Summary
Gail Godwin’s novels intricately examine the conflict between personal desires and the expectations imposed by others. Her earlier works, such as The Odd Woman and Violet Clay, focus on individual struggles between creativity and love. As her narratives evolved in the 1980s, they grew more complex, featuring multiple characters and intricate situations, mirrored in works like A Southern Family. Father Melancholy’s Daughter returns to a single narrator, yet the complexity persists as the protagonist seeks truth from various perspectives, leading the reader to interpret the diverse narratives presented.
Margaret Gower's Quest for Truth
At the heart of Father Melancholy’s Daughter is Margaret Gower’s pursuit of understanding her past. Her journey reflects a need to comprehend her parents' actions before she can truly move forward with her own life. Margaret’s childhood abruptly ended at the age of six when she came home to find her mother, Ruth, had left unexpectedly. The tragedy compounded nine months later when Ruth was killed in a car accident, leaving Margaret in a perpetual search for answers.
Life with Father Melancholy
Over the next sixteen years, Margaret dedicates herself to caring for her father, an Episcopal priest whose depressive episodes earn him the moniker "Father Melancholy." Margaret’s childhood fantasies of rescuing her father from his melancholic retreats transform into a real-life role of caretaker. This responsibility becomes her reality, despite her father’s openness to remarriage, an option curtailed by their chosen woman's decision to join a religious order. Margaret and her father settle into a life of mutual reliance, providing each other with stability, which enables Walter to serve his parish effectively.
Stunted Independence
Their close-knit relationship, however, stifles Margaret’s personal growth. Her college years at Charlottesville are interrupted by the demands of her father’s mental health, forcing her to abandon her plans at the slightest hint of his depression. Her relationships with peers, particularly with Ben MacGruder, remain detached, with her affections primarily directed towards another priest, echoing her father's characteristics. Yet, it is not until Walter’s sudden death that Margaret confronts the reality of choosing her own path.
Unraveling Ruth’s Choices
To progress, Margaret must decipher her mother's decision to leave. Ruth’s abandonment has haunted her, leading Margaret to speculate on stories of mothers forsaking families for lovers or death. Although her father dismisses any romantic link between Ruth and Madelyn Farley, Margaret is convinced of Madelyn’s influence over her mother’s departure. Madelyn’s disdain for Walter and his values furthers Margaret’s belief that she swayed Ruth towards a life of autonomy.
Revelations from Madelyn
Margaret’s unexpected ally in understanding her mother is Madelyn herself. After a bitter message from Margaret, Madelyn visits and offers insight into Ruth’s mindset. She explains that Ruth, like many women of her era, felt trapped and impulsively sought freedom. Nevertheless, Ruth was ill-prepared for true independence, seeking solace instead in Madelyn’s strength. Madelyn's explanation casts Ruth’s disenchantment with Walter as a pattern of unrealistic expectations rather than a true desire for independence.
Margaret’s Path to Independence
Madelyn’s insights help Margaret realize that true independence involves fulfilling one’s obligations. For Madelyn, it is art; for Walter, it was faith. In the novel’s conclusion, Margaret rejects societal patterns and chooses her own path, applying for theological seminary, reflecting a commitment to duty over escapism.
Broader Themes of Dependence and Independence
While the novel primarily follows Margaret’s journey, it mirrors the broader human struggle between dependence and independence, self-sacrifice and personal fulfillment. Characters in Walter’s parish illustrate these themes, with individuals avoiding self-reflection through busy lives and others like Ben MacGruder emotionally tethered to Margaret’s whims. Love and self-denial appear...
(This entire section contains 1304 words.)
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intertwined, demonstrated by the tragic suicide of a friend’s mother, emphasizing the ultimate dependency on another for self-worth.
