Matrilineaology: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Contemporary Fiction
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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-1999 Matrilineaology: Mother-daughter relationships in contemporary fiction Terra Ann Williams University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Williams, Terra Ann, "Matrilineaology: Mother-daughter relationships in contemporary fiction" (1999). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 989. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/y6yw-jnj2 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. 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MATRILINEAOLOGY: MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION by Terra Williams Bachelor of Arts Purdue University 1996 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts Degree English Department College of Liberal Arts Department of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 1999 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 13 9482 0 UMI Microform 1394820 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Thesis Approval U N iy The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas 30 April 19 99 The Thesis prepared by Terra Williams Entitled Matrilineaology: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Contemporary Fiction is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English_____________________________ aSfUnationlQammlle.nttee Chair Dean o f the Crad\ Examination Committee Member Examination Committee Member Graduatf'Cdllege Faculty Repiesentativei CiJUL^ u Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Matrilineaology: Mother-Daughter Relationships in Contemporary Fiction by Terra Williams Dr. Evelyn Gajowski, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas This thesis examines Dorothy Allison’s Bastard out of Carolina, Louise Erdrich’s The Beet Queen. Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and Amy Tan’s The Jov Luck Club to attempt to answer questions such as, “How do a mother’s experiences prior to the birth of her daughter affect the way that she raises that daughter?” and “How does a mother’s history affect her attitude(s) toward her daughter?” These questions are important because they lay the groundwork for the ultimate question that this thesis attempts to answer: “Will history repeat itself?” In addition to tracing history, this thesis will identify Nan Bauer Maglin’s five themes of matrilineaology (258) within each of the four texts examined. I l l Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................. v CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION.................................................................................1 CHAPTER TWO MOTHERS’ HISTORIES................................................................. 12 CPIAPTER THREE MOTHER-DAUGHTER INTERACTIONS............................... 43 CHAPTER FOUR BEYOND THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIPS ....83 CONCLUSION WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF?.............................................. 113 WORKS CITED...............................................................................................................141 VITA................................................................................................................................. 144 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Evelyn Gajowski for her never-ending support during the writing, editing, and defending of this thesis. I shudder to think where I might be if she had not worked so hard to keep me on track for a May 1999 graduation date. I would also hke to thank Dr. Jane Hafen, Dr. Susan Taylor, and Dr. Elspeth Whitney, the members of my graduate committee, for their valuable suggestions for improving my thesis. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Joanne Goodwin for reading my thesis and sitting in on my defense at the last minute. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION This thesis examines Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), Louise Erdrich’s The Beet Oueen (1986), Anmdhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997), and Amy Tan’s The Jov Luck Club (1989) in an attempt to answer the question of whether the daughter figures in these literary texts replicate their mothers’ lives. In other words, will the daughter characters in the four aforementioned texts inherit the same characteristics as their mothers? Will they make mistakes similar to the ones their mothers made growing up and as young women? Will the daughter characters also experience similar triumphs in their lives? In answering questions about how a daughter’s life unfolds in comparison to her mother’s, it is important to explore the ways that a mother’s experiences before the birth of her daughter affect the way that she raises her daughter. Additionally, examining the history of the mother - that which occurred even before she herself was bom - will illuminate her attitudes toward her daughter and the reasons that those attitudes exist. For example, in Amy Tan’s The Jov Luck Club. himdreds of years of objectification of women by men in Chinese culture affects the attitudes of the mother characters toward their daughters. Investigating the effects of those attitudes on the daughter characters is fruitful because it illuminates reasons why a daughter might offer herself as an object instead of taking control and being a subject. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While each of the four texts addresses the issue of mother-daughter relationships, Allison, Erdrich, Roy, and Tan all tell very different tales in different ways. Each author develops her mother and daughter characters’ relationships so that at the end of each novel, the relationships change, and none of the changes within any one novel or within any of the four novels is the same. All of these differences, coupled with common themes, make comparisons inevitable. Each of these texts represents a different culture: Allison represents poverty-level white America in the south; Erdrich represents rural Americans of European descent and Ojibwa culture; Tan represents Chinese American culture; and Roy represents Asian Indian culture. As a white, middle-class woman, I acknowledge the enormous complexity of the various cultures out of which these authors write and which they, in turn, depict in the narrative worlds which they constmct. Although I mention cultural difference and class issues in the present study, I cannot give them, within the scope