The Father-Son Relationships in Louise Erdrich's Novels

Bc. Markéta Sklářová

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

The Major BA Thesis "The Father-Son Relationship in Louise Erdrich's novels" intends to examine the themes of adoption, foster care and searching for one's identity on the background of two main characters, Eli Kashpaw and Lipsha Morrissey, in the novels by Louise Erdrich - Tracks, Love Medicine and The Bingo Palace. The three novels portray the lives of several Native American families throughout the twentieth century.The main thought of the thesis describes the development of the major characters from their youth experience of not knowing their birth father, which makes the search for their identity rather more complicated, until their becoming the parents themselves, which concludes the idea of being fostered and becoming a foster carer. The father-son relationships are approached from sociological and psychological points of view, concerning such secondary sources as Osvojení a pěstounská péče edited by Zdeněk Matějček, Family Ethnicity edited by H.P. McAdoo, and Self and Society edited by Ann Branaman.

Keywords

Louise Erdrich, Tracks, Love Medicine, The Bingo Palace, adoption, foster care, identity, abandonment, Native Americans

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 15. 2. 2006

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 23. 1. 2006
• Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Bachelor programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature