# Valentine Wannop — A Man Could Stand Up— character guide > Valentine Wannop in A Man Could Stand Up— by Ford Madox Ford. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Valentine, Wannop, Val **First appearance:** 0001-a-man-could-stand-up ## Snapshot A suffragist and classicist's daughter who has decided, against all propriety, to live with the disgraced Tietjens on the day the Armistice breaks over London. ## Who they are Valentine stands between two worlds on Armistice Day: the emptied school where she teaches and the seething city beyond, where she intends to find Tietjens and make a life with him. Her longing has refined her face and hardened her nerve; she is willing to be called "marital" by gossips and to battle a houseful of voices to reach him. She matters because she is the future Tietjens is trying to walk toward, and the reason he finally refuses to be a perpetual second-in-command. ## Relationships ### [Miss Wanostrocht](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/miss_wanostrocht) _professional_ Miss Wanostrocht is Valentine's employer and headmistress, maintaining a formal but somewhat strained professional relationship. ### [Edith Ethel Duchemin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/edith_ethel_duchemin) _friendship_ Edith Ethel Duchemin is a close friend and intellectual confidante to Valentine, though their relationship is tinged with social competition. ### [Sylvia Tietjens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/sylvia_tietjens) _rivalry_ Sylvia sees Valentine as her romantic rival for Christopher Tietjens and actively works to undermine her. ### [Lady Macmaster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/lady_macmaster) _social_ Lady Macmaster is a social acquaintance of Valentine, interacting with her through literary and upper-class circles. ### [General Lord Edward Campion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/general_lord_edward_campion) _social_ General Campion is a family friend to Valentine's family, maintaining a polite and protective social relationship. ### [Captain Mckechnie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/captain_mckechnie) _psychological_ Captain Mckechnie views Valentine with suspicion, associating her with Sylvia and the perceived threat of female manipulation. ### [Miss Wanostrocht](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/miss_wanostrocht) _professional_ Miss Wanostrocht is Valentine's employer and headmistress, maintaining a formal but somewhat strained professional relationship. ### [Captain Mckechnie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/captain_mckechnie) _psychological_ Captain Mckechnie views Valentine with suspicion, associating her with Sylvia and the perceived threat of female manipulation. ### [Miss Wanostrocht](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/miss_wanostrocht) _professional_ Miss Wanostrocht is Valentine's employer and headmistress, maintaining a formal but somewhat strained professional relationship. ### [General Lord Edward Campion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/general_lord_edward_campion) _social_ General Campion is a family friend to Valentine's family, maintaining a polite and protective social relationship. ### [Sylvia Tietjens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/sylvia_tietjens) _rivalry_ Sylvia sees Valentine as her romantic rival for Christopher Tietjens and actively works to undermine her. ### [Lady Macmaster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/lady_macmaster) _social_ Lady Macmaster is a social acquaintance of Valentine, interacting with her through literary and upper-class circles. ## In the story ### [A Man Could Stand Up—](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/a-man-could-stand-up) Receives a cryptic telephone call from Tietjens and grapples with her feelings and the rumors of his madness. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-i-i) Physical instructress at the school, receives a confusing telephone call on Armistice Day, feels joy and rebellion against authority. ### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Valentine is agitated after a phone call from Edith Ethel, smashes the telephone, and wrestles with memories of Tietjens and doubts about his intentions. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-i-iii) Reveals her past as a tweeny maid and her father's legacy; defends Tietjens against accusations; expresses desire to leave the school. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-v) Tietjens realizes his inner calculations are based on the idea of living with her. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-ii-vi) Tietjens reflects on his immutable love for her, her freckled appearance, and decides not to write to her to avoid causing her pain. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-iii-i) Protagonist of the chapter; she goes to Tietjens' house to tell her mother of her decision to live with him, reflects on her mother's work, and confronts Mckechnie. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/chapters/part-iii-ii) Longed for by Tietjens; present at the Armistice celebration, dances with him. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters/valentine_wannop - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_man_could_stand_up_se/characters