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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Mansfield, Katherine, --1888-1923; Mansfield, Katherine, --1888-1923;

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to approach Katherine Mansfield's work from a thematic point of view, The scope of her themes is actually quite limited, and all are related in some way to the isolation of the individual, Almost all of her eighty-eight stories can be placed in one or another of three categories, all of which deal with this basic idea, One group shows the isolation of individual members within what appears to be a close-knit family, The second group deals with the woman who isolated from the man with whom she should have a meaningful relationship, usually either her husband or her fiance. The third group is devoted to the woman who is isolated from society. A discussion of this theme forms the basic part of this thesis, The isolated woman in society is examined at three different ages in Miss Mansfield's work. She is seen as a young woman who is unaware of worldly perils, She is a prey to the circumstances of her environment and is usually without the comfort of a family or the support of a man. As a middle-aged woman she is disillusioned. She is losing her beauty. Although she craves the attention of a man, she no longer has the ability to attract him. She finds it hard to communicate and difficult, if not impossible, to form meaningful relationships with other people. The older woman has been defeated by life. Her powers of communication are completely stunted, Not only is it impossible for her to make her feelings and emotions known to others, she also conceals them from herself. She has no one to depend on, and what is worse, no one to depend on her. Her very existence is meaningless. To examine this isolated woman, who appears in about one fourth of Miss Mansfield's stories, is the intent of this writer. The stories selected for analysis are those which best illustrate this purpose and are not necessarily Miss Mansfield's finest or best-known stories.

Year of Submission

1970

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

First Advisor

John Cowley

Second Advisor

Francis Smith

Third Advisor

Donald Howard

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1970

Object Description

1 PDF file (70 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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