Plainsong

Family is one of the most pervasive themes in the text but also one of the most nebulous. The traditional idea of what constitutes a family is challenged on a number of occasions. The Guthrie family represents the typical nuclear family—father, mother, and two children. By the time the narrative is set in motion, this family unit is in the process of disintegrating. Ella will leave for Denver, and Guthrie will find that his boys are growing increasingly distant. Meanwhile, Victoria is exiled from her real family—whether it is her mother, or Dwayne and his mother—and finds a new family in an unexpected place.

As a point of contrast, it is useful to compare the state of the family units at the beginning of the novel with the end. In the opening chapter, the Guthrie family is in trouble. Ella is locked in her dark room and is unresponsive to her husband’s words. The boys are uncertain of what is happening, and their anxious father finds himself struggling to explain the situation to them. Guthrie can see the “change in their faces” (12) but cannot find a way to avert the inevitable collapse of the marriage.