# The Hoosier Schoolmaster — Character guide

> Key figures in The Hoosier Schoolmaster by Edward Eggleston.

- [Ralph Hartsook](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/ralph_hartsook.md): Ralph arrives in Flat Creek trembling at the trustees' warnings and the bulldog at his heels, yet resolves to beat the boys at their own game rather than run. His quiet, dogged tread and unexpected 'cute' keep the school
- [Bud Means](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/bud_means.md): Bud leads the boys' siege of the schoolhouse with a martyr's resignation, betting a thousand dollars that Hartsook will somehow get in and tan their hides. Rough, contemptuous of cowards like Hank Banta, he nonetheless n
- [Shocky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/shocky.md): Shocky gets all his sunshine from the master's presence, panting out warnings about Hank Banta's trap and lingering in the sugar camp just to catch one more kind look. His whispered tip about the loosened board saves Ral
- [Hannah Thomson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/hannah_thomson.md): Hannah becomes the prize in a tangle of Flat Creek gossip: Mirandy Means claims Bud is courting her, Bud hotly denies it, and Ralph is left to sort truth from mischief. When Bud clears the misunderstanding, Ralph's smold
- [Dr. Small](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/dr_small.md): Small moves through Flat Creek with a physician's quiet authority, binding up Bud's broken arm and later his wounded heart with equal care. His flattery and calculated kindnesses earn trust, but he is suspected of circul
- [Miss Martha Hawkins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/miss_martha_hawkins.md): Martha would sacrifice anything rather than forsake the poor, and she loves Bud tenderly—partly because he reminds her of no one she knew back East. When the Squire, fearing for his haystacks and his galloping Indian van
- [Pete Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/pete_jones.md): Pete Jones holds local standing as a trustee and self-appointed authority on everyone's business, and he takes the robbed Dutchman under his wing with suspicious eagerness. His running commentary about Jinkins Run scound
- [Walter Johnson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/walter_johnson.md): A timid young man who is involved in the events at Pete Jones's house.
- [Hank Banta](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/hank_banta.md): Hank Banta is the schoolroom troublemaker whose sly sketches and whispered jokes keep the room on edge, and whose conveniently forgotten traps leave others to suffer the master's switch. Idle and easily bored, he dodges 
- [Squire Hawkins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/squire_hawkins.md): Squire Hawkins commands respect as the district's leading citizen, the man most likely to preside over spelling-schools and pronounce the smart words with polite precision. His rise from threadbare Yankee pedagogue to pr
- [Jack Means](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/jack_means.md): As the trustee who pays the most taxes and therefore runs the school, Jack Means greets Ralph with a bulldog at his heels and two brawny sons at his side, offering the job as a dare rather than a welcome. Blunt, supersti
- [Miss Nancy Sawyer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/miss_nancy_sawyer.md): Miss Nancy Sawyer is the neighbor whose unglamorous charity keeps Shocky housed and fed, drawing quiet criticism from Aunt Matilda for neglecting the means of grace to wait on everybody. Her willingness to take in a paup
- [Mr. Pearson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/pearson.md): An older man in the community, often mentioned in local affairs.
- [Mr. Soden](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/mr_soden.md): A burly local man present in community scenes.
- [Ef Bull](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/ef_bull.md): A local character mentioned in the community.
- [Aunt Matilda](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/aunt_matilda.md): An older woman in the community.
- [Betsey Short](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/betsey_short.md): A local woman mentioned in the community.
- [Mrs. Matilda White](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/mrs_matilda_white.md): A woman in the community, mentioned in passing.
- [Bill Means](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/bill_means.md): One of the Means brothers, involved in local events.
- [Peter Schroeder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/peter_schroeder.md): A local man mentioned in the community.
- [Mirandy Means](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/mirandy_means.md): A member of the Means family.
- [Mrs. Thomson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters/mrs_thomson.md): Hannah's mother.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_hoosier_schoolmaster_se/characters