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Is Harriet a totally unlikeable child? Are there any redeemi


             The third person narrative too traces her bildungsroman that is helped by Golly. Initially, she cares only about herself but Golly teaches her about life and values such as loving others and nature. When she gets into trouble, in the nick of time, she gets the letter from Ole Golly (pg 277). Golly advises her to tell the truth in her notebooks but if someone else reads her notebooks (precisely what has happened), she has to apologize or lie. Golly's letter and pertinent advice are important in order not to lose her friends. The letter is the turning point in her character growth. From then on, she learns to be independent as she says that "With or without Ole Golly, I have a nice life" (page 295). At the end of the story, she has grown more matured as she empathises with her best friends ("She made herself walk in Sport's shoes, feeling the holes in his socks rub against his ankles. She felt what it would feel like to have freckles and yellow hair like Jamie". (page 299)).
             The third person narration also provides two different perspectives to her character and these reveal that she has redeeming qualities. Although by spying on people she has invaded other people's privacy but it also shows that she is adventurous as she hides in Mrs Plumber's dumbwaiter. She is also determined as she returns to spy on Mrs Plumber when it is dangerous. Even though, she initially she thinks highly of herself. Later, she learns to empathise with her friends. Thus, she is able to swallow her pride and make an attempt to reconcile with Jamie and Spot (pg 299). .
             The first person narration traces Harriet's bildungsroman too. Initially, she is not self reflective but writes from her personal perspective. She writes about superficial and childish things in her notebook. She focuses on her classmates such as the pimples on the fat Carrie Andrews or the purple socks of Peter Matthews. She also badmouths her teachers.


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1. The Fifth Child

Throughout the novel, The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, Harriet and David discover the dangers of perfection in the face of an imperfect world. ... The Fifth Child, by Doris Lessing, opens to a scene in which we see how eccentric Harriet and David's characters are. ... A loud, reckless unscrupulous laugh, quite unlike modest, humorous, judicious David. ... Harriet remarks to David, foreshadowing future events, that "Sarah and William's unhappiness, their quarrelling, had probably attracted the Mongol child" (29). ... Without Ben, they find "happiness they could hardly believe, any o...

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2. Why Harriet Spies

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3. Harriet Tubman

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4. Biography of Harriet Jacobs

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5. Harriet Beecher Stowe

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6. Harriet Tubman

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7. The Trials of Harriet Jacobs

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8. Determination

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