Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper
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Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK
1983
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1397210073 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-oberlin13972100732021-08-03T06:23:34Z Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper Berg, Rebecca L. Literature Brook mother Henry James characters confidence woman The presentation of Mrs. Brook in The Awkward Age is problematic. James seems to have intended to portray her sympathetically. Yet he will not allow the reader to feel sympathy for her. I suggest that James undermines the very sympathy he wants to evoke, because Mrs. Brook would otherwise have too much power. Combined in her are two character types which appear frequently in James's novels, and which I call the confidence woman and the mother usurper. Occasionally, a mother usurper may show some of the confidence woman's traits, or vice versa. But the two types always (with the exception of Mrs. Brook) serve discrete functions and exercise discrete powers. As a result of their combination in her, Mrs. Brook shows the tendency to become a much more significant character than James wants either confidence women or mother usurpers to be. It is necessary, therefore, to undo her in some way, and James undoes her by undermining the sympathy we would otherwise have for her. 1983 English text Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1397210073 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1397210073 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Literature Brook mother Henry James characters confidence woman |
| spellingShingle |
Literature Brook mother Henry James characters confidence woman Berg, Rebecca L. Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| author |
Berg, Rebecca L. |
| author_facet |
Berg, Rebecca L. |
| author_sort |
Berg, Rebecca L. |
| title |
Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| title_short |
Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| title_full |
Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| title_fullStr |
Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Mrs. Brook: Confidence Woman and Mother Usurper |
| title_sort |
mrs. brook: confidence woman and mother usurper |
| publisher |
Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
1983 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1397210073 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT bergrebeccal mrsbrookconfidencewomanandmotherusurper |
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