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Normative narratives and disabled ideologies in Nabokov’s Lolita and Laughter in the
Title
Normative narratives and disabled ideologies in Nabokov’s Lolita and Laughter in the.
Creator
Ruiz, Oscar Javier, Hagood, Taylor, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
The works of Vladimir Nabokov have traditionally functioned in a way that challenges its reader to question existing notions of normality. In his works, Nabokov has frequently utilized representations of disability as a means to comment or critique the human condition. Throughout this project I intend to demonstrate how the narratives in both Lolita and Laughter in the Dark function as a normative force which embodies the cultural attitudes regarding disability. This is accomplished through...
Show moreThe works of Vladimir Nabokov have traditionally functioned in a way that challenges its reader to question existing notions of normality. In his works, Nabokov has frequently utilized representations of disability as a means to comment or critique the human condition. Throughout this project I intend to demonstrate how the narratives in both Lolita and Laughter in the Dark function as a normative force which embodies the cultural attitudes regarding disability. This is accomplished through the enforcement of a normative reading by the narrative. It is clear then that Nabakov is attempting to subvert literary conventions by using nontraditional narrators to demonstrate the relativity of normality. Throughout this project, I will be focusing on Nabakov’s use of narrator to distort the cultural line between disability and ability. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to demonstrate that current societal notions of normality and disability are outdated and arbitrary.
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Date Issued
2013
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004054
Subject Headings
Abnormalities, Human -- Social aspects, Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich -- 1899-1977 -- Laughter in the dark -- Criticism and interpretation, Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich -- 1899-1977 -- Lolita -- Criticism and interpretation, People with disabilities -- Social conditions, People with disabilities in literature
Format
Document (PDF)
SMALL STORIES
Title
SMALL STORIES.
Creator
Kiplagat, Daphne, Bucak, Ayse Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
“Small Stories” offers a glimpse of the kinds of stories that risk going unknown: stories of historical Africa and its sustained influence on the present and future, voices of women, community, and communal resistance to expulsion from history. At a macro level, the intent of this collection is to demand diversity and inclusivity in the modern literary, social, and academic culture. Rethinking history by inaugurating a wider set of evidentiary sources from the past does not mean escaping to a...
Show more“Small Stories” offers a glimpse of the kinds of stories that risk going unknown: stories of historical Africa and its sustained influence on the present and future, voices of women, community, and communal resistance to expulsion from history. At a macro level, the intent of this collection is to demand diversity and inclusivity in the modern literary, social, and academic culture. Rethinking history by inaugurating a wider set of evidentiary sources from the past does not mean escaping to a complete amnesia about the current position of Africans in literary arts, but recognizing that no single form of historical evidence can be used to accurately incorporate our story into literature
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013689
Subject Headings
Stories, Creative writing
Format
Document (PDF)
LATE AFTERNOON AND FIVE UNSPOKEN STORIES
Title
LATE AFTERNOON AND FIVE UNSPOKEN STORIES.
Creator
Almonte, Mauricio J., Mitchell, Susan, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
The thesis consists of a novella and five short stories, all narrated from the perspective of a mute diasporic narrator who chronicles several returns to a nameless Caribbean village. Against a rich intertextual backdrop, these texts predominantly explore issues of mutism, the relationship between language and a sense of place, intricacies of translation, and the orality-literacy spectrum.
Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013729
Subject Headings
Short story, Novellas
Format
Document (PDF)
THE DREAMS OF GODS
Title
THE DREAMS OF GODS.
Creator
Wilson, Benjamin, Furman, Andrew, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
The Dreams of Gods is a surreal-realist novel that follows a grieving man in the wake of his wife’s death through a strange conspiracy that seems to bend reality around him, forcing him on a curious odyssey of self-discovery, eventually leading to understanding as he learns how to come to terms with himself and the world around him. It is an exploration of the many faces of god and the universe, as well as humanity's place within it all. Inventive and energetic, the hairbrained plot takes the...
Show moreThe Dreams of Gods is a surreal-realist novel that follows a grieving man in the wake of his wife’s death through a strange conspiracy that seems to bend reality around him, forcing him on a curious odyssey of self-discovery, eventually leading to understanding as he learns how to come to terms with himself and the world around him. It is an exploration of the many faces of god and the universe, as well as humanity's place within it all. Inventive and energetic, the hairbrained plot takes the reader deep into a world that becomes more bizarre with each page, while fantastical characters pop in and out of the story in shocking and comical ways and nothing is quite what it seems.
