Date of Award

Summer 1994

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

English

Committee Director

Dana Heller

Committee Member

Jeffrey Richards

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64W75

Abstract

Fictional representations of familial paradigms are changing. This discussion charts the variations that occur in family makeup; such as the single-parent, the lesbian parent, and the guardian parent households. While the nuclear family situation is missing from this selection, it is not absent from these novels. What is different in both Fried Green Tomatoes and Bastard out of Carolina is choice. People make choices concerning who they want to live with. Writers, like Flagg and Allison, make choices concerning their characters' familial configurations, but they do· not require their characters or their readers to determine that one should eradicate the other.

By examining these specific novels, certain patterns and shifts in the familial paradigm, as represented in fiction begin to surface. These novels also exemplify how important it is to maintain family histories and the power of the storyteller.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item 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).

DOI

10.25777/3e4x-sh12

Download

Share

COinS