53 pages • 1 hour read
Alan BennettThe Uncommon Reader
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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BetaCharacter Analysis
The Queen
The central character of the novella, the Queen of England (presumably modern-day Elizabeth II), is a profoundly polite, duty-oriented monarch who has, until the point at which the text begins, operated only out of obligation in her private and public life. When the Queen stumbles upon the traveling library at the palace, she embarks on an intellectual journey from which there is no turning back.
As the Queen reads and learns more about the world and other people, her perspective slowly shifts as she becomes more empathetic to those around her. In addition, she begins to feel more bored with her traditional duties, wanting instead to take time to read, think, and write on her own. Eventually, the Queen decides that she wants to write her own book—one that transcends simplistic memoir—in her own voice. The novella concludes on the Queen abdicating her throne in order to publish her own book.
Norman
Norman is an unattractive gay man working in the palace kitchens when the Queen meets him in the traveling library. His love for books interests her, and she quickly hires him to work outside of her office and help her in gathering new books. Norman is the first real supporter of the Queen’s new passion for reading, and he continues to support her in her efforts as she becomes more intellectual.
Sir Kevin
Sir Kevin is the Queen’s advisor and is described as a motivated, hard worker with dreams of rising out of his provincial New Zealand upbringing. He dislikes the Queen’s love of reading and continues to try to stop her. In his frequent meetings with the Queen, Sir Kevin must yield to her ideas, so he attempts to undermine her in private. Although he succeeds for a time in doing so by getting Norman to leave the palace, Sir Kevin is not able to get the Queen to end her intellectual pursuits and is fired for his surreptitious dealings.
