Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works | Volume 10

Previously published by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works, the journal is now produced by the School of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences with assistance from the HPU Writing Center.

For more information, www.highpoint.edu/urcw/hpu-journal/ journal.urcw@highpoint.edu

Cover design by Laura Schramm ‘13

High Point University alumna, Laura Schramm, graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business after completing a nonprofit business major and graphic design minor. In the fall of 2012, Schramm won the journal cover design competition hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works. The artistic process began with brainstorming ideas in a sketch book and led to the final design of photographed lightbulbs an image that symbolizes the tedious trial and error required to produce one brilliant idea across disciplines and the process of innovation at work. Today, Schramm continues her artistic pursuits as a graphic designer in North Carolina.

Editor Dr. Justin H. Cook, PhD Director of the HPU Writing Center Assistant Professor of English

Student Editor

David Caivano

High Point University, ‘26 Finance

2025 Board of Reviewers

Dr. Laura Alexander Associate Professor of English

Dr. Amanda Allen Assistant Professor of History

Dr. Matthew Carlson Associate Professor of English

Timothy Nash Writing Center Consultant

Dr. Jeremy Whitson Assistant Professor of Biology

Dr. Elizabeth Hupfer Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Ally Winegar Writing Center Consultant

Payton Kiasevicz Writing Center Consultant

Dr. Mark Setzler Director of International Relations Program; Professor of Political Sciences

Dr. Andrew Tzavaras Assistant Professor of History

David Caivano Writing Center Consultant

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Welcome to volume 10 of Innovation, the largest to date, with more submissions and more undergraduate scholarship than ever before. The journal returns from hiatus to bring together projects from across disciplines that ask real questions, take intellectual risks, and demonstrate what it looks like when undergraduates take ownership of their research. This publication exists because we believe that good student work doesn’t just belong in the classroom. It belongs in conversation with the world.

In these pages, you will find projects that blend disciplines such as historians working with biologists, literary critics testing scientific assumptions, political scientists parsing identity, and writers exploring the boundaries of what counts as knowledge. You will witness students digging into archival texts and medical trials, asking how and why we come to believe what we believe. Some of the authors here tackle the past: recovering lost histories of women in medicine or uncovering the politics of immigration in Eastern Europe. Others are forward-facing: exploring contemporary debates on gender, ethics, ecology, and education. All of them, though, are working within and beyond their fields to produce something original and importantly something real.

Many of these essays started as capstone projects, seminar papers, or collaborative research efforts between students and faculty. That origin matters. The learning that happens here isn’t abstract; it’s relational, built from mentorship, iteration, and the collaborative process of figuring things out. The writing you see in these pages has also gone through deep and critical revision. These are not just class assignments polished for publication. They are the result of students thinking deeply, writing repeatedly, and deciding that their ideas are worth getting right.

And here’s another idea worth getting right: gratitude. This journal would not be possible without a constellation of supporters, such as the steadfast guidance of Dr. Joanne Altman, former Editor-in-Chief of Innovation and current director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works. Much appreciation also goes to our editorial review board, some of whom were both the mentoring professors for the projects contained herein and the reviewers of the written end results. In some cases, they have been working with these projects for years to bring them to fruition alongside the student-authors. Other reviewers, such as consultants from the HPU Writing Center, helped at the final stages of the process to bring clarity, focus, and correctness to these essays. Those published in these pages, of course, deserve a hearty

round of applause for their hard work and dedication to the writing, editing, and knowledge-making process. My sincerest thanks to David Caivano, our student editor for this volume, whose attention to detail, editorial instincts, and steady professionalism made this issue possible. David approached this role with the same intellectual care and precision that defines the best undergraduate scholarship, and his contributions behind the scenes helped shape the clarity and coherence you see in these pages. It has been a privilege to work alongside him. Finally, many thanks to the School of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences and the HPU Writing Center for lending us the time, money, and support to get this project done.

I hope you will read these essays with the same curiosity and attention the authors and editors brought to their work. If you are an undergraduate researcher yourself, maybe you will even see something in these pages that nudges you toward the next idea, the next draft, the next question.

Happy Reading!

Justin H. Cook, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of English Director of the HPU Writing Center Editor-in-Chief of Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works

Immigrant Attitudes Toward Immigration in Friendly and Hostile Political Climates:

Evidence from Central Europe and Sweden

Chance Carothers

Chance Carothers is a Political Science major in the Class of 2025. His interest in immigrant attitudes began with a curiosity about how they often diverge from what traditional immigration theories predict an area that is rarely studied. Through his research, Chance has gained a behind-the-scenes perspective on academic work, which he describes as one of the most fulfilling aspects of his undergraduate experience. With plans to pursue a Master’s in Legislative Affairs at George Washington University after graduation, Chance credits Professor Setzler for being instrumental in guiding him through both the writing and research process.

Abstract

This study explores how political attitudes toward immigration among immigrants are shaped by the political climate of their host country. Using data from the 2014 European Social Survey, the research mainly focuses on immigrants in Sweden, which has more positive views on immigration compared to Central European countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Hungary, known for their anti-immigration policies. My results show that immigrants generally have more favorable attitudes toward immigration than non-immigrants, regardless of the country they move to. However, immigrants in countries with hostile immigration policies tend to support immigration slightly more than those in Sweden. Another important finding is the similarity in attitudes toward immigration between anti-immigration countries and countries that are more welcoming, suggesting that anti-immigration policies are driven more by concerns over cultural identity than outright xenophobia. These findings emphasize the crucial influence of government decisions and the broader political context on individual beliefs. This research enhances our understanding of immigration, the motivations behind nativist policies, the connection between anti-immigration policies and xenophobia, and immigrant attitudes toward immigration.

Immigration to Europe has increased quite dramatically, with many European countries relying on immigration in an attempt to counterbalance the shrinking native European population (Deimantas et al., 2024). Many individuals with nativist and anti-immigration attitudes have argued against continued immigration for a variety of reasons, ranging from concerns about the practical capacity of their nation to absorb high numbers of immigrants, beliefs that immigrants may be a source of crime, concerns that immigrants may be draining the ability of social programs to cover natives’ needs, fears of losing cultural

identity, and xenophobia (Guia, 2016). There has been considerable research into attitudes toward immigration among native populations; however, much less is known about the sources of immigrants’ attitudes toward immigration, which is the knowledge gap my research aims to address.

Specifically, this paper examines the extent to which political attitudes toward immigration among immigrants differ depending on the kind of nation to which they have immigrated. For instance, do immigrants living in countries widely regarded as being hostile to immigrants, such as the Czech Republic or Hungary, adopt their host country’s negative views about the effects of immigration when compared to newcomers’ beliefs in immigrantfriendly Sweden? Alternatively, do immigrants who settle in hostile environments feel more attached to their fellow immigrants’ plight and the contributions that immigrants make to their host countries?

My research focus will provide information about how changes in the European political landscape may be shaping how immigrants feel about their in-group and a policy area that has become highly salient in many nations. Across Europe, we are witnessing the emergence of strong political parties centered on nativist policies. Many of these parties are rising in popularity, including the Danish People’s Party, the French and Walloon National Fronts, the German Republicans, the Italian Social Movement, and the Freedom Party of Austria (Czaika, 2018). These parties represent a growing block of anti-immigration attitudes within European politics (Van Spanje & Van Der Brug, 2007). While in most European democracies these growing parties do not represent the majority, in countries like Poland, Hungary, and several others, anti-immigration parties now hold power with the backing of a populace that shares their hostility toward immigration.

The data that will be examined in the empirical sections of my study were collected in 2014, a period in which a continent-wide refugee crisis was beginning to escalate, with a surge of refugees and migrants seeking asylum in Europe. Central Europe, while not necessarily being the intended final destination of these refugees, became a critical transit region for migrants moving up from the Middle East and Africa. Hungary, in particular, became a focal point of the crisis due to its geographic position along one of the most common migration routes. Hungary’s government responded to the refugee wave by constructing a fence along its southern border and enacting strict anti-immigration policies. Hungarian political leaders attempted to frame the migration crisis as a matter of national security and a threat to cultural identity, efforts that garnered support domestically and from sympathetic nations in Central Europe that were dealing with a similar migration crisis. Poland, for example, cited similar concerts and refused to accept significant numbers of refugees. Slovenia, geographically situated on the Balkan route that many refugees take into Europe, faced significant logistical challenges during the crisis, eventually choosing to tighten border control as well. And the Czech Republic rejected the EU’s refugee relocation quotas, citing concerns over security, cultural integration, and logistical strain. In short, the data for this study were collected during a period in which the need for immigration to protect fleeing civilians from other countries was broadly understood by European leaders, but also a period in which countries varied considerably in their willingness to accommodate newcomers.

The nations of Central Europe that I am studying share a similar history and generally hold similar values and attitudes toward immigration, making these nations useful cases to study. Central Europe has had a tumultuous history due to its geographic location between

major empires of history and being a transit between regions of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Western Europe. The central European countries I examine often constituted parts of other major powers' territories in their past and were subjected to the influence of these major powers. Poland, for instance, has been partitioned between major empires and European powers for centuries, and this is true of the other Central European nations as well. Wars between major powers oftentimes made these central European countries battlegrounds that were eventually partitioned up in treaties, and these nations only gained true independence in the 1990s following the fall of the Soviet Union (Wandycz, 2017).

It is this shared geographic region and history that make these nations so similar and explain why they had such similar negative responses to the refugee crisis. It also accounts for why these nations have commonly experienced a rise in far-right parties, often centered around nativist policies. Each of these central European countries expressly rejects taking in refugees and immigrants, citing them as a threat to cultural identity and cultural cohesion. For these countries, the latest refugee crisis has not represented a humanitarian challenge as much as it has an opportunity to assert their independent, cultural identity. Having emerged from a history of occupation, partition, and cultural suppression, these nations have viewed immigration waves and refugee crises as a threat to a cultural identity that has always been under attack from outsiders.

It is important to note that it is not just these Eastern European countries’ leaders who express hostility toward immigrants, but rather these societies are anti-immigrant as a whole. In Hungary, for instance, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made the issue of immigration a priority, with the wholesale rejection of immigration central to his party. In this way, he has increased anti-immigration attitudes and capitalized on preexisting negative attitudes toward immigration. Fear of migration has been substantial among all socio-demographic groups and among supporters of all parties in Hungary (Bíró-Nagy, 2022). In Poland, anti-immigration attitudes have been fostered similarly by politicians, leading to rising xenophobic sentiment among the population. Other nations in the Visegrad Four of central Europe show similar trends, with Slovakia having seen a parallel rise in right-wing anti-immigration parties (Kazharski, 2018). In a 2016 survey of the Czech Republic, under 20% of people in a survey were "strongly or rather in favor of permanent settlement,” whereas over 80% were not in favor of permanent settlement, including 61% of respondents who said they were against the country accepting any refugees at all (Čadová 2016, 2).

My primary expectation in the empirical analyses that follow is that both immigrants and non-immigrants residing in countries like those in Central Europe will hold views about immigration that differ considerably from those of immigrant and non-immigrant persons living in less nativist, more immigrant-friendly settings found elsewhere in Europe. My analyses use Sweden as a case study for an immigrant-friendly setting because the country has traditionally been one of the most immigrant-friendly countries in Europe, known for its generous asylum policies and strong social welfare programs. As of 2017, more than one out of every five individuals living in Sweden had either been born abroad or was the offspring of two non-native parents (Skodo, 2019).

Why should the extent of anti-immigrant sentiment and policies in a given host country shape how immigrants in that country feel about whether immigration is having a positive or negative influence on their host country? Three theories that offer insights to help answer this question are group conflict theory, threat theory, and what I will refer to as solidarity theory.

The first of these, conflict theory, suggests that immigration drives up competition over resources between groups, thus motivating both native and already established immigrant socioeconomic minorities to perceive new migrants as direct, zero-sum competitors for jobs, social programs, and other economic goods (Coser, 1956). Current quantitative cross-national survey data like the one in this study provide strong support for this theory. Individuals who are considered socioeconomically vulnerable, such as those with limited education or low skills, are more likely than others to express negative attitudes toward immigration (Mayda, 2006).

