Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1993. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Subtitle on abstract: Appetite in the construction of identity in the writing of William Byrd II and Thomas Jefferson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-75).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Sept. 2, 2009). Additional advisors: Rebecca Bach, Danny Siegel, Becky Trigg. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-107).

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2007. / Thesis advisor: Aimee Pozorski. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-88). Also available via the World Wide Web.

In the minds of many people all over the world, women are ‘second class citizens’, standing accused of the downfall of mankind ever since Eve allegedly ate the apple. Even amongst those who do not openly denigrate women, there are many who do so in other, more subtle ways even if they are unaware of it. This study proposes to challenge such a view of women by exposing the ways in which perceptions of women are constructed by society, which frequently wants to maintain the status quo of male dominance. This study employs a feminist approach in examining this gynocentric theme, along with cultural studies which, with its focus on power relations and ways of decentring power structures, is also clearly of use. In addition, this multidisciplinary approach of cultural studies offers the possibility of studying literary texts as well as popular culture. Three specific time periods are examined, with a view to uncovering negative perceptions of women and ways that women can resist such attempts to control them. In chapter one, the focus turns to contemporary perceptions of prehistoric women and the ways that so-called ‘objective’ science has failed to represent women accurately. Similarly, ‘objective’ accounts of Goddess-worship – which frequently fail to examine this phenomenon adequately – are revisited. Alice Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar (1989) is discussed as a text which acts as a site of resistance to societally-informed perceptions. Chapter two continues this investigation by turning to the concept of the witch and its maligned association with women. Woman and witchcraft, having been associated for centuries, are investigated as a pairing which frequently results because iii of attempts to control women by androcentric society. In such situations, the practising of witchcraft can actually become a form of resistance to patriarchy. The pernicious effect of society’s need to purge itself – by witch hunts – of witches is also investigated. The Devil’s Chimney (1997) by Anne Landsman and “The prophetess” (1994) by Njabulo S. Ndebele are discussed as texts which examine fictionalised South African versions of this phenomenon. Sinead O’Connor, the Irish singer, is the ‘bitch’ discussed in chapter three. She is examined as a woman who offers strong and on-going resistance to patriarchal ways of thinking which would ‘box’ women in. This singer refuses to accept societal roles which are offered to women and so offers means of resistance to patriarchy, many of which are discussed in this chapter. This study concludes that it is the responsibility of women to resist patriarchy and to define roles for themselves. The three chapters examine various means of resistance and offer women insight into the forms of opposition they themselves can take.

This dissertation situates itself within the problematic (mis)representation of women’s traumatic Holocaust experiences that are subjected to and underplayed by the patriarchal paradigm of Holocaust literature, in which male survivor-narratives constitute the norm. In using Holocaust texts from three different genres and periods, namely Anne Frank’s Diary of 1947, Ruth Klüger’s 2001 autobiography Still Alive: a Holocaust Girlhood Remembered, and Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 novel The Reader, this project approaches the role of genres in the re-articulation of traumatic experiences. It is the aim of this dissertation to explore the epistolary, autobiographic and fictional forms and their inherent conventions and to examine how they facilitate the articulation of women’s experiences that have long been underplayed and sanitized by rigid, patriarchal historical and literary discourses. In doing so, the project follows the structurally fragmenting impact of trauma on the mind and thus moves from short, fragmented forms, such as The Diary, to the more coherent autobiography, Still Alive, and eventually to the novel The Reader. In this analysis of the potential, conventions and complexities that each genre poses to the articulation of trauma, this project outlines and crosses boundaries of genre, gender, language and memory. In aiming at a comparative analysis of how different genres may facilitate the articulation of traumatic experiences differently, this project is based on the argument that the verbalization of trauma is essential for a person to regain control over their memories. This project is based on the different issues regarding the treatment of women, which arise in the selected texts. In selecting epistolary, autobiographic and fictional primary Holocaust texts, all of which address women’s trauma in various forms, I investigate the problematic and distorted representations of women’s experiences. These distortions of women’s traumatic experiences of the Holocaust undermine the validity of such experiences themselves. In order to show the extent of this misrepresentation across genres, I choose three very different primary texts. Firstly, a strong educational component has been ascribed to the diary of Anne Frank, which will be read as a subversive tool. Secondly, the autobiographic text chosen deals extensively with the issue of German/English translation and the representation of trauma that is affected by a bilingual condition. Thirdly, I select a postmodern novel that challenges conventional readings of Holocaust experiences through the use of very complex female characters. In approaching these issues, I will first identify such problematic distortions in the representations of women’s experiences in all three selected texts. I will then use the framework of literary theory as well as trauma and gender theorists to substantiate and evaluate my findings. In doing so, I seek to establish a comparative analysis of how the different forms allow women to re-articulate their traumatic experiences.

This dissertation explores Elizabeth Barrett's dependency on the archetypal Victorian patriarch. Chapter I focuses on the psychological effects of this father-daughter relationship on Elizabeth Barrett. Chapter II addresses Barrett's acceptance of the conventional female role, which is suggested by the nature and the situation of the women she chooses to depict. These women are placed in situations where they can reveal their devotion to family, their capacity for passive endurance, and their wish to resist. Almost always, they choose death as an alternative to life where a powerful father figure is present. Chapter III concentrates on the highly sentimental images of women and children whom Barrett places in a divine order, where they exist untouched by the concerns of the social order of which they are a part. Chapter IV shows that the conventional ideologies of the time, society's commitment to the "angel in the house," and the small number of female role models before her increase her difficulty to find herself a place within this order. Chapter V discusses Aurora Leigh's mission to find herself an identity and to maintain the connection with her father or father substitute. Despite Elizabeth Barrett's desire to break away from her paternal ties and to establish herself as an independent woman and poet, her unconditional loyalty and love towards her father and her tremendous need for his affection, and the security he provides restrain her resistance and surface the child in her.

In this study, we interpret Isabel Allende's La casa de los espiritus as a microcosm that portrays a patriarchal society. Our purpose is to study the underlying principles that support this patriarchal order and examine the mechanisms that perpetuate it and repress the potential for change. The objective is then to analyze the main female characters since they constitute a subversive presence which is constantly challenging the patriarchal order and which is potentially capable of transforming it. Our goal is also to demonstrate that the writing of the female characters undermine patriarchal discourse. Our final objective is to examine the novel in the context of two "histories": the consecrated male history which is deconstructed here and the extra-official or alternative one that tradition silences and that is represented here by the writing of the female characters.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-253).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [242]-256). Also available on the Internet.