Lyndall's fire and ice

Lyndall has to be one of the most extreme characters in the book. While everyone in A Story of an African is an extreme in some way, Lyndall could be the most out there. As a young girl, she passionately expounds her theories on feminism and takes a viscous attitude toward any dissenters, or anyone who is different for that matter.

We later find a partial explanation for her behavior. When she tells her real boyfriend that she intends to marry Gregory Rose, she refuses his offer of marriage because she says that she fears losing herself to a stronger man. Instead, she is marrying Gregory Rose because she needs to marry someone and he is weak, and, in effect, will basically be her servant. However, she has to marry someone because is pregnant and does not want to be alone. Naturally, Gregory Rose fits her requirements.

Personally, I find Lyndall to be a strange character. For all of her stuff about independence, I somehow find it interesting that she "needs" to marry a man, although I will give her that she is marrying one of the weakest men alive. In any case, she, as well as many other characters in the book, seem rather unhappy and, quite frankly, unlikeable. No wonder why everybody dies.