Abstract
A Bird in the House and Who Do You Think You Are? are written by two Canadian women writers, Margaret Laurence and Alice Munro respectively. The aim of my thesis is to make a comparative analysis of the theme and the structure of the two books so as to see the function of the form of short story composite in relation to the theme. The books of Laurence and Munro depict the maturation of their protagonists Vanessa and Rose but the processes of their growth are different. However, there is something in common in the processes: both of the protagonists have struggled to discover their own identity by exploring their roots and their past. To prove my supposition, I first focus on the processes of Vanessa s growth into emotional and psychological maturity by examining the relationships between family members and the matriarch or patriarch in her two grandparents houses, and that of how Rose grows into maturity in relation to both her family and her hometown but not her lovers. Then I compare and contrast the two protagonists in terms of the main issue they attempt to deal with who they really are, their motivations for leaving home and returning home, and of the interdependent relationship between origin of place and identity.
Both Laurence and Munro have chosen the form of the short story composite in writing their books. Their choices of form are decided by the themes of their books: the form of the short story composite fits their portrayal of the gradual and hard phases of the protagonists development. So, my focus is on a comparative analysis of the thematic and structural connections and disruptions that work together to help establish both of the books overriding theme of identity in a manner characteristic of short story composites. Firstly, I turn my attention to the unifying elements such as single protagonist, setting, story-telling by protagonist, imagery and religion in the two composites. Then I discuss the disruptive factors contained in both of the books, primarily temporal and spatial breaks, and/or character breaks, which reinforce their themes.
Narrative voice and time are important unifying elements for both Laurence and Munro in their writing of the books. So is the discontinuous element of temporal breaks. In my thesis I compare Laurence s and Munro s use of narrative voice and handling of time as narrative modes in these writers' efforts to explore the central themes of both books: the quest for identity on the part of their protagonists.