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Abstract

Margaret Laurence, the Canadian novelist is familiar for her Manawaka novels. These novels exhibit the lives of the people of Manawaka, the fictional land that replicates Neepawa, Manitoba which is the birthplace of Laurence. The Manawaka novels include The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), The Fire-Dwellers (1969) and The Diviners (1972). These are considered as the classics of Canadian literature. Laurence registers how one’s background plays significant role in shaping his/her personality. Manawaka’s influence is evidenced in almost all female characters of her novels. At the initial stage, these women regard the influence as hindrance but in due course of progress, they realize the value of this influence. Through these novels, she reveals the positive and negative effects of the influences of a place that strongly affects the personality of people over several generations. She uses original songs and histories along with the prairie landscape that creates high impact on the characters. This paper analyses the influence of Manawaka in the lives of the characters of Laurence’s Manawaka novels.        

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