Who is Ben Williams from Jemima J.: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans and what is their importance? | Jemima J.: A Novel About Ugly Ducklings and Swans Questions & Answers

Ben Williams is a coworker of Jemima Jones, and her constant love interest, although for much of the novel, the interest is hidden. Ben is a kind, wonderful looking man, with morals and high dreams for himself. He has been in the jet set group before, and finds he is ill suited for such a life, as he tends to find the people n it shallow. Ben is intelligent, and thinks highly of women who are also intelligent and able to stand on their own two feet. Ben likes Jemima, but sees her only as a good friend. When Ben leaves the newspaper to become a television star, he is soon pushed again into the limelight. Everyone from his interviewees to his boss want to sleep with him, and he again is faced with a lonely form of relationships. It is only when he again finds Jemima, now thin, that he realizes his true feelings for her. Ben represents a male character in the book who is less concerned about appearances than he is about propriety, and happiness. Although Jemima being thin does attract Ben's attention, one knows Ben cared for her all along, and was never afraid to show his affections, despite her size.

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