Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of English, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 53 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Over the last century, Americans have come to understand literature as a powerful tool for shaping individuals and society. Indeed, this perception of literature animates how Americans have and continue to debate what books to include—or exclude—in secondary school curricula. Texts dealing with issues of race, gender, and sexuality have proven especially controversial. This dissertation examines the claims people make about how reading literature can change readers and society through moral lessons. It offers case studies focused on three books that have been celebrated, banned, and taught in terms of their potential to inform readers’ moral and empathetic development: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987). This dissertation shows how assumptions about literature’s ability to inform a readers’ moral and empathetic development can be better understood in relation to the tradition of sentimental literature—a genre and rhetorical mode of storytelling aimed to promote moral and social reform by evoking certain feelings in readers. The case studies illustrate instances when the didactic rhetorical models of sentimental literature appear as a mode of reading and interpretation, which I refer to as sentimental hermeneutics. Building on studies of religion, literature, and secularism, this dissertation analyzes the religious dimensions that emerge in the ostensibly secular interpretive methods and ‘universal’ moral frameworks used to teach and interpret these texts. Contemporary sentimental hermeneutics are indebted to an historical synthesis between Christian devotional reading practices and sentimental fiction in the 19th century. The novels examined are at various levels of conformity and dissonance with the rhetorical modes and religious foundations of this sentimental tradition. My study shows how the unacknowledged religious lineage of interpretive and moral frameworks commonly used to teach these books enacts certain religious, social, and ontological exclusions. Each case study outlines limits of sentimental hermeneutics and the analysis of Beloved offers an alternative framework for readerly empathy. By restoring to view the often-hidden religious histories of these reading strategies, this project pushes readers to parochialize the universalizing claims of these ostensibly secular moral messages: it calls for a form of reading that moves past the exclusions of sentimental hermeneutics.

Cette thèse analyse la manière dont les métaphores et les comparaisons de Harper Lee ont été traduites dans les trois versions françaises de To Kill a Mockingbird, un des romans les plus célèbres de la littérature américaine. Comme point de départ, nous examinons les théories existantes sur la traductologie et les figures de style, ce qui nous aide à comprendre la fonction de la métaphore et de la comparaison au sein d’un texte littéraire. Par la suite, nous étudions les métaphores et comparaisons qui n’ont pas pu être traduites aisément, souvent à cause de leur charge culturel. Paradoxalement, les connotations et les références culturelles jouent un rôle important dans l’œuvre de Lee, et elles sont indispensables pour la reconstruction de son univers à l’étranger. Afin de traduire l’intraduisible, le traducteur doit recourir à des stratégies complexes et variées, parfois faisant preuve d’une grande créativité. Un chapitre entier est donc consacré aux traductions inventives où le traducteur se transforme en écrivain. En effet, on se pose des questions sur le rôle du traducteur : doit-il rester passif ou est-il libre de façonner le texte cible comme il le souhaite ? Le dernier chapitre se focalise sur les similitudes entre le français et l’anglais, grâce auxquelles un passage fluide d’une langue à l’autre est souvent possible. Dans chaque version, nous observons des tendances méthodologiques et stylistiques, qui varient selon l’époque et/ou les préférences de chaque traducteur. Étant donné que la traduction parfaite n’existe pas, nous concluons que chaque nouvelle version contribue à sa manière à l’expérience du lecteur dans la langue cible. / This thesis analyses the way in which Harper Lee’s metaphors and similes have been translated in the three French versions of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most famous novels in American literature. As a starting point, we examine the existing theories regarding Translation Studies and stylistic devices, which helps us to understand the purpose of metaphors and similes within a literary text. We then study those metaphors and similes that could not be translated with ease, mainly owing to their cultural significance. Paradoxically, cultural connotations and references play a significant role in Lee’s work, and they are indispensable in reconstructing her universe abroad. In order to translate the untranslatable, the translator has to resort to complex and diverse strategies, sometimes demonstrating a high level of creativity. An entire chapter is therefore devoted to inventive translations where the translator becomes a writer in his or her own right. Indeed we ask ourselves several questions about the role of a translator : should he remain passive or is he free to shape the target text as he desires? The final chapter focuses on the similarities between French and English, thanks to which a swift passage between the two languages is often possible. In each version, we notice methodological and stylistic trends that vary according to the publication date and/or the preferences of each translator. Given that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, we come to the conclusion that every new version contributes in its own way to the reader’s experience in the target language.

