Abstract

Set against the backdrop of the mid-twentieth century American Midwest, Marilynne Robinson's Lila is a profound story of loss and redemption told through the perspective of a young woman who emerges from a childhood of trauma and neglect and begins a new life in the quiet town of Gilead, Iowa. This paper examines the novel as a narrative meditation on the theological and ontological dimensions of wonder. While its fragmented structure and bleak subject matter have led some critics to interpret the novel as emotionally fractured or pessimistic, I argue that its recursive form and narrative disorientation are deliberate formal expressions of wonder--what Robinson refers to as the strangeness of being. Focusing on Lila's new understanding of existence and her emerging capacity for self-reflection, I demonstrate how her wonder--shaped by her relationship with Ames--enables her to reinterpret her traumatic past through a lens of mystery rather than despair. Drawing on philosophical, theological, and literary scholarship, I show how Lila imagines a redemption rooted not in forgetting suffering, but in attentively dwelling within its strangeness. Ultimately, the novel invites its readers to inhabit a similar space of unresolved tension--to view joy and sorrow, memory and presence, as coexisting realities held together by wonder and its mystery and grace.

Degree

MA

College and Department

Humanities; English

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2025-04-18

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13595

Keywords

Marilynne Robinson, Lila, wonder, mystery, strangeness, self-reflection, grace

Language

english

Download

Share

COinS