Spelling suggestions: "subject:"songbird"" "subject:"mocking""
11 |
The Imagined ChildRichards, Jo-Anne January 2016 (has links)
This PhD comprises a work of fiction and a dissertation, both of which explore childhood, children and parenthood.
The Imagined Child, the novel, closely examines the nature of parenthood, the expectations
inherent in the parent-child relationship, and the responsibilities that society imposes on
parents. It explores the strains of guilt and blame that surround all primary relationships:
every child is damaged in some way – through nature and nurture. How they deal with that
damage determines the kinds of adults – and ultimately the kinds of parents – they become.
The dissertation approaches childhood as a literary device. It explores the ways in which four
novelists from different historical periods have characterised and thematised childhood. It
presents ‘childhood’ as a social construct and considers the ways in which childhood and
parenting have changed in recent, Western history. It then focuses on the research into and
literary representations of children in Africa to explore the versions of childhood inherited by
African, and particularly South African, children and how this differs from American or
European models.
Textual analysis was employed to examine the representation of childhood in four texts:
Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (1850), L.P. Hartley’s The Go-Between (1953), Harper
Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), and Michiel Heyns’s The Children’s Day (2002).
An examination of research and literature shows a very different trajectory for childhood in
Africa than in Europe, and reveals that childhood on the continent has never been consistent,
in life or literature. There is, in other words, no universal “African childhood”.
The literary children of South Africa are examined not only to show how differently
childhood is experienced in diverse segments of society, but also to measure the temperature
of the times.
The differing versions of literary childhood, and their varying treatments, provide a gauge for
the zeitgeist in South African society from the 1990s. The dissertation argues that an
examination of literary children provides insight into the development of a new democracy.
The dissertation and the novel, taken together, suggest that through the real and imagined
children of literature can be gained a sense of ourselves.
|
12 |
Screaming, flying, and laughing: magical feminism's witches in contemporary film, television, and novelsWells, Kimberly Ann 17 September 2007 (has links)
This project argues that there is a previously unnamed canon of literature called
Magical Feminism which exists across many current popular (even lowbrow) genres
such as science-fiction, fantasy, so-called realistic literature, and contemporary
television and film. I define Magical Feminism as a genre quite similar to Magical
Realism, but assert that its main political thrust is to model a feminist agency for its
readers. To define this genre, I closely-read the image of the female magic user as one
of the most important Magical Feminist metaphors. I argue that the female magic
userâÂÂcommonly called the witch, but also labeled priestess, mistress, shaman, mambo,
healer, midwifeâ is a metaphor for female unruliness and disruption to patriarchy and
as such, is usually portrayed as evil and deserving of punishment. I assert that many
(although not all) of the popular texts this genre includes are overlooked or ignored by
the academy, and thus, that an important focus for contemporary feminism is missed.
When the texts are noticed by parts of the academy, they are mostly considered popular
culture novelty acts, not serious political genres. As part of my argument, I analyze third wave feminismâÂÂs attempt to reconcile traits previously considered less than
feminist, such as the domestic. I also deconstruct the popular mediaâÂÂs negative
portrayal of contemporary feminism and the resulting reluctance for many young
women to identify themselves as feminist. I also argue that this reluctance goes hand in
hand with a growing attempt to seek new models for empowering female
epistemologies. My assertion is that these texts are the classrooms where many readers
learn their feminism. Finally, I list a short bibliography as a way of defining canon of
texts that should be considered Magical Feminist.
|
13 |
Strukturální a tematické srovnání dvou románů Harper Leeové, To Kill a Mockingbird a Go Set a Watchman / A structural and thematic comparison of Harper Lee's novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a WatchmanFriedlová, Michaela January 2020 (has links)
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...
|
14 |
An Exploration of the American Justice System through the Trial of Tom Robinson : A New Historicist Analysis of Harper Lee's To Kill a MockingbirdHenriksson, Eva-Lena January 2021 (has links)
Adding something new to the understanding of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), which is considered a twentieth-century classic, would be nearly impossible if not for the outlook of new historicism. Through a new historicist analysis of Harper Lee’s literary text parallel to non-fictional texts relating to the American justice system and civil rights, this essay explores how race affects U.S. institutions and society. Lee’s novel is contextualized by delving into the American South of the 1930s, American society and politics in the1960s and the racial landscape in America today, connecting them through the experiences of racial bias within the justice system and the civil rights movement. The essay explores the racial and cultural norms that governed the American justice system at the set time of the story. It analyzes the time of publication and the American society in which the novel made such an impact on the racial debate. Finally, it looks at the impact of the novel and its connection to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Black Lives Matter movement and readers today. In the spirit of new historicism, the mechanisms of racism and how they affect the population, both the oppressors and the oppressed, is highlighted showing parallels between Lee’s fictional world and American society over time. Through the experiences of the characters, the structures of racism translate to a time and place where the Black Lives Matter movement has infused new life to the civil rights movement worldwide. Looking at retellings of the historical Scottsboro trials, which inspired the story unfolding in To Kill a Mockingbird in light of the justice system, Maycomb county and its inhabitants serves as guides into the racial norms that is ingrained in American society and politics. The results reveal a society where racial segregation is constantly reinforced by legal, economical, and social barriers, despite constitutional efforts to level the playing field for all American citizens.
|
15 |
Strukturální a tematické srovnání dvou románů Harper Leeové, To Kill a Mockingbird a Go Set a Watchman / A structural and thematic comparison of Harper Lee's novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a WatchmanFriedlová, Michaela January 2020 (has links)
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...
|
Page generated in 0.0391 seconds