Publication Date
Winter 12-10-2025
Presentation Length
15 minutes
College
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Department
English, Department of
Student Level
Graduate
Faculty Mentor
Professor Susan H. Trout
Presentation Type
Talk/Oral
Summary
This critical analysis applies British feminist theory to Daniel Mason’s North Woods. North Woods is a literary fiction novel that follows the multi-generational story of a house in the north woods of Massachusetts from the 17th century into the present day. Drawing from Marxist theory, British feminist theory examines a literary text in search of a feminist heroine who rebels against patriarchal power structures. This application of feminist theory to North Woods identifies the Colony as the central oppressive power and finds two possible feminist heroines to rise up in rebellion. The woman in the woods is set up to be a feminist heroine who rises against the patriarchal oppression of the Colony from the beginning. She succeeds and is martyred for her cause. A second heroine appears to emerge when the captive woman advances the woman in the woods’ rebellion, but she ultimately fails her heroine journey when she returns to conventional society.
Recommended Citation
Osier, Haley, "Axing the Colony: a Feminist Heroine in North Woods" (2025). SPARK Symposium Presentations. 1078.
https://repository.belmont.edu/spark_presentations/1078
Comments
Slide presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jiO2IlHTVlu2zGFSqE2W2gkQEaEaMi5zzE339iCyIKU/edit?usp=sharing