In The Eight of Swords, a novel, Meredith Sutton finds herself a single mother with no job and no place to live after her husband pleads guilty to several types of theft, leaving her to return to the bank their mobile home and the land on which it rests. Her mother-in-law is Sister Pearl, a well known tarot card reader and psychic in the town, generally regarded as "The Dragon Lady." Nevertheless, Sister Pearl takes in Meredith and her four-year-old son. Meredith's old friendships from high school have fallen apart, but she makes new friends when she finds a job in a beauty salon. Sister Pearl then decides to quit her psychic counseling business, leaving the town bereft of her services. Meredith overcomes her superstitious fear of the cards and, in search of answers to her own questions, learns to read them herself, eventually taking over her mother-in-law's former business, housing it in the back room of the salon rather than in Pearl's old office in the enclosed garage of her home. Meredith soon grows uncomfortable in her new role as advisor and uncomfortable with the pressure her clients put on her to be psychic rather than just interpret the cards they draw. Predictable community criticism and a bit of backlash occur. Meanwhile, Sister Pearl seems to regain her powers and begins to resume some degree of involvement in counseling again. Meredith begins to consider more solid options for her future through education and technical training. She reconciles with her husband when he finally can admit to her what he had done and attempt to explain why. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2008. / February 6, 2008. / Southern Literature, Tarot, Novel / Includes bibliographical references. / Virgil Suarez, Professor Directing Dissertation; Susan Nelson Wood, Outside Committee Member; R. M. Berry, Committee Member; Deborah Coxwell-Teague, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182447 |
| Contributors | Giles, Sandra L. (authoraut), Suarez, Virgil (professor directing dissertation), Wood, Susan Nelson (outside committee member), Berry, R. M. (committee member), Coxwell-Teague, Deborah (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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