Hostility to immigration is strongly associated with the size of a country’s foreign population and weaker economic conditions (Semyonov & Rajiman, 2006). Thus, it might be the case that immigrants living in hostile countries are adopting the prevailing views of their non-immigrant peers, seeing immigration as a source of economic competition and thus a threat to their livelihood.

While conflict theory focuses on resource competition among immigrants and other groups, threat theory emphasizes the crucial role that elites, institutions, and influencers play in portraying immigrants as a threat to the host country's culture, security, or political stability. In the European countries I will be examining, political parties and their leaders are likely to have played a central role in driving the upswing in anti-immigration sentiment. Critically, nativist political parties do not simply ride passively on a wave of public opinion but actively mold the public narrative around immigration so that it is driven by fear and anger. Anti-immigration parties systematically link immigrants to all kinds of domestic social problems, security threats, and cultural decline to increase their political support. Researcher Christopher Cochrane suggests that far-right anti-immigration parties invariably prime citizens to blame immigrants for a wide range of economic and social issues (Cochrane, 2014). If this is the case, we might anticipate that immigrants living in countries with leaders and parties that are aggressively and loudly hostile to immigrants might be more likely than their peers in other countries to hear and absorb such hostile views toward immigration as their own. Conversely, as immigrants themselves, these individuals may well feel more threatened than they would in other settings, causing them to identify more with the cause of their fellow immigrants and the positive contributions they see immigration as bringing to societies that openly reject them.

Finally, some scholarship on immigrant behaviors and attitudes in the United States suggests that European immigrants may primarily view other immigrant groups through a pan-ethnic lens, identifying with co-immigrants regardless of their origin and valuing immigration in general due to shared experiences particularly the challenges of assimilation, even in societies that are not overtly hostile to immigrants (Jang et al., 2021). Across Europe, “foreigners” come from diverse backgrounds and do not share a common ethnic origin or a single country of origin. However, they are still perceived as outsiders in both pro- and anti-immigration countries. During the migration crisis, the foreign population in all the countries examined in this study was substantial, making it reasonable to expect an increase in anti-foreigner sentiment among native populations. At the same time, the circumstances of this immigration primarily composed of refugees and its sheer volume may have fostered a stronger sense of solidarity among immigrants as a whole.

Hypotheses, Data, and Operationalization:

The theories above provide the basis for four competing hypotheses:

H1: Based on conflict theory, we would expect immigrant residents of the Visegrad Four (Eastern European countries) and Sweden to be at least as hostile toward immigration as are native residents.

H2: Per threat theory, native residents of the Visegrad Four should be more hostile toward immigration than either their immigrant peers or residents of Sweden.

H3: Alternatively, if both native and immigrant residents of the Visegrad Four are being influenced by their leaders’ anti-immigrant messages, both groups should be more hostile toward immigration than natives and immigrants in Sweden.

H4: Based on solidarity theory, we would expect immigrant residents of Sweden, especially those from the Visegrad 4, to be less hostile toward immigration than natives.

For this research, I will be using the 2014 European Social Survey. The survey involves strict random probability sampling and rigorous translation protocols. The survey was conducted face-to-face. The survey has tens of thousands of respondents, but the subsample I will use will focus on the 8,476 respondents from Sweden, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. This provides a sufficiently large sample size to reliably draw statistical inferences and conclusions regarding my hypotheses. In the empirical analyses that follow, both first- and second-generation immigrants are considered immigrants. Firstgeneration immigrants are individuals born abroad, while second-generation immigrants are individuals with at least one parent born abroad. This definition is consistently used in other literature on immigration.

The dependent variable was created from the question, “Is [country] made a worse or better place to live by people coming to live here from other countries?” This question is coded on a 0 to 10 point scale, with 0 indicating a “Worse” place to live and 10 indicating a “Better” place.

My independent variable is whether a person is an immigrant, and there are control variables for gender and age, as well as country-specific controls, such as whether the person is from Sweden, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, or the Czech Republic. The fixed-effect controls (i.e., a control for the respondent's location) are necessary to account for the various characteristics that distinguish these countries from each other beyond the fact that they are either friendly or hostile to immigrants. The table below provides summary information for each of the study’s variables.

My analysis is built to isolate the effects of being an immigrant or a native person living in “friendly” political climates characterized by the pro-immigrant policies and inclusive rhetoric of Sweden versus the “hostile” political climates distinct for their restrictive immigration policies, nativist sentiments, and xenophobia in the central European countries of Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. By juxtaposing these contexts and taking the average responses to the question, “Do immigrants make a country a better or worse place to live?” we can examine the aggregate trends in attitudes across the two contexts in both immigrant and non-immigrant groups.

The plotted variables in the bar chart are the independent variables for status as an immigrant to an immigration-hostile country, a non-immigrant in an immigration-hostile country, an immigrant to Sweden, and a non-immigrant in Sweden. Non-immigrants in immigration-hostile countries, on average, had a score of 4.81 on the 0 to 10 measure of attitude toward immigration. Immigrants in hostile countries scored 5.71, non-immigrants in Sweden scored 4.98, and immigrants in Sweden scored 5.46. The most surprising finding in the tables is that, at the time of this survey, the typical European in the five study countries was essentially neutral on the question of whether immigration was making the country a better or worse place to live. The results provide no support for most of my hypotheses. Contrary to conflict theory, immigrants are not more hostile than natives in either setting, suggesting that they generally do not view immigration as a source of competition harming their host country. Nor is the data consistent with threat theory. Neither native-born individuals nor immigrants in the Visegrad 4 are notably more hostile to immigration than their Swedish peers. Surprisingly, Swedish immigrants had lower levels of support for immigration than immigrants in hostile central European countries, but the difference is minimal. There is some support for the solidarity theory hypothesis that immigrants will have more positive attitudes toward immigration than natives; however, the effect is quite moderate, amounting to less than a single point on the 11-point measure of support for immigration. Put another way, just like their native-born peers, the typical immigrant in Sweden and other hostile environments is in the middle of the scale on whether immigration harms or helps their host country.

The data in the bivariate bar chart do not take into account any effects of the demographic controls (i.e., gender and age) or, more critically perhaps, the fixed effect controls which consider what country a person lives in. To fully isolate the effect of being an immigrant or native in a country that is friendly or hostile to immigration, we will need to examine regression results with these controls. Thus, posted below are the linear regression results, where the dependent variable remains the 0-10 self-placement measure in response to the question: “Is [country] made a worse or better place to live by people coming to live here

from other countries?” In the table, the reference category is a Swedish immigrant, so the unstandardized coefficients report how much higher or lower the 11-point pro-immigration sentiment measure is for immigrants living in the Vise 4 countries, natives in these countries, and Swedish native-born individuals.

p<.05=* p<.01=** p<.001***

The addition of the controls did not alter the results reported earlier in the bivariate bar chart in any meaningful way. The only hypothesis with any support and it is quite weak support still is the solidarity hypothesis, which posits that immigrants will be more supportive of immigration than natives. Compared to Swedish immigrants, being an immigrant in a Vise 4 county very modestly increased the typical respondent’s agreement that immigrants make the country a better place to live (by about a quarter of a point on the 11-point measure). Conversely, being a native resident of a country that was either friendly or hostile to immigration had about the same, small effect; in both cases, natives’ level of agreement was about half a point lower than it was for Swedish immigrants.

Conclusions:

This study compared attitudes of native and immigrant groups in different host nations' political climates by contrasting Sweden’s supportive approach against the more restrictive policies of Central European countries. The main contribution of this study lies in its discovery that the typical European, regardless of whether their being a native-

born person or immigrant, was essentially neutral as to whether immigration was harming or helping their country in 2014, when a large wave of refugees was dramatically increasing immigration across Europe. My other key finding is the lack of any meaningful variation in hostility to immigration among Swedes, who live in one of the most immigrant-friendly countries in Europe, and the Central Europeans living in nations with starkly anti-immigration policies.

As a whole, my research suggests that several theoretical frameworks previously used to examine support for immigration cannot adequately explain what we observed among the native-born and immigrants in Europe after a conflict-driven surge in immigration. Solidarity theory, which suggests that immigrants should show greater levels of belief that immigrants are beneficial to a country, was only modestly supported by my findings, with immigrants being only slightly more likely to see immigration as benefiting their host countries than native-born residents. This ambivalence toward immigration fully contradicts conflict theory, as immigrant groups did not generally show hostility toward immigration, even though additional immigration would presumably entail more competition for scarce jobs and resources. And it is both noteworthy and contrary to threat theory that the Central European nations implementing harsh anti-immigration policies are doing so in ways that are out of line with the moderate views of these nations’ native-born and immigrant residents.

It is beyond the scope of this project to explore whether my findings will apply outside of Europe or carry over to situations where immigration rates are lower or fueled by economic concerns rather than refugees fleeing conflict. Future inquiries should tackle these questions. Future research could also explore specific traits, such as duration of residence, country of origin, and degree of integration, and their influence on attitudes towards immigration. These investigations would further improve our understanding of immigrants' attitudes towards immigration and how these attitudes are affected by political context.

Descriptive statistics of variables

Bibliography

Bíró-Nagy, A. (2022). Orbán’s political jackpot: Migration and the Hungarian electorate. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48(2), 405-424.

Čadová, N. (2016). Názory veřejnosti na usazování cizinců v ČR – březen 2016 [Public opinion on settlement of foreigners in the Czech Republic – March 2016]. CVVM. http://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c1/a7543/f3/ov160418a.pdf

Cochrane, C., & Nevitte, N. (2014). Scapegoating: Unemployment, far-right parties, and antiimmigrant sentiment. Comparative European Politics, 12, 1-32.

Coser, L. (1956). The functions of social conflict. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press. Czaika, M., & Di Lillo, A. (2018). The geography of anti-immigrant attitudes across Europe, 2002–2014. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(15), 2453-2479.

Deimantas, V. J., et al. (2024). Population dynamics and policies in Europe: Analysis of population resilience at the subnational and national levels. Population Research and Policy Review, 43(2), 27.

Dennison, J., & Geddes, A. (2019). A rising tide? The salience of immigration and the rise of anti-immigration political parties in Western Europe. The Political Quarterly, 90(1), 107116.

Guia, A. (2016). The concept of nativism and anti-immigrant sentiments in Europe.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/sweden-turns-welcoming-and-restrctive-itsimmigration- policy.

Jang, B., Gonzalez, K. E., Zeng, L., & Martínez, D. E. (2022). The correlates of panethnic identification: Assessing similarities and differences among Latinos and Asians in the United States. Sociological Perspectives, 65(4), 702-726.

Kazharski, A. (2018). The end of ‘Central Europe’? The rise of the radical right and the contestation of identities in Slovakia and the Visegrad Four. Geopolitics, 23(4), 754-780.

Mayda, A. M. (2006). Who is against immigration? A cross-country investigation of individual attitudes toward immigrants. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(3), 510–530.

Semyonov, M., Raijman, R., & Gorodzeisky, A. (2006). The rise of anti-foreigner sentiment in European societies, 1988-2000. American Sociological Review, 71(3), 426-449.

Skodo, A. (2019, January 10). Sweden: By Turns Welcoming and Restrictive in its Immigration Policy. Migrationpolicy.org.

Van Spanje, J., & Van Der Brug, W. (2007). The party as pariah: The exclusion of antiimmigration parties and its effect on their ideological positions. West European Politics, 30(5), 1022-1040.

Wandycz, P. S. (2017). The price of freedom: A history of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. Routledge.

Zaller, J. R. (1992). The nature and origins of mass opinion. Cambridge University Press.

