Family and Familial Love

In Young Mungo, Stuart assigns incongruent familial roles to the Hamiltons in order to explore the impacts of negligence and domestic turmoil. For much of the novel, Jodie assumes the role of mother and guardian to Mungo. She takes on many of the household responsibilities, comforts Mungo in moments of anxiety, and supports him via her job at a local café. In the midst of her affair with Mr. Gillespie, Jodie wonders “if she was looking for a father. No, it was more than that she wanted respite from pretending to be Mungo’s mother. She felt tired all the time now…for the three short hours that this man would take care of her, she could set aside all of the burdens that were not hers” (95). Mo-Maw’s alcoholism and general negligence forces Jodie to adopt many of her maternal “burdens.” Stuart...