In Gabrielle Roy's works (Rue Deschambault, La Petite Poule d'Eau, Ces enfants de ma vie, La Route d'Altamont, Alexandre Chenevert, and La Rivière sans repos), the dissatisfaction with the representational code and the consciousness of the problem of writing are omnipresent. As her characters discover the inadequacy of the linguistic signifier, their urgent need for, and possibility of, self-expression are constantly undermined. Yet, these characters ardently desire to communicate, to create, to tell their stories. They want to be heard, recognized, loved; they want to be significant and immortal. It is through their relentless struggle with the linguistic medium, through their unceasing exploration of both the limitations and the creative power of language, that these characters, like their creator, will achieve a degree of immortality, a sustained form of personal identity.
