The Magnificent Ambersons · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington.
Skim names here — open a free preview to see character cards and Character Web beside the page as you read.
George Amberson Minafer
major
Also known as George, Georgie, Master Minafer, Uncle George Amberson, Uncle George, Amberson, G. A. M. George, George Amberson—he, Georgie Minnafer, IX The Honourable George Amberson, Brother George, XXVI George
George Amberson Minafer is the town's most envied young man, groomed by a family that spoiled him terribly and let him grow up expecting the world to arrange itself around him. His uncle tells him plainly that he has always been fond of him but not always liked him, and that there were times he thought George ought to be hanged — a fair measure of the charm and the arrogance he carries. His courtship of Lucy Morgan and his contempt for her father's automobile business set him squarely against the changing world, and his refusal to bend is what makes his slow education the novel's central drama.
Lucy Morgan
major
Also known as Miss Morgan, Morgan, Lucy, Miss Lucy Morgan, little Miss Morgan, Lucy Morgan, the distressed Lucy, Miss Lucy, Dear Lucy
Lucy Morgan arrives in town as Eugene's daughter, educated, graceful, and unimpressed by the Amberson name in a way George has never encountered. She matches his arrogance with teasing composure, refusing to be won simply because he expects to win, and her loyalty to her father complicates every step of their courtship. Her clear-eyed judgments about George — and about the world he refuses to see — make her the story's quiet conscience and the measure of what he stands to lose.
Eugene Morgan
major
Also known as Mr. Eugene Morgan, Mr. Morgan, Gene Morgan, Morgan, Eugene, Gene, dear old Eugene, Morgan—
Eugene Morgan was young Isabel's suitor before she married Wilbur Minafer, and he returns years later as a widower, an inventor, and a believer in the noisy, smelly machines everyone else mocks. He speaks of faith as what carves the fewest lines into a face, and his serene confidence in the future quietly indicts the Ambersons' faith in their own name. His rekindled feeling for Isabel and his daughter Lucy's entanglement with George place him at the exact hinge where the old order and the new one collide.
Isabel Amberson
major
Also known as Miss Isabel Amberson, this Miss Isabel, Isabel Amberson, Miss Amberson, Isabel, an Amberson, the Amberson, Amberson
Isabel Amberson Minafer is the beauty neither time nor trouble seems to have touched, adored by her father, her brother, and Eugene Morgan, who never quite stopped loving her. She married the dull Wilbur Minafer instead of Eugene, and now channels her whole life into George, defending him, indulging him, and shrinking from any conflict that might wound him. Her tenderness is genuine and her blindness is real, and the tension between her old suitor's return and her son's jealous possessiveness is the emotional engine of the novel's middle stretch.
Fanny Minafer
supporting
Also known as Aunt Fanny Minafer, Fanny, poor old Fanny, Aunt Fanny, Fanny Minafer, old Fanny, Nowadays Fanny, old Fanny Minafer, Miss Fanny Minafer, Miss Fanny, Miss Minafer, Minafer, Old Fanny
Fanny Minafer lives on the family's fringe, counting columns of figures for her electric headlight investment and dreading the poverty that is quietly closing in. She is in love with Eugene Morgan and knows it is hopeless, and her nervous, self-pitying devotion to George makes her both pitiable and exasperating. When the household finally breaks up, her despair at being left in the lurch exposes how little the Amberson women were ever taught to stand on their own.
Major Amberson
supporting
Also known as Major Amberson, The Major, Major, the Major, XXX Major Amberson
Major Amberson made the family's money and the family's name, and for most of the novel he presides over both with the easy authority of a man who has never had to imagine them ending. After Isabel's death he sits staring into the fire, and those around him mistake his absorption for dazed reminiscence when he is in fact planning how to enter a country where he is not even sure of being recognized as an Amberson. His decline is the story's clearest signal that the fortune and the mansion were never as permanent as the family assumed.
