A Sense of Loss in Hilary Mantel's Change of Climate

Abstract

In A Change of Climate, Hilary Mantel portrays the life of the Eldred family both in England and Africa. In this novel, as in many others, Mantel deals with some of the topics she is more concerned with: religion, faith, displacement and identity; however, there is another protagonist in this novel apart from Anna and Ralph Eldred: loss. In this paper, it is shown how the Eldreds move from one loss to another and how, in a very autobiographical manner, Mantel deals with the loss of dreams, faith, children, or roots. Following different interpretations of psychoanalytic theory, this article explores the way the Eldreds deal with loss, the different processes of mourning they go through and their attempts to overcome the grief produced by the most important loss in their lives: their son.