Staring at the Sun (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Julian Barnes
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction
- Time of Work: c. 1930-2020
- Setting: Southern England
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Future, Marriage, Twenty-first century, England or English people, Feminism, Lesbianism or lesbians, Single parents or single-parent families, Life and death
- Locales: England
Characters Discussed
Jean Serjeant, the wife of Michael Curtis and mother of Gregory. Jean lives to be ninety-nine years old, and her preoccupation with the wonders of the world and life’s disappointments makes her a major voice in the discussion of the significance of human existence in this novel. She is reared as the daughter of a grocer in Bryden and comes to maturity during World War II. As a young woman, Jean is much impressed by the speculations on death, fear, and heroism uttered by the Royal Air Force (RAF) officer who is billeted with her family, but she settles for...
[The entire page is 824 words long]
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