Unbecoming
What is an example of motif in the novel, Unbecoming?
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One example of motif (a recurring theme) in the novel is the fabric of a story. Over the course of the novel, Katie Baxter discovers that every story is made up of “threads” of information, each from the perspective of a different person involved in the story. Each thread is true as seen from that person's point of view. The problem is that a person who claims to be able to tell the entire truth about a story is probably deluding themselves because that limited point of view usually does not know all the details of the other threads of the story. Two important stories in the history of Katie's family are prime examples. The first is that Katie's mother, Caroline, grew up believing that her mother, Mary, abandoned her. That is not the entire truth. The second is that Caroline has experienced moments of weakness in her own life. Supposedly, Mary stepped in to help during one of those, though Katie believed that Mary wanted nothing to do with them and that it was Mary's choice to stay away.
Unbecoming, BookRags