Date of Award
1996
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Pearce, Howard D.
Abstract
Henry James's In the Cage offers a character, a young female telegraphist, who constantly applies theories to and comes up with interpretations of the people, objects, and events that make up the world outside her cage. The experiences she undergoes with the telegrams' ambiguous messages and her customers' strange actions compel her to weave an intricate drama that not only clears up the ambiguities but also allows her to play an important role. She creates a subjective reality through which she can embark on an exciting, dangerous adventure. This reality, however, is not immutable. When faced with new sets of circumstances, new flashes from the outside world, she struggles to re-work her interpretations and re-create her fiction; like Odysseus, she is forced to submit to an overwhelming external power and find a new path on which to travel.
Extent
59 p.
Recommended Citation
Olson, Peter J., "telegraphist's odyssean journey in Henry James's "In the Cage"" (1996). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 1990 - 1999. 1026.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_4/1026
Identifier
FADT15346
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1996.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters