Riders in the Chariot (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Patrick White
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Parable
- Time of Work: After World War II
- Setting: Sarsaparilla, a suburb of Sydney, Australia
- Genres: Long fiction, Parable
- Subjects: Love or romance, Nature, 1940’s, Religion, Jews or Jewish life, Death or dying, Humanism, Suburban life, Australia or Australians
- Locales: Sydney, Australia, Sarsaparilla, Australia
Characters Discussed
Mary Hare, the homely, unmarried daughter of an aristocratic Australian family. Despised by her father because of her awkwardness and lack of beauty, and ignored by her mother, who found the child a bother, Mary survived “what passed for childhood.” She has grown into a peculiar adulthood and lives alone in the dilapidated family mansion called Xanadu. Mary cannot relate to her fellow humans, so she turns to birds and animals, at times even to plants, for companionship as she wanders about the overgrown grounds of Xanadu, performing religious rites...
[The entire page is 1036 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
