# Sidney Quarles — Point Counter Point character guide

> Sidney Quarles in Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Sidney, Rachel, poor Rachel

**First appearance:** 0001-ii

## Snapshot

Philip's father: a once-promising orator and man of letters reduced to a bloated philanderer, forever chasing the reputation his youth seemed to promise.

## Who they are

Sidney Quarles was once the golden boy of his university — handsome, eloquent, and universally expected to rise to greatness — but thirty-five years later he is a portly, self-satisfied failure who ruined his father's sugar business and abandoned politics for the pose of publicist. He philanders shamelessly, most painfully with women close to his son, and his shallow cleverness masks a fundamental feebleness of purpose. His decline and his treatment of his family, especially his long-suffering wife Rachel, form one of the novel's sharpest studies of wasted potential and moral cowardice.

## Relationships

### [Old Mr. Quarles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/characters/old_mr_quarles)

_family_

Old Mr. Quarles is Sidney's senile father, whom Sidney visits out of familial obligation while secretly resenting the burden.

### [Old Mr. Quarles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/characters/old_mr_quarles)

_family_

Old Mr. Quarles is Sidney's senile father, whom Sidney visits out of familial obligation while secretly resenting the burden.

## In the story

### [XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/chapters/xx)

Revealed as a hollow man, a 'façade' with no substance behind his impressive appearance and clever talk. His failed ambitions in politics and business are detailed, and his current affair with Gladys Helmsley is shown as a way to bolster his ego.

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/chapters/xxiv)

Continues his affair with Gladys, who mocks his intellectual pretensions and refuses to be impressed by his cheap treats.

### [XXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/chapters/xxxii)

Ill and recording his thoughts on a dictaphone, anxious about his legacy and sharing his 'Memories and Reflections of Fifty Years' with Philip.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/characters/sidney_quarles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/point_counter_point_se/characters