Female Agency in Medieval Medicine: A Critical Examination of the Trial of Jacqueline Félicie de Almania

Abstract

Samantha Dunn

Samantha Dunn is a History major with a Museum Studies minor, graduating in 2025. Through HPU’s Summer Undergraduate Research Institute, she studied Medieval and Early Modern medicine with Dr. Amanda Allen, focusing on women and infertility. She was especially drawn to the case of Jacqueline Félicie de Almania, which led her to center her senior seminar paper on three women who challenged the idea that medicine in that era was entirely primitive. With guidance from her mentor, Dr. Andrew Tzavaras who has supported her since her freshman year she explored the broader implications of Félicie’s trial. After graduation, she will pursue her master’s in History at George Washington University. The most fulfilling part of her research has been sharing the stories of intelligent, capable women whose contributions were overlooked in their time.

The Medieval period is often considered intellectually inferior, particularly in the field of medicine. The general public and some educators tend to think of extreme forms of treatment, such as bloodletting and leeching. As the field of the history of medicine has matured, historians have revealed that significant contributions to the study of medicine were made in the Medieval era. Most remarkably for the era, women pioneered some of these achievements. Yet, female medical practitioners are hardly mentioned in a broad swathe of historiography. Women were simultaneously prevented from participating in the public sphere of society and were not permitted to attend university. Lacking formal university training, women confronted numerous hindrances to practicing medicine. Medical licensing was introduced during the Medieval era, and particular universities, such as the University of Paris, controlled who was allowed to practice medicine by requiring physicians to be licensed. Despite this and other restrictions in medieval society, women, such as Jacqueline Félicie de Almania, made significant progress and contributed notable medical texts. This paper identifies and analyzes Félicie as a female medical practitioner who, despite societal restraints, made significant contributions to the field to the same extent as her male counterparts.

In Medieval and Early Modern Europe, women acted as and were recognized as healers without having attended university. Medical knowledge was passed down through watching and caring for sick family members, as well as through understanding the benefits of common herbs. For most people during the Middle Ages, oral communication was the

primary means by which those who were illiterate learned how to practice medicine. Traditional female healers and wise women were well-versed in herbal medicine and were more likely to be the primary caregivers of lower-class citizens. Until the Early Modern era, midwives would assist during childbirth. While women were able to practice as healers during the Medieval era, the majority were restricted to midwifery and other informal forms of medicine.1 Throughout history, men and women have been restricted to separate spheres of society – the public and private spheres. The public sphere was reserved for men, while women were expected to stay in the private sphere and care for their families and homes. Men were open to the public sphere that included work, business, education, politics, and, in the case of this paper, medicine. During the Medieval era, men dominated the field of medicine. Many factors allowed this, including but not limited to literacy and education. Despite the societal restrictions in place during this time, many women were able to participate in some facet of medicine. One woman who was able to achieve this during the fourteenth century was Jacqueline Félicie de Almania. Jacqueline Félicie practiced as a physician in Paris, ultimately curing many patients who had been neglected by previous practitioners. During her time as a physician, she was confronted by medieval societal limitations, yet despite them, she showed that women could learn and practice the art of medicine.

Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, religious and secular authorities enacted medical licensing in Western medieval Europe. The new regulation led medical practitioners to form guilds and other groups in an effort to control who could practice medicine and under what conditions they were allowed to do so. This caused great tension between university-trained physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries trained through apprenticeship, and empirics with no formal training.2 Along with requiring those who wanted to practice medicine to have a license, those who wished to teach the art of medicine were now required to have a license as well. The requirement of medical licensing sparked the prohibition of women in medicine. Universities in France established regulations that prohibited unlicensed people from practicing medicine and required a license to teach medicine. In 1220, Cardinal Conrad, the papal legate at the university in Montpellier, France, stated that “although the science of medicine had flourished for a long time at Montpellier, henceforth no one ought to be free to teach medicine publicly there unless he received the license to teach from the bishop of Maguelone after he had been examined and recognized as qualified.”3 While most restrictions on who could practice medicine came from imperial, ecclesiastical, or royal authorities, the restrictions in Paris came from the university’s medical faculty. The chancellor of the Cathedral of Notre Dame established the requirements for obtaining a medical license. The University of Paris’ faculty expanded on these requirements, making them more stringent.4 The university also held the right to prosecute those who continued to practice without a license. The faculty claimed that by practicing medicine without the proper authority to do so, such persons were endangering the safety of their souls as the bishop of Paris would excommunicate them. They further asserted that they had been urged to take action to correct this critical situation that had been brought on

1 Vaughan, Theresa A. 2020. Women, Food, and Diet in the Middle Ages: Balancing the Humours. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9789048541942/type/BOOK.

2 Green, Monica. “Women’s Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe.” Signs 14, no. 2 (1989): 434–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174557.

3 Kibre, Pearl. “The Faculty of Medicine at Paris, Charlatanism, and Unlicensed Medical Practices in the Later Middle Ages.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 27, no. 1 (1953): 1-20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44443718

4 Kibre, Pearl. “The Faculty of Medicine at Paris, Charlatanism, and Unlicensed Medical Practices in the Later Middle Ages.” 5.

by clergy and laymen alike. The regulations the faculty enacted outlined the following restrictions:

Under every penalty allowed by civil and canon law for noncompliance with the law, it was provided that no surgeon, male or female, nor apothecary or herbalist, was to exceed or overstep the limits or bounds of their craft, either secretly or publicly. The surgeon was to engage only in manual practice, the apothecary and herbalist were only to mix drugs which were to be administered exclusively by masters in medicine or under their express license. None of the aforementioned was to visit any sick person nor to administer to him any alternative medicine or laxative or anything else that pertained to a physician, nor was he to advise that it be administered except by a master in medicine.5 This new regulation asserted that the right to practice medicine in Paris was denied to all who did not hold a medical license. Those who did not have university training were unable to practice, leaving apothecaries, herbalists, and non-university-trained surgeons without the ability to continue their medical practices.

Since women were not allowed to attend university in Paris at this time, they had no way to acquire a medical license. Traditional female healers and wise women were well-versed in herbal medicine and often served as the primary caregivers for lower-class citizens. Due to these new restrictions, women who were considered healers and those who used herbal medicine in the home and neighborhoods could no longer administer treatments. Midwives commonly worked alongside religious clergymen and monks in providing medical care, which created an opportunity for women to learn the art of medicine. Since the new regulation required those who taught the art of medicine to hold a license, clergymen who did not obtain a license from the university were prohibited from instructing midwives in medical care. It can be reasonably argued that the implementation of such restrictions was done so to prevent women in particular from engaging in medical care. The case of Jacqueline Félicie illustrates how these laws on medical licensing disproportionately affected women.

Jacqueline Félicie de Almania was a Jewish woman born in Italy who received medical training and practiced medicine in Paris during the first half of the thirteenth century. On August 11, 1322, she was threatened with excommunication for allegedly practicing medicine without a license. Since Jacqueline Félicie had not studied at the schools of Paris, she was not licensed to practice in the suburbs of Paris. Among the prosecution was John of Padua, a military knight and surgeon for Philip IV, the King of France. John argued that, since it was forbidden for a woman to practice law, she should likewise be prohibited from practicing medicine. He further argued that there was danger that she might kill a man by giving him potions and clysters, and “such a death would be a mortal sin over which the church would have jurisdiction.”6 Her medical practice is described as follows: She examined their urine, felt their pulses, and examined their bodies. After examining their urine, she was reputed to have said, ‘I will cure you by God’s will, if you will have faith in me.’ She would then make a compact for the cure and would receive a fee. Following her compact, she would cure the patient of internal illnesses and external wounds. She would visit the sick assiduously and continue to examine the urine ‘in the manner of physicians,’ feel the pulse and touch the body and limbs. Then she would give

5 Kibre, Pearl. “The Faculty of Medicine at Paris, Charlatanism, and Unlicensed Medical Practices in the Later Middle Ages.” 6.

6 Kibre, Pearl. “The Faculty of Medicine at Paris, Charlatanism, and Unlicensed Medical Practices in the Later Middle Ages.” 8.

the patients syrups and potions, laxatives and digestives, aromatics and other remedies, which they would drink in her presence according to her prescription.7

It was argued in court that Jacqueline Félicie was ignorant of the art and practice of medicine, despite having received medical training; yet, her process was the same as that of any male physician, albeit with better results. The defending counsel brought forth former patients as witnesses who attested to her ability to cure them. One witness, John of St. Omar, said Jacqueline Félicie visited him several times, cured him of an illness, and had done more for him than any other physician. Another patient, Yvo Tueleu, remarked that she had been ill with a fever. Several physicians visited her, yet none had been able to provide her with a cure. That is, until Jacqueline Félicie had been called to her bedside and given her a “purgelike” remedy that ultimately cured Tueleu of her fever. Several other witnesses attested to Jacqueline Félicie’s ability to cure ailments that previous physicians had not been able to. It was in the case of Jacqueline Félicie that the court was reminded that members of both sexes confided in her, and she had cured patients that other physicians had not been able to. Despite this, the university found Jacqueline Félicie guilty of willful disobedience and excommunicated her from practicing medicine and functioning as a physician.8

As mentioned previously, Jacqueline was Jewish, living in France during a time of prominent antisemitism and persecution. In 1290, Edward I of England declared the expulsion of English Jews. During their exodus, most moved to France, joining a larger community of Jewish people. After their arrival, King Philip IV of France ordered their deportation, but deportation allowed the wealthiest to stay. In 1306, the King banished all Jews living in France. Philip IV then ordered commissioners in Paris to promptly travel to the provinces to imprison all the Jews and oversee the confiscation of their goods.9 Approximately a year after the death of Philip IV, his son and new king of France, Louis X, readmitted the formerly expelled Jews to the kingdom of France.10 It is believed that Jacqueline was born around 1290 and emigrated to Paris. Despite the antisemitism in French society, Jews were known for their scholarship, making them trustworthy healers. Many Jewish men and women are reported to have practiced medicine in various European archives, with Jewish women being particularly skilled healers. Jacqueline had received some training as a physician but did not hold an official medical license. During this time, regulations on medical practices applied to anyone “who has not learned the science of medicine, be they men or women, Christian, Jew, or Saracen.”11

Mary McLaughlin and James Bruce Ross published one of only two Modern English translations of Jacqueline’s trial in their 1949 book The Portable Medieval Reader. The documentation of her trial makes no reference to her Jewish identity. The text states that the dean and regent masters of the faculty of medicine at Paris aimed to establish that the accused, Jacqueline Félicie, had been practicing medicine without having the proper licensing to do so.12

7 Brooke, Elisabeth. n.d. Women Healers: Portraits of Herbalists, Physicians, and Midwives. Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://archive.org/details/womenhealersport0000broo.

8 Brooke, Elisabeth. n.d. Women Healers: Portraits of Herbalists, Physicians, and Midwives. 63.

9 Barkey, Karen, and Ira Katznelson. “States, Regimes, and Decisions: Why Jews Were Expelled from Medieval England and France.” Theory and Society 40, no. 5 (2011): 475–503. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41475705.

10 Jordan, William C., “Home Again: The Jews in the Kingdom of France, 1315–1322,” in F.R.P. Akehurst and Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden, eds., The Stranger in Medieval Society (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 27–45

11 Green, Monica. “Women’s Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe.” 448.

12 Ross, James Bruce, and Mary Martin McLaughlin, eds. “The Case of a Woman Doctor in Paris,” in The Portable Medieval Reader. New York: Viking Press, 1949.

Throughout her trial, Jacqueline had not been accused of or charged with malpractice or extortion, nor was there any suggestion that she was a poor physician. The faculty that prosecuted her made no mention of her religion or claimed that it prevented her from being able to understand the medical field. It is clear that Jacqueline’s true crime was that of being a woman; her sex withheld her from studying medicine at university; therefore, she was guilty. This is further proved through her sentence stating the following: “Her plea that she cured many sick persons whom the aforesaid masters could not cure ought not to stand and is frivolous, since it is certain that a man approved in the art mentioned above could cure the sick better than any woman.”

