The Winter of Our Discontent characters

Appears from the start

A grocery clerk in the New England town of New Baytown, descended from a once-prominent local family that lost its fortune. Intelligent, ironic, and outwardly scrupulous, he feels the pressure of his family's disappointment and begins to question whether honesty has left him powerless.

Appears from the start

Ethan's wife. Loving and accustomed to his private jokes, she nevertheless longs for the comfort and social position that the Hawley name once represented, and her wish for money adds to the pressure he places on himself.

Appears from the start

The Italian immigrant who owns the grocery where Ethan works. Abrasive about business and suspicious of waste, he measures conduct by commercial results, although his judgment of Ethan is more complex than his daily scolding suggests.

First appears in chapter 2

Ethan and Mary's teenage son. Ambitious and eager for recognition, he is absorbed by a national essay contest and by the possibility that success might bring public attention to the family.

First appears in chapter 2

Ethan and Mary's observant daughter. She often stands apart from her brother's self-promotion and pays close attention to the moral inconsistencies the adults around her would prefer not to examine.

First appears in chapter 3

Mary's friend, a traveling saleswoman and self-styled reader of fortunes. Confident and sexually provocative, she tells Mary that Ethan has a prosperous future if he will stop holding himself back.

First appears in chapter 4

A bank teller and acquaintance of Ethan's who enjoys explaining the habits, weaknesses, and security routines of banks. His casual professional talk gives Ethan a new way to think about the difference between respectable finance and theft.

First appears in chapter 4

A salesman who supplies the grocery and offers Ethan a private payment in exchange for steering the store's orders his way. The proposal confronts Ethan with a common, low-risk form of corruption rather than a dramatic crime.

First appears in chapter 5

A banker from a locally influential family. Friendly toward Ethan and attentive to business opportunities, he is interested in property that may become valuable if plans for New Baytown's development proceed.

First appears in chapter 6

Ethan's childhood friend and the heir to another old New Baytown family. Alcoholism has reduced him to living in a shack on the last important piece of Taylor property, land other people would like to acquire.