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Mrs. Melvyn
Mrs. Bossier is Sybylla’s grandmother, Mrs. Melvyn’s mother, and the lady of the Caddagat estate. Wealthy, influential, and old-fashioned, Mrs. Bossier is a stickler for propriety, and though she enjoys Sybylla’s company, she will not hesitate to chastise her granddaughter if Sybylla behaves in an unwomanly manner. She believes that every woman’s goal should be marriage, and she forbids Sybylla from traveling to Sydney to pursue a career on the stage. Mrs. Bossier scorns any woman who gives up life as a wife and mother to pursue a career, and she feels that ambition is ruining the current generation of girls. Sybylla loves staying with Mrs. Bossier at Caddagat, but after Sybylla has to go to Barney’s Gap, she loses faith in her grandmother’s love for her. Mrs. Bossier cares for Sybylla, but she refuses to intervene in disagreements between mothers and daughters, so she does not invite Sybylla to return to Caddagat when Sybylla is struggling at Barney’s Gap. Instead, Sybylla’s sister Gertie goes to live with Mrs. Bossier, and Mrs. Bossier finds the sweet, pretty Gertie much more agreeable than the steadfast Sybylla. This adds to Sybylla’s belief that she is unlovable, as she perceives Gertie’s presence at Caddagat as a replacement for her own.
Mrs. Bossier Quotes in My Brilliant Career
The My Brilliant Career quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Bossier or refer to Mrs. Bossier. 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:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
The pleasure, so exquisite as to be almost pain, which I derived from the books, and especially the Australian poets, is beyond description. In the narrow peasant life of Possum Gully I had been deprived of companionship with people of refinement and education who would talk of the things I loved; but, at last here was congeniality, here was companionship.
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Chapter 11
Quotes
Career! That is all girls think of now, instead of being good wives and mothers and attending to their homes and doing what God intended. All they think of is gadding about and being fast, and ruining themselves body and soul. And the men are as bad to encourage them.
Chapter 37
Quotes
To hot young hearts beating passionately in strong breasts, the sweetest thing is motion.
No, that part of me went beyond my mother’s understanding. On the other hand, there was a part of my mother—her brave cheerfulness, her trust in God, her heroic struggle to keep the home together—which went soaring on beyond my understanding, leaving me a coward weakling, grovelling in the dust.
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Mrs. Bossier Quotes in My Brilliant Career
The My Brilliant Career quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Bossier or refer to Mrs. Bossier. 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:
).
Chapter 8
Quotes
The pleasure, so exquisite as to be almost pain, which I derived from the books, and especially the Australian poets, is beyond description. In the narrow peasant life of Possum Gully I had been deprived of companionship with people of refinement and education who would talk of the things I loved; but, at last here was congeniality, here was companionship.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
Career! That is all girls think of now, instead of being good wives and mothers and attending to their homes and doing what God intended. All they think of is gadding about and being fast, and ruining themselves body and soul. And the men are as bad to encourage them.
Chapter 37
Quotes
To hot young hearts beating passionately in strong breasts, the sweetest thing is motion.
No, that part of me went beyond my mother’s understanding. On the other hand, there was a part of my mother—her brave cheerfulness, her trust in God, her heroic struggle to keep the home together—which went soaring on beyond my understanding, leaving me a coward weakling, grovelling in the dust.
