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The Grammar Of Choice: Charles Dickens's Existential Idea Of Religion, Hai Na
The Grammar Of Choice: Charles Dickens's Existential Idea Of Religion, Hai Na
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
This dissertation challenges the received opinion that Charles Dickens's religious thinking is merely sentimental and philanthropic. Instead, I argue that there is in his works a very consistent "existential" sense of religion, especially in his mature novels. To be religious for him does not lie in the adherence to dogma or the study of theological arguments, but in the crucial choices people make every day. In order to illustrate this "existential" sense of religion, I analyze, in the first chapter, relevant works by Kierkegaard, Carlyle, George Eliot, and Dostoevsky, in order to establish the context in which Dickens's religious views …
"God Made Me Thisaway": Mary Wilkins Freeman, Flannery O'Connor, And Religiosity As Challenge To Heteronormativity, Anna M. Worm
"God Made Me Thisaway": Mary Wilkins Freeman, Flannery O'Connor, And Religiosity As Challenge To Heteronormativity, Anna M. Worm
Masters Theses
The fiction of Mary Wilkins Freeman and Flannery O'Connor, especially Freeman's “A New England Nun” and “The Balsam Fir” and O'Connor's “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” and “Good Country People,” expose and challenge heteronormativity. Consideration of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality, as well as religious themes demonstrates the way their works offer an avenue of challenge for characters struggling with societal forces that push them towards an unwanted or unfulfilling heterosexuality. Although Freeman's works suggest that a satisfactory life outside heterosexual norms is unrealistic, with community alienation the price for resistance, she envisions religion a valuable tool in such resistances. …