"What shall we use to fill the empty spaces?": Displacement in Frank Norris's McTeague

<p>Author's abstract: McTeague, Frank Norris's Naturalistc text written in 1899, depicts the corruption of a California couple due to influences outside of their control. In positioning Trina McTeague as a woman unable to identify with either of the two major feminine ideologies of the day, the Angel in the House and the New Woman, this paper examines her identity as conflicted because of this lack of autonomy. Her failure to identify herself leads to a mental break that is reflected in the domestic spaces she inhabits. The places she lives each become smaller and dirtier reflecting her diminished mental capacity. All the while, Trina works to fill her trunk, a substitute domestic space, with coins in an attempt to build value for herself the only way she knows how: monetarily. This paper analyzes the feminine ideologies at the turn of the twentieth century focusing on the concept of identity and how it links to the domestic space.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts in English (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Literature and Philosophy

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Lambeth, Jennifer Bugna

Contributors dc:contributor

• Candy B. K. Schille
• Caren Town

• ETD
• Frank Norris
• McTeague
• Trina
• Domestic Space
• Home
• House
• Domesticity
• Angel in the House
• New Woman
• Gender
• Identity
• Trunk
• Arts and Humanities
• Classics
• Comparative Literature
• English Language and Literature
• Other Classics
• Other English Language and Literature

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1020

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-2053