One of the harsh realities of life is death. In A Bird in the House and A Jest of God, Margaret Laurence realizes the death of a loved one, the 'death of a dream', and the death of a relationship through the eyes of women. Laurence uses similar themes and ironic situations in both novels to paint a grim picture of life and death.

In both novels, the author writes of the struggles of women coping with the death of a loved one. Vanessa, a young girl in A Bird in the House, undergoes considerable pain throughout the entire book. She endures the death of an infant sister, all her grandparents, her father, and lastly, her dog. For Vanessa, leaving town eased the pain. Her way of dealing wth all the death and sadness was to move away and leave it all behind. Twenty years later, Vanessa returns to her home town to bury her mother. "I had not been back in a long time, and I sensed that this would be my last sight of [Manawaka]." However, of her mother's death, Vanessa states, "Of all the deaths in the family, hers remained unhealed the longest." In A Jest of God, Rachel Cameron is a young schoolteacher who also experienced the death of a loved one, namely, her father. Howev

Another similarity that exists between the two novels is the upsetting relationships the heroines endure. Vanessa of A Bird in the House finds a man that she can call her first real boyfriend, only to have her disapproving grandfather yell at her in his presence. "I'll bet a nickel to a doughnut hole he's married. That's the sort of fellow you've picked up, Vanessa." Vanessa would never think such a thing of the man that she had fallen for so quickly. It could not be. They had the same interests, and there was never a shortage of things for them to talk about. Yet, after that night, he never came back. Later, Vanessa found out that her grandfather had been right all along. Her first love was really a married man. Nearly the same thing happened in A Jest of God to Rachel. She met a man that she had known when she was a child, and had pursued an intimate relationship with him. He was easy for her to communicate with, and he was her first lover. When she finally gathered up enough courage to talk to him, and tell him what she felt should be done if she should become pregnant, "He pulls a picture from his wallet... a boy with face and eyes that speak entirely of Nick... Why is it that it never should have occurred to me, tha

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Approximate Word count = 829
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)