Material girl : the subjective role of objects in Dorothy Parker's poems and short stories
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Briana M. Spencer (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
- Advisor
- Janet Ellerby
Abstract: This thesis is a study of the importance of objects within Dorothy Parker’s poems and
short stories and how her use of material items as metaphors for the restricted roles available to
women of her day simultaneously intensifies and challenges these gender-related limitations.
The essay draws upon the tenets of feminist theory that call for a pluralistic reading of female
texts and an appropriation of “feminine” items within a literary language, as well Karl Marx’s
theories of commodity in which material objects serve the primary purpose of capitalistic
exchange and Laura Mulvey’s study of pleasure- viewing in which women play specific roles
designed for them by men. This study of how Parker illustrates her heroines through the material
objects surrounding them serves to highlight her writing as an innovative subversion of the
commonly accepted parameters for the women of her era.
Material girl : the subjective role of objects in Dorothy Parker's poems and short stories
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Created on 1/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Parker Dorothy 1893-1967--Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature
- Subjects
- Symbolism in literature
- Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967 -- Criticism and interpretation