The Optimist's Daughter Laurel Character Analysis

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Eudora Welty, author of famous novel The Optimist’s Daughter, is know for her exquisite literary works. Welty is a Mississippi native, having attended Jackson High School where she first engaged with her literary strengths. The Optimist’s Daughter is renown novel, arguably Welty’s best work— winning a Pulitzer Prize. The J.D William’s library at the University of Mississippi obtains several copies of the novel in English, French, Chinese, and Tybaniese which provides evidence of the popularity of this novel. “Welty’s need to distance herself from The Optimist’s Daughter is strange since no other work by her is so transparently and irresistibly autobiographical” (Trouard, Dawn 232). The novel is set around the reoccurring deaths that take place …show more content…
Initially, the fact that the judge has issues with his eyes is ironic. The meaning behind this is that the judge cannot see what kind of person he has chosen to be his partner, generally, in place of his late wife. His blindness to the narcissistic person that Fay is projects long term affects on his beloved daughter, Laurel. His blindness of Fay leads to his blindness of leaving Laurel feeling abandoned just as she has previously experienced after her husband’s death and her mother’s death. Another symbol of unity leading to abandonment in the novel is the event of both parent’s dying from a surgery due to vision issues. As if the judge and Becky were always one— despite Fay. After dealing with not only her mother’s horrible death but her father remarrying a grueling woman such as Fay, Laurel had to relive the pain of her mother’s death while experiencing the pain from her father’s since they were results of the same illness. After her father’s death, Laurel is left the support and love from a few people who also play a symbolic role in the novel— her bridesmaids. When a girl who is getting married, she chooses the people who are going to be by her side for forever. For Laurel, this proves true for the five women she choose. Their presence in the novel is symbolic in that it reminds her of her wedding day to her late husband and that although she is essentially alone, his presence and memories of him still exist in things such as the women who stood by her on her wedding day. Lastly and most importantly is the breadboard, that, in a sense, represented Laurel. After finding the special piece that represents all three of her dead loved ones and accusing Fay of battering it, Fay says to her “Your husband? What has he got to do with it? …He’s dead, isn’t he” (—). The breadboard was battered looking as if it had endured a great deal of mistreatment,

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