Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Dimino, Andrea
Keywords
Literature, Animal Studies, Feminism
Area of Concentration
English
Abstract
In this thesis, I demonstrate the ways in which contemporary American fiction by women uses the animal as both a literal figure and a concept. Focusing on Amy Hempel, Alice Walker, and Octavia Butler, I examine how they link their portrayal of animals to the historical, current, and potential experiences of women: these writers depict cultures whose ideologies, social expectations, ethics, and hierarchies of value prove sexist and "speciesist." First I describe historical trends in the ways that representations of animals�and animality have been used in relation to women, often to justify oppression. The advent of evolutionary discourse in the nineteenth century set in motion a series of conceptual changes, from the women�s and animal rights movements of the early to mid-twentieth century to developments within the past three decades. In particular, I draw from the emergent approach of combined feminist and animal studies to analyze�how the portrayals of animals, animality, and gender intersect in three very different works, Hempel�s�Collected Stories,�Walker�s�The Temple of My Familiar,�and Butler�sClay�s Ark [give years of publication for all].�By implicitly or explicitly linking sexism and speciesism, this approach reveals, revises, and even offers alternatives to cultural structures of oppression.
Recommended Citation
Miller, Ericka, "Writing the Animal" (2011). Theses & ETDs. 4418.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4418