Appendices

GENDER AND GENRE IN GERTRUDE STORY'S ALVENA SCHROEDER TRILOGY,
A TWENTIETH CENTURY CANADIAN FEMINIST BILDUNGSROMAN IN ENGLISH

A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts in the Department of English
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon

By

Shirley Ann L. Collingridge
Fall 1998

Copyright Shirley Ann L. Collingridge, 1998.
All rights reserved.

PERMISSION TO USE


      In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate

degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may

make it freely available for inspection.  I further agree that permission for copying of 

this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the

professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the 

Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done.  It is understood that

any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not

be allowed without my written permission.  It is also understood that due recognition shall be

given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of 

any material in my thesis.


        Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis 

in whole or part should be addressed to:



Head of the Department of English
University of Saskatchewan
9 Campus Drive
 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5



ABSTRACT


          This thesis analyzes character representation and symbolism in Gertrude Story's 

Alvena Schroeder trilogy, It Never Pays to Laugh Too Much, The Way to Always Dance and The Need

of Wanting Always to demonstrate the potential of literature as a feminist tool.  Reading 

strategies suggested by a liberal feminist critical approach demonstrate how these texts 

contribute to a growing body of literature which, through the power of language, offer models

of resistance to women's oppression.  The Bildungsroman conventions and variations applied 

throughout the analysis further demonstrate how conventional social norms inhibit women's social

and psychological growth through restrictive social roles, and the possibility of women creating

roles of their own defining.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


        I would like to thank my supervisor, Paul Denham, for his unfailing kindness 

and good humour.


        I would also like to thank Gertrude Story and authors like her who contribute 

so much both to the world of art and to the world of living.


        Special thanks to the following: my brother Bill Collingridge and my friends

Alice Wong, Korenna Nessmann and Mayer Schulman for their unrelenting support and confidence

in me; my sons Jon Collingridge and Anthony Flory for their patience during my long years

as a student.


        Finally, thanks to the members of my committee for taking the time to read my thesis 

and provide their valuable input.




DEDICATION

        To my mother ANNIE MAY COLLINGRIDGE, a strong and gentle soul who taught me that 

much could be done with little, and whose laughter and sense of fairness made the world 

a better place.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


PERMISSION TO USE                                                                 i
                                                                                          
ABSTRACT                                                                         ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS                                                                iii

DEDICATION                                                                       iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                                 v

INTRODUCTION                                                                      1

CHAPTER I                                                                         9
BACKGROUND:  BILDUNGSROMAN, LIBERALISM, 
CANADIAN LITERATURE AND LIBERAL FEMINISM                        
        1.1     The Bildungsroman Genre: Past and Present                         9
        1.2     The Female Variations                                            22
        1.3     Canadian Literature                                              30

CHAPTER II                                                                       38
PATRIARCHAL BIASES: INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL

CHAPTER III                                                                      57                                      
DEBUNKING THE FEMININE SOCIAL ROLE                      

CHAPTER IV                                                                       76
LEITMOTIFS

        4.1     The Clydesdales                                                  76
        4.2     The Dance                                                        85

CHAPTER V                                                                        95
THE MALE DISSENTERS

CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION                                                                      107

WORKS CITED                                                                     113



Thesis

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