Dysfunctional Families in Selected Contemporary Novels

Abstract

In this dissertation, the four contemporary novels (Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd) will be analyzed by focusing on their depiction of dysfunctional families, along with emotional and physical anguish which affect the characters in the novels. In the novels, how troubled childhood and traumas have an impact on the protagonists’ coming-of-ages and identity formations will be discussed. Besides, the working through and acting out of remembering trauma modes will be explained during the analyses of the novels to comprehend how the victims are influenced by their traumas and they become survivor in the selected novels.