Date of Award
5-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Hazlett, John
Second Advisor
Lackey, Kris
Third Advisor
Shenk, Robert
Abstract
A dramatic shift in tone in the final letter of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer reveals Farmer James' conflicting attitudes about an independent America. When the letters are juxtaposed with a Western myth of origin such as Virgil's Aeneid, it becomes clear that Crèvecoeur is forcing his narrating persona to repeat a pattern of civilization – destruction, renewal – on which all of Western civilization is based. The sudden pessimism that erupts in the penultimate "Distresses of a Frontier Man" is symptomatic of James' anxiety about the American Revolution and the resulting disruption in his bucolic way of life.
Recommended Citation
Barry, Douglas, "Echoes of Laocoön's Warning in Letters from an American Farmer " (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1293.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1293
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 in 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.