Family Tree, The (2005)
By Carole Cadwalladr
Biological determinism; Inherited traits; Nature/nurture
When faced with personal tragedy, Rebecca Monroe must consider whether she carries a genetic trait that explains the behavior of several generations of Monroe women.
On July 29, 1981, Rebecca Monroe’s mother kills herself while hosting a party to celebrate the marriage of Charles and Diana. This moment is, to Rebecca, the fulcrum upon which the history of her family rests, the element which unifies three generations of Monroe and Arnold women. While any number of factors might have contributed to Doreen’s suicide – the chocolate cake wouldn’t set, the guests arrived early, young Rebecca humiliated her in front of family and friends – Rebecca fears there is some genetic element which determined her mother’s fate, some impetuosity carried through the mitochondrial DNA. She wonders whether fate is merely genetic predisposition, a sum of ancestral detritus that accumulates in the DNA. Her husband Alastair, a behavioral geneticist, believes that environment is negligible in determination of character; nature exceeds nurture in his estimation. In her search to understand her family and her own development, Rebecca traces her confused ancestry back to her maternal grandparents, whose own decisions shaped her genetic composition. Grandmother Alicia’s aborted affair with a Jamaican immigrant offers the possibility of unreliability within the family tree, as does the hint of an affair between Doreen and brother-in-law Kenneth. Fearing that mental illness is inherited, a suspicion shared by Alastair, Rebecca worries about the fate of her unborn child, wondering whether nurture can overcome the burden of family history in her child.
Alastair enrolls Rebecca in a research study he is conducting, though he does not reveal why she is a suitable subject for his project. Only later does she realize that he is focusing on her mitochondrial DNA to determine whether or not mental illness can be inherited. In spite of the twisted branches of the family tree, made so through adulterous liaisons and potential affairs, maternal DNA endures untainted and explains, in part, the indelible connection between Rebecca and Alicia. Passed from mother to offspring, Rebecca’s mitochondrial DNA may contain the evidence that Doreen’s bipolar disorder or Alicia’s Alzheimer’s Disease are heritable. Still, nurture cannot be entirely discounted; as a child, Doreen witnessed her mother’s breakdown, which could have provided a behavioral model for her to follow in later years. Unlike the genes for Huntington’s, which are either present in the genome or not, Rebecca sees mental illness as the commingling of genetic combinations and environmental conditions. Alastair’s infidelity, for instance, might be a genetically determined trait, or the result of witnessing his father’s repeated infidelities over the years. By examining her family tree, Rebecca can test Alastair’s theories about the predominance of nature in the determination of behavior; for instance, he claims that “like marries like,” in spite of instinctual need to diversify genes through breeding with opposites. Alicia is attracted to Jamaican Cecil, but ends up marrying her first cousin – Alastair’s theories seem proved. Yet Alastair’s investment in a biological imperative cannot discount environmental possibilities; Rebecca’s sister Tiffany’s personality seems to be cloned not from DNA, but from the “proper” behavior of her mother and grandmothers.
Evaluation: Cadwalladr’s novel is successful because she raises questions about the nature-nurture relationship without attempting to offer definitive answers through her characters’ development. The mitochondrial DNA that passes from generations is represented here as literally as genetic material and figuratively as maternal influence, thereby pushing genetic technologies beyond the realm of science.
– Natalie Champ