Characters

Question 1

Esther Greenwood

Answer 1

An honors student, frequent prizewinner, and talented poet, Esther Greenwood develops serious mental illness while working in New York one summer and, after attempting suicide, spends the next half year gradually working her way back to health with the help of multiple psychiatrists. Esther emerges from her illness wiser and more independent but also more skeptical of the boundary between sanity and insanity.

Question 2

Buddy Willard

Answer 2

Esther’s handsome boyfriend, a self-congratulating, parsimonious, know-it-all doctor who grows subdued after contracting TB. Esther thinks Buddy is a hypocrite for pretending to be pure after sleeping with Gladys and breaks up with him.

Question 3

Mrs. Greenwood

Answer 3

The nervous, conservative mother of Esther who advises Esther to learn shorthand and stay abstinent while she’s healthy and, when Esther’s gets sick, worries that it is her own fault.

Question 4

Doreen

Answer 4

Esther’s friend in New York and the sexiest, worldliest rule-breaker among the contest winners. Doreen is always trying to get Esther to abandon her responsibilities. Esther admires Doreen but thinks, deep down, that she is more like Betsy.

Question 5

Joan Gilling

Answer 5

A horsy girl from Esther’s college who briefly dates Buddy, then emulates Esther’s suicide attempt and joins her at the private asylum. Joan has an affair with DeeDee and later hangs herself.

Question 6

Jay Cee

Answer 6

The fiction editor at the magazine Esther works for in New York and Esther’s boss. Jay Cee is witty and powerful. Doreen points out that she is also very ugly. Jay Cee urges Esther to enter a high-achieving career like her own.

Question 7

Betsy

Answer 7

A wholesome Kansan and Esther’s fellow contest winner who looks out for her in New York. Doreen calls Betsy “Pollyanna Cowgirl.”

Question 8

Mrs. Willard

Answer 8

Buddy Willard’s mother and the self-satisfied dispenser of conservative maxims about marriage and womanhood.

Question 9

Dr. Nolan

Answer 9

Esther’s compassionate, progressive-thinking psychiatrist at the private asylum.

Question 10

Philomena Guinea

Answer 10

A famous wealthy novelist and Esther’s patron, paying for her college tuition and then her stay at the private asylum.

Question 11

Dodo Conway

Answer 11

The poor, eccentric Catholic who lives in Esther’s hometown and bears seven children.

Question 12

Constantin

Answer 12

The elegant and sophisticated simultaneous interpreter who Esther meets through Mrs. Willard.

Question 13

Marco

Answer 13

A dapper misogynist who tries to rape Esther at the country club dance.

Question 14

Mr. Willard

Answer 14

Father to Buddy and husband to Mrs. Willard, Mr. Willard is a shy man who fears the sight of his son’s illness.

Question 15

Irwin

Answer 15

The math professor who Esther loses her virginity to.

Question 16

Dr. Gordon

Answer 16

The conceited, unsympathetic psychiatrist who messes up Esther’s electric shock, causing her great pain.

Question 17

Dr. Quinn

Answer 17

Joan’s psychiatrist at the private asylum and a proponent of Freudian theory.

Question 18

Teresa

Answer 18

Esther’s kindly family doctor who first recommends Esther seek psychiatric help.

Question 19

Hilda

Answer 19

A cold-hearted designer of hats and Esther’s fellow contest winner in New York.

Question 20

Mrs. Tomolillo

Answer 20

The woman who Esther watches give birth at Buddy’s medical school. Later, Esther thinks she is also a mental patient at the city hospital.

Question 21

Lenny Shepherd

Answer 21

A disc jockey and Doreen’s boyfriend in New York.

Question 22

Miss Norris

Answer 22

A polite but mute patient at the private asylum who fascinates Esther.

Question 23

Valerie

Answer 23

A lobotomized patient at the private asylum who is content never to leave.

Question 24

Mrs. Mole

Answer 24

An unruly patient at the city hospital.

Question 25

DeeDee

Answer 25

A patient at the private asylum who is Joan’s friend and lover.

Question 26

Esther’s Brother

Answer 26

Esther’s little brother, who is away studying in Germany during Esther’s descent into depression but who returns and visits her in the hospital later on.

Question 27

The new black attendant

Answer 27

An attendant at the city hospital who Esther kicks.

Question 28

Gladys

Answer 28

The Cape Cod waitress Buddy had his affair with.

Question 29

Mr. Manzi

Answer 29

The professor of the chemistry course Esther arranges to audit at college.

Question 30

George Bakewell

Answer 30

A distant one-time acquaintance who visits Esther while she is in the hospital. George has become a doctor, but Esther has the sense that George doesn’t care about her and instead only wants to get a glimpse of an insane person. She orders him out of her room.