Mavis in Passion

Mavis

Mavis is described as "handsome, but with little pouches of boredom or disapproval hiding the corners of her mouth" (40). She gets upset during family game night and leaves the room "with a bitter tinkle of a laugh" (51) and in general seems to lurk around the Traverses' summer house, exuding an air of mild annoyance and misery. Still, it's hard to say that this means she's anyone's enemy, or the embodiment of pure evil, or an outright jerk. There's probably a nice person, or at least an interesting story, hiding behind that "bitter tinkle of a laugh." At least we'd like to think so.