# Harmon Gow — Ethan Frome character guide

> Harmon Gow in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Harmon

**First appearance:** 0002-prologue

## Snapshot

The former stage-driver who knows every Starkfield family's chronicle, Harmon Gow feeds the narrator the fragments of Ethan Frome's story with wry, unhurried fatalism.

## Who they are

Having driven the Bettsbridge line in pre-trolley days, Harmon carries the village's memory in his cheek of tobacco and his laconic asides. He supplies the narrator with the phrase that becomes the book's cold nucleus — that Ethan has been in Starkfield too many winters — while cheerfully admitting the gaps in what he knows. His gossip sets the frame through which we first glimpse Ethan, and his fatalism colors the whole telling.

## Relationships

### [Ethan Frome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/characters/ethan_frome)

_social_

Harmon Gow is a local gossip and acquaintance who provides background information about Ethan's tragic life.

### [Ethan Frome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/characters/ethan_frome)

_social_

Harmon Gow is a local gossip and acquaintance who provides background information about Ethan's tragic life.

### [Ethan Frome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/characters/ethan_frome)

_social_

Harmon Gow is a local gossip and acquaintance who provides background information about Ethan's tragic life.

## In the story

### [Ethan Frome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/chapters/ethan-frome)

Local stage driver who provides the narrator with initial information about Ethan Frome's history.

### [Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/chapters/prologue)

The former stage-driver who provides the narrator with the initial outline of Ethan's story, including the 'smash-up' and the long chain of family care that kept Ethan in Starkfield.

### [Epilogue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/chapters/epilogue)

Mentioned indirectly as part of the community's knowledge; not directly present in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/characters/harmon_gow
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ethan_frome_se/characters