While the first laws that dictated who was allowed to practice medicine applied to both men and women alike, a new law in 1329 explicitly prohibited all women from administering healthcare. It stated that “no woman may practice medicine or give potions, under the penalty of being whipped through the town; but they may care for little children and women to whom, however, they may give no potion.”

14 Historian Luis Garcia Ballester suggests that this unprecedented disallowance of women practicing medicine was likely motivated by the desire to control the practice of gynecology and obstetrics, since that field was primarily performed by women. Despite this possible intention, the act ultimately prevented women from practicing medicine as a whole.

Medieval society was not an inclusive place for women. The field of medicine was dominated by men, leaving women with limited opportunities to practice as physicians or in other fields of formal medicine. The lack of access to education prevented women from participating in discussions and learning about their health. Jacqueline Félicie was an extraordinary woman who defied societal restrictions and made significant contributions to the field of medicine. Despite being unable to attend university and obtain the proper licensing to practice medicine, she served the people of her community through her great medical knowledge. Even though those who conducted her trial did not think so, Jacqueline Félicie de Almania made an incredible, positive difference in her community, even without the medical license the university claimed she needed.

13 Brooke, Elisabeth. n.d. Women Healers: Portraits of Herbalists, Physicians, and Midwives. 63.

14 Green, Monica. “Women’s Medical Practice and Health Care in Medieval Europe.” 448.

“Mother of Herbs”: Mugwort’s Usage and Efficacy in Quinn Fergusson

Quinn Fergusson is a History and English double major in the Class of 2026. Drawn to the lives of everyday people rather than the grand narratives of politics and war, Quinn developed a deep interest in Medieval and Early Modern medicine an area that reflects how ordinary monks and physicians sought to improve human well-being. Their manuscript originated in Dr. Whitson’s and Dr. Allen’s integrative course, where Quinn not only studied the historical context of early medicine but also engaged in hands-on experimentation. The process of revising and refining the paper taught valuable lessons about writing and publishing original research. After graduating, Quinn plans to attend graduate school in archaeology or public history with hopes of working in the museum field. They credit both Dr. Whitson and Dr. Allen for their critical guidance Dr. Whitson for helping navigate the scientific aspects of the research, and Dr. Allen for her enthusiasm, mentorship, and deep expertise in medieval medicine.

Abstract

There is a common misconception that medicine in the Medieval Era was “backward” –barbaric, ineffective, and based on mere superstition. Considering the prevalence of this notion, the question begs to be asked: how effective were medieval medical treatments, and can their effects be reproduced today? “‘Mother of Herbs’: Mugwort’s Usage and Efficacy in Medieval Medicine” utilizes the fields of medieval history and medical biology to explore the efficacy of mugwort’s medieval medicinal applications. Mugwort, a medicinal plant native to Europe and Asia, is referenced numerous times in medieval European medical texts and was used to treat illnesses such as fever, gynecological illness, and gastrointestinal issues throughout the era. To determine its effectiveness as a medicinal remedy, mugwort was tested as part of a group study in an extract solution containing three other plants: betony, rose, and marshmallow. The extract was tested in a series of assays examining antioxidant levels, anti-inflammatory properties, cytotoxicity, and antibacterial properties. By comparing the results of these assays to the historical usage of the plant as evidenced in medieval texts, the true biological functions of mugwort are revealed. This work was written for ITG-3005: “Medieval and Early Modern Medicine,” an integrative course taught by Dr. Amanda Allen and Dr. Jeremy Whitson. While the paper is based on data collected through group work, all analyses of collected data are my own.

It is easy to think that medicine in the Medieval Era was rudimentary and unscientific, based on mere superstition rather than traceable evidence. People of this period are often depicted as dirty, uneducated, wretched folk, solely reliant on the “backward” ways of witchcraft and the miracles of holy people to heal their illnesses. However, these assumptions would be far from true. While the medieval Catholic church highly encouraged faith-based healing, leaving the fate of one’s health solely in the hands of a higher power, the actual practice of medicine was a highly thought-out science, built on a deep, rich, and complex history going back to the work of ancient Greeks and Romans. This practice was primarily based upon the humoral theory of medicine. According to this theory, the human body is comprised of four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), the imbalance of which is the root cause of disease. Similarly, all things have four natures (hot, cold, dry, and moist), which correspond to each of the four humors, respectively.1 The basis of medieval medicine was the use of herbal remedies to restore the humoral balance – using, for example, “hot” and “dry” plants to treat “cold” and “wet” illnesses and restore balance to the humors. Therefore, it was very common for medieval monks and physicians to maintain intricate physic gardens and medical quarters, cultivating plants and preparing remedies specifically for medicinal use. Using these plants, they would follow carefully laid-out recipes and procedures to ensure the best chances of success in their treatments.

Among the plethora of herbs utilized in medieval medicine were betony, marshmallow, rose, and mugwort. While each of these herbs has a rich history and a wide range of medicinal uses, the latter herb, mugwort, will be the focus of this paper. First, the paper will delve into the historical use of mugwort and its associated remedies, providing a comprehensive overview of its role in medieval medicine. Later, it will detail the results of lab work conducted to test the medicinal properties of a combined extract of mugwort, betony, rose, and marshmallow, examining the scientific findings in the context of medieval medical texts to provide a closer look into the efficacy of mugwort’s historical uses.

Historical Research

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a perennial flowering plant that is widespread across the globe, native to Europe, Africa, and Asia. The use of this herb goes back to the ancient era; Mugwort was well-known in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, and its medical usage was noted in texts from Galen, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder in as early as the first century C.E.2

Referred to as the “Mother of Herbs” by medieval monks and physicians,3 mugwort had a variety of supposed healing properties and was used in several treatments. According to the theory of the four humors, mugwort was a “very warm” plant, and would therefore have been used as a

1 Faith Wallis, ed., Medieval Medicine, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 11.

2 Ekiert, Halina, Joanna Pajor, Paweł Klin, Agnieszka Rzepiela, Halina Ślesak, and Agnieszka Szopa, "Significance of Artemisia Vulgaris L. (Common Mugwort) in the History of Medicine and Its Possible Contemporary Applications Substantiated by Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies," Molecules 25, no. 19: 4415 (2020): 619, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25194415

3 Wallis, ed., Medieval Medicine, 102.

treatment for “cold” illnesses.4 Mugwort was also commonly utilized in Chinese medicine, and the plant is thought by some scholars to have originated in eastern Asia.5

One of mugwort’s most common uses in the Medieval Era was as a remedy for gastrointestinal issues. In the text Hildegard’s Healing Herbs: From Her Medieval Classic Physica, medieval abbess Hildegard Von Bingen claimed that “if it is cooked and eaten as a paste, it heals sick intestines and makes a cold stomach warm” and that, for an upset stomach, eating mugwort with meat, lard, or in a paste would “attract the foulness that was in the previous food or drink and chase it away.”6 This property of mugwort was also reflected in the compendium Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, Vol. I: The Recipes, a collection of recipes for various medicinal treatments from medieval Wales. One recipe advises that, “Mugwort root, [can be boiled] in wine to stop diarrhoea also and do it with their leaves to kill worms.”7 This specific property of mugwort was essential to the scientific assays completed in this study, as the other medicinal herbs involved in the study were also used in gastrointestinal remedies.

Another very prominent use of mugwort was as a remedy for gynecological illnesses. Mugwort, both fresh and dried, appears numerous times throughout the medieval women’s health compendium, The Trotula, in various medical recipes. Most prominently, it seems in recipes to help regulate menstruation. In a section dedicated to “Retention of the Menses” –when the body is refraining from menstruation – The Trotula stated that “mugwort ground with wine and drunk is very good, or it helps when it is cooked in wine and drunk.” 8 Other recipes in the same section feature mugwort combined with herbs such as oregano, sage, cumin, or various other herbs, all cooked together in water or ground into a powder. In a subsequent section on “Paucity of the Menses” – scarce and painful menstruation – mugwort was again used in several recipes to provoke menstruation in women. Likewise, it is also featured in recipes related to childbirth and increasing fertility. 9

According to Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, mugwort was also used to treat various types of fever. For example, one recipe for a treatment of “shivering tertian fever” called for the physician to “take mugwort and dwarf elder and red mugwort... and boil them together in a pot or cauldron as well as possible... put [the herbs and the water] together into a barrel, and in the hour that the shivering comes to the person, put him into the bath.”10 Another remedy, this one for a standard fever, instructed them to “take mugwort and red dead-nettle and greater plantain and unyeit and pound them well in old goat whey and boil them,” calling for the patient to drink the concoction then every day until the fever goes away.11 Mugwort was also used in several recipes to treat poison and venom. In Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, a recipe to treat poison called for mugwort and other herbs to be boiled, combined with an infusion of honey and oats,

4 Hildegard, Hildegard’s Healing Plants: From Her Medieval Classic Physica, 1st electronic reading ed, (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 99, http://site.ebrary.com/id/5001645.

5 J. Wang, F. Zhu, X.M. Zhou, C.Y. Niu, C.L. Lei, “Repellent and fumigant activity of essential oil from Artemisia vulgaris to Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae),” Journal of Stored Products Research 42, iss. 3 (2006): 340, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jspr.2005.06.001.

6 Hildegard, Hildegard’s Healing Plants: From Her Medieval Classic Physica, 1st electronic reading ed, (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 99-100, http://site.ebrary.com/id/5001645.

7 Diana Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, Volume One: the Recipes, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2020), 104. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2488471

8 Monica Helen Green, ed., The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), 67-68, https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812202083.

9 Green, ed., The Trotula, 68-69, 80-82, 91.

10 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 62.

11 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 76.

and then ingested to treat the poison.12 Another treatment, this one for a snake bite, called for the patient to “[drink] mugwort juice to combat the poison.”13 Mugwort juice was also used as an energizer of sorts. One recipe stated that “If you want to avoid exhaustion despite travelling, drink an eggshell full of mugwort juice with garlic in the morning, and you will not be injured nor will you tire no matter how far you walk on that day.”14 As odd as this last claim may seem, it may hold some scientific merit, as will be detailed later.

Medieval manuscripts also mention another use for mugwort that is highly relevant to the study: its use as a treatment for cancer. The Trotula explicitly stated that mugwort “applied warm or ground dissolves tumors. Also, when ground in wine and cooked in honey [and] placed upon tumors of the face, it softens, matures, and attenuates them.”15 It was used as one of many ingredients in another recipe for cancer treatment, as well as a recipe to treat breast lesions.16 These applications strongly suggest that mugwort has anti-cancer (and possibly cytotoxic) properties. Importantly, mugwort was also used in recipes to treat boils. In Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, a treatment for boils called for the physician to “take mugwort, and hog lard or capon fat, and worms, and pound them together, put it on the sore, and it will be healed.”17 Also, Hildegard mentioned in her medical texts that “if bad humors, gathered in some place in a person’s body, flow out through broken skin where there is no infected wound” then they should make a concoction of mugwort juice and honey and “rub it on the place where it hurts” before covering it with egg white and bandaging it with cloth.18 Here, she may have been referring to some boil or pustule that has been popped – not an “infected wound” in the traditional sense, but certainly a place where “bad humors” (i.e., pus) will flow out if the skin is broken. This may be evidence to suggest that mugwort has anti-inflammatory or antibacterial properties, which medieval physicians were aware of and used to their benefit. While these were the most prominent uses for mugwort, there is one other use that, while unrelated to this study, has some backing behind it. In Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, the author recommended that “to drive away flies or insects, put mugwort in the place they tend to come, and they will flee and die.”19 Though this use was rarely mentioned in the other European historical texts consulted in this study, more recent research has suggested that mugwort does have repellent properties for insects. According to a study by J. Wang et al., mugwort was used by farmers in ancient China to control insect pests.20 During laboratory research, mugwort’s essential oil was found to be very effective as a fumigant and an insect repellent.21 The fact that mugwort’s function as an insect repellent was being utilized in geographically and culturally disparate locations, such as medieval Wales and ancient China, speaks to its widespread use and effectiveness.

Laboratory Findings22

12 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 124.

