The Fifth Child

by

Doris Lessing

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Fifth Child makes teaching easy.

William Character Analysis

Husband to Sarah, with whom he quarrels often. Regularly out of work. He and Sarah don’t believe divorce to be an option for them because of their financial circumstances and the four children they must support together. After his fourth child is born with Down Syndrome, William takes it upon himself to warn David and Harriet that they should stop having children or they might experience the bad luck he has.

William Quotes in The Fifth Child

The The Fifth Child quotes below are all either spoken by William or refer to William . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nature vs. Nurture Theme Icon
).
Pages 3 – 33 Quotes

Harriet said to David, privately, that she did not believe was bad luck: Sarah and William’s unhappiness, their quarrelling, had probably attracted the mongol child—yes, yes, of course she knew one shouldn’t call them mongol[…]David disliked this trait of Harriet’s, a fatalism that seemed so at odds with the rest of her. He said he thought this was silly hysterical thinking: Harriet sulked and they had to make up.

Related Characters: Harriet Lovatt, David Lovatt, Sarah , Amy , William
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Fifth Child LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Fifth Child PDF

William Quotes in The Fifth Child

The The Fifth Child quotes below are all either spoken by William or refer to William . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nature vs. Nurture Theme Icon
).
Pages 3 – 33 Quotes

Harriet said to David, privately, that she did not believe was bad luck: Sarah and William’s unhappiness, their quarrelling, had probably attracted the mongol child—yes, yes, of course she knew one shouldn’t call them mongol[…]David disliked this trait of Harriet’s, a fatalism that seemed so at odds with the rest of her. He said he thought this was silly hysterical thinking: Harriet sulked and they had to make up.

Related Characters: Harriet Lovatt, David Lovatt, Sarah , Amy , William
Page Number: 22
Explanation and Analysis: