Off-campus ETSU users: To download "Campus Only" theses, please use the following link to log in to our proxy server with your ETSU username and password.
Non-ETSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2001
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Judith B. Slagle
Committee Members
William Styron Harris Jr., Ernest J. Branscomb
Abstract
Through four novelists from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries-Haywood, Defoe, Austen, and Chopin-this work examines the way the mother's importance evolves throughout literature. In Haywood's works, motherhood is seen as a dominant force in her child's life, but not a dominant force in society. Defoe approaches motherhood in a dramatically different way; for him, motherhood is secondary to financial security, and this opinion is reflected in the lives and actions of his characters. In spite of the absence of a maternal influence, Austen's characters do not experience true hardship in the way that Haywood's and Defoe's do. However, their lives are adversely affected by this absence. Chopin's protagonist has never experienced a maternal influence, and this absence has dramatically affected her life. She is unsure about what she wants from life, and this knowledge, along with her realization of society's restrictions upon her, ultimately leads to her suicide.
Document Type
Thesis - restricted
Recommended Citation
Horn, Jessica, "Maternal Misogyny: Absent Mothers in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Literature." (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 98. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/98
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.