Speaking of aunts & uncles and Joyce and Dubliners: the unnamed
(because first-person) narrator and protagonist of Joyce’s “Araby”
in Dubliners is, or seems to be, raised by an aunt and uncle. He
depends on his uncle for money and appears to be living with them. There
is no mention of parents, and because the narrator is adolescent or
pre-adolescent, the inference is that there are no parents.
Eric Hyman
From: Vladimir Nabokov
Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU] On Behalf Of Matthew Roth
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 1:27 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] QUERY: Aunts and orphans, THANKS
Thanks to all for
the responses below. I had thought of Jane Eyre and Tom Sawyer, but I hadn't
thought about David Copperfield, Vashtar, the Wiz of Oz, or Pollyanna. I can
now add that Tolstoy himself was an orphan and was raised by his Aunt
Alexandra. Also, the title character in Mary Shelley's novella Mathilda is
raised by her severe aunt after her mother dies and her father abandons her. It
might be interesting to think about why exactly VN chose to make JS an orphan,
and whether or not this fits with the way orphans have traditionally functioned
in literary narratives.
Many thanks,
Matt
>>> On 11/6/2008 at 8:26 PM, in message
<491352F702000012002EA7D7@dudley.holycross.edu>, NABOKV-L
<NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU> wrote:
Tom Sawyer was raised by his dead mother's
sister, Aunt Polly.
Gavriel Shapiro [and Michael Donohue]
Sredni Vashtar, of course.
Carolyn Kunin
Just barely [September 1900] "Aunty Em, Aunty Em!"
Sandy Drescher
Jane Eyre was raised by her heartless Aunt Reed. David Copperfield is
adopted by his kind, eccentric aunt Betsy Trotwood and even renamed
"Trot" (an apt word for Pale Fire) in her honor. Also Pollyanna
(1913) -- but Jane, David, and Tom are probably the best examples.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
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