Thesis advisor: John Joseph Burns / In the first two decades after World War II, America confronted issues of race in a way that it had not previously done so in its history. During the time period of 1945-1969, the city of Boston and two of its professional sports franchises—namely the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics—also found that matters of race had a newfound significance. From Jackie Robinson’s token tryout with the Red Sox in 1945 to Bill Russell’s retirement from the Celtics in 1969, race and sports intersected in the city of Boston, whether the city was ready for it or not. As the Civil Rights Movement gripped the nation in the 1950s and 1960s, Boston’s own racial injustices came to light as well. With this context, the Boston Celtics provided an example as to what a racially integrated group of people could accomplish, winning eleven titles in thirteen seasons, while their counterparts, the Red Sox, often dragged their feet on realizing racial justice, with the teams of the late ‘60s as an exception. During this time period, Boston’s high-profile sports teams provided a microcosm through which to view the racial situation in Boston and the nation. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: History.

A figura da mulher ocupa significativo papel nas novelas de cavalaria do Ciclo Bretão. Emergindo como um elemento que traz liga às narrativas do lendário artúrico, constitui-se adjuvante essencial e multifacetada na construção dos episódios, numa interação constante com o masculino representado, principalmente, pelos cavaleiros. O Medievo traz à tona uma imagem matizada do feminino: a mulher socialmente vista sob clivagens diversas é refletida na literatura de cavalaria, conforme se pode verificar em A Demanda do Santo Graal. A presença feminina é importantíssima na narrativa, sobretudo na sua tensa relação com a cavalaria, agora ligada ao elemento religioso - monastizada, celibatária e ascética. O objetivo precípuo de nossos estudos é investigar de que maneira a fôrma sociocultural medieva, na qual foi moldada A Demanda do Santo Graal, se relaciona com seu substrato: as narrativas provindas da cosmovisão inerente ao imaginário céltico. Desta feita, nosso viés analítico verticaliza-se no elemento feminino presente na obra. Mais especificamente, toma-se por escopo a imagem de personagens que refletem a ideologia clerical moralístico-didatizante do século XIII, mas, sobretudo, resgata-se a imagem de personagens imbuídas de singular dualidade; ambigüidade esta que é marca não só do medievo paradoxal concernente ao feminino, mas também de personas literárias concebidas entre dois mundos, dois pólos ideológicos distintos. Em outros termos, fala-se de personagens que são seres ficcionais bifrontes: personagens localizadas entre as herdades e as identidades. Foram tomados como corpora de pesquisa os episódios em que estas damas polidimensionais aparecem e se tornam adjuvantes na ação literária, seja para cooperar, confundir ou prejudicar os cavaleiros que empreendem a sagrada, inefável e venturosa busca do Santo Cálix que dará fim às aventuras do Reino de Logres / The figure of woman takes leading role in the novels of chivalry Cycle Breton. Emerging as an element that links the narratives of the legendary Arturo, it constitutes a vital and multifaceted adjuvant in the construction of the episodes in an ongoing interaction with the male represented mainly by knights. The Medieval brings up a nuanced picture of the female: the woman socially viewed under various divisions is reflected in the literature of chivalry, as it can be seen in The Quest for the Holy Grail. The female presence is important in the narrative, especially in its tense relationship with the chivalry, now linked to the religious element monasticated, ascetic and celibaterian. The main objective of our study is to investigate how the sociocultural medieval mold, in which was shaped The Quest for the Holy Grail relates to its substrate, the narratives originated of the worldview inherent in the Celtic imagination, thus our analytical bias uprights in the female element in this work. More specifically, it becomes a scope which the image of characters reflects the ideology of clerical didactic and moralistic of the thirteenth century. However it redeens the image of characters imbued with singular duality; that ambiguity which is not only a mark of the medieval paradoxical concerning the female, but also of literary characters designed between two worlds, two distinct ideological poles. In other words, it is about personas who are "bifront fictional beings". Characters located between the inheritances and identities. The research bases were the episodes in which these polidimensionals ladies appear and become adjuvants in literary action, either to cooperate, confuse or impair the knights who undertake the sacred, ineffable and "fortunate" quest for the Holy Chalice which will end the adventures of the Kingdom of Logres

A figura da mulher ocupa significativo papel nas novelas de cavalaria do Ciclo Bretão. Emergindo como um elemento que traz liga às narrativas do lendário artúrico, constitui-se adjuvante essencial e multifacetada na construção dos episódios, numa interação constante com o masculino representado, principalmente, pelos cavaleiros. O Medievo traz à tona uma imagem matizada do feminino: a mulher socialmente vista sob clivagens diversas é refletida na literatura de cavalaria, conforme se pode verificar em A Demanda do Santo Graal. A presença feminina é importantíssima na narrativa, sobretudo na sua tensa relação com a cavalaria, agora ligada ao elemento religioso - monastizada, celibatária e ascética. O objetivo precípuo de nossos estudos é investigar de que maneira a fôrma sociocultural medieva, na qual foi moldada A Demanda do Santo Graal, se relaciona com seu substrato: as narrativas provindas da cosmovisão inerente ao imaginário céltico. Desta feita, nosso viés analítico verticaliza-se no elemento feminino presente na obra. Mais especificamente, toma-se por escopo a imagem de personagens que refletem a ideologia clerical moralístico-didatizante do século XIII, mas, sobretudo, resgata-se a imagem de personagens imbuídas de singular dualidade; ambigüidade esta que é marca não só do medievo paradoxal concernente ao feminino, mas também de personas literárias concebidas entre dois mundos, dois pólos ideológicos distintos. Em outros termos, fala-se de personagens que são seres ficcionais bifrontes: personagens localizadas entre as herdades e as identidades. Foram tomados como corpora de pesquisa os episódios em que estas damas polidimensionais aparecem e se tornam adjuvantes na ação literária, seja para cooperar, confundir ou prejudicar os cavaleiros que empreendem a sagrada, inefável e venturosa busca do Santo Cálix que dará fim às aventuras do Reino de Logres / The figure of woman takes leading role in the novels of chivalry Cycle Breton. Emerging as an element that links the narratives of the legendary Arturo, it constitutes a vital and multifaceted adjuvant in the construction of the episodes in an ongoing interaction with the male represented mainly by knights. The Medieval brings up a nuanced picture of the female: the woman socially viewed under various divisions is reflected in the literature of chivalry, as it can be seen in The Quest for the Holy Grail. The female presence is important in the narrative, especially in its tense relationship with the chivalry, now linked to the religious element monasticated, ascetic and celibaterian. The main objective of our study is to investigate how the sociocultural medieval mold, in which was shaped The Quest for the Holy Grail relates to its substrate, the narratives originated of the worldview inherent in the Celtic imagination, thus our analytical bias uprights in the female element in this work. More specifically, it becomes a scope which the image of characters reflects the ideology of clerical didactic and moralistic of the thirteenth century. However it redeens the image of characters imbued with singular duality; that ambiguity which is not only a mark of the medieval paradoxical concerning the female, but also of literary characters designed between two worlds, two distinct ideological poles. In other words, it is about personas who are "bifront fictional beings". Characters located between the inheritances and identities. The research bases were the episodes in which these polidimensionals ladies appear and become adjuvants in literary action, either to cooperate, confuse or impair the knights who undertake the sacred, ineffable and "fortunate" quest for the Holy Chalice which will end the adventures of the Kingdom of Logres