ed to a man named Stephen, and has only one child, a daughter Lilly, who is three years old. She, at one time had a son, “His name was Brian and was killed in a car accident six years ago when he was nine.”(97)Sian's attitude in general is guarded and throughout her life she appeared to not ever be truly happy. She wants to make the right choices regarding family matters. “I think I must have loved him in the beginning, it had been his reserve, his anomalous grace…”(59) “We can’t have done this.” (222) She always has “a hollow sensation…a certainty that I had failed with Stephen, a fear that my life would be defined by this missed connection. Stephen needed me to fill his emptiness”(59) Sian’s relationship is very removed from her husband and living a lifetime like this causes her guarded attitude. She lives in Pennsylvania with Stephen, on an onion farm. The landscape is black plains. Stephen and Sian don’t interact with each other much, each of them is wrapped up in what is happening in their own lives and they don’t share with one another. When they had the congratulation party for Sian after she came out with her book Stephen left the party and went the a bar to drink instead of celebrating with his wife. Stephen and Sian are middle working class. They both work very hard and the money from this very last book went to save the farm.Charles wife, Harriet is a housewife. She takes care of their three children, does the baking, “mows the lawn, keeps the exterior tidy and painted.”(20) Harriet has “short, nearly black hair, and her jeans are tight along the back of her thighs. She has on an aqua sweater. She has plans for any given day and seldom deviates from them, she is almost never late, and at the end to the day can add up the experiences, the completed tasks and find among them some satisfaction.”(20; 29-31) Her attitude to...
