Henrietta Collyer Pollit

Henrietta Collyer Pollit is the wife and mother in the story and, therefore, one of the main characters. Henrietta, also known as Henny, is an heiress however poor she seems. Physically speaking, Henny is often formidable; she has a slender gambler's nose, sharp oval face, a bitter set to her discolored mouth, scornful nostrils, and is as tall as a crane.

Henny blames Sam for taking her from a once comfortable life into a life of drudgery filled with bills she cannot pay, children that she does not want or have the patience to take care of, and a house that feels like a prison. Henny longs for yesteryear and the way things used to be before she ever met Sam Pollit.

"Henny, in the crowded perspectives of Louie's childish memory, had once been a beautiful, dark, thin young lady in a ruffled silk dressing down...