A study of the myth of the family in the fiction of Thomas Hardy

Scott Bennett Borders, Purdue University

Abstract

Hardy's fiction often portrays families that depart from the Victorian myth of the family. The myth assumes societal values should be inculcated within the home, wherein competent and caring parents would foster an environment of security and love for their children and thereby establish the home as the moral authority while providing the children with a walled garden in which they could thrive. Hardy, however, chronicles the myth's failure. Hardy exposes the dangers inherent in a system which places inordinate power into the hands of oftentimes flawed parents; moreover, the myth's strongly paternalistic bias effectively moves the power into the hands of only one parent, the father. Hardy's works demonstrate the myth's effects on the family. His parents react to the myth in two different ways: either the parents earnestly attempt to uphold their role as shapers of their children's moral and civic beings, or the parents abandon the role. Hardy thus categorizes parents as either repressive or neglectful: a too-direct involvement in the child's life leads to the first, a lax regard for the child's welfare leads to the latter. The influence upon the child is great. When the child becomes an adult (the stage upon which Hardy chiefly bases his investigation) the repressive parenting style leads to a dutiful adult who is excessively tied to his parents' wishes. The result is an adult who has not grown up. The neglectful parenting style undercuts the myth by inverting the mode of the earnestly responsible parent which the myth assumes in its project. Without that element, the child suffers more directly, for his basic security, self worth, and welfare are threatened. Hardy's dutiful children clearly show the damage the myth can inflict. Excessive obligation to one's parents causes much hurt and trouble for these children. Ultimately, since the parents are responsible, Hardy's most scathing criticism is reserved for them. Often out of a desire to match a myth that simply could not be matched, in their ignorance these parents doom their children to a stunted adulthood. Hardy thus strongly questions the efficacy of Victorian society's chief formative agent, the family.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Lauterbach, Purdue University.

Subject Area

British and Irish literature

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