Who Am I? Exploring Family and Identity in Contemporary American Fiction

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Dimino, Andrea

Keywords

Family, Identity, History, Sexual Abuse, Personality, Fiction, American, Contemporary

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

This thesis explores literary representations of family and the struggle for identity in contemporary American fiction. Characters find �personality options� within their families, but must also try to seek more positive models in the wider world. Focusing on six novels, the thesis deals with the process of developing a sense of self, the ways in which family identity creates a foundation, the limitations for each character, alternative models of identity outside the family, and what this process ultimately yields for the character. The first chapter, on Dorothy Allison�s Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), considers the uncertainty of self that a young girl experiences as a member of a �white trash� family who has been sexually abused by her stepfather. The second chapter investigates the relationship between Jane Smiley�s A Thousand Acres (1991) and Toni Morrison�s The Bluest Eye (1970), in terms of their narration and the ways in which two key female characters deal with their marginalized positions within their families. In the final chapter, I discuss the problematic relationship between personal identity and an identity that is closely tied to a larger family history, as represented in Eudora Welty�s Losing Battles (1970), David Bradley�s The Chaneysville Incident (1981) and Russell Banks�s Cloudsplitter (1998).

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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