Horses of the Night Character Analysis

Vanessa

Vanessa is the narrator of the story, a thoughtful, sensitive, and observant young girl. She lives with her mother, Beth, and father, Ewen, in Manawaka, Canada, near her Grandmother Connor and Grandfather Connor’s… read analysis of Vanessa

Chris

Chris is Vanessa’s older cousin who grew up in poverty on his family’s failing farm in Shallow Creek. Chris is a kind, imaginative, and creative young man. When he is 15, he moves to… read analysis of Chris

Beth

Beth is Vanessa’s mother and Grandmother and Grandfather Connor’s daughter. She feels sorry for Chris and wishes she could do more for him. She feels especially sorry that he can’t fulfill his dream of going… read analysis of Beth

Grandmother Connor

Grandmother Connor lives in the “Brick House” with her husband, Grandfather Connor. She is a loving, doting woman who serves as a buffer between her husband, Grandfather Connor, and the rest of the family… read analysis of Grandmother Connor

Grandfather Connor

Grandfather Connor rules over the “Brick House” where he lives with his wife, Grandmother Connor. He is a harsh and unforgiving patriarch whose pointed criticisms and outbursts force the rest of the family into… read analysis of Grandfather Connor

Aunt Edna

Aunt Edna returns to live with the family in Manawaka after losing her job as a secretary in Winnipeg. Like many others, she’s unable to find another job due to the Great Depression. Vanessa is… read analysis of Aunt Edna

Minor Characters

Ewen

Ewen is Vanessa’s father. He’s a gentle, practical, and level-headed man. He dies when Vanessa is 11, which devastates and upends her view of the world.

Aunt Tess

Aunt Tess is Chris’s mom. She’s stern but at the same time kind with her children. She lives among the chaos of her daughters and their children in Shallow Creek.

Chris’s sisters

Chris’s sisters all live on the family farm with their husbands and many young children. The sisters are constantly at odds with their mother, Aunt Tess, and their own chaotic children. The husbands are quiet, uninvolved in family life, and keep the family’s struggling farm in working order.

Roderick

Roderick is Vanessa’s younger brother who is born the same year that Grandmother Connor dies, when Vanessa is nine or ten years old.

Jeannie

Jeannie is Chris’s youngest sister who is about Vanessa’s age.

Uncle Wilf

Uncle Wilf is Chris’s father who died a few years before Chris comes to live in Manawaka. The land he bought in Shallow Creek isn’t fertile enough to grow anything but hay, so his family’s farm is financially unsound, a fact which Grandfather Connor criticizes openly.