Characters
Jessica Bergman -- youngest daughter of Joe and Hester Bergman.
Joe Bergman -- Jessica's father who took her under his wing to help out on the farm due to the fact that he never had a son.
"A small farm needs a boy and Joe being landed with two girls instead was a big disappointment. Joe brought up Jessica to be that son he’d never had. So it’s Jessica’s older sister, Meg, who takes the role of the girl… (p.7)"
Hester Bergman -- Joe's estranged wife who with her manipulative nature helps her eldest daughter (Meg) to seduce the son of the richest man in the district.
Meg Bergman -- Jessica's older sister who is the perfect example of a stereotypical young lady during the early 1900s.
Jack Thomas -- son of the richest man in the district and owner of the Riverview Station (George Thomas).
William D'arcy Simon -- later known as 'Billy Simple' after suffering two kicks to the skull by Jack's horse in a fight between himself and the tar boys (for attacking Jessica), William was one of the best shearers at the station and one of Jessica's closest friends there along with Jack.
George Thomas -- Jack's father who is the owner of Riverview Station, inherited through his wife. He was skeptical and sexist towards Jessica at Joe's request for her to work at the station.
Ada Thomas -- Jack's pompous mother who taunted Billy (whilst he was the Thomas' gardener, appointed by Jack) along with her daughters.
Gwen & Winifred Thomas -- Jack's sisters.
Richard Runche -- Billy's lawyer who also freed Jessica from the asylum.
Moishe Goldberg -- a Jewish man Jessica meets at the asylum who helps Jessica get out from the asylum.
Mary Simpson -- an Aboriginal woman who Jessica helped one day when her people were sick and injured.
Setting
Jessica is set in New South Wales, Australia near and in the towns of Narrandera and Wagga Wagga.
Courtenay has used language techniques such as descriptive language and oxymorons etc. The Australian outback is typically very dry and harsh. It is described as "a place where the heat is so severe birds lose their strength to fly and drop like stones from the breathless air. (p.3)". The oxymoron used, comparing weightless birds to stones, emphasises the extreme heat that remote areas of Australia can reach.
We can infer that the dry heat is constantly a battle for farmers; "Three hundred days a year a hard-faced sky mocks any hope of rain. (p.4)".
Jessica was not only surrounded by a difficult society but also a harsh environment.
