# Aunt Dorcas — Moving the Mountain character guide

> Aunt Dorcas in Moving the Mountain by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-moving-the-mountain

## Snapshot

On a mountain farm with Uncle Jake, Aunt Dorcas cooks and keeps a mind barricaded against every new idea the twentieth century has to offer.

## Who they are

Aunt Dorcas belongs to the stubborn remnant Nellie describes as living fossils: she and Uncle Jake have not moved an inch, and visitors trek up to their little farm as if viewing the Pyramids. Her fixed habits and cheerful immunity to progress make her a living test case for the novel's central question of whether human nature itself can change. When John needs refuge from a world he cannot recognize, she represents the old order he half longs for and half fears.

## Relationships

### [Uncle Jake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/uncle_jake)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Uncle Jake are siblings or in-laws, with a relationship marked by familiarity and shared concerns.

### [Cousin Drusilla](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/cousin_drusilla)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Cousin Drusilla are relatives, with a dynamic of care and occasional friction.

### [Nellie Robertson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/nellie_robertson)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Nellie are family, with Aunt Dorcas possibly acting as a maternal figure or caretaker.

### [Nellie Robertson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/nellie_robertson)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Nellie are family, with Aunt Dorcas possibly acting as a maternal figure or caretaker.

### [Uncle Jake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/uncle_jake)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Uncle Jake are siblings or in-laws, with a relationship marked by familiarity and shared concerns.

### [Nellie Robertson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/nellie_robertson)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Nellie are family, with Aunt Dorcas possibly acting as a maternal figure or caretaker.

### [Uncle Jake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/uncle_jake)

_family_

Aunt Dorcas and Uncle Jake are siblings or in-laws, with a relationship marked by familiarity and shared concerns.

## In the story

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/chapters/xii)

Warmly welcomes John with teary kisses and exclamations about his thirty years among savages.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters/aunt_dorcas
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/moving_the_mountain_se/characters