White Women as the Abused and the Abusers: Secret History and the Seduction Plot’s Ties to Capitalism, Colonialism, and Slavery

This thesis examines the intersectionality of gender, race, and class in Secret History (1808) by Leonora Sansay. Secret History is situated amongst other early American sentimental fiction like The Coquette (1797), Charlotte Temple (1791), and The Power of Sympathy (1789) to show that the way the novel discusses gender, race, and class is aligned with other early American literature and thought in this period. The seduction plot in Secret History is both like and differs from the norms of the seduction plot in early American Literature through its inclusion of a married character and domestic violence. Clara’s escape from domestic violence in the novel shows readers an imaginative future where women can leave their abusers. While Secret History shows the harms of domestic violence, it also problematically paints black men on the island of San Domingo as predators to white women and does not discuss women of color as equal subjects of sexual and domestic abuse. Clara’s escape from domestic abuse in Secret History is only possible because of the help from white women enslavers, which connects white women’s ability to oppress black people with white women’s freedom. Secret History is both revolutionary for white women and problematic for people of color in its depiction of domestic abuse and slavery, but the problematic nature of the novel does not make it an outlier in early American literature because these problematic themes are a consistent element of early American literature.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Cole, Sarah Elizabeth

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mielke, Laura

• Domestic Violence
• Intersectionality
• Leonora Sansay
• Secret History
• Seduction Novel
• Slavery

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/32671714

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/39511