What Was Wanting: A Memoir
Date
2020-01-09
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Publisher
MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa
Abstract
Born in Toronto to Portuguese-Canadian immigrants, Duarte explores crucial
moments in her life in which an absent, abusive father’s reach impacts her childhood and
extends through to her adulthood. Duarte details how she, and her family of women, were
ostracized by the city’s Portuguese immigrant community of the 1970s-1990s, while also
being marginalized by the dominant culture for their ethnicity and poverty. This memoir
examines how patriarchy and poverty go hand-in-hand to thwart her survival as a child,
while taking us to present day Toronto and Portugal, where the narrator, in an attempt to
move beyond it, confronts her past. Using a variety of techniques, Duarte crafts a story of
domestic and other kinds of violence, male dominance, the traditions that enable these
dynamics to exist, home-grown feminism, and a woman’s strength in her struggle to
survive and overcome. With rich character development, credible dialogue, and vivid
imagery, this work brings a touch of humor and much grace to complex and painful
situations.
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Keywords
Memoir, Immigrants