Character Grid [T1]
Download a table showing all the Past/Present characters.
Your students will use a blank version of this worksheet [S1] to answer these questions. You may wish to introduce any unfamiliar vocabulary terms (social class, strike, ethnic background, etc) to your class as part of game prep.
Download the Full ClassroomCharacter
What do you know about the character? (Job, ethnic background, social class)
What do you know about their attitudes towards the workers and the mill management? How do you know this?
What does the character think about the possibility of a strike against the mill? Why do you think so?
Anna Caruso
Walter Armbruster
Anna is a young woman of around 20 years old who came with her family from Italy several years earlier. She works as a weaver at the mill and is her family's main means of support.
Ambitious and energetic, Walter has risen quickly to the position of mill manager, where he attempts to conscientiously follow the dictates of the Boylston family.
These are the two Past/Present avatars - the characters your students will play. The answers to the above two questions will come from decisions they make in the course of gameplay. These squares are blacked out on Worksheet S1. The final assignment (S15A/S15W) allows students to list what their characters think.
Mamma Caruso
Anna's mother. Poor Italian immigrant, widow, takes in washing and cares for her three sons
Mostly concerned about making ends meet; sympathetic to the workers' plight
Does not favor a strike, because she is fearful of violence and worried that family income will dry up
Elizabeth Armbruster
Walter's wife. Daughter of Vogel the furniture store owner. Socially ambitious and acquisitive but supportive of her husband. Involved in charity work. Anna sees her only as a formidable potential employer.
Although she is personally concerned about the workers' living conditions, she is firmly aligned with the mill's interests, as her husband is a mill manager.
Very concerned about the collateral damage a strike might bring to her family's social ambitions. Supportive of her husband's efforts to solve the crisis.
Sophie Kalish
Anna's best friend. Bubbly Jewish immigrant. Works alongside Anna in the weaving rooms. Highly imaginative and dreamy.
Has first-hand experience with heavy-handed management and actively dislikes her mill job.
Personalizes it by falling in love with the labor organizer, and is excited about the possibility of a labor action.
Hiram Boylston
Walter's best friend and the scion of the mill owning family. Something of a playboy, much dedicated to a life of leisure. A disappointment to his hard-charging father.
As part of the mill's ownership, strongly pro-management and unsympathetic to the workers.
Prefers to delegate all negotiations to Walter. Has a strong preference for a hard line and a lockout.
Amadeo Mosca
Italian vegetable seller with a paternal interest in Anna. Highly excitable.
Strong socialist and pro-labor viewpoint coupled with personal hostility to mill management, openly expressed. Zero sympathy for the mill's financial problems.
Perhaps the most enthusiastic supporter of labor action in Eureka Falls.
Joey Walsh
Ten-year-old newboy, street urchin, and town gossip. Perennially hungry and living in desperate circumstances.
Is dazzled by mill's paternalistic gestures like offering an annual workers' picnic.
Not a supporter of a strike, fearing that the whole town would go into a tailspin economically if there were a strike.
Franz Bruner
German-American, night-watchman at the Boylston Mills, with a gentle avuncular attitude towards Anna and Sophie.
A long-time employee of the mills and totally devoted to the company and its managers. Complete and utter loyalty to the mill management despite his lack of position.
Believes a strike would be catastrophic and dangerous, with violence certain and civil society in Eureka Falls torn apart.
Stanley Franklin
Native-born overseer of the loom room where Anna works; also reports to Walter. Highly stressed and given to tyrannical outbursts against his underlings.
Native-born overseer of the loom room where Anna works; also reports to Walter. Highly stressed and given to tyrannical outbursts against his underlings.
Identifies with the mill even though he feels stressed by the demands of the job. Has a decent working relationship with his boss Walter.
Seamus Moran
Irish cop, master of the universe in his own estimation. Knows everything going on in town and partial to the smiling intimidation of everyone he meets. Always on the lookout for informers.
Appears to think of himself as above the fray, but knows that it is the mill's interested who he needs to serve.
Only seems to care about the practical aspects of mill security, and wants to arrest the labor organizer immediately.
Jedediah Mellencamp
Native born chief salesman for the mill. Bitter and bigoted, and frustrated by the mill's declining fortunes. Loves to give hard-bitten advice to Walter and Hiram.
Angry at everyone. Certainly despises the immigrant workers, but sneers at the Boylston family as well. Seems resigned to retire shortly.
Loathes anything that would benefit labor, even if it might indirectly benefit the mill.
Sam Brownstone
Sharp-taking lawyer and real-estate developer. Involved with Walter in the Excelsior Estates development, and also Anna's persistent landlord. Educated but glib.
Seems to be apolitical and never talks about the mill, although he is not above marketing his development as a refuge from immigrants and "the odor of production".
Does not discuss it.
