The Survivor: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Survivor: Analysis of Major Characters" delves into the intricate relationships and psychological struggles of a diverse cast within the backdrop of an Antarctic expedition. Central to the narrative is Alexander Ramsey, a guilt-ridden former explorer who grapples with the weight of surviving his expedition leader, Stephen Leeming, and the emotional fallout from an affair with Leeming's wife. Ella Ramsey, his wife, navigates her own challenges, particularly the pain of infertility, while supporting her husband's obsession with Leeming. The story also features Belle Leeming, the pragmatic widow of Stephen, who contrasts with Ramsey's mystical memories of her late husband.
Supporting characters include the ambitious Eric Kable, who seeks to undermine Ramsey's position, and the eccentric Denis Leeming, who is caught up in the academic and emotional turmoil surrounding his uncle's legacy. Other figures, like the poet chronicling the expedition and the senior lecturer Morris Pelham, add layers of complexity to Ramsey's journey toward reconciliation. This exploration not only highlights themes of survival and guilt but also the diverse experiences of love, ambition, and loss among the characters, inviting readers to reflect on the personal impacts of tragedy and memory.
The Survivor: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Thomas Keneally
First published: 1969
Genre: Novel
Locale: Australia and Antarctica
Plot: Tragicomedy
Time: The mid-1960's
Alexander Ramsey, a former Antarctic explorer, the director of extension studies at a provincial Australian university. A large, homely man of sixty-two, Ramsey is debilitated with guilt at having survived Stephen Leeming, the leader of his Antarctic expedition, and at having slept with Leeming's wife before the journey. Oversensitive to references to Leeming, Ramsey begins the novel by walking out of a Rotary Club meeting because of a casual inquiry. Preoccupied and neglectful of his university work, Ramsey thinks that he is approaching madness when he is informed that Leeming's body has been found and is to be excavated. He flies to the Antarctic to watch the dig. Once it is completed, he achieves a new sense of mental well-being.
Ella Ramsey, Ramsey's wife and a part-time lecturer in the department of history at his university. She is forty-five years old and has an attractive Mediterranean appearance. Her life is dominated by the knowledge of her own infertility; her one pregnancy ended in a stillbirth. From that time, she abandoned her doctoral thesis and has redirected her energies into pottery and sparring with her husband. She has little patience for Ramsey's fixation on Leeming, though she grudgingly supports him otherwise.
The poet, an Australian man of letters, small and intense. The poet is writing an extended poem about the Leeming expedition. He delivers the information of the discovery of Leeming's body to Ramsey, thereby precipitating Ramsey's crisis. Despite some initial distrust, he and Ramsey become friends.
Belle Leeming, the widow of Stephen Leeming. An elderly but still attractive and quick-witted woman, Belle led an unconventional earlier life that included affairs with many men. Her memory of Leeming is practical, whereas Ramsey's is mystical. She goes to the Antarctic to watch the excavation.
Denis Leeming, a doctoral student and the nephew of Belle, in his early thirties. Denis has an impressive academic background, but his thesis cannot be approved. An eccentric, dilettantish man, Denis is excited by the idea of the recovery and reburial of Leeming's body. This plan brings him into conflict with Ramsey. Eventually, Leeming's thesis is accepted for publication as a book.
Stephen Leeming, the leader of the Antarctic expedition. A thin, slight man from a rich family, Leeming was a self-confessed fanatic for polar exploration. Intelligent though atavistic, he led a largely successful exploration but eventually was crippled by a stroke while crossing a glacier.
Morris Pelham, the senior lecturer under Ramsey. A Yorkshire man with a Cambridge education, Pelham is Ramsey's chosen successor to the directorship. Pelham covers up for much of Ramsey's administrative neglect.
Eric Kable, the assistant director of the extension program. An ambitious, unscrupulous man who wants the directorship, Kable plays departmental politics in an attempt to tarnish Ramsey. He supports Denis Leeming.
Valerie Kable, Kable's wife. An attractive woman and amateur actress, she is best known in the university for her promiscuity, which sometimes serves to advance her husband's career.
Arthur Lloyd, a doctor and former Antarctic explorer, now dying. Lloyd accompanied Leeming and Ramsey on the fatal leg of their Antarctic journey. Two weeks before his death, Lloyd tells Ramsey that when they left Leeming, he was not quite dead.
Sir Byron Mews, the vice chancellor of the university, a phlegmatic and political man widely, if secretly, known by his old rugby name, “Chimpy.” Lord Byron controls the university machinations behind Ramsey, especially with regard to Denis Leeming.
Lady Sadie Mews, Lord Byron's wife, an attractive, girlish, older woman who confides in Ramsey her distrust of her husband.
Brian Sanders, a professor of physics, a handsome man of fifty years. Sanders is a pleasant and honest man but is given to sexual adventuring. As Denis Leeming's supervisor, he tries to prevent him from going to the Antarctic. He almost succeeds in seducing Ella Ramsey, and he makes a student, Sally Bourke, pregnant.
David Hammond, a journalist. A thin, tanned man of thirty-five, Hammond is the Australian journalist assigned to cover the excavation of Leeming. He meets Ramsey in New Zealand on the way to the pole and becomes his confessor, if not friend.
Barbara, Ramsey's secretary, an overweight and pretentious but loyal woman. She runs Ramsey's office for him with motherly efficiency.