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Character analysis

Gram (Grandma Hiddle)

in Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Gram (Grandma Hiddle) is Sal's paternal grandmother and one of the two narrators of the road-trip frame story in Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. Together with Gramps, she suggests the cross-country drive from Euclid, Ohio, to Lewiston, Idaho, claiming it's to see "the whole ding-dong country," but her true intention is to help Sal visit her mother's grave. Gram is warm, whimsical, and boldly curious—she jumps into a river fully clothed, kisses a water moccasin on a whim, and insists on stopping at every quirky roadside attraction. These spontaneous bursts of joy capture her spirit and reflect the free-spirited nature of Sal's late mother, Sugar, whom Gram clearly loved and grieved for deeply.

Gram's journey takes a tragic turn in South Dakota, where a snakebite at the Missouri River leads to a stroke that lands her in the hospital in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Her sudden decline forces Gramps to remain at her side while Sal drives alone into the mountains—a crucial moment that prompts Sal's final confrontation with her grief. Gram passes away before Sal can return, and her absence deepens the novel's exploration of love, mortality, and the process of letting go.

Key traits include her endless affection, a childlike sense of wonder, and an emotional openness that stands in stark contrast to the guardedness of other adults in the story. She is the first to encourage Sal to share Phoebe's story aloud, framing the entire nested narrative structure of the novel. Gram embodies the idea of fully embracing life, even when faced with the certainty of loss.

About this character

Form
Novel
Author
Sharon Creech
First published
1994

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Gram (Grandma Hiddle)?

Gram Hiddle — "Gram" to Sal and "my gooseberry" to Gramps — is Sal's paternal grandmother and one of the novel's most vividly drawn presences despite never appearing in the inner story Sal tells. She is introduced at the very opening of Walk Two Moons as the architect of the cross-country road trip from Euclid, Ohio, to Lewiston, Idaho. Outwardly she sells the venture as a chance to see "the whole ding-dong country," but Creech signals from the start that Gram's motives run deeper than tourism. She is warm, physically demonstrative, and startlingly unguarded for an adult in a novel full of guarded adults. She wades into rivers fully clothed, plants a kiss on a water moccasin on a Mississippi riverbank, and insists the family stop at every roadside oddity they pass. That impulsiveness is not mere comic relief; it is a consistent philosophy — live completely, right now, because time is not guaranteed.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Gram (Grandma Hiddle)'s arc and motivation?

Gram begins the novel as its most energetic figure and ends it as its most devastating loss. Her surface motivation is wonder and adventure; her real motivation is love — love for Sugar's memory, love for Sal's broken heart, and love for her son John, whose family has been paralyzed by grief since Sugar left and died. Organizing this trip is Gram's way of doing what the adults in Sal's life cannot quite manage: moving toward the wound instead of around it. Her arc is a quiet one. She does not undergo a change of values or a revelation; instead, she is the still point of warmth against which Sal and the reader measure every other character's emotional availability. Her decline — a snakebite at the Missouri River, a stroke, and finally death in a Coeur d'Alene hospital — arrives with the force of something the novel has been both dreading and preparing us for. Her death is structurally symmetrical with Sugar's: both women die before Sal can reach them, and both losses must be accepted rather than reversed.

03·Key moments

What are Gram (Grandma Hiddle)'s key moments?

  • The water moccasin kiss at the Mississippi River is the novel's most iconic Gram moment. She spots the snake, leans down, and kisses it before anyone can stop her. The bite she receives there foreshadows her later snakebite and frames her spontaneity as both her greatest gift and the force that ultimately kills her.
  • Listening to Phoebe's story throughout the road trip: Gram is Sal's audience from Chapter 1 onward, asking eager questions, gasping at the right moments, and never once dismissing the tale as childish. Her attentive listening licenses Sal to narrate — and therefore to process — her grief.
  • The stroke and hospital in Coeur d'Alene: Gram's collapse forces Gramps to stay behind and compels Sal to drive the final mountain stretch alone — the novel's pivotal action that leads directly to Sal's confrontation with her mother's grave.
  • Her death before Sal returns: Gram dies while Sal is on that mountain road. Sal never gets to say goodbye, mirroring the loss of Sugar exactly and completing the novel's argument that some goodbyes are denied us and must be made in the heart instead.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Gram (Grandma Hiddle)'s most important relationships?

Gram's marriage to Gramps is the novel's portrait of love at its most sustaining. They exchange pet names, hold hands, and display a physical ease with each other that the younger characters — Sal, Phoebe, even the Winterbottom parents — conspicuously lack. Gramps's vigil at her hospital bed is rendered in simple, devastating terms, communicating that without Gram he is halved.

With Sal, Gram functions as emotional midwife. She draws Phoebe's story out of Sal chapter by chapter, creating the conditions under which Sal can rehearse grief safely before facing it in Idaho. The relationship is also a mirror: Gram's free-spiritedness echoes Sugar's, so spending the trip with Gram is, for Sal, a way of staying close to her mother without admitting that is what she is doing.

Her indirect relationship with Phoebe — as the unseen listener who validates every twist of Phoebe's melodramatic mystery — gives Phoebe's storyline its narrative legitimacy and reminds the reader that telling stories is itself a form of surviving loss.

05·Connected characters

How is Gram (Grandma Hiddle) connected to the other characters?

