Mary Olivier: A Life: Analysis of Major Characters
"Mary Olivier: A Life" is a novel that chronicles the journey of its central character, Mary Olivier, as she navigates her pursuit of happiness amidst familial challenges and societal expectations. Mary is depicted as an intellectually vibrant young woman, who faces indifference and emotional neglect from her mother, Caroline. Throughout her life, she experiences a series of poignant relationships that shape her understanding of love and self-worth, including a deep but ultimately unfulfilling connection with her fiancé, Maurice Jourdain.
The novel also explores the dynamics within the Olivier family, particularly highlighting the strained relationship between Mary and her domineering father, Emilius, as well as the impact of loss on her family, including the deaths of her brothers. Each character, from the protective Mark to the troubled Daniel, adds layers to Mary's life story, illustrating the broader themes of dependency, sacrifice, and the pursuit of personal fulfillment. Ultimately, Mary learns that true happiness must come from within rather than from her relationships with others, a realization that defines her character's growth throughout the narrative.
Mary Olivier: A Life: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: May Sinclair
First published: 1919
Genre: Novel
Locale: Essex and Yorkshire, England
Plot: Impressionistic realism
Time: 1865–1910
Mary Olivier (oh-lee-VYAY), the protagonist, whose search for happiness is the story of her life and the theme of the novel. Treated with indifference by her mother, she yearns for love but always loses the object of her affections. A bright girl with an independent mind, she is expelled from school for her religious unorthodoxy. Later, she is jilted by Maurice Jourdain because she is too intensely intellectual for a woman. In middle age, she finds a satisfying relationship with the scholar Richard Nicholson but rejects him so that she can care for her mother. At that point, she realizes that happiness does not depend on others but instead lies within herself.
Emilius Olivier (eh-mee-LYEWS), Mary's father, an impressive man with a red-brown beard and mustache. He is jealous of his wife's love for her sons and bullies them until he can get them out of the house. He is occasionally kind to Mary only because her mother does not love her. After getting drunk and disgracing the family at the home of the local squire, he is forced to relocate the family in an isolated Yorkshire village. He dies of apoplexy.
Caroline Olivier, Mary's mother, a soft, pretty woman with brown hair. She struggles to protect her beloved sons from her tyrannical husband. In old age, she has a stroke. Having lost all of her sons, she is now dependent on the daughter whom she has always kept at a distance. Two years after Mary has given up her lover, Caroline dies.
Mark Olivier, Caroline's favorite son and the special target of Emilius'spite. Even in childhood, he is protective of Mary. After joining the army, he goes to India, where he dies of heart failure.
Daniel Olivier, another of the Olivier sons. Thwarted in every desire, including his love for Effie Draper, he is placed in an office job, which he hates and from which he is eventually fired for drinking. Even though he could have returned to that position, he goes to Canada and thus escapes his family.
Rodney (Roddy) Olivier, another of Mary's brothers and her childhood playmate. Although he loves the sea, he is in fragile health because of a boyhood attack of rheumatic fever and thus cannot take a job that requires physical exertion. He is sent to Canada to work on a farm. When he returns to England, he dies.
Jeremy (Jimmy) Parsonby, Mary's first love, a serious boy with blue eyes and dark hair. He is eight years older than Mary. Because of some disgraceful action, he is sent to Australia. Although she is only thirteen years old when he leaves, she never forgets him or recovers from her sense of loss.
Maurice Jourdain (moh-REES zhewr-DEHN), Mary's fiancé, a man with black eyes and sallow skin. At first, he appears to encourage Mary's intellectual development, even offering to pay for her schooling. After they are engaged (several years after their first meeting), however, he becomes unhappy with her independence of mind and jilts her.
Mr. Sutcliffe, a tall, handsome squire. He falls in love with the seventeen-year-old Mary despite the fact that he is married. Because of his feelings, he moves to the Continent, wherehedies.
Richard Nicholson, Sutcliffe's nephew, a tall, thin man with dark eyes and hair. He is a classics scholar. When Mary meets him, he is forty-five years old, and she is thirty-nine. After she takes a position as his secretary, he discovers her talent as a poet and a translator. Although they fall in love, she refuses his proposal because she must care for her bedridden mother. When her mother dies, Mary is free, but, unfortunately, Richard has already planned to marry a woman who has loved him for many years. The marriage is unhappy.