Coding the female experience in Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sarah Orne Jewett and Willa Cather

This study examines the similar subversive feministic themes that exist between Harriet Beecher Stowe’s The Pearl of Orr’s Island, Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country of Pointed Firs and Willa Cather’s My Antonia. First, this thesis explores the relationship between these women, then it examines the similar literary techniques they utilized and finally, this thesis presents findings of an analysis of those techniques. This study contributes to the discipline of feminist and women's studies in American literature because it is focused on the experience of women and studies women via a contemporary feminist perspective. Also, this study contributes to the concept of coding in literature. This thesis adds to the study of literary coding by furthering an analysis of coding techniques. Primarily, this study adds to scholarship on the work of Stowe, Jewett and Cather by bringing contemporary perspectives into the act if textual analysis. This study develops a definition of literary coding and applies that dentition to textual analysis. This act could be the first step in decoding literature. This thesis examines The Pearl of Orr’s Island, The Country of Pointed Firs and My Antonia, pinpointing both literary techniques and thematic issues that were passed-on, responded to and furthered between Stowe, Jewett and Cather.