Date of Award

8-1-1979

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Abstract

The particular mental concept through which an author views the universe which surrounds him with which he must interact will, by extension, influence the way his literary characters relate themselves to the world in which he places them. It is of value to analyze the nature of that influence. If the author’s vision of reality is consistent with that of the immediately accepted world viewpoint, he will probably embrace that concept in his writings. Another Author who is aware of changes in the popular mode of viewing the universe may reflect these in what he writes, and the nuances of that reflection may presage that direction of future alternations in the original concept while a writer who is discontent with the particular spectacles his upbringing has provided him for world-viewing may reveal the evolution of his conflict, perhaps its eventual resolution, in the body of his writing. A comparison of writings of John Milton (seventeenth century), Johnathan Swift (eighteenth century), and Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, (nineteenth century) should demonstrate these ideas.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of English and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright 1979 Marian O’Brien Paul.

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