Date of Award
8-1965
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Discipline
English
Abstract
James saw and studied in life the harm people inflicted on others and themselves by deeds of emotional cannibalism exercised through modes of intervention. James's often used theme of emotional cannibalism was formed from his concept of human behavior in a corrupt society. One's own consciousness grows by nurturing the consciousness of others, one's own tolerance diminishes only for those with whom some degree of reciprocation is impossible and for those emotional cannibals who attempt to evade and suppress others, then care must be taken to ,guard against one's own impulse towards a retaliatory and counter offensive act because such action would expend a portion of one's own precious fund of consciousness. Defeat is inevitable for the person who exercises emotional cannibalism because one cannot procure from others that strength which can only come from within. With this theory of James, the writer formed the basic hypothesis of this study and will further show, through characters in works illustrating James's theme of emotional cannibalism, that emotional cannibalism is stimulated by an emotional need within the intervener. He assaults his victim with an aggressive act which results in social, moral, emotional, or physical destruction for the intervener, assaulted and often other unconcerned and innocent persons.
Committee Chair/Advisor
Anne L. Campbell
Committee Member
F. B. Ledbetter
Committee Member
E. P. Williams
Publisher
Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College
Rights
© 2021 Prairie View A & M University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Date of Digitization
11/15/2021
Contributing Institution
John B Coleman Library
City of Publication
Prairie View
MIME Type
Application/PDF
Recommended Citation
Wilson, D. B. (1965). A Study Of The Theme Of Emotional Cannibalism And Its Effects On The Characters From Selected Works Of Henry James. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.pvamu.edu/pvamu-theses/730