Date of Award
1989
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Coyle, William
Abstract
Despite well documented evidence that Jane Austen's relations with her father were harmonious and affectionate, only one of the twenty-one fathers and surrogate fathers depicted in her six major novels approaches the ideal of the patriarchal family--a wise and humane father. The preponderance of fallible fathers is a unifying metaphor for a disintegrating family structure, the inevitable legacy of a failed patrimony. The phallocentric heritage has rendered the lineal society anachronistic by fostering paternal irresponsibility due to unfettered privilege, by permitting the poorly prepared, succeeding generation of inheritors to govern, and by reducing the status of women to submission and dependency.
Extent
97 p.
Recommended Citation
Okun, Irwin L., "Jane Austen's fallible fathers" (1989). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1980 - 1989. 742.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_3/742
Identifier
FADT14505
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1989.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters