Mrs Annie Pearson

Mrs Pearson is the play's central figure — a pleasant but worried-looking woman in her forties who speaks in a light, flurried, apologetic tone. She is a devoted wife and mother who loves her family deeply, even though they are "thoughtless and selfish." Her great weakness is that she cannot say no: she hates unpleasantness, keeps only "dropping a hint," and never manages to stand up for herself. She works longer than anyone yet gets no thanks. Through Mrs Fitzgerald's help she finally learns to be firm, and by the end she has quietly won her f …