Date of Award
Fall 12-2019
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Charles Sumner
Advisor Department
English
Abstract
This thesis applies a psychoanalytic lens to a little-known and unfinished manuscript by Rebecca West. There is little scholarship on The Sentinel but a wealth of knowledge to be gained from it about the complicated psychological dilemmas the suffragists suffered. West was writing at a critical period in feminist history that is still relevant today, and this novel, which would have been her first, lays the groundwork for many of her future works. Her depictions of sexuality, violence, religion, and motherhood provide an excellent framework for both her protagonist’s self-suppression and a compelling psychoanalysis. This thesis argues that the many paradoxes produced by Adela Furnival’s self-suppression prevented West from finishing the manuscript, especially within the genre conventions of the New Woman novel.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Vesely, Taylor, "A Psychoanalysis of Rebecca West’s Unfinished Novel The Sentinel" (2019). Honors Theses. 689.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/689