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013711
Subject Headings
Novels, Fiction
Format
Document (PDF)
Angels and Monsters: Exploring the Restraining Binary in Late Victorian Fiction
Title
Angels and Monsters: Exploring the Restraining Binary in Late Victorian Fiction.
Creator
Boyar, Michelle, Buckton, Oliver, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
This thesis explores the limited economic, professional, and political opportunities for women in the Victorian era and how these roles are perpetuated through literature. Often, the lack of opportunities confined women to two choices: the angel or the monster. While there has been significant research on this binary, Virginia Woolf’s cry to “kill the angel of the house” has not been rectified. To discuss the binary, I have analyzed Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret and Charlotte...
Show moreThis thesis explores the limited economic, professional, and political opportunities for women in the Victorian era and how these roles are perpetuated through literature. Often, the lack of opportunities confined women to two choices: the angel or the monster. While there has been significant research on this binary, Virginia Woolf’s cry to “kill the angel of the house” has not been rectified. To discuss the binary, I have analyzed Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret and Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper” to discuss how these female writers reflect their authorial anxieties through Gothic tropes and a close identification with their heroines. Additionally, I have analyzed Thomas Hardy’s Tess of D’Urbervilles and Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets to discuss how these male authors take a naturalistic approach to critique the fallen woman trope.
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013719
Subject Headings
Victorian literature, Feminism, Tropes
Format
Document (PDF)
Rat Mouth
Title
Rat Mouth.
Creator
Baker, Aiden, Bucak, Ayşe Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Rat Mouth is a collection of fictional stories that speak to the absurdity of girlhood. These stories focus on the precarious situations women are put into when their physical bodies are valued more than their internal lives.
Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013734
Subject Headings
Short stories, Fiction
Format
Document (PDF)
THE PIPELINE: ESSAYS ON ADDICTION AND RECOVERY
Title
THE PIPELINE: ESSAYS ON ADDICTION AND RECOVERY.
Creator
Rawson, Jonathan, Furman, Andrew, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
As the title suggests, this is a collection of essays about addiction and recovery, told from my personal perspective. In recovery, we have a saying: “Once a pickle, you can’t go back to a cucumber.” That is, just because one stops using drugs, does not mean their addictive personality is somehow vanquished. Even though I have not used drugs or alcohol in over eight years, I still very much identify as a person who is in recovery from addiction and alcoholism. This collection is about my life...
Show moreAs the title suggests, this is a collection of essays about addiction and recovery, told from my personal perspective. In recovery, we have a saying: “Once a pickle, you can’t go back to a cucumber.” That is, just because one stops using drugs, does not mean their addictive personality is somehow vanquished. Even though I have not used drugs or alcohol in over eight years, I still very much identify as a person who is in recovery from addiction and alcoholism. This collection is about my life as an addict and alcoholic, both before and after getting clean, and the transformation required to bridge these two very different existences.
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013715
Subject Headings
Essay, Memoirs, Autobiography, Substance abuse
Format
Document (PDF)
THE LONESOME AND ENTRAPPED EXISTENCE OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH’S ANTIHERO: THOMAS RIPLEY
Title
THE LONESOME AND ENTRAPPED EXISTENCE OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH’S ANTIHERO: THOMAS RIPLEY.
Creator
Leyva, Enma, Adams, Robert Don, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
While literary critics acknowledge the amoral and criminal behavior of Thomas Ripley, the antihero in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripliad series, many critics fail to recognize Highsmith’s parables in connection to ethical responsibility to the Other and guilt because of falling into complete despair. By examining Ripley’s character through an ethical lens, I contend that Ripley’s inability to connect with others disallows him from engaging in moral behavior that would establish basic responsibility...
Show moreWhile literary critics acknowledge the amoral and criminal behavior of Thomas Ripley, the antihero in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripliad series, many critics fail to recognize Highsmith’s parables in connection to ethical responsibility to the Other and guilt because of falling into complete despair. By examining Ripley’s character through an ethical lens, I contend that Ripley’s inability to connect with others disallows him from engaging in moral behavior that would establish basic responsibility for others. This results in a repetitive cycle of criminality that leads to inner turmoil and a sickness of the spirit. This thesis analyzes the parables in Highsmith’s novels by applying Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics in relation with Soren Kierkegaard’s conception of human existence. Ripley lives a lonely existence because he is unaware of his ethical dilemma, covets wealth at all costs, and fails to recognize that his division from society is at the root of his infinite despair.
