Graduate Program
English
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
2008
Thesis Director
Anne Zahlan
Thesis Committee Member
Ruth Hoberman
Thesis Committee Member
Chris Wixson
Abstract
Graham Greene's treatment of the subject of home in his writings is remarkably negative. Focusing on nine of his major novels (England Made Me, A Gun for Sale, Brighton Rock, The Heart of the Matter, The Quiet American, The Comedians, Travels with My Aunt, The Honorary Consul, and The Human Factor), this study explicates the ways in which home fails his characters. In this thesis, 'home' has been split into three facets: family, domicile and homeland. Each facet seems to promise benefits for the characters that don't materialize. The way in which Greene's writing promotes a betrayal of home reflects his ideological credo, "the virtue of disloyalty." Edward Said's writings on exile and affiliation versus filiation provide a way of viewing Greene's work as favoring affiliative connections and expatriation to filial ties to biological families and national identities.
Recommended Citation
Cowgill, Geoff, "The grim word: 'home' in fiction by Graham Greene" (2008). Masters Theses. 276.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/276
