OVERALL ANALYSIS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Hugh Conway

As the main character, the entire focus of what the author wants the reader to learn is filtered through Conway. He is a consul in the British diplomatic corps, in his late thirties, and a veteran of the First World War. From that experience, he changes into a man who has exhausted his passions and has gained wisdom as a result. He takes life more patiently and falls in love with Shangri-La. He finally knows that Mallinson and Lo-Tsen are a corruption.......

Charles Mallinson

A vice-consul to Conway's consul, he is one of the diplomats who is deliberately brought to Shangri-La. However, he is the only one of the four on the plane who chafes to return to the outer world. He is the antithesis of Conway in that he fails to see the beauty and the promise of Shangri-La and........

Henry D. Barnard

Another one of the hijacked passengers, Barnard is an American whose name is actually Chalmers Bryant, a financier who had stolen 100 million dollars and then had disappeared. When he explains the events that led to him becoming the biggest swindler in the world, we see how a good man could be caught up.......

Miss Roberta Brinklow

She is a missionary who also ends up on the hijacked flight. She is a determined woman who believes it is Providence that she ended up in the valley. However, at first, she is reluctant to associate with the lamas or the people in the valley, because she's afraid they are heathens or they will.........

Chang

The Chinese man who leads the travelers into Shangri-La, he is also an initiate of the lamasery and provides support to the travelers when they need comfort. He answers as many questions as possible that they may have, and he speaks highly of Conway to the High Lama. In fact, it is his........

Perrault

He is the French friar who comes to the lamasery in 1719 and is still alive in 1930. He comes to know Conway and.......

Lo-Tsen

An upper-class Manchu, Lo-Tsen is seemingly a young girl who is very beautiful and attracts the attentions of all the men around her. She seems to show them little romantic interest and acts content to play piano and be a part of the mystery of Shangri-La. She is actually elderly when Conway arrives there. Later, she falls in.......

Rutherford

A novelist who is a friend of the narrator, he is the first to hear Conway's story and writes it down after listening to Conway talk for twenty-four straight hours. He later goes in search of the man when he once again disappears. Like the narrator, he sincerely hopes that Conway makes it ........

The Narrator

This character, a neurologist, remains nameless, but ties the plot together by reading the manuscript Rutherford had written to tell ........

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