Date of Award
Spring 2011
Rights
© 2011 Elisabeth Ziemba
Document Type
Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Julia Garrett
Second Advisor
Elizabeth DeWolfe
Third Advisor
Jennifer Tuttle
Abstract
Regardless of the genre under which Malaeska was marketed, the cross-genre tropes and lessons can be seen which mark the novel as one that has been influenced by captivity narratives. Perhaps more so because of the subtle way it has been integrated into popular culture, the heritage of the Native American captivity tale remains even after physical Indian captivity has ceased, providing readers with a multilayered reading which asks them to think about the events of the time in which the story was written as well as the time in which the story is set, while critiquing the white supremacist standard that the Native American is the Other, and should be considered threatening or frightening, a being without equal rights simply because of cultural or racial differences. Far from being a footnote of American literature, Malaeska is a novel that forces the reader to engage in varied conversations with history and literature, from what was happening in the United States to what the author was reading that influenced how they wrote about the world.
Preferred Citation
Ziemba, Elisabeth, "Captivating Malaeska: Reading The First Dime Novel As A Captivity Narrative" (2011). All Theses And Dissertations. 8.
https://dune.une.edu/theses/8
Comments
Honors thesis