Passivity in Lolly Willowes

The problem with Lolly Willowes is that I was never able to reach beneath the surface of the novel. The writing is very sparse, as we discussed, but I feel like there is also very little character development. Lolly herself remains very static, from her life in the city to that in Great Mop; even as exciting and interesting things happen in her life, that is all they do: happen in her life. She barely reacts, and when she does, it is with almost unfailingly simple acceptance. Even when she considers taking a more active role, such as when she is trying to find a way to remove Titus from her life, it is from a very removed standpoint. She assumes the Devil will do the job for her, and even if he does not, her thoughts on Titus are not those of a relation or even an acquaintance. She simply thinks he should be gone, and in a very distant way wonders how that might come about. 

I had a hard time actually liking Laura. It wasn't that she did anything I disliked, or that she bored me, exactly, it was just that there never seemed to be anything there to like. Following her life was interesting, and I was fascinated by the character of Satan (who strikes me as the only one really worth looking closely at, considering how different he is from the stereotypical Milton-esque Satan we see everywhere in literature), but Laura herself just came off like a tour guide, there only to be our way around a novel that does not really need her. Everything happens to Laura, except for her move to Great Mop, which is the only real initiative she takes.