The Well: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Well: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate relationships and emotional landscapes of the main characters in a story centered around themes of loss, attachment, and societal expectations. Hester Harper, an Australian rancher, grapples with feelings of inadequacy stemming from her father’s disappointment in her as a daughter. She forms a deep bond with Katherine, an orphaned teenager, seeking connection after a long period of isolation. This relationship becomes complicated following a tragic accident, leading Hester to take drastic measures to protect Katherine. Katherine, characterized by her youthful charm and imaginative nature, harbors her own desires and frustrations, which complicate her relationship with Hester. Supporting characters, such as Mr. Bird, Hester's father's friend, provide crucial insights into Hester’s financial mismanagement, highlighting her emotional turmoil. Meanwhile, Mr. Borden and his wife, Rosalie, represent the conventional life that Hester feels excluded from, intensifying her struggle with self-worth. The interplay between these characters illustrates a profound exploration of longing and the consequences of misguided love.
The Well: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Elizabeth Jolley
First published: 1986
Genre: Novel
Locale: Western Australia
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The early 1980's
Hester Harper, an Australian rancher. A thin, flat-breasted, middle-aged woman with a lame leg, she is aware of having been a disappointment to her father, with whom she lives, because she was a girl, and an ugly, crippled one at that, instead of a boy. When she takes an orphaned teenager home with her, Hester feels close to another human being for the first time since the loss of her childhood governess. After her father's death, Hester neglects and then sells her land, planning to spend the money on luxuries for Katherine and for herself and determining never to let Katherine leave her. When the girl, driving fast in the dark, hits some object, presumably a man, Hester throws the body into her well to protect Katherine and to keep her. When she finds her money missing and learns that there has been a thief in the neighborhood, Hester assumes that the money is in the well with the man, but she is willing to lose the money rather than to lose Katherine.
Katherine, an orphan. Almost sixteen years old when Hester meets her, she is a pretty, delicate-looking girl with thin blond hair and a childish voice. Ingratiating and imaginative, she becomes a playmate for her employer, out of whom she can soon wheedle anything she wants. After the automobile accident, Katherine's sexual frustrations turn into an obsession. She is certain that the man in the well is still alive and that he must be released so that he can marry her. Even though Hester has the well covered, believing that the two women can return to their normal life together, it is obvious that Katherine has other plans. She seems to have some of Hester's missing cash. Moreover, she insists on having an un-savory girlfriend come to the ranch. It is obvious that she will not stay indefinitely with Hester.
Mr. Bird, a stock and station agent, a somewhat younger friend of Hester's father. He considers it his obligation to help Hester with business affairs after her father's death. He warns Hester repeatedly about her reckless spending, which he accurately ascribes to her infatuation with Katherine. Although Hester sees him as a bore, after his death she discovers notebooks full of financial advice for her, proving that he has been her only real friend.
Mr. Harper, Hester's father. Although he is ill and dependent on her, in old age he enjoys tyrannizing over his daughter. His lifelong indifference to her is evident in her memory of the events that took place years before, when he heartlessly banished her beloved governess and foster mother, who had had a miscarriage as the result of his seduction.
Mr. Borden, a neighboring rancher, a young, strong man who buys Hester's house and then her land. It is at the party given to celebrate the purchase that Katherine discovers what she has been missing in her life with Hester, and it is after that party that Katherine has her accident.
Rosalie Borden, Mr. Borden's wife, a plump, noisy young woman with an ever-increasing brood of children. To Hester, she symbolizes the life from which her own ugliness has forever barred her. At the party, when Rosalie warns Hester that Katherine will and should leave her, Rosalie betrays her own distaste for the eternal spinster.