Dissertation > Excellent graduate degree dissertation topics show

From Old Southern Gentlewoman to New Southern Fox

Author: WengZuoYan
Tutor: FeiChunFang
School: East China Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: Southern Belle Traditional values Women Playwrights Fox Haier Tennessee Williams South America Ibsenism Personality traits Arthur Miller
CLC:
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2006
Downloads: 397
Quote: 1
Read: Download Dissertation

Abstract


Considered second to Arthur Miller as an American Ibsenian and second in importance to Tennessee Williams as a dramatist writing about the South, Lillian Hellman occupies an important position in American theatrical circles. Moreover, she breaks through obstacles and establishes her fame as an outstanding playwright in a male-dominated theatrical world in the 1930s, which paves the way for her successors. However, owing to various reasons, her works haven’t been paid enough attention to for a long time. To compensate for this limitation, the present thesis sets out to give a analytical study of Another Part of the Forest and The Little Foxes—two of her most famous plays directly dealing with Southerners. From the angles of Southern tradition and feminism, the thesis discusses the fate of Southern gentlewomen after the Civil War and their way out and tries to make some contribution to Hellman study.In view of Hellman’s identity as a Southern woman playwright and her special focus on Southern gentlewomen, this thesis chooses four Southern female characters in the above two plays to analyze in detail—Lavinia, Birdie, Regina and Alexander. They are the best spokespersons for Southern gentlewomen: all of them come from Southern upper class; they have been educated in the tradition of Southern womanhood and they embody the old Southern culture and values. However, thrown into a turbulent age when the South is forced to transform to the Northern-sytle industrialization and deprived of its traditional values after the Civil War, these gentlewomen have to make choices, thus their fates diverge.The first chapter begins by introducing the geographical and historical connotations of the American South, distinguished Southern mind, belief and characters, as well as the unique consciousness and technique of Southern writers at the beginning. The second part deals with the feminist movement and the Southern view of womanhood. The last part relates these two aspects to Hellman’s personal experience in order to analyze the characters better.The second chapter discusses the gentlewomen’s transformation by comparison. In general, their transformation can be divided into three types: Lavinia and Birdie are

Related Dissertations

  1. \,I712.074
  2. The Study of Correlation between Nurses’s Sense of Coherence, Personality Traits and Nurses’ Burnout,R47
  3. Arthur Miller’s Ethical Views as Reflected in His Three Plays,I712.073
  4. A Research on the Influence of Personality Traits and Time Management Disposition on Normal School Students’ Career Maturity,B849
  5. The age of the Internet companies independent management team,F272
  6. A Study of Shanghai Young Employees’ Turnover Intention,F272.92
  7. The Discussion about Expansion of Shipping Market in Central and South American,F552.6
  8. The Echo of the Mountains,J607
  9. A Research on the Vocational Values, Self-efficacy in Career-choosing and Traits of Female Students in Higher Vocational College,G444
  10. Sports Injury Situation and Its Risk Assessment among Adolescents in Shanghai,R873
  11. Father styles on high school test anxiety related research,G44
  12. Cultural Perspective on Enterprise Internal Control Environment Research,F272
  13. Diet Habitat and Interspecific Relationship of Three Carnivorous Species in the Southern Junggar Basin,Q958.1
  14. The Study of Pathogen Isolation and Rapid Detection on Gardnerella Vaginalis of Fox,S858.9
  15. The Expression and Significance of FOXC2 in Endometrial Carcinoma,R737.33
  16. Students'Attributional way relationship between personality traits and guilt,B844.2
  17. Present Situation of Chinese animated film,J954
  18. A Victim of Patriarchal Conventions,I712
  19. New Analysis of Isabel in Henry James’s the Portrait of a Lady,I712
  20. Walk in the wilderness of the soul of the South American female narrator novel heterogeneous homogeneous nature of interpretation,I712.074
  21. Junior Tennis Players personality traits , mood states and athletic performance Relationship,G845

CLC: >
© 2012 www.DissertationTopic.Net  Mobile