# Elizabeth Willard — Winesburg, Ohio character guide

> Elizabeth Willard in Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mother Elizabeth Willard, Elizabeth

**First appearance:** 0006-mother

## Who they are

George Willard's mother, who married into the New Willard House and now moves through its halls like a woman who left her real life somewhere behind her.

## Relationships

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_family_

Elizabeth is George's mother, who loves him deeply but struggles to connect with him due to her own repressed life.

### [George Willard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/george_willard)

_family_

Elizabeth is George's mother, who loves him deeply but struggles to connect with him due to her own repressed life.

## In the story

### [Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/mother)

The mother, gaunt and scarred, who secretly prays for her son's success and contemplates killing her husband to protect George.

### [Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/chapters/death)

Dies after a long illness; her life is marked by a hunger for death as a lover and a failed marriage; she hid eight hundred dollars for George's escape.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters/elizabeth_willard
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/winesburg_ohio_se/characters