- unmarried and childless and devotes her life to her passion which is music, talented pianist and a recluse, represents independence and freedom and serves as a muse for Edna. The only character who knows of the love between Edna and Robert and thus serves as a true confidante for Edna despite their considerably different personalities, foil for Edna's other close female friend, Adele Ratignolle who epitomizes the conventional and socially acceptable woman of the late nineteenth century
- The Colonel
- Edna's father, a former Confederate officer in the Civil War, believes that husbands should manage their wives with authority and coercion, relationship with his daughter is not affectionate, but they get along very well
- Madame Lebrun
- widowed mother of Robert and Victor, owns and manages the cottages on Grand Isle
- The Two Lovers
- vacationers at Grand Isle, represent the form of young love accepted by society, appearing in conjunction with the lady in black, they represent the stage of a woman's life that precedes her maternal duties
- Harriet Bailey
- Douglass' mother seperated from him at birth, attempts to have a relationship with him by walking 12 miles to see him at night, dies when Douglass is young
- Lucretia Auld
- Captain Anthony's daughter and Thomas Auld's wife, inherits half of Anthony's property including Douglass after his death, as cruel of an owner as her husband
- Frederick Douglass
- powerful orator for the abolitionist movement, slave until he escaped to the North, progressed from being an unenlightened victim of slavery to being an educated and empowered young man, wages a fight against slavery
- Mr. and Mrs. Merriman, Miss Mayblunt, Mr. Gouvernail
- some of the guests present at the dinner party Edna holds to celebrate her move to the "pigeon house"
- Aunt Hester
- Douglass' aunt, superior to most black and white woman, suffers countless whippings at the hands of Captain Anthony who is extraordinarily interested in her
- Sophia Auld
- Hugh Auld's wife, working woman who has never owned slaves until marriage, corruption of owning slaves turns her from a sympathetic, kind woman into a vengeful monster
- Colonel Edward Lloyd
- Captain Anthony's boss and Douglass' first owner, owns all the slaves and lands where Douglass grows up, insistes on extreme subservience from slaves and punishes them unjustly
- Zeena Frome
- sickly wife of Ethan Frome, prematurely aged, prone to alternating fits of silence and rage, unattractive, least sympathetic character in the novel in which she appears, interested in the treatment of her own illnesses, hypochondriac, holds the dominant position in her family
- Harmon Gow
- town gossip, provides the narrator with some details about Ethan's life and later suggests the narrator to hire Ethan as a driver which paves the way for the relationship through which the narrator learns Ethan's story
- Victor Lebrun
- Robert's wayward younger brother, spends time chasing women and refuses to settle down into a profession
- Mrs. Andrew Hale
- Ned's mother and Andrew's wife, unexpected degree of warmth towards young Ethan, her kindness and praise for his dedication to Zeena leads Ethan to reevaluate his decision to borrow money from Andrew Hale to elope with money
- Adele Ratignolle
- Edna's close friend who represents the Victorian feminine ideal, idolizes her children and worships her husband, centering her life around caring for them and performing her domestic duties, lifestyle and attitude contrast with Edna's increasing independence, typical of Creole woman of the time, foil for Mademoiselle Reisz whose independant and unconventional lifestyle inspires Edna's transgressions
- Edward Covey
- slave "breaker", Douglass' keeper for one year, works and punishes "unruly" slaves and returns them trained and docile, deliberately deceptive and devious when interacting with slaves, creating an atmosphere of constant surveillance and fear
- William Gardner
- Baltimore shipbuilder, employs Douglass as a caulker, shipyard disorderly with racial tension between free-black carpenters and white carpenters
- Sandy Jenkins
- slave acquaintence of Douglass, represents uneducated, supersitious slaves, book implies that he may have informed Freeland of Douglass' plan to escape
- Ned Hale
- Ruth Varnum's fiancé and later her husband, ___ and Ruth's romance contrasts with the fruitless love of Ethan and Mattie
- Denis Eady
- son of Starkfield's grocer, sometimes suitor of Mattie Silver, focus of Ethan's jealously in the early chapters
- Captain Thomas Auld
- Lucretia Auld's husband and Hugh Auld's brother, gained slaves through his marriage, becomes a pious man but uses his newfound Christianity to become even more self-righteously brutal towards his slaves
- Hugh Auld
- Thomas Auld's brother and Douglass' occassional master, live in Baltimore, borrows Douglass as a servant for his son Hugh, unwittingly enlightens Douglass that white maintain power over blacks by depriving them of education, suffers some conciousness that slavery and the law's treatment of blacks are inhumane but does not allowed this conciousness to interfere with his exercising power over Douglass
- Mrs. Highcamp
