The Female Persuasion

by

Meg Wolitzer

Shara Pick Character Analysis

One of Zee Eisenstat’s students at the Teach for Reach school in Chicago. Shara is a rotund, quiet girl who always wears a parka in class. One afternoon, when Shara goes to the bathroom and does not return, Zee discovers that Shara is in labor—she has been pregnant all year. Witnessing the trauma of Shara’s subsequent delivery in the nurse’s office forces Zee to confront the fact that she is perhaps in over her head with Teach for Reach and causes her to wonder what good she can really do as a cog in the machine of false activism.
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Shara Pick Character Timeline in The Female Persuasion

The timeline below shows where the character Shara Pick appears in The Female Persuasion. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Activism Theme Icon
One afternoon, a month into Zee’s teaching position at Learning Octagon, one of Zee’s students, Shara Pick, raises her hand and asks to go to the bathroom. Shara is “bumblebee-shaped” and... (full context)
Activism Theme Icon
In the bathroom, Shara is curled up on the floor, holding her stomach and complaining of pain. Zee and... (full context)
Female Friendship and Mentorship Theme Icon
Activism Theme Icon
Noelle softly asks Shara if she knew that she was going to have a baby, and Shara confesses that... (full context)
Female Friendship and Mentorship Theme Icon
Activism Theme Icon
...Noelle and Zee head to a nearby restaurant despite their relative dislike of one another. Shara’s grandmother arrived and went with Shara to the hospital, and the situation is now out... (full context)
Female Friendship and Mentorship Theme Icon
Family and Community Theme Icon
Sociopolitical Power vs. Personal Fortitude  Theme Icon
Activism Theme Icon
Zee feels terrible. She can’t believe she missed the fact that Shara was pregnant, though she tells Noelle that she couldn’t have known, as Shara wore a... (full context)
Female Friendship and Mentorship Theme Icon
Family and Community Theme Icon
Activism Theme Icon
...banter about their lives and their families. After a while, the conversation circles back to Shara, and Noelle resolves to do her best to make sure that Shara does not “slip... (full context)