Unnamed Neighbors of Wesley Pritchel

"An Error in Chemistry" refers to the neighbors of Wesley Pritchel as the "people in the adjacent countryside" (119). It is safe to assume that they are all, like Pritchel himself, farming families. They play several different roles in the story. They gossip about Wesley's relationship with his "son-in-law" (114). Until Pritchel drives them off, they take clay from his clay-pit to make "serviceable though crude pottery" (119). The "man and his wife" who are Pritchel's "nearest neighbors" are summoned to his house by the sheriff to stay with the old man after Ellie's murder (118). This couple is soon joined by "other neighbors," all of whom stay at Pritchel's house even though he yells at them to leave (118). They return to the house for Ellie's funeral, when a "meagre group" of them attend the burial (125) and "two neighbor women" cook a hot meal for him (124).