Minor Characters

Liza Hamilton

The wife of Samuel. She is humorless and morally strict - an opposite of her husband.

Alice Trask

The wife of Cyrus Trask and mother of Charles Trask. She lives quietly, content to serve others.

Will Hamilton

The oldest Hamilton son. He moves to the city and becomes a successful businessman. He helps Cal get started in business.

George Hamilton

Another Hamilton son. He moves to the city and becomes a businessman in the insurance field.

Tom Hamilton

Another Hamilton son. He stays on the farm and reads books devotedly. He commits suicide after blaming himself for the death of his sister, Dessie.

Joe Hamilton

Another Hamilton son who attends Stanford College.

Dessie Hamilton

The favorite Hamilton daughter. She becomes a popular dressmaker in Salinas. After a failed romance she moves to the home place with Tom, but soon dies of a stomach ailment. Tom blames himself for her death.

Olive "Ollie" Hamilton

The narratorÂ’s mother. Her husbandÂ’s name is Ernest Steinbeck.

Mr. Edwards

A "whore-master" who runs a successful business setting up prostitutes in small town hotels and then rotating them over a two-week period between towns. He has an affair with Catherine Ames, then beats her and leaves her to die. He dies in old age choking on a chicken bone.

Mrs. Edwards

The wife of Mr. Edwards. Devoted to her religion, she remains willfully ignorant of the nature of her husbandÂ’s business.

Louis Lippo

A farmer in Salinas Valley who introduces Adam Trask to Samuel Hamilton.

Horace Quinn

The deputy sheriff who investigates the shooting at the Trask ranch. Years later, he brings KateÂ’s will to Adam and burns the photographs she had planned to use to ruin the reputations of the stateÂ’s leading male citizens.

Julius Euskadi

A neighboring rancher, who attends the first meeting between the deputy sheriff and Adam Trask after the shooting.

Faye

A madam of a house of prostitution in Salinas. When Kate goes to work for her, Fate adopts her as a daughter. Kate kills her with several poisons.

Dr. Wilde

A doctor whose age and confusion Kate uses in her scheme to kill Faye.

Ethel

A prostitute who worked for Faye and then Kate, after FayeÂ’s death. Years later, she tries to extort money from Kate out of her knowledge of KateÂ’s murder of Faye.

Mary

The narratorÂ’s younger sister.

Abra Bacon

The girlfriend of Aaron throughout their school years together in Salinas. Years later, when she realizes Aaron cannot grow up, she falls in love with Cal.

Mr. Rolfe

The minister of Saint PaulÂ’s Episcopal Church in Salinas, who serves as AaronÂ’s mentor. He is attracted to high church doctrines and inspires in Aaron a desire for purity.

Joe Valery

A man who works for Kate in her house of prostitution. An escaped convict, he tries to trick Kate about her fear of Ethel. She learns of his betrayal and turns him in to the sheriff.

Joe Fenchel

A German American who is persecuted during the war by the citizens of Salinas because of his accent and his foreign manner. The narrator remembers with shame how he and his sister participated in this persecution.

Alf Nichelson

A handy man in Salinas who knows all the gossip and tells Joe Valery the rumors about Kate killing Faye.

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