Barren Ground (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Ellen Glasgow
- First Published: 1925
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
- Setting: Rural Virginia
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Self-discovery
- Locales: Virginia
Characters Discussed
Dorinda Oakley, the daughter of a poor white Virginia farmer. Tall, dark-haired, and radiant-eyed, she is not pretty, but when she smiles, her eyes and mouth reveal an inner warmth. A vein of iron in her enables her to survive Jason’s desertion of her, his marriage to Geneva Ellgood, her own attempt to kill him, the loss of her baby in an accident, the deaths of her parents and of Nathan, and the years of hard work necessary to maintain and improve her dairy farm.
Josiah Oakley, her brother, a personification of futility who seems to Dorinda to...
[The entire page is 1384 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
