The Wild Child: Children are Freaks in Antebellum Novels

Title: The Wild Child: Children are Freaks in Antebellum Novels
Identifier: d_2009_2013:56348f54bfd3:11785
identifier: 12416
Creator: Heim, Heather Bernadette,
Contributor: Hildegard Hoeller
Date: 2013
Language: English
Publisher: City University of New York.
Subject: American literature
Abstract: This dissertation investigates the spectacle of antebellum freak shows and focuses on how Phineas Taylor Barnum's influence permeates five antebellum novels. The study concerns itself with wild children staged as freaks in Margaret by Sylvester Judd, City Crimes by George Thompson, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Our Nig by Harriet Wilson. Barnum's influence was pervasive. The novels I investigate span a period of fourteen years before the Civil War, and offer a view of the kid show presented by the freaks in each text. Touching into spectacle, authors construct narratives and stage freaks in order to solidify boundaries that define insiders and outsiders. These works offer entertaining and didactic freaks to be gawked at and probed. As is usual with freak shows, the viewers/readers provide as much information about society and spectatorship in nineteenth century America, as do the freaks themselves.
Type: dissertation
Source: 2009_2013.csv
degree: Ph.D.
Program: English