Daughter of Earth Literary Elements

Autobiographical novel

The autobiography is set from the 1890s to the 1920s in the context of Smedley's life.

First-person narrative

Violent, aggressive, abusive and cynical

Marie Rodgers is the protagonist and of the book.

The major conflict occurs when her father physically abuses Marie's mother. As a result, Marie's family is unhappy and disoriented. Similarly, the protagonist's father kicks out Aunt Helen because he finds out that she is a prostitute.

The climax comes when Marie gets a teaching job in Mexico, and she can send her earnings to help her siblings at home.

The death of Marie’s mother foreshadowed her overburdened responsibility in the coming days. Marie finds herself in a tight situation because she is the one who is supposed to work and support her siblings.

The happiness of Marie is understated. For instance, Marie is not successful in any of her marriage attempts. Unfortunately, she is often raped and misused sexually by her suitors.

The story is an illusion of the responsibility of being the eldest child in a family. More often, the eldest children are burdened with taking care of their siblings when their parents separate or die.

The imageries of rape and sadism dominate the novel. The author describes the aggressive nature of Marie's mother to depict sight imagery which aids readers to see the negativities of a patriarchal society. Marie's father abuses his wife physically and easily gets away with it. Similarly, Marie is severely raped by men, but society still blames her for not being pure.

The main paradox is that Marie wants a man to marry her on her terms and conditions simply because she does not want to fall victim to abuse like her mother.

Marie’s troubled life parallels her mother’s unhappy life because both are abused and misused.

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