# Evangeline Knapp — The Homemaker character guide > Evangeline Knapp in The Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Evie, Eva **First appearance:** 0000-part-i-i ## Snapshot Evangeline Knapp is the daughter whose bright competence at the department store quietly reframes what a woman's life can be worth. ## Who they are Eva is the family's wage-earning daughter, the one whose curving smile and shining eyes grasp what her mother's promotion to Miss Flynn's place will mean for all of them. Her steady income and store-bought competence sit in unspoken tension with her mother's joyless, unending homemaking, and the household's new plans for college and bicycles rest partly on her labor. She matters because her life quietly poses the question the novel keeps circling: what happens when work outside the home is the thing that makes a person feel alive? ## Relationships ### [Lester Knapp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/lester_knapp) _family_ Evangeline is Lester's wife, and their relationship is strained by her domineering nature and his passive resistance. ### [Mattie Farnham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/mattie_farnham) _professional_ Evangeline employs Mattie as a household helper, but their interactions are marked by Evangeline's condescension and Mattie's quiet dignity. ### [Mattie Farnham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/mattie_farnham) _professional_ Evangeline employs Mattie as a household helper, but their interactions are marked by Evangeline's condescension and Mattie's quiet dignity. ### [Lester Knapp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/lester_knapp) _family_ Evangeline is Lester's wife, and their relationship is strained by her domineering nature and his passive resistance. ### [Mattie Farnham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/mattie_farnham) _professional_ Evangeline employs Mattie as a household helper, but their interactions are marked by Evangeline's condescension and Mattie's quiet dignity. ### [Lester Knapp](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/lester_knapp) _family_ Evangeline is Lester's wife, and their relationship is strained by her domineering nature and his passive resistance. ## In the story ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-i) Evangeline is depicted as the primary homemaker, struggling to maintain cleanliness and order in the face of her husband's neglect and the children's messes. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-i) Scrubbing grease spots, answering the telephone, and frantically searching for Stephen. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Struggles with despair over Stephen's behavior and Lester's failure, but recommits to her children; manages the household with strict discipline and pride in her homemaking. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-iii) Attends the Ladies' Guild meeting, reveals her domestic burdens and passion for the nurse project, but defers to her duty to home and children. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-iv) Evangeline rises early, manages the household, and confronts Stephen's behavior, while also showing care for Lester by mending his glove and reminding him of his soda-mints. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-i-vi) Seen leaving the Guild meeting with Mrs. Anderson, spotting the fire, running to telephone the fire department, and later managing the crowd and firemen. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-ii-viii) Evangeline applies for a job at the Emporium, revealing her past experience in her father's store. She is hired as a stock-girl in the Ladies' Cloak-and-Suit department and later returns Jerome's charitable check with a dignified refusal. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-ii-ix) Shows enthusiasm and insight in her new job at the Emporium, impressing Jerome Willing with her observations about salesmanship. ### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-ii-x) Enjoys breakfast downtown, reads Mrs. Willing's ad, reflects on family and work, excels at store duties, plays whist, devises a sales strategy for Mrs. Prouty. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iii-xi) Mentioned as having forgotten about Teddy; her actions (washing Teddy) are the source of Stephen's fear. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iii-xii) Working at Willing's; her absence from home is a key concern for Aunt Mattie. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iii-xiv) Mentioned as working at the store and bringing Stephen small gifts; the doctor has ordered her not to do housework. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iii-xv) Evangeline is referenced indirectly as the mother whose egg-breaking technique Helen imitates, and whose absence from Saturday chores is ensured by the weekly cleaning. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iii-xvi) Returns home tired but fulfilled from her work at the store, bringing humor and joy to the family. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iv-xviii) Receives a promotion and feels a new sense of purpose and connection to the Willings' vision for the store. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iv-xix) Returns home excitedly to announce her promotion to head of a department at the Emporium with a salary of three thousand dollars a year; shares plans for the children's college fund and a Ford. ### [XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iv-xx) Promoted to head of department; reflects on her marriage and her husband's character; becomes ill and seeks solitude in a church. ### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iv-xxi) Mentioned as the breadwinner who sells goods; her trade-journals reflect the commercial ideology Lester despises. ### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/chapters/part-iv-xxii) Turns white at the doctor's words but responds with firmness, saying they must all do the best they can. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters/evangeline_knapp - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_homemaker_se/characters