Honors Theses
Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Natalie Schroeder
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
The following thesis analyzes the mother-daughter relationships in Rebecca Wells’ Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya~Ya Sisterhood, Janet Fitch’s White Oleander and Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees. Attempting to illustrate the central significance of relations between mothers and daughters in everyday life, I chose the four novels based on their recent popularity in mainstream society. For instance, both Divine Secrets and White Oleander have been made into films within the past few years. In gathering data for my thesis, I focused on information explaining why the relationships between mothers and daughters are especially potent and decided upon the works of Adrienne Rich and Nancy Chodorow as chief supportive sources. Although both women wrote primarily in the 1970s and early 1980s, their theories on mothers and daughters were extremely applicable to the characters in the four selected novels. The introduction contains a general analysis of themes in women’s literature such as suppression by the patriarchy and the forming of homosocial relationships as a method of gaining power. The paper then narrows to focus on the two central mother figures— the universal mother and the biological mother. IV Chapter one examines the different manifestations of the universal mother within the four novels—^Mother Earth, the Holy Virgin, A Moon Goddess—^and examines their influence on the characters and their relationships with their biological mothers. Chapter two switches to an examination of the overwhelming biological mother figure in the novels and the daughters’ struggles for selfhood. The thesis concludes that while conflict between the biological mother and daughter is often a necessity in order for the daughter to attain a separate identity, reconciliation must also occur for either party to achieve happiness. Through conflict, the daughters are able to separate their mothers from the perfection of the universal mother and move toward becoming unique individuals. However, each daughter also at least partially returns to her mother by the novel’s end, bringing resolution and healing to the mother-daughter bond.
Recommended Citation
Comer, Camille Leigh, "The Daughter’s Struggle for Definition both with and Against the Mother in Achieving Selfhood in Five Contemporary American Novels" (2004). Honors Theses. 1970.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1970
Accessibility Status
Searchable text