- wordly woman in her 40's, spends time with the fashionable single men of New Orleans under the pretext of finding a husband for her daughter, call on Edna with Alcée Arobin
- Anna Murray
- Douglass' wife, engaged before Douglass escapes to freedom, marry in New York and move to New Bedford, Massachusettes
- William Freeland
- Douglass' keeper for 2 years after his time with Covey, most fair and straightfoward of Douglass' owners
- William Lloyd Garrison
- founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, meets Douglass when he is telling his history at an abolitionist convention, hires Douglass for the abolitionist cause
- Wendell Phillips
- president of the American Anti-Slavery society, considers Douglass a close friend, fears for Douglass' safety
- William Hamilton
- father-in-law of Thomas Auld who marries his oldest daughter after Auld's wife's death, sometimes takes charge of Douglass, as when Hamilton arrests Douglass for plotting to escape from Freeland
- Betsy Bailey
- Douglass' grandmother, raised him on Anthony's land when his mother was taken away, served the Anthony family her whole life and had many children and granddchildren who became Anthony's slaves, abandoned to a hut in the woods instead of being allowed to go free even after seeing Captain Anthony's children from birth to death
- Mattie Silver
- Zeena's cousin who comes to assist Frome's with domestic tasks, object of Ethan's affection and reciprocates his infatuation, never truly emerges as a well-rounded character, seems more a focus for Ethan's rebellion against Zeena and Starkfield than an actual flesh-and-blood person with both strengths and weaknesses
- Madame Antoine
- woman whose house Robert and Edna go to when Edna feels faint on the island of Cheniere
- Ethan Frome
- farmer whose family has lived and died on the same Massachusetts farm for generations, deep almost mystical appreciation for nature, strong connection towards Mattie Silver, his wife's cousin, lacks the inner strength necessary to escape the oppressive forces of convention, climate, and his sickly wife
- Andrew Hale
- Ned's father, builder involved in regular business dealings with young Ethan, who tries to borrow money from him to elope with Mattie
- Robert Lebrun
- 26 year old man with whom Edna falls in love, history of becoming the devoted attendant to a different woman each summer at Grand Isle, realizes that he has geniuinely fallen in love with Edna, torn between his love for her and society's view that women are the possessions of their husbands
- Doctor Mandelet
- Léonce and Edna's family physician, enlightened man who recognizes Edna's dissatisfaction with the restrictions placed on her by social conventions, suspects that Edna is in love with another man, consults with Léonce about Edna's unconventional behavior, offers Edna his help and understanding and is worried about the possible consequences of her defiance and independance
- Jotham Powell
- hired man on the Frome farm who assists Ethan, sensitive to the tensions between the Fromes but loath to involve himself in them
- Léonce Pontellier
- 40 year old wealthy New Orleans businessman, Edna's husband, spends little time with Edna or his sons even though he loves them as he is away on business or with his friends, very concerned with social appearances, wishes Edna to continue the practices expected of New Orleans women dispite her obvious distaste for them, relationship with Edna lacks passion and excitement, knows very little of his wife's true feelings and emotions
- Captain Anthony
- Frederick Douglass' first master, probably his father, clerk for Colonel Lloyd, cruel man who takes pleasure in whipping slaves, once piloted ships on the Chesapeake Bay
- Nathan Johnson
- Massachusettes worker and abolitionist, kind and helpful to the Douglasses, loaning them money and helping Douglass find work, and suggesting his new name, well informed on national politics
- Edna Pontellier
- 28 year old wife of a New Orleans businessman, finds herself dissatisfied with her marriage and the limited, conservative lifestyle that it allows, discovers her own identity and acts on her desires for emotional and sexual satisfaction, through a series of experiences she becomes a shockingly independant woman who lives apart from her husband and children and isolate her from others and ultimately lead her to a state of total solitude. only to her own urges and passions. Her awakenings
- Janet and Margaret Pontellier
- Edna's sisters
- Mrs. Ned Hale
- widow of Ned Hale, landlady to narrator, more refined and educated than most of her neighbors, hesitates to discuss the Fromes with the Narrator even though she was previously very intimate with them
- Alcée Arobin
- seductive, charming, and forthright, enjoys making conquests out of married women, becomes Edna's lover while her husband is on a business trip, satisfies Edna's physical urges while Robert is in Mexico, is never allowed by Edna to own or control her
- Etienne and Raoul Pontellier
- Léonce and Edna's two sons
- Mariequite
- Spanish girl, mischeivious flirt who lives on Grand Isle, fancies both Robert and Victor Lebrun, picture of the self-demeaning coquetry that Edna avoids