Author's Department/Program
English and American Literature
Language
English (en)
Date of Award
9-6-2012
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Chair and Committee
Rafia Zafar
Abstract
In my dissertation, I note the frequent, post-Civil War presence of an individual character that opposes a lynch mob by interceding on behalf of the intended lynching victim. I argue that this figure, which I term the lynching intercessor, is a trope for racial reconciliation in American literature and film. The intercessor works to mediate between loyalty to an ideal democracy and recognition of a past and present that is inextricable from violent, racist oppression. While the lynching intercessor often negotiates the prevention of violence, the intercessor also re-imbues the professional, white: and, usually, male) individual as the rightful embodiment of law and citizenship. By exploring the incarnations of this character type in the works of Charles Chesnutt, Thomas Dixon, Jr., director John Ford, William Faulkner, and Harper Lee, my dissertation reveals the lynching intercessor as an American narrative technique for incorporating lynching into a national story of racial progress.
Recommended Citation
Horne, Abigail Thibault, "Between the Mob and the Noose: The Lynching Intercessor in American Literature and Film" (2012). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 958.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/958
Comments
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Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7936/K7HX19SM