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Contents
The dead woman at the center of everything. She gets one chapter, narrated after her death, where she reveals her contempt for words and her resentment of her marriage. Her wishes drive the plot, but her actual inner life is hidden from most of the family.
Addie's husband. He frames himself as a suffering, dutiful man, but he borrows from neighbors, trades Jewel's horse without permission, and ends the novel with new teeth and a new wife. He is the novel's clearest portrait of self-pity as manipulation.
The second son and the novel's most frequent narrator. He is perceptive to the point of seeming psychic, describing scenes he wasn't present for. His clarity isolates him from the family, and they have him committed when he becomes a liability.
Addie's favorite son, fathered by a preacher, not Anse. He says almost nothing but acts constantly. He saves the coffin from the flood and from the fire. His love for Addie is expressed entirely through physical action.
The oldest son, a carpenter. He builds Addie's coffin with visible care and precision. He breaks his leg in the river crossing and has it set in concrete, which damages it further. He is practical, quiet, and one of the more reliable narrators.
The only daughter. She is pregnant and desperate to get an abortion in Jefferson. She is deceived twice by men who take her money. Her storyline ends without resolution, showing how completely the world fails her.
The youngest child. He decides that his mother is a fish after watching a fish get gutted the same day she dies. His narration is fragmented and strange, but his grief is real. He drills holes in the coffin lid so she can breathe.
The preacher who fathered Jewel with Addie. He plans to confess to Anse but learns Addie has already died and decides the intention to confess is enough. He appears briefly but his cowardice is pointed.
The local doctor who attends Addie's death. He is critical of Anse and provides an outside perspective on the family's dysfunction. His narration is blunt and unsentimental.
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