Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Peyton, Ann

Abstract

The principles of traditional psychiatry demonstrate how the fathers of all Percy's protagonists are the dominant forces in shaping their sons' adult love relationships. Cold and formidable figures, each prevents his son from developing a sense of confidence and self-esteem. The heroes, then, still trying to win a parent's approval after his death, become attached to women of whom their fathers would have approved. At the same time, each forms an even stronger bond with a new father figure to replace the one he never really had. However, as the parents in The Moviegoer, The Last Gentleman, and Lancelot all had weak marriages, those of their offspring are also doomed to failure. It is only when Will Barrett of The Second Coming rejects his father's values in retrospect and forms his own superego that a Percyan hero finally chooses an appropriate marriage partner and the novel ends happily.

Extent

176 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT14210

Format

pdf

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