Date Thesis Awarded
5-2020
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
English
Advisor
Richard Lowry
Committee Members
Hermine Pinson
Scott Challener
John Riofrio
Abstract
Among literary families with histories of abuse specifically, we can observe a certain inheritability of violence through generations; the violence faced by a parent is reproduced onto the child as a coping mechanism, inflicting trauma onto the child and perpetuating a cycle in which the offspring similarly reproduces violence. Within immigrant family units specifically, these violent cycles become entwined with the borders which physically separate family members from each other, an under-explored phenomenon in mainstream literary criticism. Through Lucy; Breath, Eyes, Memory; and Drown, three immigrant novels from the Caribbean region grappling with the implications of family separation, this thesis explores the mechanisms by which immigrant families pass along and cope with intergenerational violence and trauma.
Recommended Citation
Vita, Kelsey, "Inherited Reproduction of Violence and Trauma in 1990’s Literary Immigrant Families: An Exploration of Lucy; Breath, Eyes, Memory; and Drown" (2020). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1520.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1520
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
