Lois Farquar Character Analysis

In the novel, The Last September, by Elizabeth Bowen the main protagonist Lois Farquar is unable to change her course of action. The story centers around Lois who is the niece of the owner of the ‘great house’ Danielstown. As the title of the novel suggests, she is in her ‘last’ september as a child. She is in her process of transferring from childhood to adulthood. Lois strives to achieve the companionship and the approval of others as an adult to fill her loneliness in the community that she is in. The story primarily concentrates on Lois’s struggle against her loneliness in this process. Her affection toward Gerald, her expected role as a only heir in the Danielstown, and the gender roles significantly contribute to her development and her struggle.

One of the most significant events is the love relationship between Lois and Gerald Lesworth, an English soldier. This event suggests Lois’s loss of virginity and her attempt to fill her loneliness through achieving the companionship. Although, Lois’s relationship was not supported by other people in Danielstown due to the war that was occurring outside the house. Yet, for Lois, her

For the owner of the house, the Naylors, Lois is the only ascendant who is able to heir the house after they pass away. For the Naylors, it is imperative for Lois to take the job as the new owner of the house. Their paternalistic behaviour causes Lois to feel like a bird trapped into a cage. Although at the same time she feels the responsibility as the only heir. “She could not forgo that intensified cation, that kindling of her personality at being considered very happy and reckless, even if she were not” (32) Moreover, she is concerned that if she abandon her role, she would feel guilty since they had took care of her ever since she lost her parents; she is not completely able to resist their