Date of Award

6-1-1969

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Robert Harper

Abstract

This passage, one of the most eloquent ever penned on the theme of spiritual isolation, is particularly applicable to the five novels of Carson McCullers. Her basic thesis is that love gives a meaning of life, but, paradoxically, love is doomed to failure because of a breakdown in communications resulting in spiritual isolation. Life then is a never-ending cycle; there is the struggle to achieve understanding and an identity, but the more man struggles the seemingly more complex becomes obstacles that he must surmount. Thus, the quest becomes all-important. The effort to attain identity gives substance to life, but if the effort is not made then man's life becomes meaningless.

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 1969 Gerald L. Fricke.

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