1. Objectifs

Intentions :
In this article, «[...] I turn my attention to representations of the Arab immigrant family in Québec in the first decade of the twenty-first century, I find that a new and different light is being shed on the figure of the Arab/Muslim father and his relationships with both daughters and sons.» (p. 117)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
L’auteur utilise un corpus de romans québécois.

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«The more recent portraits of Arab Muslim immigrant fathers I have examined here do not seem to conform to this earlier immigrant literary tradition. In L’Ange de goudron and Notes d’une musique ancienne the father gives up his paternal authority, although not without a struggle within himself, to enter into the decision made by a son or daughter. In Le Fou d’Omar the father has willingly sacrificed what may have been his former authoritarian ways to become the loving caretaker of a disabled child. Strangely enough, although the fathers in these texts are clearly immigrants - and, in fact, all are fleeing violence in their country of origin - in none of these cases is the fact of immigration the source of misunderstanding between father and child, nor is the problem specific to immigrant families. In Notes d’une musique ancienne the father’s dependence on his daughter’s affection results from the early loss of his wife and the deaths of both his parents. In L’ange de goudron the father’s initial failure to understand his rebellious son could be that of any parent confronted with a child who recklessly risks imprisonment and death in youthful protest. And in Le Fou d’Omar the father is a pillar of strength to a child whose illness leaves him totally dependent on his father’s care. In these extreme situations, which should resonate with the Québécois reader [...] the immigrant Arab Muslim immigrant father is, like any other father, faced with the often-painful realities of family life.» (p. 123-124)