13 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 224.

14 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 106.

15 Green, ed., The Trotula, 109.

16 Green, ed., The Trotula, 102, 105.

17 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 236.

18 Hildegard, Hildegard’s Healing Plants, 100.

19 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 196.

20 Wang, et al., “Repellent and fumigant activity of Artemisia vulgaris,” 340.

21 Wang, et al., “Repellent and fumigant activity of Artemisia vulgaris,” 346.

22 The following section of the paper is based in part on data collected through group work. While the laboratory assay process was collaborative, all analysis of collected data is my own. Groupmates included: Olivia Calderone, Alex Lacoma, and Finley Myers.

Through the historical research conducted for this study, its numerous applications suggested that mugwort had many powerful medicinal properties. In the lab portion of this study, the herb was tested to scientifically assess several key medicinal factors and determine whether mugwort was as functional a remedy as medieval practitioners believed. Due to the nature of the study, mugwort was tested as part of a plant extract solution containing samples from three other medieval medicinal herbs: betony, rose, and marshmallow – all of which are documented in medieval texts to have been used in remedies for gastrointestinal illnesses. Most recipes using mugwort call for it to be mixed with or cooked in either wine or animal fat. To simulate these conditions, the herbal samples were combined with a 15% ethanol solution (a percentage of alcohol equivalent to that found in wine) and incubated in a 100 °C heat bath for 10 minutes. The extract was then clarified using a vacuum-powered filter to remove all large particles. Due to the properties of each plant in the solution, it was hypothesized that the extract solution would exhibit signs of anti-inflammatory and antibacterial behavior. However, to fully test the properties of the herbs, the extract solution was subjected to four different assays, evaluating its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and antibacterial potential.

The first assay performed was to test the antioxidant potential of the plant extract. Three different dilutions of the plant extract were made, and a sample from each was pipetted into three wells of a 96-well plate. Different dilutions of a Trolox solution, an antioxidant derived from vitamin E, were pipetted into the well plate to form a standard to test the samples against. All solutions were then combined with a reaction mix containing Cu2+. Once the solution was added, the antioxidants in the solution (if any) would react with the Cu2+, changing them to Cu+, which then interact with a dye in the mixture to turn the solution purple. The level of color in the solution can then be quantified using a spectrophotometer. The undiluted Trolox solution is known to have extremely high levels of antioxidants; therefore, its reaction served as a control to test the plant extract against.11

The plant extract solution’s reaction showed substantial absorption of light at the 570 nm wavelength. From the standard curve, it was calculated that the undiluted extract had a total antioxidant capacity (TAC) equivalent to 401.08 μM Trolox. This comparison is shown in Figure 1. The assay proved a resounding success and provided interesting results surrounding the properties of the plant extract. Truthfully, it is difficult to determine whether medieval physicians were aware of any antioxidant properties that mugwort may have possessed. However, studies have shown that antioxidants and foods rich in antioxidants help support metabolism during exercise.23 This may be reflected in mugwort juice’s use as an “energizer” before a long trek, as described earlier.

The second assay was used to test for anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of the assay was to assess the anti-inflammatory properties of our plant extract by combining three different concentrations of the extract with a solution of 5% w/v egg albumin and incubating it in a heat bath. In theory, if the plant extract contained anti-inflammatory properties, it would inhibit the process of protein denaturation. The level of inhibition could then be tested by measuring the opacity of the solution – the clearer the solution, the greater its anti-inflammatory properties. However, due to problems with the procedure, the results generated from this assay were essentially unusable. Possibly due to the use of too high a concentration of albumin, the samples lost nearly all of their liquid properties. Even after attempts to dilute the samples by adding 0.5

23 Maki Takami, et al., “Effect of dietary antioxidant-rich foods combined with aerobic training on energy metabolism in healthy young men,” Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition vol. 64,1 (2019): 79, 84. doi:10.3164/jcbn.18-40

mL of water, the results still exhibited an extremely high standard deviation, indicating a lack of statistical significance (data not shown).

Despite the absence of usable results from the assay, historical evidence suggests that the plant extract, especially mugwort, would have anti-inflammatory properties. As mentioned earlier in this essay, mugwort was used in many medieval recipes to reduce fever, indicating its anti-inflammatory properties.24 Had the experiment been performed correctly and adjusted to yield more accurate results, the anti-inflammatory properties of the plant extract would likely have been made apparent. However, any decisive conclusions on this subject would require further testing to be expressed.

The third assay tested the cytotoxicity of the plant extract. Firstly, a 5 mL cell suspension of living human cancer cells (HeLa cells) was created for the assay. Using this cell suspension, four solutions of different extract dilutions were prepared in four separate microcentrifuge tubes. Each tube contained 200 μL of cell suspension and 100 μL of a 1x PBS solution. To three of them, 100 μL of different dilutions (undiluted, 50%, and 25%) of plant extract was added. The fourth was a negative control, where only 100 μL of 15% ethanol was added. Once they had incubated for thirty minutes, each solution was combined with Trypan blue dye. The dye combined with the solution and stained each dead cell a dark blue while staining the living cells a light blue, so that they could be distinguished under a microscope.

Although the resulting cell counts were somewhat low, they nonetheless demonstrated a distinct difference in cytotoxicity between the concentrations of the plant extract, as shown in Figure 2. The negative control, as expected, had the highest concentration of living cells, with 14 living cells in an 18 square area – approximately 140,000 cells per milliliter. Conversely, the sample with the highest concentration of plant extract had the smallest concentration of living cells, with only two living cells in an 18-square area – approximately 20,000 cells per milliliter. The 2nd-highest extract concentration had six living cells in an 18-square area, or approximately 60,000 cells per milliliter. The sample with the 3rd-highest extract concentration was too hard to read, as the cells were not evenly distributed across the plate, and thus was disregarded as nonapplicable. Overall, despite the lack of results from the third sample, the results of this assay demonstrated a clear pattern of cytotoxic effects.

These findings are extremely interesting, especially when reviewing the use of mugwort in medieval medicine. As mentioned earlier, mugwort was used in recipes for the treatment of tumors, cancers, and lesions.25 Coupled with the results of this assay, there is reason to believe that mugwort has substantial cytotoxic properties – properties that were known and utilized throughout the Medieval Era.

The final assay tested the antibacterial effects of the plant extract. In preparation for the assay, paper discs were soaked in four solutions with four different dilutions (100%, 50%, 25%, and 0%) of plant extract. One of each disc was placed on three different trial plates containing a non-virulent strain of E. coli. The plates were left to incubate overnight and then placed in a refrigerator for four days until the experiment could be continued. As the E. coli culture was left to incubate, the solution would inhibit the growth of the bacteria, and a zone of inhibition would form around each disc, where the bacteria would not grow. If the extract had any significant antibacterial properties, the diameter of the zone of inhibition around each disc (measured in millimeters) would be scaled appropriately to the corresponding concentration of extract.

24 Luft, Medieval Welsh Medical Texts, 58, 62, 76, 188, 379.

25 Green, ed., The Trotula, 102, 105, 109.

Unfortunately, the results were somewhat disappointing. On the first trial plate, there appeared to be a slight trend of inhibition, as the diameter of the zones of inhibition increased proportionately to the concentration of plant extract. However, the results for the remaining trials appeared to lack any significant correlation whatsoever. Therefore, consequently, the averages taken from each of the four concentrations did not display any clear trend, as shown in Figure 3.

Based on these results, the presence of plant extract had a negligible effect on the antibacterial properties of the solutions. However, as described earlier, the medieval texts consulted in this study suggest that there would likely be some antibacterial activity, since mugwort was used to treat such afflictions as boils and pustules. The results of the assay may point to a lack of antibacterial properties in the plant extract, but they may also point to a mistake made in the assay itself. It is entirely possible that, though the first trial was conducted properly, the latter two trials were contaminated by the use of unclean forceps. This simple mistake would explain the clean results of the first trial and the scattered results of the latter two. However, this is simple speculation, and it would require further testing to prove whether mugwort, betony, marshmallow, and rose have any antibacterial properties to speak of.

Conclusion

Based on the historical applications and uses of the plant alone, it could be said that mugwort, the “Mother of Herbs,” was something close to a “cure-all” for medieval Europeans –a reliable herb for the treatment of all sorts of bodily illnesses. Although the lab work completed as part of this study falls short of proving its effectiveness as a cure-all, it is safe to say that mugwort exhibits several key properties that align with its historical use in medicine. While the hypothesis that mugwort has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties requires further research to prove, it was made clear through laboratory testing that the plant extract containing mugwort, betony, marshmallow, and rose had clear and significant antioxidant and cytotoxic effects – properties that are specifically reflected in its use as an “energizer” and as a treatment for tumors, cancer, and lesions. Through a marriage of scientific assessment and historical research, it has been made abundantly clear that, though they may not have entirely understood the plant’s chemical intricacies to the level of contemporary scientists, medieval physicians were well aware of mugwort’s healing properties. With additional testing, mugwort’s antiinflammatory and antibacterial potential may yet be proven, and the work of medieval physicians further affirmed alongside it.

Figures for “‘Mother of Herbs’: Mugwort’s Usage and Efficacy in Medieval Medicine” by Quinn Fergusson

Figure 1. Determination of Total Antioxidant Capacity of Plant Extract. Absorbance readings from known concentrations of the Trolox control solution were graphed to form a standard curve for quantification of TAC of the plant extract.

Figure 2. Surviving HeLa Cells After Incubation in Plant Extract. The number of living HeLa cells in different concentrations of plant extract is shown. The low number of living cancer cells in the 250 and 125 µg/mL samples compared to the negative control demonstrates substantial cytotoxic activity in the plant extract.

Figure 3. Bacterial Growth Inhibition by Concentration of Plant Extract. Mean diameters of the zones of inhibition for each concentration of plant extract are shown. The minimal difference between results and the lack of any significant trend, demonstrates the insubstantiality of the assay’s results. The error bars reflect the standard error of the standard deviation of the mean.

Bibliography

Ekiert, Halina, Joanna Pajor, Paweł Klin, Agnieszka Rzepiela, Halina Ślesak, and Agnieszka Szopa. "Significance of Artemisia Vulgaris L. (Common Mugwort) in the History of Medicine and Its Possible Contemporary Applications Substantiated by Phytochemical and Pharmacological Studies." Molecules 25, no. 19: 4415 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25194415.

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Rhetorical Questions as Talk Therapy in Virginia To the Lighthouse

Taylor Galavotti

Taylor Galavotti is a Neuroscience and English double major in the Class of 2025. Her manuscript blends insights from both disciplines by analyzing Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse through the lens of neuroscience, particularly concepts related to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This interdisciplinary approach reflects Taylor’s broader academic interests and has deepened her passion for research. The opportunity to explore new ideas and draw unique connections has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of her undergraduate experience. After graduating from High Point University, Taylor plans to pursue a graduate degree in either Neuroscience or English with the goal of becoming a professor at a small liberal arts college. She credits her mentors for shaping her academic journey, providing the support that helped her present at conferences, gain research experience, and secure graduate program offers.

