Women’s Relationship with Space (Domestic and Public) in Marilynne Robinson’s Novels

• Main Authors: Chou, Tsai-Chieh, 周綵潔
• Other Authors: Mary A. Goodwin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/36892112678350170203

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 103 === This thesis explores women’s relationships with space in American novelist Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, and Lila. Starting from women’s spiritual space, I discuss women’s different developments in domestic and outside spaces. In different spaces, Robinson’s female characters have chances for spiritual growth. My thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter One focuses on fiction from the 19th century and the depiction of women’s roles in domestic space, including how women play domestic roles of wife, mother and housekeeper; how women suffer the pressure from the traditional social gaze; and how women have a limited exposure to public space. Chapter Two analyzes women’s changing domestic roles in Robinson’s works, in order to show how traditional female domestic roles change in the home, how outside forces influence women’s experience in domestic space, and how Robinson offers her female characters the chance to break boundaries. In Chapter Three, I discuss spiritual meditations in outside spaces. I argue that Robinson’s female characters seek solitude in the wild so they can meditate. Inspired by Emerson and Thoreau, Robinson creates characters who become outsiders. Furthermore, I suggest that with influence from Calvinism in American history and Robinson’s own background, family members in Robinson’s novels gain a sense of belonging and strengthen their family.