The purpose of this paper is to trace a descriptive history of woman's psyche as manifested in English and American literature by and about women during the period from 1688 through 1975. The application of archetypal theory (the description of recurrent patterns in symbolic and narrative structures within a wide and complex field of material) to…

Explores the way in which female characters were represented in the novels written at the height of last century's feminist movement. Women portrayed as venturing beyond the traditional roles of wife, mother, and keeper of the home inevitably met defeat, thereby warning those tempted to challenge the social conservatism of the times. (MB)

Contrasts the moral and social values of Thomas Hughes's "Tom Brown's Schooldays" with American school sports stories. (HOD)

Jessica and Elizabeth are two female characters, twins, featured throughout Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley series, the Bantam Publishers popular series for girls from elementary school through junior high, high school, university, and well into adulthood. This paper notes that these books are a part of the same formula that are used for romance…

A study used three Newbery books--"The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle (Lofting, 1922), "Charlotte's Web" (White, 1952), and "Maniac Magee" (Spinelli, 1990)--to examine three female characters identified in these books in the role of rescuer, accentuating their commonalities and differences within Jungian and feminist theory in…

Traces the changes in the depiction of childhood in science fiction films from the 1950s to the present decade. Argues that the contemporary science fiction representation of the sentimental child is a cultural idealization that opposes the social reality of the vanishing child. (FMW)

Discusses the teachable qualities of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice." Examines the vigorous diction, plausible characterization, and comic vision that make the novel so effective in stimulating students' thought. (SR)

Presents a model of instruction to illustrate that helping students understand a text need not be at odds with engaging them in student-oriented transactions. Analyzes effects of giving lower-track students direct instruction in how experienced readers evaluate reliability of literary characters by examining the writing and discussions that the…

The articles in this journal issue explore the use of literature in instruction and, particularly, the characterization of women in literature. The titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "George Orwell and the Politics of Misogyny" (Robert Keith Miller); (2) "Women and Huckleberry Finn: A Literary Criticism" (Linda Roehrig…

An English instructor examined 9 Judy Blume adolescent novels and interviewed 12 students (grades 6, 7, and 8) who had read the novels to look at the world as it was presented in the books and to compare the instructor's own perceptions with those of the adolescent readers. The study revealed that the books did in fact dwell on the problems of…

Humor in literature and children's responses to humor deserve serious study. Humor in literature may focus on a character's method for coping with a disturbing situation, problems (such as riddles) that engender sudden insights when things fall into place, or ludicrous characters. Incongruity and surprise also play an important part in humor and…

Over 80 young adult novels for blacks were analyzed to determine how they revealed the shared experiences of black people in the family setting and the social world (including the world of work). The analyses showed that the authors of these books tended to focus totally on the familial aspects of the shared experiences of black people, a rather…

The precision and poetic logic of the language used by Anton Chekhov in his plays, particularly "The Sea Gull," can be explored through an analysis of his use of dialogue, characterization, and imagery. Measuring the nature of a relationship, rather than providing a direct literal interchange, the dialogue is both social, when individual…

In this book designed for the high school drama teacher, several commonly-taught plays are used to illustrate (1) ways to use the adolescents' experience with TV to increase their appreciation of other forms of drama, (2) practical means for removing some of the barriers to understanding plays and producing an active response to the world of the…

This collection of 12 critical essays--written for teachers, librarians, students, and parents--comments on the style, characterization, sense of wonder, and sense of reality in children's books. Specific subjects covered are (1) the fantasy worlds of Andersen, Beatrix Potter, Walter de la Mare, C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, and J. R. R. Tolkien;…