Thesis advisor: Maia McAleavey / My thesis is about the intersection of disability and romance in nineteenth-century literature. I explore the gap in scholarly writing that often ignores how characters with disabilities fit into romantic relationships. I explain how, although people typically believe that characters with disabilities in Victorian literature do not participate in the romance plot, in actuality, it is because a character becomes disabled that allows them to flourish in a romantic dynamic. I coin the term "disability-romance plot" to describe the pattern where authors use disability as a mechanism to solve otherwise unsolvable conflicts within romantic pairings. In my essay, I outline the two types of disability-romance plots: the male disability-romance plot and the female disability-romance plot. Together, I look at how the disability-romance plot challenges stereotypes about people with disabilities and reveals gender norms in the nineteenth century. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: English.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_109655 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Davidson, Sammy |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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