# Merrymusk — Short Fiction character guide

> Merrymusk in Short Fiction by Herman Melville.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mrs. Merrymusk

**First appearance:** 0001-cock-a-doodle-doo

## Snapshot

A poor, ailing farmer whose family, crowded into a shanty beside a wealthy neighbor's estate, finds stubborn joy in the crowing of their rooster.

## Who they are

Mrs. Merrymusk lives at the edge of another man's prosperity, tending a consumptive husband and children in a hut that barely keeps out the weather. What she has instead of comfort is a rooster whose crow she treats as a kind of daily miracle, a sound that stitches the family together against poverty and illness. Her fierce, almost defiant cheerfulness sets the story's central contrast between those who own the land and those who own only their capacity for delight.

## Relationships

### [The Narrator (Bartleby)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/the_narrator_bartleby)

_social_

Merrymusk is a poor but cheerful sailor and father whose resilience impresses the narrator, despite his tragic circumstances.

### [The Narrator (Bartleby)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/the_narrator_bartleby)

_social_

Merrymusk is a poor but cheerful sailor and father whose resilience impresses the narrator, despite his tragic circumstances.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters/merrymusk
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_28_se/characters