Character Analysis
Mrs. Musgrove is the main person we see in mom-mode in the book. She even sheds tears for her black sheep son, Dick, and happily makes her house look like a kindergarten over the Christmas holidays when she brings home not only her own children but the Harville kids as well. While she always puts her own daughters first, talking Anne’s ear off about their wedding plans, she’s still kind to everyone (except maybe sometimes Mary, but that’s hardly Mrs. Musgrove’s fault). She provides an example of what good hospitality looks like, and shows Anne a very different style of family life than what she sees at home with the Elliots.