[Introduction -- excerpt] Joyce scholarship on Dubliners asks a lot of questions exploring the male characters' moments of reflection, revelation and trials to define the possibility of their identity and influence in the overall work. But what of the various women who are often the foundation of the scenes and the events? Is their purpose only to provide sustenance, hospitality and listen these reflexive male progratonists? Certain moments in "The Dead" summarize the...

Introduction [excerpt] I argue that Jackson and Oyeyemi escape the underlying patriarchal connontations of the novel and writing by creating temporal spaces within their texts for the purpose of discussing gender issues facing middle-class women at their time. By placing temporal space within the houses, Jackson and Oyeyemi demonstrate that both social norms and change are born in the home. Analyzing the writing techniques of these authors, I address the social commentary made within each novel. In Chapter 1, I...

Abstract In my thesis, I examine the use of the British nursery rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons," in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in relation to the decline of the "traditional" mother figure in Oceania. George Orwell felt that if women continued to work after World War II, then the traditional family would be destroyed and children would not have the moral upbringing that only a mother could provide. In the fascist society of Oceania, good,...