Master of Arts in English
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Item Destabilizing Gender Binaries and Ideologies: The Progression of Gender and Queer Studies Through Twentieth Century Literature(Southern New Hampshire University, 2021-04-02) Cole, Nakida LeeAnn; Jackson, Jennie; Lee, Christopher; ChristopherToday, when you pick up a new novel, it hardly comes as a surprise when you are introduced to characters who defy gender binaries and ideologies that have been in place for hundreds of years. This has not always been the case. During the 1900s, there seemed to be a shift in the creation of literature, the intent of literature, and the way that literature was analyzed in terms of gender and sexuality; ample research has been done in the field of gender and queer studies, allowing new perspectives to form and new information to be shared. And while the different genders and sexuality preferences have been voiced in various ways, literature has been an exceptional outlet to share this knowledge, especially during the twentieth century. The addition of queer studies that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s has provided a new perspective not only on feminist aspects presented in literature but also on how gender identity and sexual preferences are portrayed in literature, giving a voice to those who have been silenced for far too long. During the twentieth century, authors such as Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Jeanette Winterson pushed the boundaries of gender ideologies, effectively using the strength of their own voices to upset the oppressive nature of gender binaries. The unsettling of these binaries in twentieth-century literature has created a long-standing platform for others to speak their own truth.Item Disabled Identities Revealed Through the Empiricism of a Quartet of Female Dramatis Personae: a Psycho-Social Autoethnographic Portrait(Southern New Hampshire University, 2022-11-11) Domenick, Anthony; Harrison, Marlen; Lee, Christopher; ChristopherDramatists have always built upon pure psychological foundations for character development. The intrinsic qualities associated with humanity impel subjective thoughts, insights, and interpretations on consciousness and introspection. There have been a plethora of protagonists and antagonists to illustrate this argument. In particular, the following four female personas exemplify motifs of affliction, dereliction and social ostracism: Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller from The Miracle Worker, Sarah Norman from Children of a Lesser God, and Laura Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie. These characters are detailed and contrasted through an autoethnographic perspective culminating in the universal theme of psychosocial survival. The cognitive processes, sensibilities, and visceral tendencies of these disabled female characters rouse exploration. Orphaned, blind, and institutionalized, Annie Sullivan overcame egregious cruelties through fervency for an education. With indefatigable exertion, her first job was teaching a deaf, blind, and mute Helen Keller, an exile from humanity, appropriate behavior and basic communication skills with the ultimate goal of language and its significance. The pedagogy process becomes a quagmire of violent tantrums and thwarted efforts. Analogously, Sarah Norman is also a defector from humanity. A version of a misanthrope, Sarah rejects the hearing world with its condescending nonconformity to the language, culture, and values of her world, the deaf world. Laura Wingfield also disengages humankind with a penchant for escapism tethered to an incandescent menagerie of unicorns. What is most intriguing about all four personas is the dramatist’s distillation of the human experience, in particular, their social and psychological adaptation and resignation as an affirmation of their inured reality.