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013695
Subject Headings
Antiheroes in literature, Highsmith, Patricia, 1921-1995. Talented Mr. Ripley
Format
Document (PDF)
These Things Leave Traces
Title
These Things Leave Traces.
Creator
Tucker, Renae, Schmitt, Kate, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
These Things Leave Traces is a collection of essays, some lyric, centered on themes of control, consent, feminism, and ethics. Reflecting on personal experience and drawing from fairy tales, this collection explores the ways in which trauma manifests and, further, how these traces of trauma can be found both in a body and in a body of work.
Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013684
Subject Headings
Essays, Creative writing
Format
Document (PDF)
Enclaves
Title
Enclaves.
Creator
Piesco, Justin, McKay, Becka, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Enclaves is a fiction novel set on an Earth ravaged by climate change and follows characters trying to find meaning in a life constantly threatened by weather. It addresses themes of adventure, death, competition, and capitalistic consequence.
Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013833
Subject Headings
Fiction, Novel
Format
Document (PDF)
We’re Alright
Title
We’re Alright.
Creator
Moghadaspour, Kelsey Marie, Furman, Andrew, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
The main desire behind this project was to construct a story that could be enjoyed by anyone of any age (for the most part). The author has been writing for over ten years at this point, and has always had an affinity for Young Adult literature. It was YA literature that made the author interested in becoming a writer in the first place. YA has the ability to help those who are too young to be considered “real adults” feel like there is someone out there that understands them and who takes...
Show moreThe main desire behind this project was to construct a story that could be enjoyed by anyone of any age (for the most part). The author has been writing for over ten years at this point, and has always had an affinity for Young Adult literature. It was YA literature that made the author interested in becoming a writer in the first place. YA has the ability to help those who are too young to be considered “real adults” feel like there is someone out there that understands them and who takes them and their feelings into serious consideration. While, like any genre of literature out there, there are some more unsavory and less serious pieces of literature in this category, to always look down on it and say that it has no value or no place among other literature is ill mannered. The story here depicts what life is like as a teenager, which many know and have experienced, but it shows how young people deal with all sorts of feelings and scenarios, ranging from small fights that won’t matter the next day with friends you may not remember in ten years, to life changing and world shattering events that you won’t ever forget, no matter how hard you may try. The author of this piece wanted to portray a story where young people could feel heard and could relate, and where older generations could begin to understand that just because someone is young, doesn’t mean that what they feel isn’t real. The desire to reach the hearts of many is what lives in these pages and will continue to do so until that desire is met. This project came about after almost two years, and while it is far from complete, it will be worked on until it can sit on its own and feel worthy of peoples eyes and fears.
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Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013867
Subject Headings
Young adult literature, Young adult fiction
Format
Document (PDF)
Home Home
Title
Home Home.
Creator
Hawkins, Matthew, Bucak, Ayşe Papatya, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Home Home is a collection of nonfiction essays addressing themes of mental health, popular culture, queerness, setting, and sexuality.
Date Issued
2021
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013678
Subject Headings
Essay, Nonfiction
Format
Document (PDF)
All My Sins
Title
All My Sins.
Creator
Ryan, Craig, Furman, Andrew, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description
All My Sins is a collection of short fiction. The stories feature characters from Florida struggling with family, sexuality, masculinity, ethics, and themselves.
Date Issued
2019
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013257
Subject Headings
Short fiction, Short stories, Creative writing, Florida
Format
Document (PDF)
THE HARM IN KNOWING: THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSPECTIVE AND THE DANGERS OF KNOWLEDGE IN H.P. LOVECRAFT
Title
THE HARM IN KNOWING: THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSPECTIVE AND THE DANGERS OF KNOWLEDGE IN H.P. LOVECRAFT.
Creator
Dane, Cherokee, Miller, Timothy S., Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
H. P. Lovecraft has been a significant influence in horror fiction, but most of the attention paid to Lovecraft’s work focuses on his Cthulhu Mythos. This thesis examines a group of fantasy stories from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, overlooked in favor of his horror tales. I argue these stories merit attention for their presentation of an ideological conflict central to much of Lovecraft’s work: reality, knowledge, and science vs. fantasy, imagination, and dreams. Lovecraft demonstrates the...
