Sentimentalism and Marginality: Empathy and Empowerment for the Adult women in The Heir of Redclyffe, Jessica's First Prayer, and Misunderstood

In this thesis, I will examine the ways that three. Victorian women writers-Charlotte Yonge (1823-1901), Hesba Stretton (1823-1911), and Florence Montgomery (1843-1923)-worked out of their societal position to create texts that influenced a wide number of readers and even constructed their tastes. In chapter two, "General and Specific Circumstances Under Which Women Wrote in the Mid-Nineteenth Century," I will investigate the context surrounding Yonge, Stretton, and Montgomery. In chapter three, "Texts as Empowering Structures," I closely read the works to uncover messages that may have empowered readers through their characters, their actions, and their dialogues. In chapter four, "Victorian Reviews and the Construction of the Yonge Reader," I examine the reception of Yonge's work by depicting reviews from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. When we examine the use of pathos, sympathy, and tragedy in each of the stories, it is apparent that the genre of sentimentalism attracts a female readership because it examines underlying tensions within the culture, fulfills women's need for empowerment and empathy, and offers powerful solutions to subvert constraints through its subscription to metaphor and double discourse. Ultimately, I hope to prove that an enormous amount of transformative space exists within marginal discourse and that it is possible to attain power through nondominant methods of acquisition.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

Southwest Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Thornhill, Lisa

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nelson, Claudia

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Ingram, Angela
• McKinney, Audrey

• literature
• women in literature
• women and literature

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/17175

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/17175