The Man Who Loved Children (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Christina Stead
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Work: Family chronicle
- Time of Work: 1936-1940
- Setting: Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Annapolis, Harpers Ferry, and Singapore
- Principal Characters: Samuel (Sam) Clemens Pollit, Henrietta (Henny) Collyer Pollit, Louisa (Louie) Pollit, Ernest (Ernie) Pollit, Saul and Little Sam Pollit, Evelyn (Evie, Little Womey) Pollit, Tommy Pollit, Charles Franklin Pollit
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: Child rearing or parenting, Children, Mothers, Parents and children, Power, personal or social, Love or romance, Suicide, Murder or homicide, Marriage, Alienation, Writing, 1930’s, Poverty or poor people, Washington, D.C., Fathers, Unemployment or unemployed workers, Adultery, Death or dying, Inheritance or succession, Southeast Asia
- Locales: Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD, Singapore, Annapolis, MD, Harpers Ferry, WV
The Novel
When the story opens, Samuel (Sam) and Henrietta (Henny) Pollit have long since stopped speaking to each other except to argue. Any information they must exchange is conveyed through notes or by using the children as go-betweens. Despite their numerous offspring, they have hated each other from the day they married. The conflict between them is the essential conflict of the novel.
The action covers several years in the Pollits’ lives. Louisa (Louie) is eleven and a half when the action begins and fourteen when the story ends. The impact of her parents’...
[The entire page is 3004 words long]
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