Show moreH. P. Lovecraft has been a significant influence in horror fiction, but most of the attention paid to Lovecraft’s work focuses on his Cthulhu Mythos. This thesis examines a group of fantasy stories from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, overlooked in favor of his horror tales. I argue these stories merit attention for their presentation of an ideological conflict central to much of Lovecraft’s work: reality, knowledge, and science vs. fantasy, imagination, and dreams. Lovecraft demonstrates the limitations and importance of one’s perspective, illustrating the need to be flexible in one’s beliefs and viewpoints. I also argue that this understanding of perspective encourages alternative readings of Lovecraft’s other work, as well as enabling a greater understanding of horror and fear of the unknown.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014016
Subject Headings
Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937
Format
Document (PDF)
Making WonderWomen: Recursive Tendencies in Feminist Utopias
Title
Making WonderWomen: Recursive Tendencies in Feminist Utopias.
Creator
Norris, William, MacDonald, Ian, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Making Wonder Women: Recursive Tendencies in Feminist Utopias argues that reduplications of patriarchal hegemonies exist in William Marston’s Wonder Women. Using several close readings of Marston’s original comics as well as three modern (2011, 2017, 2020) reimaginings by Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, and Daniel Warren Johnson, this thesis highlights how the design of Paradise Island, the Amazons, and Wonder Woman serve to reproduce Rockwellian demands of femininity through the guise of sexual...
Show moreMaking Wonder Women: Recursive Tendencies in Feminist Utopias argues that reduplications of patriarchal hegemonies exist in William Marston’s Wonder Women. Using several close readings of Marston’s original comics as well as three modern (2011, 2017, 2020) reimaginings by Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, and Daniel Warren Johnson, this thesis highlights how the design of Paradise Island, the Amazons, and Wonder Woman serve to reproduce Rockwellian demands of femininity through the guise of sexual radicalism and the religious rhetoric of liberation through servitude. This culminates in the position that Marston’s feminist ideals calcified into pop-culture a confusing and muddled icon of white colonial feminism.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014002
Subject Headings
Marston, William Moulton, 1893-1947. Wonder Woman, Feminism
Format
Document (PDF)
“COMING AT THE WONDER ITSELF”: MISCLASSIFICATION, MISUNDERSTANDING AND THE INTEGRATED VISION OF RUSSELL HOBAN’S 1967 NOVEL THE MOUSE AND HIS CHILD
Title
“COMING AT THE WONDER ITSELF”: MISCLASSIFICATION, MISUNDERSTANDING AND THE INTEGRATED VISION OF RUSSELL HOBAN’S 1967 NOVEL THE MOUSE AND HIS CHILD.
Creator
Richards, Charles, Ulin, Julieann, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
In 1967, Russell Hoban’s first novel, The Mouse and His Child was published and reviewed as a children’s book, despite the fact that the author considered it not to be directed towards a child audience. Since that time, it has been generally analyzed and evaluated as a work of children’s literature (specifically) and not as literature in the general sense. Because the book deals with adult subjects and concepts it has not fared well with those who have measured its success solely on the basis...
Show moreIn 1967, Russell Hoban’s first novel, The Mouse and His Child was published and reviewed as a children’s book, despite the fact that the author considered it not to be directed towards a child audience. Since that time, it has been generally analyzed and evaluated as a work of children’s literature (specifically) and not as literature in the general sense. Because the book deals with adult subjects and concepts it has not fared well with those who have measured its success solely on the basis of its being classified as a children’s book. This thesis hopes to liberate the work from this classification by carefully analyzing the concepts which underpin its action, specifically its ontological speculations, its personification of the fall from grace and the felix culpa, the relationship of the protagonists to their complex antagonist Manny Rat, and, finally, in the symbol of “the last visible dog” which represents the infinite and what lies beyond the self (which, in fact, is actually the self). This thesis also examines how Hoban continued working with these themes and concepts in the novels he wrote after publishing The Mouse and His Child.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014008
Subject Headings
Hoban, Russell--Criticism and interpretation, Literature
Format
Document (PDF)
“THIS LAND IS IN MY BONES”: WITCHES, MAGIC, AND ECOLOGICAL RELATIONALITY IN TERRY PRATCHETT’S TIFFANY ACHING SERIES
Title
“THIS LAND IS IN MY BONES”: WITCHES, MAGIC, AND ECOLOGICAL RELATIONALITY IN TERRY PRATCHETT’S TIFFANY ACHING SERIES.