Abstract

Virginia Woolf, a pioneering figure in modernist literature, was clearly familiar with Freudian psychology. Because Hogarth Press, Woolf’s publishing press, was the first to publish Freud’s collected works in English, the influence of Freudian ideals is inescapable in many of Woolf’s works (McTaggart 69). Many scholars have wrangled with the Oedipal question that is pervasive throughout To the Lighthouse, but few scholars have remarked on Woolf’s inclusion of Freudian therapeutic methods in her self-proclaimed fiction-elegy (Smythe 74). Freud was one of the first to develop talk therapy as a treatment method for those struggling with mental illness. One method under the umbrella of talk therapy is Socratic questioning, wherein patients are asked a series of open-ended questions to help them reevaluate a past situation or create a new idea, especially in cases of depression. In literature, these open-ended questions that would typically be asked of patients during a talk therapy session take the form of rhetorical questions. Woolf employs rhetorical questions throughout To the Lighthouse to generate her trademark stream-ofconsciousness style. While rhetorical questions operate on a basic level of composition, they also add psychological complexity to the text as Cam, James, and Lily Briscoe engage in Socratic questioning to deal with the grief of losing Mrs. Ramsay. This further supports the reading of To the Lighthouse as a novel meant to help Woolf work through the loss of her own mother, especially a reading where Lily Briscoe is a stand-in for Woolf herself.

inescapable in many of Woolf’s works (McTaggart 69). Her determination to make Hogarth Press “her personal space, the room of her own,” meant that her choice of published works was intentionally aligned with her ideas about literature, psychology, and politics (McTaggart 64). Therefore, her work can be read through a Freudian lens. Many scholars have wrangled with the Oedipal question that is pervasive throughout To the Lighthouse, but few scholars have remarked on Woolf’s inclusion of Freudian therapeutic methods in her self-proclaimed fiction-elegy (Smythe 74). Freud was one of the first to develop talk therapy as a treatment method for those struggling with mental illness. His philosophy surrounding talk therapy posited that open communication and shedding of troubles onto a third party would help the patient to work through their psychological struggles. One method under the umbrella of talk therapy is Socratic questioning, wherein patients are asked a series of open-ended questions to help them reevaluate a past situation or create a new idea, especially in cases of depression. These open-ended questions help patients interrogate their feelings about a situation, memory, or feeling (Braun et al. 2). In literature, these open-ended questions that would typically be asked of patients during a talk therapy session take the form of rhetorical questions. Woolf employs rhetorical questions throughout To the Lighthouse to generate her trademark stream-of-consciousness style. While rhetorical questions operate on a basic level of composition, they also add psychological complexity to the text as Cam, James, and Lily Briscoe engage in Socratic questioning to deal with the grief of losing Mrs. Ramsay. This further supports the reading of To the Lighthouse as a novel meant to help Woolf work through the loss of her own mother, especially a reading where Lily Briscoe is a stand-in for Woolf herself.

Cam

Cam, the youngest daughter of the Ramsay family, first demonstrates Socratic questioning in her inner monologue when she, James, and Mr. Ramsay are sailing to the Lighthouse near the end of Part III. She asks herself, “What came next? Where were they going?” (Woolf 189). While a cursory response would simply be “going to the Lighthouse,” Cam seems to be after a more nuanced answer to her rhetorical question. If journeying to the Lighthouse is meant to represent the Ramsay family accepting the death of Mrs. Ramsay, then what was going to be next? In asking this question of herself, Cam is interrogating the gravity of the situation from her perspective, as well as attempting to understand the step in the grieving process she is currently at. In this example, Cam is using Socratic questioning to help her adopt broader perspectives regarding her mother’s death as well as the sometimes non-linear process of grief. While Cam can definitely understand the physical location the Ramsay family is travelling to, she is now coming to terms with the metaphorical implication of finally going to the Lighthouse without Mrs. Ramsay.

James

James, the youngest child of all the Ramsays, generates a hypothetical situation in his subconscious to reflect on the impact of grieving on others, specifically the impact of Mr. Ramsay’s grieving on him and the rest of the family. James then asks questions of this hypothetical situation to determine who should bear the brunt of the blame. On page 185, he muses to himself,

“Suppose then that as a child sitting helpless in a perambulator, or on some one’s knee, he had seen a wagon crush ignorantly and innocently, someone’s foot? Suppose he had seen the foot first, in the grass, smooth, and whole; then the wheel; and the same foot, purple, crushed. But the wheel was innocent. So now, when his father came striding

down the passage, knocking them up early in the morning to go to the Lighthouse down it came over his foot, over Cam’s foot, over anybody’s foot…But whose foot was he thinking of, and in what garden did this all happen?”

In this example, the wheel is representative of grief, or more specifically, the moods induced by grief that James sees in his father. The wheel coming “over his foot, over Cam’s foot, over anybody’s foot,” demonstrates the inescapability of the grief felt by Mr. Ramsay and the outward impact it has on the people around him. However, the use of “innocent” to describe the wheel shows that Mr. Ramsay isn’t provoking these desolate moods intentionally; it is a byproduct of the situation. The rhetorical questions that follow this hypothetical situation are demonstrative of James engaging in Socratic questioning. Now that he understands that his father’s outbursts of grief are not targeted at him specifically, he expands the scope of the situation beyond his own perspective by asking, “in what garden did this all happen?” implying the existence of many other gardens where many other feet are being run over (Woolf 185). Here, like Cam, James is adopting broader perspectives on grief by encouraging a questioning line about others beyond just his garden.

Mr. Ramsay

While the two Ramsay children in Part III successfully engage in Socratic questioning to aid in their therapeutic process, Mr. Ramsay is not. Instead of asking open-ended rhetorical questions that would prompt inward reflection and open his mind to new ideas, Mr. Ramsay seems exclusively concerned with sympathy. In an encounter with Lily Briscoe, “[he] sighed to the full. He waited. Was she not going to say anything? Did she not see what he wanted from her?” (Woolf 151). His closed-loop questions aimed at someone other than himself show his stage in the grief process in comparison to the rest of the Ramsay family: behind. His apathy in working through the devastating loss of his wife is reflected in his intentionally obtuse inner monologue and the lack of interrogation of his own feelings.

Lily Briscoe

Mr. Ramsay is heavily contrasted by Lily Briscoe, who actively and thoroughly interrogates her deeper emotions, especially her grief, in Part III. Her Socratic questioning process is split into two realms: her generalized grief regarding Mrs. Ramsay’s death and her art as a therapeutic process. Throughout Part III she asks questions of herself, such as, “What does it mean then, what can it all mean?...For really, what did she feel, come back all these years and Mrs. Ramsay dead?” and, “And if one can neither think nor feel, she thought, where is one?” (Woolf 145, 194)

In the first set of rhetorical questions, Lily is trying to cognitively identify the implications of Mrs. Ramsay’s death not only on her but on the entire Ramsay family and surrounding friends. In doing so, she is guiding her behavior in a stepwise fashion towards therapeutic goals: coming to terms with the loss of Mrs. Ramsay. She is taking psychological stock of her current emotional state now that 10 years have passed and doing the therapeutic work to understand how to move forward - an excellent example of Socratic questioning in action. The second rhetorical question aims more towards the necessity of feeling these complex emotions. In asking this question of herself, Lily is implying that tough emotions - like grief - are necessary to find one’s place in life, whether that be socially, emotionally, or physically. This demonstrates a deeper understanding of grief, which is partially due to her use of art as a therapeutic process. In creating the painting she works on for the entirety of Part III, Lily asks a series of questions related to both the artistic process and the grieving process, such as, “Where to begin? - that was the question at what point to make the first mark? One line placed on the canvas committed her

to innumerable risks, to frequent and irrevocable decisions… Why then did she do it?... What was the good of doing it then?” (Woolf 157, 158, 159). These questions, while in immediate reference to her artwork, offer an insight into Lily’s internal rationale for working through these difficult emotions - something Mr. Ramsay opts out of. In examining these grief-related questions through the lens of her artwork, Lily is able to take on new information through Socratic questioning and use that to guide her thought processes going forward. Conceptualizing a positive rationale for working through grief by aligning it with the reason she creates art allows Lily a new path through her sorrow. She even reflects on this idea specifically by asking, “For how could one express in words these emotions of the body? Express the emptiness there? (She was looking at the drawing-room steps; they looked extraordinarily empty.)” (Woolf 178). In reflecting upon these questions, she has come to understand the intrinsic value of creating art to cope with her sadness. She concludes with reflection upon the impermanent nature of her painting; “It would be hung in the attics, she thought; it would be destroyed. ‘But what did that matter?’, she asked herself, taking up the brush again.” (Woolf 208). As To the Lighthouse concludes, Lily comes to realize that the value of her artwork lies in its creation; her painting is now a physical manifestation of her overcoming her grief. Lily Briscoe as a Stand-In for Virginia Woolf Scholars have almost entirely agreed that in the semi-autobiographical To the Lighthouse, Lily Briscoe is meant to be a stand-in for Virginia Woolf, herself. This is further supported by the strong linkages between Virginia Woolf’s opinion of her mother, Julia Stephens, and the characterization of Mrs. Ramsay. In her diary, Woolf describes her fleeting memory of her mother as “the creator of that crowded, merry world which spun so gaily at the center of [her] childhood” (Gillian 3). This is echoed by the impact Mrs. Ramsay has on Lily Briscoe; Lily remembers her as someone who “resolved everything into simplicity; made these angers, irritations fall off like old rags” (Woolf 160). The timeline of grieving between Woolf and Lily is also aligned; Mark Spilka writes, “The ‘Time Passes’ section of the novel is itself a prime reflection in Virginia Woolf’s fiction of her initial inability to grieve her mother’s death, and of the long delay in releasing her unspent emotions” (21). This is mirrored in Woolf’s choice to “leave [Mrs. Ramsay’s] death for the family friend, Lily Briscoe, to cope with 10 years later.” (21). Lily’s characterization as an artist by Woolf creates yet another correlation between author and character that supports this analysis even further. Spilka continues, saying, “...Lily at 44, divided between life and art, is like Virginia Woolf in her forties as she writes this novel, trying to convert her ungrieved grief into a last portrait of the lost beloved.” (25). The scholarly conversation surrounding To the Lighthouse as a fiction-elegy to Woolf’s mother is supported by this discussion of rhetorical questions as Socratic questioning in the text, allowing characters to engage in insular dialogue about their own grief. Lily’s regular use of rhetorical questions that would invite an open-ended dialogue - as successful Socratic questions do - further designates her as a representative figure of Woolf in the text. Her continued effort to work through her grief, albeit 10 years later, is mirrored by Woolf’s efforts to elegize her mother with To the Lighthouse, even though it was published many years after her mother’s death.

Conclusion

The use of rhetorical questions throughout To the Lighthouse is reminiscent of Socratic questioning - a branch of talk therapy popularized by Sigmund Freud. As Cam, James, Mr. Ramsay, and Lily all grapple with the death of Mrs. Ramsay, they engage in Socratic questioning at different levels in their subconsciousness, representing how far along their grief journey they have traveled. Lily asks repeated rhetorical questions of herself about how she feels regarding

the loss of Mrs. Ramsay, whereas Mr. Ramsay is only concerned with short-sighted questions that do not prompt him to dive deeper into his damaged psyche; the difference between the two characters’ mental states is reflected by the depth of the rhetorical questions they impose upon themselves. This reading of this text further supports the scholarly understanding of Lily Briscoe as a stand-in for Virginia Woolf and To the Lighthouse as a fiction-elegy to Woolf’s mother.

Works Cited

Braun, Justin D et al. “Therapist use of Socratic questioning predicts session-to-session symptom change in cognitive therapy for depression.” Behaviour Research and Therapy vol. 70 (2015): 32-7. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.05.004

Gill, Gillian. Virginia Woolf: And the Women Who Shaped Her World. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.

McTaggart, Ursula. “‘Opening the Door’: The Hogarth Press as Virginia Woolf’s Outsiders’ Society.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, vol. 29, no. 1, 2010, pp. 63–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41337032.

Smythe, Karen. “Virginia Woolf’s Elegiac Enterprise.” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 26, no. 1, 1992, pp. 64–79. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1345605.

Spilka, Mark. “On Lily Briscoe’s Borrowed Grief: A Psycho-Literary Speculation.” Criticism, vol. 21, no. 1, 1979, pp. 1–33. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23103167. Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt, Inc., 1981.

