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Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature
"'Ic Paet Secgan Maeg, Hwaet Ic Yrmpa Gebad'": Christian Scribes' Condemnation Of Blood Feud And Its Effect On Women In Anglo-Saxon Society, Tara Seate-Beck
"'Ic Paet Secgan Maeg, Hwaet Ic Yrmpa Gebad'": Christian Scribes' Condemnation Of Blood Feud And Its Effect On Women In Anglo-Saxon Society, Tara Seate-Beck
Theses & Honors Papers
In preserving The Wife 's Lament, Wulf and Eadwacer, and Beowulf's battle scene with Grendel's mother, Christian poets and scribes preserved much more than just the literature of Anglo-Saxon England. They recorded the feminine voice, a rare perspective emerging from a society founded principally on the fundamentals of warfare and male dominance. The women's songs stand as testaments to the strife and discord women suffered as a consequence of their husbands' participation in blood feud. Their stories are not merely recounted as third person narratives, as much of the other extant texts from the period are; in the elegies, these …
"There's Nothing Like Dancing, After All" Gender As Performance In Jane Austen's Dance Scenes, D. Nicole Swann
"There's Nothing Like Dancing, After All" Gender As Performance In Jane Austen's Dance Scenes, D. Nicole Swann
Theses & Honors Papers
This thesis examines the elaborate and intricate dance scenes in many of Jane Austen’s novels as representations of marriage and the performance of gender. Along with looking at the successful marriages in Austen’s novels which result from the social convention of English country dancing, this thesis also analyzes the failed relationships and broken hearts that result from Austenian dancing and discusses the role of gender in finding both a good dance partner and a good spouse.
Manacled Desires: William Blake's Struggle For Sexual Autonomy, Cheryl Adams Rychkov
Manacled Desires: William Blake's Struggle For Sexual Autonomy, Cheryl Adams Rychkov
Theses & Honors Papers
This thesis closely examines William Blake’s attitudes towards women and compares and contrasts the texts with what can be known of Blake’s life and world. It examines his interest in sexual freedom and where these interests might have emerged from. The author explores the possibility that he might be interested in sexual freedom for the benefit of both men and women.
The Byronic Heroine, Jessica M. Laffoon
The Byronic Heroine, Jessica M. Laffoon
Theses & Honors Papers
This thesis examines the well-used character persona in Western literature, the Byronic hero which can be prominently seen in both George Gordon and Lord Byron’s poetry, as well as the juxtaposition to this hero, the Byronic heroine. Both hero and heroine are characterized by being sensitive, passionate, strong, and having self-destructing tendencies. These romantic heroes can be seen throughout many works of literature.
Guenevere's Conflict: Pagan Love Or Christian Ethics, Jacquelyn Sweeney Johnson
Guenevere's Conflict: Pagan Love Or Christian Ethics, Jacquelyn Sweeney Johnson
Theses & Honors Papers
This thesis examines the character of Guenevere in the broader, historical story of King Arthur. Analyzing newer, pagan, and feminist interpretations of her character as opposed to her original characterization in the Christian tale, it discusses the changes made in reinterpretation, especially as it relates to her relationship with Sir Lancelot.
Faulkner's Mothers: The Relationship Of Fact To Fiction In The Sound And The Fury And As I Lay Dying, Spring P. Zuidema
Faulkner's Mothers: The Relationship Of Fact To Fiction In The Sound And The Fury And As I Lay Dying, Spring P. Zuidema
Theses & Honors Papers
The author explores the relationship between actual events and circumstances in Faulkner’s own life and the fiction hat he wrote in his novels. William Faulkner was able to write his best work because he expected nothing from it. He was previously rejected by publishers, but furthermore rejected by his own family and two love interests. His mother was the only constant in his life. However she lacked love and caring and was domineering. These feelings of inferiority in Faulkner reflect in the children he wrote about and the traits of his mother reflect in the mothers in his novels as …
Hemingway's Modern Woman: An Analysis Of Selected Novels, Bonnie Gay Robertson
Hemingway's Modern Woman: An Analysis Of Selected Novels, Bonnie Gay Robertson
Theses & Honors Papers
This thesis looks at the female characters of several of Ernest Hemingway’s novels and how they relate to a world changed by war. It analyzes their capacity to find identities for themselves and take on male characteristics and independence for themselves.
Mammy: From Pancakes To Grenades, Nichol Michelina Pagano
Mammy: From Pancakes To Grenades, Nichol Michelina Pagano
Theses & Honors Papers
From an image draped in calico and flipping pancakes to a figure wearing pearls and throwing hand grenades, Mammy exists as part of America's cultural heritage since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Mammy character evolved in American iconography from the subservient kitchen Aunt Jemima to a modem aggressive woman ready for military combat. Early depictions of Mammy show her as being very humble, plain in dress and appearance, and subservient to her white masters . In From Mammy to Miss America and Beyond, Sue Jewell states, "[Mammy] is portrayed as an obese African-American woman, of dark complexion, with …
Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Reconstructing Beauty From Portent Of Innocence To Potential Threat In Aurora Floyd And Lady Audley's Secret, Susan Bryant Cook
Mary Elizabeth Braddon: Reconstructing Beauty From Portent Of Innocence To Potential Threat In Aurora Floyd And Lady Audley's Secret, Susan Bryant Cook
Theses & Honors Papers
This explores the “sensation novels”, Lady Audley’s Secret and Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon during the Victorian Era. These “sensation novels” ushered in characters that were not who they seemed to be which evoked mystery in the story. Braddon also centered on the idea of not relying on a woman’s appearance but rather seeing the woman as she truly is.
