The influence of fathers on family and society : a study in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son

Abstract EN

Fatherhood is a theme that recurs in literature.

It motivated many poets, novelists, and dramatists.

Whereas some of poets wrote elegies for their fathers, others wrote novels and plays in which absent fathers were the cause of the difficulties confronted by the characters in these literary works.

In addition, there are plays and novels where fathers are an inspiring force guiding their offspring.

Significantly, fathers whether absent or present do influence their children.

Their influence may be positive as well as negative affecting the family in particular and the society in general.

In some of the novels, the father figure represents a moral guide, such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).

In this novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize, a father of two children influences his son and daughter positively.

Besides, he is an example to be followed by his children and his community.

Conversely, in Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son (1848), a father of two children negatively influences his daughter and his family.

The aim of this study is to investigate the familial ties in two novels and explore the role of fathers in constructing healthy children which will lead to a healthy texture of the society in general.