Paul Driskill answers “I have read a couple of articles that said...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about Daniel Deronda:

I have read a couple of articles that said Gwendolen had been sexually abused as a child by her step-father. What do you think?

Paul Driskill Consider checking out (if you haven't already) Louise Penner's "'Unmapped Country'": Uncovering Hidden Wounds in Daniel Deronda." I think there is a v…moreConsider checking out (if you haven't already) Louise Penner's "'Unmapped Country'": Uncovering Hidden Wounds in Daniel Deronda." I think there is a valid argument to be made that there was some sort of abuse (physical or mental). The novel subtly creates a backstory for Gwendolen through a few marked clues (the hidden panels shocking her into fits of terror, the unconscious embodied). However, most of Gwendolen's backstory is told through present absences--as Deronda discovers his father, his heritage, his genaelogy, as readers we feel the absence of Gwendolen's father.

In terms of passages, consider the one in which the narrator says this: "Gwendolen, immediately thinking of the unlovable step-father whom she had been acquainted with the greater part of her life while her frocks were short" (Chapter III). (less)

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