ABSTRACT
From Jo March of Little Women (1868) to Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games (2008), the American tomboy figure has evolved into an icon of modern girlhood and symbol of female empowerment. Battling Girlhood: Sympathy, Social Justice, and the Tomboy Figure in American Literature traces the development of the tomboy figure from its origins in nineteenth-century sentimental novels to twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature and film.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter 2|28 pages
Teaching Jo
Philanthropy, Education, and the Tomboy Trajectory in Louisa May Alcott’s Trilogy
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chapter 3|30 pages
Tomboys on the Prairie
Violence, Discipline, and Community in the Little House Series
chapter 4|18 pages
Queer Sentiments
Tomboyism and Familial Belonging in Carson McCullers’s The Member of the Wedding
