Aug 29, 2008

The Magnificent Ambersons | Characters

Though only one family is named in the tide of The Magnificent Ambersons, the relationships between members of the Amberson, Minafer, and Morgan families really drive the action of the novel, provoke its dramatic interest, and provide the thematic insights which lift the work well above the typical sentimental bestseller of the early 1900s.

Major Amberson establishes great wealth through land holdings and rental houses. This fortune allows his family to live in leisured luxury. His daughter Isabel marries Wilbur Minafer, though she really loves Eugene Morgan, another suitor who...