A Balance of Nurture and Independence
Margaret inherits her father’s nurturing spirit, a trait that eases her childhood burdens and later compels her to care for an ailing Madelyn and her difficult father. In seeking independence, Margaret chooses to harness this nurturing ability in a public role, aiming to fulfill her potential in the ministry, a path unavailable to previous generations. Godwin poignantly acknowledges that personal choices are influenced by historical and cultural contexts.
The Role of Tradition
Godwin, a Southern writer, weaves history and tradition into the narrative, expanding the scope beyond the immediate sixteen-year timespan of the novel. Through love letters and tales from the past, true or otherwise, Margaret’s worldview is shaped, demonstrating the power of stories in constructing reality. Tradition emerges as a stabilizing force, a motif explored through religious imagery that underscores the protagonist’s eventual embrace of duty.
Conclusion: A Quest for Spiritual Significance
In Father Melancholy’s Daughter, Gail Godwin transcends her earlier works by addressing the profound quest for a spiritually meaningful life. Through Margaret’s journey, Godwin delves into the complexities of balancing personal aspirations with the responsibilities imposed by familial and societal expectations, creating a narrative that resonates with universal themes of human existence.
Sources for Further Study
Chicago Tribune. March 19, 1991, XIV, p. 1.
Godwin, Gail. “A Dialogue with Gail Godwin.” Interview by Lihong Xie. Mississippi Quarterly 46 (Spring, 1993): 167-184. In this interview, conducted after Father Melancholy’s Daughter was written, Godwin describes her ideas about writing “major-key” and “minor-key” novels, both types about women trying to find their own identities. She reveals that all of her novels have dealt with the spiritual aspects of the central characters; if Father Melancholy’s Daughter is unusual in this regard, it is because she has used a formal religious setting to explore that spirituality.
Hill, Jane. Gail Godwin. New York: Twayne, 1992. The first full-length critical study of Gail Godwin’s work, this book examines the autobiographical elements in the novels, the theme of the young woman looking for an independent life, and the importance of the South. Father Melancholy’s Daughter was unfinished as Hill’s book went to press; it is mentioned only briefly. Includes a chronology, a bibliography, and an index.
The Hudson Review. XLIV, Autumn, 1991, p. 500.
Library Journal. CXVl, February 1, 1991, p. 103.
Los Angeles Times Book Review. March 3, 1991, p. 2.
Mickelson, Anne Z. Reaching Out: Sensitivity and Order in Recent American Fiction by Women. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1979. This book tries to determine whether a “new woman” has emerged in the fiction of American women writers since the rise of the modern women’s liberation movement. The chapter on Godwin proposes a major theme: the struggle to be independent while maintaining union with others. Although Father Melancholy’s Daughter was written more than a decade after this study, Margaret Gower’s story is an expression of the same struggle.
The New York Times Book Review. XCVI, March 3, 1991, p. 7.
Southern Living. XXVI, May, 1991, p. 83.
Sternburg, Janet, ed. The Writer on Her Work. 2 vols. New York: W. W. Norton, 1980-1991. Godwin’s chapter, “Becoming a Writer,” tells the story of her decision, at the age of five, to follow in the footsteps of her mother, a professional writer of stories. Godwin’s own life resembles a novel, with divorce (her mother’s and her own), suicide, romance, and the struggles of a young writer to be published.
Time. CXXXVII, March 25, 1991, p. 70.
The Times Literary Supplement. May 24, 1991, p. 21.
The Times-Picayune. April 7, 1991, p. E6.
The Washington Post Book World. XXI, March 17, 1991, p. 4.
Wimsatt, Mary Ann. “Gail Godwin’s Evolving Heroine: The Search for Self.” Mississippi Quarterly 42 (Winter, 1988): 27-45. Wimsatt describes the typical Godwin heroine: a woman struggling (often in the South in the late twentieth century) for self-determination in spite of the family and romantic ties that hold her back. Although this study was done a few years before Father Melancholy’s Daughter appeared, readers will find insight into the character of Margaret Gower.