A Wardrobe of Romanticism

Haley Gorman

Haley Gorman (‘28) is a graphic design major with a minor in English literature and musical theater. She has been fascinated with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe since she first read it in elementary school, and revisiting it through the perspective of a college student provided her with an entirely new understanding. When offered an opportunity to discover and explore the Romantic principles of childhood dispersed throughout this C.S. Lewis novel, she eagerly embraced the chance to deepen her understanding of their significance in shaping the perception of childhood. The most fulfilling aspect of this project for Haley was choosing a challenging topic and ultimately producing a result that exceeded both her professor’s expectations and her own. Dr. Carlson has encouraged Haley to acknowledge her successes rather than downplay them, and has never once doubted her potential as a student, writer, or person. Dr. Carlson has undeniably helped Haley build her confidence in a way that no mentor has before, and she hopes this is just the first of many opportunities to work alongside him. As a freshman, she is uncertain of what her future after graduating from HPU looks like, but a career that allows her to combine her design abilities with writing currently intrigues her the most.

Abstract

Romantic children’s literature is often characterized by an emphasis on a child’s innate connection to nature, innocence, and the divine. This genre often features works that center on depicting children as largely imaginative and innocent, exemplified by characters such as Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Dickon in The Secret Garden. While C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is primarily recognized as a portal fantasy novel and Christian allegory, this paper argues that Romantic themes are deeply embedded within the narrative and its characters. Through a close reading of a key excerpt, this analysis uncovers both overt and underlying Romantic elements, focusing on Lewis’s use of vivid details, strategic diction, and character contrasts. By examining the four Pevensie children’s initial impression of Narnia, this paper demonstrates how their journey particularly Lucy’s is shaped by emotional depth, a profound connection to nature, and an inherent moral goodness traits central to Romantic ideals.

Although Romanticism peaked in the 19th century, its influence on children’s literature continues through the 20th century. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis consistently leans on Romantic themes. One of the richest examples of this occurs during the scene in which all four of the Pevensie children explore Narnia for the first time. In this short excerpt, Lewis develops a scene of idyllic childhood innocence against the

backdrop of nature and fantasy, embodying Romantic principles through carefully crafted details, strategic diction, and subtle juxtaposition.

As the reader enters this scene, Peter crowns Lucy as the leader of the siblings' journey into Narnia (Lewis 57). Through Peter, the author gives Lucy, the youngest child, a role that is typically occupied by an adult figure. True to Romantic values, this allows the children to explore Narnia guided by their intuition and innate innocence without the burden of adult realism. Lewis successfully reflects the Romantic belief, influenced by John Locke and JeanJacques Rousseau, that children should be free to explore the natural world without adult interference (Tribunella 43).

Romantic ideals suggest that people, particularly children, are most authentic and attuned to the world when they develop a deep connection to nature. Lucy exemplifies this quality of Romanticism when she initially cannot recall where Mr. Tumnus’ cave is, but then recognizes “an odd-looking tree in one place and a stump in another” and quickly finds her way to the faun’s home (Lewis 57). In a remarkably short period, Lucy has become so attuned to her natural surroundings that she can use relatively obscure landmarks to navigate her way through the forest. In this choice of detail, Lewis develops Lucy as a Romantic character.

Once the children reach the faun’s cave, they discover that it has been torn apart by the White Witch’s Secret Police. Fear begins to overwhelm the siblings as they comprehend the potential danger that lies ahead if they continue to explore Narnia. While the rest of her siblings yearn to return home, Lucy cannot bring herself to leave Narnia without attempting to rescue Mr. Tumnus, saying, “Oh, but we can’t, we can’t” (59). This contrasts greatly with Susan, who, before Lucy suggests trying to save Mr. Tumnus, says, “What about just going home?” (59). Lewis creates a juxtaposition between the Romantic qualities of each of the children, specifically highlighting the differences between Susan and Lucy. Through this choice of repetitive detail in Lucy’s dialogue, Lewis conveys her strong feelings about saving Mr. Tumnus despite the danger that could arise. This quality aligns with Romantic principles, as Lucy’s desire to prioritize Tumnus’ needs over her own safety illustrates her emotional depth. In contrast, Susan’s emotional detachment from the situation and her lack of a direct relationship with the faun hinder her from experiencing intense emotions typical of Romantic characters.

Soon thereafter, Lucy presents the argument for saving Mr. Tumnus to her siblings, and Edmund immediately counters her by exclaiming they could do very little for the faun, considering they “haven’t even got anything to eat!” (59). Through this short outburst alone, Lewis captures the entirety of Edmund’s self-centered character at this point in the narrative. He does not fit the framework of a Romantic child because he behaves selfishly and maliciously, lacking the Romantic qualities of strong emotional intelligence and empathy. If Lewis were to follow the ideals of Romanticism entirely, as one of the youngest children, Edmund would be more innocent and virtuous than he is portrayed to be. Although Edmund’s character does not align with Romantic themes, Lewis utilizes Edmund’s lack of Romantic qualities as a subtle juxtaposition to Lucy’s. Where Edmund considers only himself and his needs, Lucy thinks only of Mr. Tumnus and puts his needs before her own. By comparing the vastly different reactions of both Edmund and Lucy to the same situation, Lewis highlights Lucy’s pure and divine attributes, indirectly developing her character as a living symbol of Romantic principles.

After deciding to embark on their adventure to travel further into Narnia for Mr. Tumnus’ sake, Lucy spots a robin and immediately trusts the bird, saying, “I say! I wonder can birds talk in Narnia? It almost looks as if it wanted to say something to us” (60). In Romanticism, children and animals share a profound intrinsic connection, allowing them to understand each

other and communicate even in the absence of verbal language. Lewis weaves this concept through Lucy’s intuitive interactions with the robin, bringing the moment to vivid life through the careful placement of this detail. Her innocent curiosity and imagination lead her to question the robin’s ability to communicate with them, and encourage Peter and Susan’s trust in the bird.

As all four of them step closer to the unfamiliar creature, Lewis depicts the children’s trust through strong imagery and detail: “Almost without noticing that they had done so, the four children went a step or two nearer to it” (60). He evokes the same intimate connection between children and animals as between Lucy and the robin, but this time through the reactions of all four children. Although the children have no knowledge of who the robin is or if it understands them, they step toward it instinctively. Most adults would not consider any sort of wild animal safe, and instead of stepping toward a wild creature, would back away as quickly as possible. Aware of this, Lewis uses the image of the siblings stepping toward the robin to highlight their youth and innocence, further illustrating Romantic principles as the children draw closer to nature.

As the robin flies from one tree to another, casting intense glances in the children’s direction, Lucy determines that she wholeheartedly believes the robin means for them to follow him (61). Peter and Susan agree with her, and as they begin to follow the robin, “the clouds parted overhead and the winter sun came out and the snow all around them grew dazzlingly bright” (61). As soon as the children begin to follow the robin, the dreary scene, filled with cold and ice, transforms into one of delight and brightness. This juxtaposition illuminates the positive transformation the children experience when they fully embrace nature. In this scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis deliberately incorporates vivid details, intentional word choice, and nuanced juxtaposition to embody the various principles of Romantic childhood against an image of a magical yet natural world. Lewis highlights the qualities of innocence, purity, an intimate connection with nature, and substantial emotional depth in the Pevensie children, particularly in Lucy, illustrating how they resonate with a Romantic child.

Works Cited

Hintz, Carrie, and Eric L. Tribunella. “Historical Models of Childhood.” Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed., Broadview, 2019, pp. 42-58. Lewis, C. S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Harper, 2000.

Tragedy and Absurdism: Schopenhauer, Camus, and Max Kresock

Max Kresock (‘25) is an English major with a minor in Philosophy. His interest in his manuscript topic began in Dr. Carlson’s Modern Authors class, where reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go deeply resonated with him due to the characters’ human and existential struggles. Surprised that much existing scholarship focused more on the societal aspects than on personal tragedies, Max explored how each major character coped with the novel’s tragedy. This investigation revealed parallels with notable philosophers and shaped his final paper. After graduating from HPU, Max is applying to St. John’s College’s Graduate Institution for a Master of Arts in the Liberal Arts and plans to pursue a career in classical education. The most fulfilling part of his undergraduate research has been connecting concepts from both his major and minor to deepen his understanding of the novel’s emotional impact. He credits his advisor, Dr. Matthew Carlson, with influencing his decision to study English, fostering his passion for education and the humanities, and guiding him toward his vocation to teach. Max considers himself privileged to have gained not only mentorship but also friendship through Dr. Carlson.

Abstract

While many scholars have identified tragic elements in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, few have considered them in an explicitly existential context. Ishiguro’s story of clones born to die presents its characters with a number of deeply troubling questions about the nature of their existence and the potential for their lives to be meaningful. In the novel’s closing, these existential issues come to a head and elicit distinct responses from Ishiguro’s two main characters. Notably, Ishiguro’s final characterizations of Tommy and Kathy each correlate with differing philosophical perspectives; Tommy is presented as an example of Arthur Schopenhauer’s conception of the tragic hero, while Kathy mirrors Albert Camus’s absurd hero. Despite the opposition of these perspectives, neither view is explicitly affirmed within the narrative. Noting the conflict between the characters’ philosophies reveals an internal tension in Ishiguro’s narrative and helps uncover the emotional core of the final chapters. What results is a novel that does not prescribe an existential diagnosis, but through its heterogeneous perspectives invites its audience to struggle alongside its characters.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go is not only a work of nebulous genre blending, but also one of deep, emotional tragedy. As a result, many critics have attempted to decipher Ishiguro’s hazy prose and read his novel as a critique, be it of certain views of

biotechnology and religion (Tsao), or even the way the humanities teach empathy (Whitehead). However astute these readings may be, societal critique seems to be secondary to the existential tragedy at the novel’s core. Centering around the experience of cloned students attending the boarding school Hailsham, the novel follows the clones’ slow realization of their ultimate purpose as organ donors doomed to die. This truth is actively concealed from the students during their attendance at Hailsham, as the school aims to provide them with a meaningful childhood by obscuring the imminent reality of the donations. As a result of this deception, the great tragedy of Never Let Me Go is the manner in which the meaningful is made meaningless. This results in two distinct responses from Ishiguro’s main characters. In the final chapters of the novel, Tommy resigns himself to the suffering and meaninglessness of his existence, becoming something akin to Arthur Schopenhauer’s vision of the tragic protagonist. Conversely, Kathy, Tommy’s lover and the novel’s narrator, persists despite her life’s meaninglessness. Both her actions and her narration contain parallels to Albert Camus’s concept of the absurd hero. As Kathy’s voice is privileged as the narrator, one might be tempted to see Ishiguro as affirming this absurdist perspective, yet the novel’s final moment seems to complicate the picture. What Ishiguro leaves his readers with is a text distinguished by its heteroglossia a dialogic narrative that embodies both Schopenhauer’s and Camus’s ideas, yet explicitly endorses neither.

At the beginning of Ishiguro’s novel, the reader is entirely unaware of the clones’ origins and destiny. Subsequently, the clones’ realization of their role in society coincides with the readers’ realization that the characters are even clones to begin with. As critic Karl Shaddox notes, “The shock for [Never Let Me Go]’s readers comes not from realizing that the clones are human, but that these humans are clones” (453). Despite this, as students at Hailsham, the clones are encouraged to take full advantage of their humanity. They have relationships, participate in sports, are encouraged to express themselves through the arts, and receive an education with a particular focus on the humanities. Throughout the novel, Kathy and the other clones frequently reflect upon these experiences as the most meaningful in their lives.

As the students graduate from Hailsham and the reality of their organ donations draws closer, the clones become increasingly interested in the concept of “deferrals,” a rumor that two clones who can prove that they are in love may have their donations pushed back a few years. Intent on acquiring a deferral, Kathy and Tommy gain an audience with Hailsham’s administrators, only for their former head guardian, Miss Emily, to reveal that the deferrals do not exist. In an attempted defense, Miss Emily tries to point to the meaningful experiences Hailsham provided the students, stating, “We’ve given you better lives than you would have had otherwise” (265). It is evident from the text that this revelation is a sharp disruption to the characters’ sense of meaning in their lives. Tommy remarks, “So, what you’re saying... is that everything we did, all the lessons, everything... There was nothing more to it than that?” (266).

