Women and World War One: Perspectives on Women's Role in WWI Literature

<p>This thesis analyzes the changing gender roles of British women who served as caretakers in World War One. Often overlooked for their contributions, the women who worked on the frontlines of the war defined the changing role of women during and after the war in several crucial ways: 1) the general expectations of women’s gender role, 2) how women perceived and acted in motherhood, and 3) how women constructed and maintained heterosexual, homosocial, and platonic relationships. Using a gender theory approach, this thesis analyzes two semi-autobiographical fictional texts, Evadne Price’s <em>Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War, </em>published in 1930, and Mary Borden’s <em>The Forbidden Zone </em>published in 1929, as well as propaganda posters from the time, to highlight how caretaking women were defined, freed, and constrained by the gendered expectations of wartime. Women were crucial to the war effort, and by serving their country through war work, the gendered role of women was altered forever. This thesis also serves to bring to light a scholarly gap in the study of war literature written by women and focused on women characters. Women’s gender roles during WWI is an under-researched area within literary studies, and this thesis serves to illuminate two important authors who represent women’s experience and impact on the war.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English Literature

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Rachel Michelle

Contributors dc:contributor

• Christopher Schedler
• Sarah Sillin
• Michele O'Brien

• WW1
• Women's Literature
• Ambulance
• Nursing
• Gender Roles
• History of Gender
• Literature in English, British Isles
• Military History
• Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Women's History
• Women's Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1504

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2529