The 2015 publication of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (2015) raised questions and concerns when it was read in the context of the author’s first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), a text with strong, direct statements related to civil rights and social injustice. This thesis examines textual similarities and differences between Watchman and Mockingbird, suggesting the likely influence of editor Thèrése “Tay” von Hohoff in Mockingbird’s published version. Additionally, the thesis examines Hohoff’s 1959 biography, A Ministry to Man: The Life of John Lovejoy Elliott, as a plausible inspiration for Lee’s Mockingbird hero, Atticus Finch. Containing corroboration from available correspondence, biographical information, interviews, and historical records, this thesis documents Hohoff’s editorial influence on Lee as the two worked together to create a lasting contribution to American literary history and culture.

The thesis examines the influence of the Romantic elements of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird upon the novel's characterizations, structure, tone, and themes. Chapter One contains a critical survey of criticism about the novel and a list of Romantic elements. Chapters Two, Three, and Four present the three most important of those elements. Chapter Two is the exploration of the novel's Gothic traits. Chapter Three explores the Romantic treatment of childhood's innocence and perspicacious vision as it pertains to Dill, Jem, and, in particular, Scout. Chapter Four is a detailed study of Atticus Finch, the novel's Romantic hero, who expresses or incorporates many of the most important elements of Romanticism in the novel.

Harper Lee wrote a remarkable novel which provides a great deal of moral insight for its readers; through a use of history, moral instruction, and character development, Lee establishes a foundation for how people in an often intolerant world should live peacefully together. Moreover, she reminds the reader that regardless of socioeconomic status or race everyone deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. In establishing this moral analysis one must consider the historical source of Tom Robinson’s trial, the Scottsboro Trial; the Finch children’s consistent and exemplified instruction from their widowed father, Atticus, their housekeeper, Calpurina, and other close neighbors; and the symbolic representation of the mockingbird as a peaceful and protective creature which generally gets along with other bird species.

This paper takes a cultural materialist approach in analyzing the hegemonic purpose of using Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird in American education. Ideas from critical race theory and Lee’s second novel, Go Set a Watchman, are used to reveal obfuscated aspects of Mockingbird’s narrative. These aspects have been repurposed to fit a Eurocentric palate, and have let the book achieve success under the guise of being a progressive and multiculturalist work. Mockingbird’s narration, marked by childlike innocence, has been used to obfuscate Eurocentric ignorance of racial and economic inequality. The text has also been used to divert blame from those in power onto those oppressed by a hegemonic system. Racism is in Mockingbird inaccurately described as an individual moral issue, rather than a system of discrimination which is deeply ingrained in every aspect of U.S. society. The liberal moderate ideology which informs Atticus character has historically been ignored due to his unquestionable, near-mythical position as a moral role model. The paper finds that Mockingbird has been used as part of a greater Eurocentric narrative which positions the Civil Rights Movement as a white movement of moral improvement.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is an iconic classic that inspired many street lawyer novels. Examining John Grisham’s A Time To Kill as a low-culture-imprint of Lee’s novel, the thesis analyzes the convergent and divergent points of rhetorical devices that promote colour-blind liberalism across the two texts seeing as they are published 30 years apart. Both pieces of legal fiction act as a reflection and critique of formal legal institutions and through this reflection, the thesis deals with how the texts reinforce, perpetuate and resist the white dominant ideology through the “progressive” race politics of colorblind liberalism.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse and compare Harper Lee's canonical coming-of- age novel To Kill a Mockingbird to its original forerunner, the novel Go Set a Watchman, which was, however, published several years later. The theoretical part provides a brief synopsis of each of the novels and outlines Lee's life, as well as the main aspects of the historical and social background relevant to the stories, namely the Great Depression, Jim Crow laws, and the Scottsboro Trial. The practical part then investigates and juxtaposes the two novels from thematic and structural perspectives, and considers them specifically through the psychological, sociological, and stylistic prisms. Besides, it compares the factual similarities and differences in storylines and characters, who are often based on Lee's real-life acquaintances. The overall comparison shows how To Kill a Mockingbird, a gently tuned novel of children growing up yet packed with diverse topics, evolved from a rather intricate novel, Go Set a Watchman, dealing with a difficult task of one's individuation and realising that one's father is only a human. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the 1930s and takes place over several years, while the story of Go Set a Watchman is situated some twenty years later, and its plot culminates in the...