Date of Award

8-1958

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Degree Discipline

English

Abstract

For the purpose of this study, the writer has defined "an instance of emotion, emotion viewed with regard to one's reaction in social, economic and religious life: a state of alarm or dread, a dread of something that will or may happen in the future."3 The writer will attempt to prove that the protagonists under discussion in this thesis were in a state of alarm and that their reactions in their social and economic life were evidences of fear.

This investigation is limited to three novels, Native Son, The Street, and Knock On Any Door, and a study of an analysis of the concept of fear found in only three characters, Bigger Thomas, Mrs. Lutie Johnson, Nick Romano, and the extent to which fear influenced these characters.

Examples in the novels, of fear and passages which show the cause and extent of fear, will be presented. The writer will show by comparative analysis, similarities, and differences in the expression of fear in Bigger Thomas, Mrs. Lutie Johnson, and Nick Romano how this fear shaped their lives.

It is important to know that from the experiences of the authors Richard Wright, Ann Petry, and Willard Motley, the protagonists, Bigger Thomas, Lutie Johnson, and Nick Romano, were created and influenced.

3Stanley J. Kunitz, Twentieth Century Dictionary (New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1955).

Committee Chair/Advisor

Anne L. Campbell

Publisher

Prairie View A&M College

Rights

© 2021 Prairie View A & M University

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Date of Digitization

10-12-2021

Contributing Institution

John B Coleman Library

City of Publication

Prairie View

MIME Type

Application/PDF

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