# Understood Betsy — Character guide

> Key figures in Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

- [Elizabeth Ann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/elizabeth_ann.md): Raised in anxious, coddled dependence by Aunt Frances, Elizabeth Ann arrives at Putney Farm expecting to be misunderstood and finds instead a world that tests her. Her first real triumph comes in the schoolroom, where sh
- [Abigail](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/abigail.md): Aunt Abigail runs her kitchen and her household with steady, unsentimental warmth, feeding dogs from the table and children from the heart. When a letter threatens to take Betsy away, she climbs down from her apple tree 
- [Henry](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/henry.md): Uncle Henry is the still center of Putney Farm, a man of few words who butters bread with a grave face while a conspiracy of laughter builds around him. He feeds Shep tidbits through Betsy's hands and marches out to milk
- [Cousin Ann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/cousin_ann.md): Cousin Ann is the household's practical conscience — the one whose footsteps make old Shep feign sleep and whose judgment the Putney cousins invoke when they must decide what is right. She climbs trees, reads letters ove
- [Cousin Molly Lathrop](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/cousin_molly.md): Molly is the child Betsy must look after — younger, quicker to weep, and utterly dependent when the two are stranded eight miles from Putney Farm with ten cents and no way home. Her wailing 'What will we do, Betsy?' is t
- [Aunt Frances](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/aunt_frances.md): Aunt Frances raised Elizabeth Ann in a hothouse of worry, supplying library books and taking care of everything, so that the girl learned to read three novels a week but never to trust herself. Her light blue eyes and hu
- [Lias Brewster](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/lias_brewster.md): Lias drifts at the edge of the schoolyard, too beaten-down by his stepfather's drinking to lift his head, let alone join the girls at their rock-pile playhouses or the boys at their shouting games. When Betsy overhears t
- [Shep](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/shep.md): Shep belongs to the Putney household the way the lamp and the couch do, an old dog whose chosen place is wherever Betsy is unfolding Deborah's trunk. Coaxed off his snooze with saved bones, he settles nearby with his nos
- [Ralph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/ralph.md): A boy at school who interacts with Betsy and the other children.
- [Eleanor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/eleanor.md): A younger girl who becomes Betsy's friend and sewing circle member.
- [the doctor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/the_doctor.md): The local physician who attends to the family and offers advice.
- [Mr. Pond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/mr_pond.md): A neighbor who helps with farm tasks and appears in the story.
- [Ellen Peters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/ellen_peters.md): A girl at school who is part of Betsy's social circle.
- [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/understood_betsy_se/characters/mother.md): Betsy's deceased mother, mentioned in memories and family talk.

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