FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W622077939> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W622077939 abstract "Literary critics frequently recognize and acknowledge Edith Wharton‟s skill as a social commentator in the context of her novels and short fiction. Among the many socially-entrenched themes that Wharton explores throughout her oeuvre, perhaps the most pervasive concerns the relationship between the individual and the society in which he or she operates. This relationship proves itself integral to my thesis, in which I consider hands as a recurring motif within Wharton‟s literature. This is ultimately a study of bodies, principally with regards to the interrelatedness of the literal human body and the larger abstraction of the social body. It is in this context that synecdoche, the link between the proverbial “part” and “whole,” proves itself essential to my analysis. How do hands, as a part of the composite human body, correlate to representations of hands within the greater social body? This thesis considers representations of hands in four of Wharton‟s novels: The House of Mirth (1905), The Fruit of the Tree (1907), The Custom of the Country (1912), and The Age of Innocence (1920). These texts span Wharton‟s literary career and, as such, illustrate the significance of the hands motif throughout her extensive oeuvre. I examine hands in three primary contexts, each of which takes the form of its own unique chapter. The first chapter considers the appearances of the hands of Lily Bart of The House of Mirth, Undine Spragg of The Custom of the Country, and May Welland of The Age of Innocence. Each woman attempts to utilize the appearance of her hands as a means by which to either achieve (as with Lily and Undine) or maintain (as with May) leisure-class status. In spite of her efforts to maintain the pristine appearances of her hands, the manipulative tendencies of each woman are ultimately revealed by her hands. Chapter two engages with the project‟s most explicitly synecdochic analysis. The chapter investigates the overly-reductive tendency to designate members of the working class—both domestic and within the public sphere—as “hands.” In this capacity, the worker is stripped of his individuality and is, instead, identified by a mere appendage, the source of his work. Wharton criticizes this system through her depiction of domestic hands in The Age of Innocence, Lily Bart‟s social downfall in The House of Mirth, and, most evidently, through the underrepresented mill-hands in The Fruit of the Tree. The third and final chapter of this thesis considers physical touch as a communicatory exchange between hands. Within this chapter, physical touch is considered in two primary contexts: social touch and medicinal touch. The former is analyzed in relation to The Age of Innocence through the contrasting forms of touch that characterize Newland Archer‟s relationship with Ellen, the woman he claims to love, and with May, his wife. Social and medicinal forms of touch are bridged by the character of Mrs. Heeny, a society masseuse, in The Custom of the Country. Finally, medicinal touch is considered in conjunction with The Fruit of the Tree, in which Nurse Justine Brent makes the controversial decision to euthanize her patient. Structurally, The Age of Innocence, arguably Wharton‟s best-known work, provides a recurring point for analysis, appearing in each of the three chapters. The novel is then flanked within each chapter by two of the other texts under consideration. Taken in conjunction with one another, these chapters ultimately seek to provide an in-depth analysis of Wharton‟s nuanced representations of hands throughout her body of literature. Ultimately, I assert that Wharton‟s employment of hands as a recurring motif concretely unites the figurative social body with (a part of) the literal human body." @default.
• W622077939 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W622077939 creator A5050607910 @default.
• W622077939 date "2009-01-01" @default.
• W622077939 modified "2023-09-27" @default.
• W622077939 title "Nobody comes out with perfectly clean hands: An Analysis of the Synecdochic Implications of Hands as a Recurring Motif in the Literature of Edith Wharton" @default.
• W622077939 hasPublicationYear "2009" @default.
• W622077939 type Work @default.
• W622077939 sameAs 622077939 @default.
• W622077939 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W622077939 crossrefType "dissertation" @default.
• W622077939 hasAuthorship W622077939A5050607910 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C107038049 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C11171543 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C111919701 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C124952713 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C15744967 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C2777359062 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C2778311575 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C2780139471 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C32276052 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C36914074 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W622077939 hasConcept C41895202 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C107038049 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C11171543 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C111919701 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C124952713 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C138885662 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C142362112 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C15744967 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C2777359062 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C2778311575 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C2780139471 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C32276052 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C36914074 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C41008148 @default.
• W622077939 hasConceptScore W622077939C41895202 @default.
• W622077939 hasLocation W6220779391 @default.
• W622077939 hasOpenAccess W622077939 @default.
• W622077939 hasPrimaryLocation W6220779391 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W13787418 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W1544445878 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W1559106233 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W1576329735 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W17238005 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W189525929 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2090196892 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2182514725 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2274936970 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2300149941 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2316111277 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2316343750 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2322662048 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2493660210 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2589453676 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W55813189 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W950388889 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W976121461 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2208582709 @default.
• W622077939 hasRelatedWork W2421024194 @default.
• W622077939 isParatext "false" @default.
• W622077939 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W622077939 magId "622077939" @default.
• W622077939 workType "dissertation" @default.