Images of the Southern white woman in the eleventh-grade American literature curriculum

Author

Penny B. Ferguson

Date of Award

8-1988

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Mark A. Christiansen

Committee Members

John Ray, Bob Leggett, Charles Chance

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to analyze the content of selected twentieth-century fiction by Southern white female writers in terms of the treatment of the role of women to determine if that fiction reflects the transition from a stereotyped view of the role of women in society to a more contemporary androgynous view; (2) to determine through the use of a survey and a current psychological test of androgyny the attitude of selected East Tennessee eleventh-grade English teachers toward the role of women in the South today.

This study is based on three assumptions: (1) the discovery of and adjustment to culturally accepted sex roles is a necessary step in the adolescent's marturation process; (2) twentieth-century fiction which portrays the role of women realistically can serve as useful models for adolescent readers; (3) a history of selected twentieth-century Southern women writers wo\:ld help teachers and researchers in this field by providing them with specific insight into the status of women in Southern society and how this status has changed since the Civil War.

As background preparation for this analysis, the author researched and presented a broad overview of the following an as: (1) sex-role development of adolescents; (2) sex stereotyping at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels; (3) a history of the changing role of the Southern woman from the antebellum South to the present.

Selected short works by Katherine Anne Porter, Flannery O'Connor, and Eudora Welty--the twentieth-century Southern women writers most consistently included (over 90 percent of the time) in the American literature curriculum at the schools surveyed--were analyzed in terms of their treatment of the role of women. Little attention up to this time has been directed to the role of women in the literature being taught at the secondary level, and women writers, especially Southern women, have been instrumental in raising the consciousness of society about the role of women.

In the teacher survey the ratings were analyzed in order to note the presence or absence of stereotyping by teachers. The results were also used to describe the attributes of Southern women today as perceived by selected eleventh-grade English teachers in the study. The researcher felt it important to look at those individuals who have the most input into the development of the curriculiim in the areas of textbook selection and choice of works to be included on reading lists, research projects, and in-class novel studies.

Seventy-four percent of those surveyed found the twentieth-century Southern white woman to be androgynous in nature and much more independent and willing to stand up for her beliefs than her predecessors. Similarly, an analysis of the women characters of Porter, O'Connor, and Welty revealed many women vinfulfilled and rebellious in stereotypic roles and others assuming more androgynous rolas in the family, the community, and the world of work.

Recommended Citation

Ferguson, Penny B., "Images of the Southern white woman in the eleventh-grade American literature curriculum. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1988.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/11864