<p>This thesis is a critical examination of a handful of the works of Shirley Jackson. It is an attempt at engaging in critical scholarship that for many years has been relatively lacking. In it, her stories ?The Summer People,? ?Pillar of Salt,? and ?The Daemon Lover? are examined alongside her novels Hangsaman and The Haunting of Hill House. This thesis addresses the ways in which Shirley Jackson writes the interior worlds of her protagonists and explores how those interiors are often physically linked to the physical worlds that these characters inhabit. Particularly, this thesis examines how Jackson writes the dissolution of her characters? fragile interiorities in the face of trauma spurred on by society?s oppression of women. Each section of this thesis attempts to examine how Jackson creates coping mechanisms for these protagonists and how these coping mechanisms fail to provide comfort and safety for her protagonists as their stories progress. By the end of this thesis, it is clear that Jackson?s work is a bleak chronicle of trauma and anxiety. In the starkest terms, she exposes just how few options women have in the face of a society that refuses to allow them to be whole individuals.

<p> Trickster humor is ubiquitous. Every society has some version of trickster and each society tells the stories of trickster over and over again to both enlighten and entertain. This thesis argues that trickster humor plays a fundamental role in helping society adapt by challenging social norms. Because trickster stories are humorous they are entertaining, because they critique social behaviors they are instructive. Tricksters break social rules, leaving society to remake them. This thesis examines the works of American Humorists Tom Robbins and Edward Abbey, particularly <i>Still Life with Woodpecker </i> and <i>The Monkey Wrench Gang</i>, arguing that these authors are contemporary trickster figures whose work not only entertains their audience but through their rule breaking offers them new possibilities in dealing with the unresolved conflicts American society is wrestling with in the last quarter of the twentieth century and beyond.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kurukshestra Viśvavidyālaya. / In Hindi. Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-182).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1916. / Vita. "Reprinted from the Journal of the American Oriental society, vol. 39." Bibliography: p. 44-54.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kurukshestra Viśvavidyālaya. / In Hindi. Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-182).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. Title from title screen. Pearl A. McHaney, committee chair; Thomas L. McHaney, Margaret Mills, committee members. Electronic text (83 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 16, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-78).

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2006. Dept. of English. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-111).

Thèse--Univ. de Paris. / Text in French.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Nan kai da xue, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.