on The Family---for possible discussion re Vineland/TRP

[Tore Rye Andersen]

John Bailey:
 
> I've always taken the supposed Vineland/M&D/AtD focus on family in a
> pretty general sense - nothing to do with blood ties, more to do with
> the family you create around you. Mason and Dixon are (often sparring)
> brothers; [...]
 
I think those blood ties - and the responsibility they carry with them -
still matter a great deal in those three novels, particularly when it
comes to the many children who are let down by their parents in those novels:
Prairie is abandoned by her mother, who refuses to grow up. Mason may choose
a true brother in Dixon, but he does so at the cost of his two sons, whom he
inexcusably leaves in the care of his sister. And Webb Traverse is so busy
blowing up railroads that he inadvertently blows up his own family as well.
Family matters - also the one you can't choose.
 
/Tore
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