Date of Award
Fall 12-2012
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Dr. Malmgren
Second Advisor
Dr. Hazlett
Third Advisor
Dr. Hembree
Abstract
This paper examines the feminist perspective in Didion’s collection of essays Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Throughout the text, Didion looks closely at the West and the changing social climate which surrounds her. Her essays chronicle women struggling to find a balance between the domestic and independence promised by myth the West. I analyze how women are granted only limited participation within the American Dream because of the masculine power structures which dominate our society. As the values of the American Dream shift, the women that Didion depicts attempt to find identity and independence despite the restrictive forces around them.
Recommended Citation
Maidlow, Coleen, "“Man’s Country. Out Where the West Begins”: Women, the American Dream, and the West in Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1597.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1597
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.