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dc.contributor.authorOster, Rebecca Renae
dc.description.abstractThis paper aims to explore the connection between the power structures of religion and medicine within Mary Morrissy's Mother of Pearl. Morrissy's text explores the ways in which women are oppressed by the Irish construct of perfect motherhood, which stems from the internalized social control exemplified in the religious and cultural expectations of women. Morrissy's text points out that a woman's national and individual identity is directly defined by her role as a mother and a religious figure. Morrissy's text critiques this construct and shows it to be unattainable as the power structures create a new form of oppression that continues to mandate the mother construct through bodily control. The connection between these power structures is exemplified through the geographical and political borders of Ireland as well as the physical borders of women's bodies. The medical power structure physically invades women's bodies and leaves them scarred, marked, and dependent on the construct for any identity. Morrissy's text critiques this impossible standard and a culture's tendency to perpetuate the myth of perfect motherhood within the ideological community.en_US
dc.publisherNorth Dakota State Universityen_US
dc.rightsNDSU Policy 190.6.2
dc.titlePregnancy, Illness, and Violence : The Power Discourses of Motherhood in Mary Morrissy's Mother of Pearlen_US
dc.typeMaster's paperen_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-05-02T19:15:31Z
dc.date.available2019-05-02T19:15:31Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10365/29719
dc.subject.lcshMorrissy, Mary, -- 1957- -- Mother of pearl.en_US
dc.subject.lcshMorrissy, Mary, -- 1957- -- Criticism and interpretation.en_US
dc.subject.lcshMorrissy, Mary, -- 1957- -- Characters -- Mothers.en_US
dc.subject.lcshMotherhood in literature.en_US
dc.subject.lcshMothers in literature.en_US
dc.subject.lcshPower (Social sciences) in literature.en_US
dc.subject.lcshNational characteristics, Irish, in literature.en_US
dc.subject.lcshIreland -- In literature.en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdfen_US
ndsu.degreeMaster of Science (MS)en_US
ndsu.collegeArts, Humanities, and Social Sciencesen_US
ndsu.departmentEnglishen_US
ndsu.programEnglishen_US
ndsu.advisorMara, Miriam


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