# Maggie Ellersley — There Is Confusion character guide > Maggie Ellersley in There Is Confusion by Jessie Redmon Fauset. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Maggie, Miss Maggie, Miss Ellersley, Maggie Neal **First appearance:** 0003-i ## Snapshot A poor girl with a sharp eye for what she lacks, she studies the Marshalls' comfort like a curriculum and plays her cards with unsettling poise. ## Who they are Maggie Ellersley claws her way out of a bleak boardinghouse into the orbit of the prosperous Marshall family, where she copies Sylvia's hair, manners, and dresses with a determination that is part admiration, part strategy. Her honesty about her poverty buys her entry, but her hunger for security makes her watchful, calculating, and quick to learn what people want. She is the novel's study in how class and longing shape a woman's choices — and how easily affection and ambition braid together. ## Relationships ### [Philip Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/philip_marshall) _romantic_ Maggie and Philip are lovers whose relationship is strained by class differences and personal ambitions. ### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall) _friendship_ Joanna and Maggie are close friends who support each other through personal and professional struggles. ### [Peter Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/peter_bye) _friendship_ Maggie and Peter share a supportive friendship, often acting as confidants for each other. ### [Henderson Neal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/henderson_neal) _romantic_ Henderson is a suitor to Maggie, but their relationship is fraught with tension due to his possessiveness. ### [Sylvia Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/sylvia_marshall) _friendship_ Maggie and Sylvia share a warm friendship, with Sylvia often offering Maggie emotional support. ### [John Howe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/john_howe) _professional_ John Howe is a colleague and employer who provides Maggie with opportunities in the arts. ### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall) _friendship_ Joanna and Maggie are close friends who support each other through personal and professional struggles. ### [Philip Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/philip_marshall) _romantic_ Maggie and Philip are lovers whose relationship is strained by class differences and personal ambitions. ### [Joanna Marshall](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/joanna_marshall) _friendship_ Joanna and Maggie are close friends who support each other through personal and professional struggles. ### [Peter Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/peter_bye) _friendship_ Maggie and Peter share a supportive friendship, often acting as confidants for each other. ### [Peter Bye](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/peter_bye) _friendship_ Maggie and Peter share a supportive friendship, often acting as confidants for each other. ### [Henderson Neal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/henderson_neal) _romantic_ Henderson is a suitor to Maggie, but their relationship is fraught with tension due to his possessiveness. ## In the story ### [There Is Confusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/there-is-confusion) Maggie aspires to rise above her working-class roots, seeking marriage as a means to achieve social status. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/ii) Sylvia's chum and schoolmate, she notes that Joanna only engages in singing or dancing games, highlighting Joanna's selective playfulness. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/vi) Sylvia's friend, who notices Peter's good looks and teases Sylvia about him being Joanna's beau. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/vii) Arrives at the Marshall home and is instructed by Joanna in the barn dance. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/viii) Maggie, now twelve, overhears a story about a poor white woman who married into wealth and resolves to escape her own poverty. She moves with her mother to a better tenement, attends school, meets Sylvia Marshall, and begins dreaming of a better life. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/ix) Maggie actively seeks to improve her social standing by imitating Sylvia and working for the Marshalls, while developing feelings for Philip and attracting the attention of Henderson Neal. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/x) Maggie is a high school graduate who aspires to rise above her humble background. She has feelings for Philip, which Joanna disapproves of. ### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xi) Devastated by Joanna's letter, she accepts Henderson Neal's marriage proposal out of despair and a desire for security. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xiv) Now married to Henderson Neal, Maggie enjoys material comfort but struggles with social isolation and shame over her husband's grammar. She discovers Neal's true profession as a gambler and resolves to leave him. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xv) Now living in Philadelphia, she has left her husband Henderson Neal and is seeking a divorce; she works as a supervisor for Madame Harkness and shares her troubled past with Peter. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xvi) Mentioned as introducing Peter to a music partner and seeking a divorce from Henderson Neal. ### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xvii) Maggie is mentioned by Joanna during the argument as a point of comparison, suggesting she would not nag Peter about his behavior. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xviii) Mentioned as the woman Peter plans to marry. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xix) Accepts Peter's proposal, seeing it as a chance for social respectability and revenge on Joanna. ### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xx) Referenced as the woman Peter is now engaged to marry; Joanna imagines them laughing at her. ### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxi) Mentioned as the woman Peter turned to; Brian speculates that her sudden marriage to Neal may have been influenced by Joanna. ### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxii) Peter's former love, who calls him on the telephone, reminding him he had forgotten about her. ### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxiii) Accepts Peter knowing he loves Joanna, motivated by social climbing and fear of her ex-husband Henderson Neal; she is frustrated by Peter's decision to postpone marriage. ### [XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxv) Broods over her social isolation and her desperate hope that Peter will marry her to escape her sense of unworthiness. ### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxvi) Found stabbed in her apartment; reveals that Henderson Neal attacked her because she planned to marry Peter. ### [XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxix) Peter feels obligated to her but questions her motives; he avoids writing to her despite his guilt. ### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxi) Recovers from nervous breakdown, renounces her past ambition, and finds new purpose as a YMCA worker in France. ### [XXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxii) Now working in Chambéry helping boys, she has found contentment and plans to start a chain of beauty shops. She confesses her love for Philip and offers to nurse him. ### [XXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxiii) Reported by Vera to be marrying Joanna's brother Philip. ### [XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxiv) Mentioned as having broken off her engagement with Peter in Chambéry. ### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/chapters/xxxv) Devotedly cares for Philip, remains calm and cheerful after his death, and starts planning her Beauty Parlors with Joel. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters/maggie_ellersley - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/there_is_confusion_se/characters