Family

Family is an important theme in the novel “Mislaid” by Nell Zink. Family involves mutual love, compassion, loyalty towards, and emotional, spiritual, and physical support of individuals who may or may not be blood-related, but who still behave in the fashion of the traditional family unit. Family can be found consistently throughout the novel, and family affects the plot of the novel in various ways. Indeed, the presentation of the family exists in both a traditional, and nontraditional way.

In a traditional sense, Lee, Peggy, Byrd, and Mireille present a quintessential portrait of the American family: a mother, a father, and two children in a beautiful home. Certainly Lee and Peggy are devoted to their children, but not to one another. Lee and Peggy are a nontraditional married couple, because Lee is gay and Peggy is a lesbian. Likewise, Peggy never wanted to be only a...