My Brilliant Career (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Miles Franklin
- First Published: 1901
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Autobiographical
- Time of Work: The 1890’s
- Setting: The Australian bush
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Bildungsroman, Autobiographical fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Freedom, Values, Philosophy or philosophers, Cattle, Politics, Socialism, Teenagers, Gender roles, Nineteenth century, Middle classes, Poverty or poor people, Feminism, Women’s issues, Farms, farmers, or farming, Nationalism, Ambition, Disasters, Natural disasters, Ranches, ranchers, or ranching, Sheep, Australia or Australians, Droughts, Agnosticism, Dairy industry or products, Wilderness
- Locales: New South Wales, Australia
Characters Discussed
Sybylla Penelope Melvyn, an Australian adolescent farm girl, the principal character in this fictional autobiography, which describes her life from the ages of fifteen to nineteen. Sybylla is the eldest child of Richard and Lucy Melvyn. Her fierce independence and her brash personality often cause others to misunderstand her. She rebels against the limited opportunities for women in society, and she denounces sexual inequality. She uses her talent for writing to describe the universal dignity of ordinary Australian women, with whom she identifies very...
[The entire page is 1196 words long]
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