Minor Characters
Doctor Mandelet
A wise family doctor, friend of the Pontelliers and the Ratignolles. He seems to understand Edna’s predicament better than any other character.
The Colonel
Edna’s stiff and conservative father, who has a penchant for making elaborate cocktails.
Mrs. Highcamp
An elegant, middle-aged socialite who introduces Edna to Arobin.
Madame Lebrun
Robert and Victor’s widowed mother. She owns the Grand Isle cottages where the other characters vacation.
Victor Lebrun
Robert’s impetuous younger brother.
Etienne and Raoul Pontellier
Edna and Léonce’s two young sons.
Mariequita
A young Spanish girl that has a loose romantic attachment to Victor Lebrun.
The Farival Twins
Fourteen-year-old girls that often play the piano at Grand Isle parties. Their perfunctory music is set against Mademoiselle Reisz’s passionate performances.
The Lady in Black
A mysterious widow who walks silently up and down the beach counting her prayer beads. In this society, a woman without a husband is doomed to live out the remainder of her days in grim, helpless solitude.
The Lovers
A couple that often walks on the beach in the happy oblivion of young love. The brief, chaste period of courtship that precedes marriage seems to be the only appropriate moment for romantic love, according to the Victorian mores of 19th-century New Orleans.
Madame Antoine
A friend of Robert’s and a native of Grand Isle. She welcomes Edna into her home to rest and recuperate after mass.
Mr. and Mrs. Merriman
A couple that attends Edna’s party. Mrs. Merriman is flirtatious, and Mr. Merriman is dull.
Miss Mayblunt and Mr. Gouvernail
Another couple at Edna’s party; both have vague intellectual pretentions.
Monsieur Ratignolle
The husband of Adèle Ratignolle.
Tonie
The son of Madame Antoine .