C.S. Lewis and Gender: The Struggle Between Equality and Traditional Values
Open Access
Author:
Vickery, Rebecca Ann
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Sanford Ray Schwartz, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Marcy Lynne North, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
C.S. Lewis Women Gender Till We Have Faces That Hideous Strength Perelandra Chronicles of Narnia
Abstract:
This thesis examines how C.S. Lewis addressed various issues involving sex and gender. The female characters in his various works of fiction are analyzed in an effort to determine if they are subordinate to their male counterparts or turned into stereotypes. It examines Lewis’s attempts to create distinctions between gender and sex and his conception of a gendered cosmic hierarchy as they appear in the Space Trilogy. It compares the value and the activities of the female and male villains and protagonists in The Chronicles of Narnia. Finally, the thesis analyzes the correlation between the objectification of women and their lack of influence on the plot as well as a deliberate attempt to behave in a masculine fashion in order to reclaim the ability to affect change in Till We Have Faces.
