The depiction of people with disabilities in American literature has varied considerably throughout the twentieth century. In the south in particular, disabled individuals have been portrayed as violent, licentious, and deceitful. This thesis examines three hallmarks of American southern literature—Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, William Faulkner’s Sanctuary, and the short stories of Flannery O’Connor—to demonstrate the anxiety of that era surrounding disability, as well as how disability works in tandem with race and class. The fixation of these works on the sexual immorality of disabled men reflects the fascination with eugenics in the mid-twentieth century, as do their animalistic or inhuman qualities. While the societies depicted in these works value ableist belief systems, elements of these works themselves contain more progressive stances regarding disability. These works, when studied through a disability studies lens, have the potential to redefine the common perceptions of disability in southern literature.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-7322 |
| Date | 13 August 2024 |
| Creators | Bell, Rachel M. |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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