Master's Theses

Department

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the women in Willa Cather’s novel The Professor’s House and demonstrates the ways in which the women are able to adapt to change better than the men in the novel, even though the women are degraded for their materialism and behaviors. By looking at previous scholarship, this thesis highlights how women in this novel have for some reason been excluded from the academic debate surrounding The Professor’s House. This exclusion is often the result of scholars placing more emphasis on St. Peter and Tom as the main characters in the story. What this ignores, however, is the strength of the women and their ability to adapt to modern life. The women in the novel are remarkably strong, yet St. Peter does not see them this way. Since the narrative focuses mainly on the male perspectives, the reader can easily take on the view of the men and forget to look closer at the women in the text who demonstrate different characteristics than St. Peter detects in them. Finally, in placing this novel alongside A Lost Lady, which similarly views the woman in the story through the male’s perspective, this paper proves that a new reading of The Professor’s House must be considered to truly understand one of the ways Cather uses the women in this novel.

Keywords

Willa Cather, The Professor's House, Materialism, Feminism, Consumerism

Advisor

Dr. Eric Leuschner

Date of Award

Fall 2015

Document Type

Thesis

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Download


Share

COinS