Wilbur Minafer
supporting
Also known as Wilbur Minafer, Wilbur, Poor Wilbur, dead Wilbur
Wilbur Minafer marries the dazzling Isabel Amberson and promptly fades into the background of his own life, a modest businessman absorbed into a family that treats his name as a footnote. His one lasting act is fathering George, whom Isabel spoils into a princely terror while Wilbur looks on with helpless resignation. He matters because his early death removes the only quiet counterweight to the Amberson ego, leaving George to be shaped entirely by his mother's indulgence and his grandfather's pride.
Fred Kinney
supporting
Also known as Fred Kinney, Fred, Kinney, Ole redhead Fred’ll
Fred Kinney belongs to the working, get-ahead generation of the town, the kind of young man who actually builds things while George lounges on his family's reputation. His friction with George — over work, over pride, and eventually over the same girl — exposes how hollow Amberson nobility looks to anyone who has to earn a living. He matters because he is the unglamorous foil whose competence quietly indicts George's idleness, and whose presence sharpens the novel's argument about what the future actually rewards.
Mrs. Johnson
minor
Also known as fat old Mrs. Johnson, the stout Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson
A gossipy neighbor and friend of the Ambersons.
Sydney Amberson
minor
Also known as Uncle Sydney, Sydney, my Uncle Sydney, Sydney Amberson, Mist’ Sydney
George's uncle, a somewhat frivolous member of the Amberson family.
Old John Minafer
minor
Also known as old John Minafer, old John, Old John Minafer, old John Minafer who had died the previous autumn
George's grandfather, a wealthy but reclusive figure.
Mrs. Henry Franklin Foster
minor
Also known as Mrs. Henry Franklin Foster, Mrs. Foster, the wise Mrs. Henry Franklin Foster, Harry
A society matron and acquaintance of the Ambersons.
Mr. Kinney
minor
Also known as Mr. Kinney, The grizzled Mr. Kinney, Kinney, the infernal Kinney, Mr. Frederick Kinney
Fred's father, a blunt and outspoken businessman.
Amelia Amberson
minor
Also known as Aunt Amelia, Amelia, your Aunt Amelia, Amelia Amberson
George's aunt, wife of Sydney Amberson.
Mary Sharon
minor
Also known as Mary Sharon, Mary
A young woman from a prominent family, briefly courted by George.
Charlie Johnson
minor
Also known as Charlie Johnson, Mr. Charlie Johnson, Charlie, Mr. Johnson
Son of Mrs. Johnson, a friend of George's circle.
Frank Bronson
minor
Also known as old Frank Bronson, Frank Bronson, Bronson, dear old Frank Bronson, dear old Frank, old Frank, Mr. Bronson
An elderly friend of the Amberson family.
Young Akers
minor
Also known as Young Akers, Akers, the elder Akers, Henry Akers, this young Akers, Harry
A young man from a local family, involved in minor social scenes.
Mr. Malloch Smith
minor
Also known as Mr. Malloch Smith, Mr. Smith, the angered Mr. Smith, the Reverend Malloch Smith, Malloch Smith
A minister who confronts George about his behavior.
Janie Sharon
minor
Also known as Janie, Janie Sharon
Mary Sharon's sister, part of the social circle.
Old Sam
minor
Also known as Old Sam, Sam, wivout Sam, old Sam
A servant in the Amberson household.
Old Aleck Minafer
minor
Also known as Old Aleck Minafer—he, old Aleck, Old Aleck
A relative of the Minafer family, mentioned in passing.
Mr. Pembroke
minor
Also known as little Mr. Pembroke, Mr. Pembroke
A minor acquaintance of the Ambersons.
Tom
minor
Also known as Tom, Old fat Tom, old Tom
A servant or local character, briefly mentioned.
Mrs. Minafer
minor
Also known as Mrs. Minafer
Wilbur's mother, George's grandmother.
