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The Source of Desire: The Mother In Three Twentieth Century Novels

Burks, Brennan C.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1366636032

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, English.
The portrayal of the mother in literature is symbolic of how she is understood in culture. She is the mystery from which life springs and upon which it is put to death. The twentieth century novels In Search of Lost Time, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and East of Eden paint a picture of the mother as she exists in relation to the struggling individual, her child. Each of the novels and each of the mother figures within them exist within a patriarchal structure that characterizes the mother-child relationship and informs our understanding of those relationships. I argue that each of the novels allows for an analysis of the mother in the mother-child relationship as a particular source of growth and struggle: the source of desire. However, I also argue that the mother can be so clearly analyzed this way only because she is understood within a particular, patriarchal context. Her mystery is contained and, often times, contaminated.
Andrew Slade, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Albino Carrillo, M.F.A. (Committee Member)
Rebecca Potter, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
38 p.
American Literature; Comparative Literature; Families and Family Life; Literature
Mother; Desire; Intimacy; Proust; Marquez; Steinbeck

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Burks, B. C. (2013). The Source of Desire: The Mother In Three Twentieth Century Novels [Master's thesis, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1366636032

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Burks, Brennan. The Source of Desire: The Mother In Three Twentieth Century Novels. 2013. University of Dayton, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1366636032.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Burks, Brennan. "The Source of Desire: The Mother In Three Twentieth Century Novels." Master's thesis, University of Dayton, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1366636032

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1366636032
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This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.