Date of Award
Summer 8-7-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Kameelah Martin Samuel
Second Advisor
Dr. Tanya Caldwell
Third Advisor
Dr. Pearl McHaney
Abstract
Madness in women exists as a trope within the literature from the earliest of civilizations. This theme is evident and appears to possess a link with male dysfunction in several of Toni Morrison’s texts. Lack of maternal accountability has long served as a symptom of female mental instability as imposed by patriarchal thought. Mothers who have neglected or harmed their young across cultures and time periods have been forcibly branded with the mark of madness. Female characters in five of Morrison’s novels bear a striking resemblance to the female archetypes of ancient Greece. This paper will demonstrate the kindred strands of prescribed female madness in the women of the myths of ancient Greece and Morrison’s characters as it relates to neglectful mothering and male flight.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1396232
Recommended Citation
McNeal, Ebony O., ""Sugarman Done Fly Away": Kindred Threads of Female Madness and Male Flight in the Novels of Toni Morrison and Classical Greek Myth." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2010.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1396232