Main Street (Annotated): 100th Anniversary Edition characters

Also known as Carol Kennicott

Appears from the start

An educated young librarian who longs to make ordinary places more beautiful, open-minded, and socially alive. After marrying a small-town doctor, she approaches Gopher Prairie with reforming enthusiasm and little understanding of how strongly its habits defend themselves.

Also known as Dr. Kennicott

Appears from the start

A capable country doctor from Gopher Prairie who courts Carol with a practical promise of usefulness and community. Will is proud of his town, devoted to his work, and puzzled when Carol sees ugliness and complacency where he sees familiar people and solid achievement.

First appears in chapter 3

A clever, energetic Gopher Prairie teacher who initially appears more receptive than most townspeople to Carol's ideas. Vida combines genuine public spirit with a firm belief in working through the community's existing institutions.

First appears in chapter 3

A quiet lawyer whose intelligence and sensitivity set him apart from Gopher Prairie's loudest boosters. Carol recognizes in him a fellow observer, though his habit of withdrawal keeps sympathy from becoming action.

First appears in chapter 4

A Swedish immigrant newly arrived from farm work who becomes Carol's household helper. Bea's good humor, curiosity, and loyalty make her one of Carol's first uncomplicated friendships in town.

Also known as The Red Swede

First appears in chapter 7

A Swedish-American handyman and horse trader whom Gopher Prairie dismisses as uncouth and politically suspect. Independent and direct, Miles befriends Carol without the careful manners of her usual social circle.

First appears in chapter 8

The town's watchful, self-righteous neighbor, who treats private conduct as a matter for public supervision. Her certainty and appetite for gossip make her an informal enforcer of Gopher Prairie's standards.

First appears in chapter 8

Mrs. Bogart's unruly adolescent son. Behind the respectability his mother claims for the family, Cy is boastful, evasive, and eager to impress other boys.

First appears in chapter 9

The local druggist and one of Will's companions in the town's male social world. Dave accepts Gopher Prairie's routines comfortably and expects the same easy familiarity from those around him.

First appears in chapter 10

Dave Dyer's fashionable, flirtatious wife, prominent in the social group Carol is expected to join. Her manner suggests a freer private life than the town's public moral language admits.

First appears in chapter 17

A former Gopher Prairie boy who has become a wealthy automobile manufacturer. The town treats his return as proof of its importance, while his polished success gives Carol another measure of local ambition.

First appears in chapter 20

Carol and Will's young son. His birth binds Carol more closely to her household even as she continues to question the kind of community in which he will grow up.

First appears in chapter 26

A young tailor with artistic ambitions who wants a life larger than his work in Gopher Prairie. His attention and impatience with the town awaken Carol's sense of unrealized possibility.

First appears in chapter 27

A young teacher newly arrived in Gopher Prairie. Independent, friendly, and fond of ordinary amusement, Fern does not share the town's guarded assumptions about how an unmarried woman should behave.