The Tobacco Wives

Elizabeth “Mitzy” Winston is characterized by her social status and actions in the novel. As a prominent woman in the town, other women look to her as the ideal housewife and counterpart to her wealthy and influential husband. While she is often described in relation to her beautiful gowns and stunning home, Myers also crafts her as someone with more under the surface than others may realize. As Maddie learns, Mitzy had dreams of exploring the world and doing the exact opposite of her own mother; she was determined to “study and be bold and take advantage of all the new opportunities for young women” (210). Inspired by the suffragettes, Mitzy was more of a progressive thinker than Maddie originally thought, which relates to the theme of Societal Constraints and Female Empowerment.

She was treated poorly by her mother, took care of Richard when he contracted polio, and suffered two pregnancy losses over the course of her life, but these experiences did not make her bitter. Instead, she lovingly extended caretaking to those around her, taking in David as a godson and opening a school in the town. Though Maddie hoped that Mitzy would take bolder action in the summer of 1946, her ability to admit that she should have done more and ask for forgiveness decades later shows her evolution as a round character. Myers hence crafts a complicated woman who showed bravery and conviction in a time when women in her position were pushed to focus on social and family matters, and her final stand at the Gala and her actions in the Epilogue demonstrate that she has evolved as a character. Nevertheless, Myers also contrasts Maddie’s bravery with Mitzy’s reluctance to jeopardize her and her family’s socioeconomic standing.

Etta is characterized by her physical appearance, relationship, and occupation. Maddie describes her as looking younger than her age, with broad shoulders and a signature pincushion that she wears like a corsage. This represents her position in the working class. She understands the experiences of factory workers, but she also must navigate upper-class society when serving her clients. She is devoted to her work and respected in the town, but she is aware of her lower social rank than the wives she serves. Relatedly, Dr. Hale claims that her closeness with Mitzy is what allows her romantic relationship with Frances to be overlooked by the townspeople; the implication is that Frances and Etta’s safety is only secured due to their proximity to those in power. In the 1940s, Etta and Frances are not entitled to the same legal or societal protections in their relationship as others in the town, and Frances is commonly referred to as Etta’s “friend” or “special friend.” Myers’s inclusion of this relationship portrays the intersecting forms of oppression that highlight the way the women in the novel are unequally affected by patriarchal structures.

Rose, Cornelia, and Robert are the central figures of the prominent Hale family, and each serves an important narrative function in the novel. Rose is characterized by her outward appearance, dress, and vanity. Rose is a former beauty queen who looks down on the factory workers, insulting them with descriptions like “white trash” (138). Maddie explains that Rose “reminded me of Momma, the way she held herself as if men were always staring” (76). Unlike Mitzy, who uses her social position to enact change within Bright Leaf Tobacco after confronting her husband, Rose is a social climber who married a wealthy doctor as a means to rise above her station and remains blissfully oblivious to his wrongdoing during the action of the novel. She embodies a stereotype of a pampered housewife and in her, Myers represents everything that Maddie wants to avoid becoming.

Dr. Robert Hale is the antagonist of the novel. He is characterized by his occupation as a doctor and use of white, patriarchal privilege to serve his own interests rather than those of his patients when promoting cigarettes, a product in which he has a financial stake. As a physician, he has a duty to care for others and put their well-being at the forefront, but his ambition and greed overshadow his duty; he preys on patients by manipulating their trust in him. He falsifies studies to serve his own interests and encourages women to keep smoking despite his knowledge of the danger. He also reinforces the patriarchal expectations placed on women during this time by insisting that women get back home to their “real” jobs of child-rearing instead of factory work, claiming that their responsibility is to bring healthy children into the world. Here, Myers highlights Dr. Hale’s hypocrisy as he is the one knowingly endangering the health of those very children. His disregard for the well-being of others emphasizes his position as the antagonist of the novel and establishes him as Maddie’s foe. That he is still alive and prospering at the end of the novel sets up the possibility that Maddie can bring about justice and hold him accountable decades later. Bringing the possibility of justice closer to the present day amplifies the extent of the injustices of the past.

Cornelia is a mentor archetype to Maddie. Her trailblazing endeavors to revolutionize Bright Leaf despite the credit attributed to her late husband highlight the Societal Constraints and Female Empowerment that plague the novel’s female characters. As an older, widowed woman in the 1940s, Myers uses Cornelia as a catalyst for Maddie’s evolution in several ways. Maddie misjudges Cornelia at first and then realizes that her assumptions were incorrect, which demonstrates that she can change her mind and see beneath the surface. Their subsequent closeness becomes a safety net for Maddie later on when Dr. Hale threatens her; here, Cornelia serves as an important maternal figure who comes to her rescue. Cornelia helps to initiate key character development in Maddie when she introduces Maddie to notable female achievements through literature. Cornelia shares important information with Maddie to inspire her; Cornelia sees potential for a future generation of women to get the credit that they deserve, and she knows Maddie must be encouraged. Her vision later comes to fruition when Maddie does go on to lead a life of activism.

David is Maddie’s love interest. His connection with Maddie and their shared experience of losing a parent helps Maddie to feel less alone in Bright Leaf and his consistent support is woven throughout the novel. Three decades into their marriage, he still supports her as the independent and strong-willed person that she is and doesn’t require that she conforms to others’ expectations. In the action of the novel, Myers crafts him as a sympathetic character whose asthma diagnosis could make him vulnerable, but he uses his condition as the mechanism through which to confront and expose Dr. Hale, though it is Maddie who bears the brunt of the fallout. Despite his personal connection to the Winstons and initial disbelief, he helps Maddie as she experiences The Moral Dilemma of Uncovering Uncomfortable Truths and promises to remain by her side through the challenges, which makes him a sympathetic character constructed to evoke trust.