Character Analysis
No heroic story is complete until true love shows up. In this book, l'amour takes the form of pretty Ethel Pearl Catron.
Ethel is the love of Chester's life. When he meets her, he goes all googley-eyed. She has beautiful hair and a lovely smile (swoon). And for most of their marriage, she's a pretty supportive wife. When Chester begins to have nightmares about the war again, twenty-three years after his return from the Pacific, she comforts him and helps to organize a ceremony to get him better. But even though Ethel and Chester's marriage starts off happily, it doesn't last. First of all, Ethel is devastated by the loss of two of their young children, both of whom die as babies.
And then, as their children grow up, she becomes more discontented in the marriage, working outside the home and partying with her friends. Even though Chester never says it outright, we get the sense that Ethel isn't the most responsible mother. After the divorce, for example, she disappears from the children's lives, leaving Chester to take care of them.