"That Damned Morality": Willa Cather's Reaction Against Victorian Female Roles In O Pioneers! And Tje Song Of The Lark, Sarah Elizabeth Moore Horne
"That Damned Morality": Willa Cather's Reaction Against Victorian Female Roles In O Pioneers! And Tje Song Of The Lark, Sarah Elizabeth Moore Horne
Theses & Honors Papers
Reacting against Victorian ideal that influenced her childhood, Cather creates numerous gender reversal throughout her fiction. This thesis notes the gender ironies contained within her works to conclude that Cather was herself a liberal, demanding that society’s status quo be eliminated. While America’s political climate did affect Cather’s work, her political ideologies remain difficult to interpret when contrasted with her fiction. Throughout much of her fiction, Cather attempts to raise the social status of certain facets of society and dispels many myths concerning gender.
Giving Her A Voice: The Representation Of The Black Woman In Four Short Stories, Jennifer Sheeler
Giving Her A Voice: The Representation Of The Black Woman In Four Short Stories, Jennifer Sheeler
Theses & Honors Papers
Black women have had to work very hard to pull themselves up the social ladder. Literature reflects society, and the black female experience in the South is a part of American society which has not been overlooked by its literature. This thesis examines short stories by the similarities and tempered differences to develop a closer understanding of the true black female experience. The examination found that the gender and race of each author of the four short stories does not correspond to the amount of power each one gives to his or her black female character the way the reader …
Perspectives On History: New Orleans's Women In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! And Anne Rice's The Feast Of All Saints, Stacey Morgan Ford
Perspectives On History: New Orleans's Women In William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! And Anne Rice's The Feast Of All Saints, Stacey Morgan Ford
Theses & Honors Papers
The thesis examines the perspectives on history in New Orleans ' women in William Faulkner 's Absalom, Absalom and Anne Rice's The Feast of All Saints. This thesis looks at historical sources, the most detailed and unbiased of which have been written within the last twenty-five years. The information is then applied to the works of Faulkner and Rice. The thesis concludes that both of the writes provide portrayals which serve their own purposes. Faulkner’s image of the world is vivid, but, it is still only an image, a picture. Faulkner’s purposes serve only as the symbol of slavery at …
Battling The Dragons: The Heroic Journeys Of The Ladies Of Avalon In Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists Of Avalon, Dawn E. Owen
Battling The Dragons: The Heroic Journeys Of The Ladies Of Avalon In Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists Of Avalon, Dawn E. Owen
Theses & Honors Papers
This study uses Pearson’s theory of twelve archetypes and the heroic journeys of the ladies of Avalon in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon to determine which archetypes are active in the lives of the ladies Avalon wrote about. In the book, women are seen as more than obstacles, aids, or rewards to males. They are the heroes who refuse to be defined by patriarchal terms. The female characters go on their own quests and seek to transform themselves and the world. Although culture and society affect each of the women, the success of each woman’s journey is determined …
Strength Within--Love: The Story Within The Story, Wanda T. Talbott
Strength Within--Love: The Story Within The Story, Wanda T. Talbott
Theses & Honors Papers
No abstract provided.
From Belle To Whore: Southern Stereotypes In John Pendleton Kennedy's Swallow Barn And William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury, Sandra Compton Simmons
From Belle To Whore: Southern Stereotypes In John Pendleton Kennedy's Swallow Barn And William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury, Sandra Compton Simmons
Theses & Honors Papers
No abstract provided.
Women And Family In The Fiction Of Barbara Kingsolver, Laura Ann Gussett
Women And Family In The Fiction Of Barbara Kingsolver, Laura Ann Gussett
Theses & Honors Papers
Realizing the situations facing the American family and the changes it underwent, Kingsolver chooses to use her works as a means to explain how nontraditional families can succeed in American society. Kingsolver describes the evolution of Taylor Greer from a woman trapped in a hopeless situation into one with opportunities for success. Taylor discovers who she is but additionally learns through her relationships and from nature’s cycles that her interdependence with others permits the simultaneous growth of her identity and family. Her new found acquisition of an abused child, her new-found motherhood, and her decision to establish close ties with …
Ayn Rand, Female Misogynist: A Study Of Androgyny In Atlas Shrugged, Sara Kristin Parker
Ayn Rand, Female Misogynist: A Study Of Androgyny In Atlas Shrugged, Sara Kristin Parker
Theses & Honors Papers
Ayn Rand, renowned author of such titles as Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, based many of her heroines on her androgynist views derived from her upbringing and lifestyle. Parker balances her research mostly between Rand’s life and her female protagonist in Atlas Shrugged, Dagny Taggart. Taggart possesses some disdain for a few female characters in the novel, which reflects some of Rand’s lack of female friends due to anti-feministic opinions, the most notable identifying her own sex as weak and submissive. Ayn herself said that she based all of her characters off of a male hero in a children’s …
Women Pioneer Diaries, 1820-1920: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, Sonia Alvarez Wilson
Women Pioneer Diaries, 1820-1920: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, Sonia Alvarez Wilson
Theses & Honors Papers
The works of twenty women whom participated in the westward expansion at some time between 1820 and 1920 are represented. The women have participated by immigration, emigration, homesteading, or simply living a trans-Mississippi community during the aforementioned time period. The work as a whole provides a variety of examples of the lifestyle and challenges of the period, which may highlight the uniqueness of each woman, while at the same time showing some common experience. Diaries have been selected to represent as many states as possible, in as many time periods as possible within the one hundred year time span, in …
Chaucer's Criseyde: Portrait Of Woman, Nancy Joan Faulkner
Chaucer's Criseyde: Portrait Of Woman, Nancy Joan Faulkner
Theses & Honors Papers
No abstract provided.