Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
1063
Date
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Major
English
Concentration
Literature
Committee Chair
Scraba Jeffrey
Committee Member
Link Carl Eric
Committee Member
Cohoon Lorinda
Abstract
In nineteenth-century American literature, the trope of the “female individualist” is one who cultivates an individualistic ethical code based on her own desires, which emboldens her to overcome the dominance of a repressive, patriarchal culture. The primary texts examined are Rebecca Harding Davis’ Life in the Iron Mills, Louisa May Alcott’s Old Fashioned Girl, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Henry James’ Madame de Mauves and William Dean Howells’ A Hazard of New Fortunes. In chapters two and three, a comparison of the works by these women with those of the men reveal the different intentions for—and portrayals of—the female individualist. In chapters four and five, the functions of female oppression in the texts are analyzed to reveal the strategies for liberation each female individualist employs. In essence, this study reveals the emergence in nineteenth-century American texts of a strong, female nonconformist and her social perception.
Library Comment
Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.
Recommended Citation
Huber, Hannah Leigh, "Revelations of the Female Individualist in Nineteenth-Century American Literature" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 900.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/900
Comments
Data is provided by the student.