Creator
Peebles, Amanda, Miller, Timothy, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
Tiffany Aching and the Witches of the Discworld Series use knowledge that is based on working with and connecting to the natural world instead of against it, primarily through their use of magic without using magic and their use of “headology,” to create the desired effect without detriment to the ecology of the Discworld. This puts them in contrast with the male, Unseen-University wizards, whose magic works against the ecology of the Discworld as it changes and corrupts the world around it....
Show moreTiffany Aching and the Witches of the Discworld Series use knowledge that is based on working with and connecting to the natural world instead of against it, primarily through their use of magic without using magic and their use of “headology,” to create the desired effect without detriment to the ecology of the Discworld. This puts them in contrast with the male, Unseen-University wizards, whose magic works against the ecology of the Discworld as it changes and corrupts the world around it. Further, the relationship that Tiffany Aching has within her home, the land she was born in, and her ecology becomes a nexus between the natural world and human communities. This connection between herself and her land is comparable to the one that Ged learns through his journey in Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. This connection between the authors is not simply a categorical one but one that connects them, their work, and an ideological push against individualism that relies on interconnectedness between species.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014003
Subject Headings
Pratchett, Terry. Tiffany Aching series, Pratchett, Terry. Discworld series, Fantasy literature
Format
Document (PDF)
body as /
Title
body as /.
Creator
Keane, Haley Bell, McKay, Becka, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
body as / is a collection of poetry exploring the body, mental health, spirituality, environment, and family.
Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013898
Subject Headings
Poetry, Creative writing
Format
Document (PDF)
The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker
Title
The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker.
Creator
Isaacs, Jenna, Berlatsky, Eric, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
This thesis The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker takes a psychoanalytic, gender, and media studies approach to comics such as Mad Love, The Batman Adventures, Suicide Squad and the film Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad (2016) Drawing on the work of Lenore Walker, Scott McCloud and other various scholars, this thesis will explore the distinctions in how the comics and film confront, disguise, or conceal the abuse. An analysis of the...
Show moreThis thesis The Representation and Evolution of Abusive Relationships: Harley Quinn and the Joker takes a psychoanalytic, gender, and media studies approach to comics such as Mad Love, The Batman Adventures, Suicide Squad and the film Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad (2016) Drawing on the work of Lenore Walker, Scott McCloud and other various scholars, this thesis will explore the distinctions in how the comics and film confront, disguise, or conceal the abuse. An analysis of the increasingly romanticized representation of abuse in the comics and film, where audience support for the couple and merchandizing were core concerns, reflect increasing audience participation in responding to and making demands upon narratives of toxic relationships and intimate partner violence.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013938
Subject Headings
Media studies, Women's studies, Intimate partner violence
Format
Document (PDF)
SOCIAL GHOSTS OF THE DOMESTIC SPHERE: THE HAUNTING PRESENCE OF THE MONSTROUS MOTHER IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Title
SOCIAL GHOSTS OF THE DOMESTIC SPHERE: THE HAUNTING PRESENCE OF THE MONSTROUS MOTHER IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION.
Creator
Dvorak, Alicia, Miller, Timothy, Florida Atlantic University, Department of English, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description
This thesis argues that the numerous widespread fears about deviant domestic behavior that rose to prominence in Western nations during the post-World War II era can still be observed in contemporary fictional representations of what I term the “monstrous domestic”: when mothers and the domestic spaces that they occupy are depicted as “bad,” “evil,” or otherwise threatening. Using psychoanalytic, feminist, and monster theory, as well as sociocultural context, I examine four works that...
Show moreThis thesis argues that the numerous widespread fears about deviant domestic behavior that rose to prominence in Western nations during the post-World War II era can still be observed in contemporary fictional representations of what I term the “monstrous domestic”: when mothers and the domestic spaces that they occupy are depicted as “bad,” “evil,” or otherwise threatening. Using psychoanalytic, feminist, and monster theory, as well as sociocultural context, I examine four works that prominently display and condemn the monstrous domestic: Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959), Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014), and Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects (2007). Ultimately, I contend that the continued presence of wicked mothers who utilize their domestic power to control and harm their children within fiction indicates that, despite social progress, an unconscious cultural uneasiness about (un)acceptable maternity and domesticity still remains.
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Date Issued
2022
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013892
Subject Headings
Jackson, Shirley, 1916-1965. Haunting of Hill House, Gaiman, Neil. Coraline, Kent, Jennifer, 1951-, Flynn, Gillian, 1971-, Fiction--Criticism and interpretation
Format
Document (PDF)

Pages