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The thesis is focused on the first three novels of Esther Tusquets: El mismo mar de todos los veranos (1978), El amor es un juego solitario (1979) and Varada tras el ultimo naufragio (1980). / It is inspired by the central theme of the three novels--the Spanish middle-class woman's search for identity--and it aims at showing that the female protagonists' search for identity and their failure in the process is inextricably linked with General Franco's dictatorial policy of imposing traditional norms and values on the Spanish people between 1939-1975. / The introduction summarizes the novels, explains the objectives of the thesis and looks at some critique of Tusquets' novels. Chapter one provides the socio-historical setting of the novels. It highlights details of the Civil Code and Francoist law and propaganda and their influence on women's identity and male/female relations. / Chapter two analyses the depersonalized condition of the protagonists and the third chapter takes a look at an attempt to redeem the women's identity. Chapter four examines the protagonists' failure and it is followed by a brief section of conclusions.

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This thesis examines the portrayal of women in the Histories of Herod at us against the backdrop of two influences, Greek mythology, and the social customs and thought pertaining to women in ancient Greek society. Herodotus' Histories are particularly wide-ranging and, unlike Thucydides' later account of the Peloponnesian War, not confined to the exclusively political and military spheres. As a result. Herodotus' female characters appear naturally in the course of the stories he is telling, stories he has found as the result of his inquiries. Since his researches are so wide-ranging, the information so acquired comes from many and varied sources, both chronologically and geographically. In the course of placing the information he has gathered before his readers or audience, Herodotus has to present it in terms that can be understood and readily assimilated by those receiving it. It is my contention that in order to achieve this end he naturally moulds his stories according to two systems of information with which he and his audience are familiar, that of mythology and that of the social practices and attitudes of his time concerning women, and that these two systems of information act as a backdrop against which the stories he has collected are viewed. When dealing with information from societies very different from the Greek, Herodotus frequently has occasion to define such information in terms of its alterity or 'otherness' in comparison with what for him and his audience is accepted practice. In this way he is able to render strange, alien and foreign customs comprehensible for his audience by expressing them in terms of what they are not and for this purpose he uses Greek societal norms as his reference point. Conversely, he is also able to render stories from foreign lands familiar by recasting his tales using mythological elements well known to his audience, elements which would enjoy instant recognition in the minds of those receiving the information he is imparting. For ease in examining the social context against which Herodotus is telling his stories concerning women, his female characters have been assigned to the categories of daughter, sister, wife and mother, and in each chapter the customs, attitudes and beliefs pertaining to such categories in both societal and mythological terms have been laid out before examining the characters in each category in the text. There is a final category of Women in Power since the women in this category are an excellent example of alterity in relation to Greek thought and practice. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

Although Jewett employs many local color conventions, she transcends the school in her subtle, controlled use of dialect, her blending of setting with story, and her skill in creating characters, especially women. She also maintains a sophisticated tension between local color polarities (city/country, individual/society, child/adult, land/sea, past/present, and insider/outsider), finding both sides necessary to a balanced portrayal of place and people.Through an internal analysis in of fifty-seven stories, this study classifies women according to marital or social groups. A chapter on courtship relationships finds that women usually have the upper hand, displaying a mixture of pragmatism and humor. Courtships often involve romance but never passion. Having made a choice, women accept the imperfections of men with understanding and tolerance.Women also form small groups of two or three which are often centered around rite-of-passage situations. These groups transcend but maintain social standing; they often function by a non-verbal code which is sometimes misunderstood. Or, the relationships may exist in the mind or heart, crossing geographic and temporal barriers. For women, isolation brings mental, spiritual, and even physical death.The group of younger women who have a special gift or calling for medicine, teaching, art, or business most clearly reveals Jewett's nascent feminism. These women must choose between the calling and the more traditional feminine role. Often they have a special affinity for their mothers.Sisters, externally alike, function according to a clearly defined hierarchy; the older is more controlling and motherly, the younger often prettier, more gentle, and less disciplined.Jewett's forte, the spinsters and widows who often live and function alone, are usually self-reliant and optimistic. They may create imaginary audiences or alter egos for companionship. Overcoming occasional temptations to selfishness, they maintain the family home with dignity and fortitude, even when the social and economic problems of a passing era become overwhelming. Jewett's women are strong and resourceful, optimistic and resilient. Her success in character portrayal lies in the ability to blend specific homey detail with universality of thought and feeling.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-72). / ii, 72 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

In the endeavour to abolish from society all forms of ideologies that prescribe the domination of one sex over another, it has become increasingly important to analyse the representation of women in dramatic literature because dramatic literature reflects the philosophies and codes of behaviour which enable individuals to dominate one another in society, and assists in either reinforcing old ideologies or shaping new ones. Although Sam Shepard has been an influential force in the creation of modern drama, his plays reflect a patriarchal ideology that dictates that women are subordinate to men. Shepard's plays dramatise various male predicaments and his female characters are constructed and utilised to express men's experience, not women's. One of the conflicts which besets the male characters is that they desire to return to the womb of the mother, but simultaneously fear that their identities will be engulfed by the mother. In The Rock Garden, Red Cross and Fourteen Hundred Thousand, these desires and fears are demonstrated through the female characters, who are manipulated to represent objects of male desire and/or objects onto which devouring images are projected. Women are therefore represented in a manner in which they are best able to express the male characters' identity related conflicts. In Curse of the Starving Class and Buried Child, characters suffer from receiving insufficient nurture, are spiritually and emotionally impoverished or cursed and appear unable to transform their lives. The female characters are presented as being partly responsible for causing these predicaments since their nurturing, generative and transformative abilities are presented in a negative light. Women are also represented as objects of blame in the male characters' attempts and failures to undergo rebirths and are once again created to express male predicaments. In Fool for Love and A Lie of the Mind, Shepard focuses on the relationships between men and women, but is only able to present the male characters' perspectives and represent male desire. The female characters are regarded, and engaged with, as reflections of the male characters' selves and are frequently utilised to express male desire. If Shepard's plays are persistently applauded and seen as examples to be emulated, we need to closely analyse these dramas that represent women in a manner which expresses male predicaments and which places them in roles that allow men to dominate them.