Salamanca Tree Hiddle

Gram is Sal's paternal grandmother and closest confidante on the road trip. She listens eagerly to Sal's retelling of Phoebe's story, gently drawing Sal out of her grief. Her death in Idaho is the emotional climax that finally allows Sal to accept her mother's death.

Gramps (Grandpa Hiddle)

Gram and Gramps share a devoted, playful marriage full of pet names and physical affection. Gramps's anguish at Gram's snakebite and stroke — staying by her hospital bed around the clock — underscores how central she is to his world and to the novel's portrait of enduring love.

Chanhassen (Sugar) Hiddle

Gram loved her daughter-in-law Sugar deeply. The road trip is partly an act of love for Sugar's memory, and Gram's own free-spirited impulsiveness echoes Sugar's personality, suggesting Gram understood and cherished what made Sugar unique.

John Hiddle (Sal's Father)

Gram is Sal's father John's mother. Though their interactions are limited on-page, the road trip she organizes is also an act of care for John, helping his daughter process the loss that has paralyzed their family.

Phoebe Winterbottom

Gram never meets Phoebe directly, but she is the audience for Sal's entire account of Phoebe's story. Her enthusiastic, non-judgmental listening gives Phoebe's tale its narrative frame and validates Sal's need to work through it.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Gram (Grandma Hiddle)

Why does Gram suggest the cross-country road trip in Walk Two Moons?

Gram's true motivation is to help Sal visit her mother's grave in Lewiston, Idaho, despite presenting the trip as a chance to see "the whole ding-dong country." This excuse conceals a deeply loving act: instead of allowing the family to grieve in silence, Gram orchestrates a journey that directly addresses the wound, providing Sal an opportunity to confront Sugar's death on her own terms.

What happens to Gram at the Missouri River in Walk Two Moons?

Gram is bitten by a snake at the Missouri River, leading to a stroke that sends her to a hospital in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Her collapse forces Gramps to remain at her bedside and compels Sal to drive the final mountain stretch alone — a pivotal journey that brings Sal directly to her mother's grave. Gram ultimately passes away before Sal can return, reflecting the loss of Sugar.

How does Gram's relationship with Sal work in Walk Two Moons?

Gram serves as Sal's emotional midwife during the road trip, eager to hear Sal's retelling of Phoebe's story chapter by chapter and drawing her out of her grief without pressure. Her spirited warmth mirrors Sugar's personality, allowing Sal to remain close to her mother's memory without fully acknowledging that is what she is doing.

What is the most famous moment involving Gram in Walk Two Moons?

Gram's most iconic moment occurs when she bends down and kisses a water moccasin on the Mississippi riverbank before anyone can intervene. This act encapsulates her philosophy of living fully and immediately, while also carrying dark foreshadowing: the impulsiveness that makes Gram so vibrant is the same force that ultimately costs her life when she is later fatally bitten by another snake.

How does Gram's death parallel Sugar's death in Walk Two Moons?

Both Gram and Sugar die before Sal can reach them, denying her the chance to say goodbye. Creech constructs this repetition intentionally: Gram's death in Coeur d'Alene parallels Sugar's death in Idaho, reinforcing the novel's central argument — that some goodbyes are simply denied and must be made in the heart rather than in person.

What is Gram's relationship with Gramps like in Walk Two Moons?

Gram and Gramps offer the novel's most comprehensive portrayal of enduring love, marked by pet names, constant physical affection, and a comfort with each other that younger couples in the story notably lack. The depth of their bond becomes evident when Gramps maintains a constant vigil at her hospital bed after her stroke, described in simple, poignant terms that indicate he is essentially incomplete without her.

How is Gram connected to Sugar (Chanhassen Hiddle) in Walk Two Moons?

Gram loved her daughter-in-law Sugar profoundly, and the road trip she organizes reflects her devotion to Sugar's memory. Creech emphasizes their bond by portraying Gram's own impulsive, wonder-filled personality as an echo of Sugar's free-spirited nature, suggesting that Gram understood and cherished what made Sugar who she was — and that losing Sugar was a grief Gram shared with the rest of the family.

Is Gram a major character even though she never appears in the inner story in Walk Two Moons?

Yes — Gram stands out as one of the novel's most vividly depicted characters despite never appearing in the Phoebe storyline that Sal narrates. She frames the nested narrative structure by being Sal's eager audience from Chapter 1 onward, and her death serves as the emotional climax of the outer road-trip story. Creech demonstrates that attentive listening is itself a profound act of love and a prerequisite for healing.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • Gram as a foil to adult guardedness

    Argue that Gram's emotional openness exposes the damage done when other adults in the novel — John Hiddle, Mrs. Winterbottom, even the well-meaning neighbours — suppress grief rather than move through it.

  • Gram's death as structural repetition

    Examine how Creech deliberately parallels Gram's death with Sugar's, and what this repetition suggests about Sal's capacity — or necessity — to accept loss she cannot prevent.

  • Spontaneity as moral philosophy

    Build a thesis around Gram's impulsive acts (the river, the snake, the roadside stops) as a coherent worldview, and explore how that worldview both liberates Sal and costs Gram her life.

  • The road trip as Gram's gift

    Analyse the journey itself as Gram's act of love for three generations — Sal, John, and Sugar's memory — arguing that her true legacy is the space she creates for Sal's grief to find its destination.

  • Listening as an act of love

    Consider how Gram's role as Sal's audience makes the entire narrative possible, and argue that Creech uses Gram to suggest that being truly heard is a prerequisite for healing.

Walk Two Moons

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