First Mitchell's and later Paul's wife, Caroline is sassy, stubborn, and opinionated. She acts decisively and with conviction according to her beliefs and principles. Caroline is understanding, especially when she explains her mother's coldness to Paul and comforts a boy whom others have been teasing. She does not put up with nonsense, and she even strikes a girl who accuses her of stealing her man and stubbornly refuses to leave the forty acres after Mitchell is killed. Caroline takes challenges or losses in stride: she works diligently and selflessly on the forty acres, and though she mourns Mitchell's death, she perseveres with fortitude, tenaciously clinging to life and its fleeting joys.