As Tommy and Kathy are emotionally crushed, it is clear that Ishiguro is portraying Hailsham’s lies of omission as active deception. Many critics have noted as much, with Anne Whitehead writing, “Reviewed in this light, the humanities education at Hailsham is at best a deception or lie, and at worst, complicit with the system of political oppression to which the clones are subject” (57). Deception is at the heart of the novel’s tragedy; Ishiguro even prefigures it in the novel’s first chapter. Pages into the book, Kathy recounts a cruel prank the other Hailsham boys pulled on Tommy when they were children. Lining up for a pickup game of soccer, Tommy is confident he will be picked first for a team, ignorant of any plotting to humiliate him. As the boys select their teammates, Tommy is soon left standing alone and rejected by his peers. As the other boys trot off laughing, Tommy bursts into a fit of rage, crying

out and sending curses to the sky. One student even remarks he looks as if “he was ‘maybe rehearsing Shakespeare’” (10). Far from an inconsequential reference, this comment points to the deeply tragic nature of the coming story. The moment not only sets up a motif that is used later in the novel but foreshadows how Hailsham deceives the clones. Just as Tommy is fooled into believing he is being invited to play a game among friends, the students are led to believe their lives hold meaning and purpose. In a sense, both the other boys and Hailsham extend an invitation, only to rescind it. Tommy is invited to play but is cruelly denied. The clones are invited to participate in the fullness of their humanity, only to have their humanity denied for brutal suffering.

This pattern of deception is later repeated in Kathy and Tommy’s meeting with Miss Emily. As Kathy and Tommy press Miss Emily about the deferrals and Hailsham’s role in their lives, Miss Emily continues to defend her actions. She tells them, “Very well, sometimes that meant we kept things from you, lied to you. Yes, in many ways we fooled you... You would have told us it was all pointless, and how could we have argued with you?” (268). Miss Emily’s words reveal not only the deception of Hailsham, but, as Whitehead notes, the illusory nature of the meaning given to the students in light of their societal role. As Kathy and Tommy drive back from their meeting, Tommy asks Kathy to pull her car over. He gets out, only to wander into the adjacent field and, as in the novel’s opening, fly into a fit of Shakespearean, existential rage. Further solidifying the meaning of this pattern, Kathy soon suggests that Tommy’s childhood outbursts came as a result of an unconscious awareness of their true circumstances. Tommy remarks, “Maybe I did know, somewhere deep down” (275).

Though the novel begins to draw to a close soon after, the intervening chapter discloses one of the book’s most interesting aspects: how Tommy and Kathy respectively deal with the revelations of Miss Emily. In particular, Tommy’s development seems to mirror the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer, whose thought is often regarded as a precursor to nihilism, believed that life is inherently meaningless due to its excess of disappointment and suffering. Further, Schopenhauer viewed the suffering inherent in human life as largely characterized by what he referred to as “the will to live.” This will is not only the root of human pain, but also the source from which one derives the notion of the individual “self.” Because of this, for Schopenhauer, the prospect of a meaningful life is an impossibility. As such, Schopenhauer held up tragedy as particularly instructive on the true nature of the human condition. As David Becker succinctly explains, “Schopenhauer believed, correctly, that tragedy reflects a disbelief in the capacity of the individual to achieve any kind of meaningful happiness within the world” (19). In Schopenhauer’s own words, “Death is a sleep in which the individual is forgotten” (304). Therefore, for Schopenhauer, the death of the tragic hero is both an illustration of the meaninglessness of life and an escape from the condition of suffering. As Becker again writes, “What tragedy accomplished... according to Schopenhauer, was a shift from naïve optimism to a rejection of life’s illusory promises, and an embrace of death as the only refuge from pain” (19).

Schopenhauer’s conception of tragedy plays out prominently in Ishiguro’s final characterizations of Tommy. Following Miss Emily’s troubling revelations, Tommy becomes more and more pessimistic. Through her narration, Kathy notes how Tommy, who is living in a recovery center for the organ donors, has become increasingly distant, preferring to identify himself with the other donors living in the center. Likewise, Tommy begins to affirm this distance from Kathy, regularly uttering comments such as, “You don’t see it because you’re not a donor” (281). Further, Tommy even questions why Kathy bothers with her occupation as a “carer,” a fellow clone who aids and assists a donor throughout the donation process. He asks,

“Is it really so important? The donors will all donate, just the same, and then they’ll complete” (282). As the novel moves to its close, Ishiguro makes it clear that Tommy is coming to further accept both the futile suffering of his life and the inevitability of his death. Tommy’s shift of outlook distinctly mirrors Schopenhauer’s view of life and death. For both Schopenhauer and Tommy, the suffering of life is unjustifiable. As Tommy distances himself from Kathy and sympathizes more with the other donors, Tommy’s “will to live” gradually lessens. He sees himself less as “Tommy,” the individual who grew up at Hailsham and is in love with Kathy, and more as a mere “donor.” He even comes to remark to Kathy, “You are a really good carer. You’d be the perfect one for me too if you weren’t you” (282). Just as Schopenhauer sees one’s will and individuality as the root of suffering, so too does Tommy come to see the things that once gave his life meaning, like his relationship with Kathy, as intolerable. Tommy can no longer tolerate Kathy because, as both his childhood sweetheart and his caregiver, she is a nearperfect encapsulation of everything Schopenhauer’s tragic hero would see as the cause of their suffering. She is both a reminder of his individuality beyond his status as a donor and, as a carer, is an embodiment of the futile will to live. Tommy’s final actions in the novel are essentially moves to accept life as meaningless and abolish his sense of self. Thus, Tommy acts as a prime example of Schopenhauer’s vision of the tragic hero, forsaking the painful illusion of a meaningful life and eliminating one’s own will to live.

Conversely, as the emotional distance develops between the pair and Tommy becomes increasingly pessimistic, Kathy’s response comes to quite distinctly resemble Camus’s absurd hero. A leading figure in French existentialism, Camus proposed that there was only one question philosophy must answer: whether or not one should commit suicide. This question arises from Camus’s assertion that human life and its relationship to the world are “absurd.” By “absurd,” Camus meant that the human being experiences an incongruity between their desire for order and meaning, and the universe, which is both utterly indifferent to this desire and refuses to conform to any order. As Camus writes, “This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational world and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart” (21). Thus, for Camus, the human being lives in a world without meaning, causing him to ask, “Does the Absurd dictate death?” (9).

In seeking an alternative to physical suicide, Camus simultaneously repudiates attempts to eschew the meaninglessness and absurdity of existence, referring to the attempts as “philosophical suicide.” In this, Camus rejects both religious and non-religious ideas of faith, as well as any choice to believe that the world has inherent meaning despite all evidence to the contrary. Thus, Camus proposes that the only solution is not to be blinded by any illusion of meaning, but to consciously accept the absurdity of life and persist despite its meaninglessness. As such, Camus references the mythical Greek king Sisyphus, doomed by the gods to eternally push a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down. He presents Sisyphus as an exemplar of his ethos, that of what he calls the “absurd hero.” While this image of eternal, futile labor might fill one with sorrow, Camus argues that it can and should be taken with joy. As Camus writes, “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy” (123). Whereas Schopenhauer responds to life’s absurdity with despair and a lifedenying attitude, Camus sees life’s lack of meaning as freeing. Like Sisyphus, he argues humanity must embrace a rebellious attitude against what one might consider “punishment” and thus rise above it. As Camus writes, “One of the only coherent philosophical positions is thus revolt” (54).

This rebellious spirit of the absurd hero is integral to Kathy’s characterization. Although Kathy never directly speaks out against Tommy’s loss of hope, she is repeatedly contrasted with his nihilism. She remains firm in her commitments, most notably in her work as a carer. When Tommy questions her about being a carer, he challenges her, asking, “Don’t you sometimes wish, Kath, they’d hurry up and send you your notice?” (282). Rather than directly answering his question or justifying herself, Kathy merely asserts, “I have to keep going” (282). This sense of perseverance is exhibited not only in this moment, or even merely in the final chapter, but is present throughout the entirety of Kathy’s narration. The novel’s first pages open with Kathy reflecting on her occupation. The reader later realizes she is narrating after Tommy’s death. She presents her occupation as something that she has fully embraced, making statements like, “it means a lot to me, being able to do my work well” (3). It is in these repeated instances that Kathy holds her strongest resemblance to Camus’s Sisyphus. Kathy does not explicitly justify her life as meaningful or commit Camus’s “philosophical suicide,” yet she persists as a carer nonetheless. This commitment to a very routine and repetitive job in the midst of a life without hope plainly mirrors Camus’s ideas. Furthermore, Kathy’s job, like Sisyphus’s task, is almost a cruel punishment, as she is meant to care for those who are dying in the same way she will. Yet in spite of this, Kathy refuses to take this sorrowfully. Instead, the reader sees her treasure her life, frequently reflecting on her job and her experiences at Hailsham. As she contemplates her inevitable fate, Kathy muses, “In whichever centre they send me to, I’ll have Hailsham with me, safely in my head, and that’ll be something no one can take away” (286-87). There is, in this statement, a piece of Camus’s absurdist rebellion. As Camus writes, “By the mere activity of consciousness I transform into a rule of life what was an invitation to death–and I refuse suicide” (64). Kathy’s narration of the entire novel can thus be seen as an example of this transformative “mere activity of consciousness.” Her reflection is far from merely sentimental or self-pitying, but it is an acceptance of the absurd and persistence in spite of it.

Though one might initially be enticed into reading Ishiguro as forwarding an absurdist view of life, his final pages show that his writing is not quite so simple. While Kathy has quite fully embodied many aspects of Camus’s absurd hero, accepting meaninglessness as freedom, the novel’s final moment exhibits a slight, complicating diversion from this trajectory. In the closing pages, Kathy reflects on an experience she had a few weeks after Tommy’s death in which she found herself driving through the countryside, evidently lost. The reader is immediately tipped off, as she introduces the anecdote as “The only indulgent thing I did, just once” (Ishiguro 287). As she drives, she sees a fenced field and decides to get out of her car to take a closer look. In a moment, Ishiguro describes with intense pathos, Kathy imagines all her lost childhood belongings gathered in the field, and ultimately comes to picture Tommy coming into view over the horizon, waving to her. The book closes with Kathy narrating, “The fantasy never got beyond that–I didn’t let it–and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn’t sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be” (288). Through this deeply sorrowful moment, Ishiguro seems to show a crack in Kathy’s absurdist approach. While Kathy experiences small moments of sadness throughout the novel, up until this moment, the reader has not truly seen her express any intense level of grief or sorrow. As such, it is pertinent that this scene is framed as an “indulgent thing,” something Kathy “didn’t let” continue. Instead, Kathy ultimately pushes these feelings away, opting instead to focus on whatever task is assigned to her. The final scene’s language suggests that Kathy harbors feelings that absurdism has not fully assuaged. Additionally, the fact that this is the novel’s closing scene gives it a level of importance to the narrative. Ishiguro seems to question whether or not this

absurdist ethos is truly enough to carry one to happiness. The final image the reader receives is of Kathy, who, despite her seemingly persistent and accepting attitude, appears to still be plagued by existential and emotional woes. While Camus may imagine Sisyphus happy, Ishiguro takes care to question whether Kathy is.

Through the dual perspectives of Tommy and Kathy, Ishiguro manages to write a novel that both fully encapsulates Schopenhauer’s and Camus’s perspectives, yet overtly furthers neither of them. Ishiguro presents a world where meaning and humanity are given with one hand, only to be taken away by the other. By contrasting Tommy and Kathy, Ishiguro presents a deeply sympathetic narrative in which the emotional struggle of the characters takes precedence over the assertion of one solution over another. While the society within the novel may disregard the humanity of Ishiguro’s cloned characters, the story’s ultimate conclusion perhaps points to what is most human about them: the manner in which they struggle to find meaning in a world of suffering.

Works Cited

Becker, David. “Schopenhauer on the Meaning of Tragedy: Vision and Blindness.”

Schopenhauer Jahrbuch, vol. 91, 2010, pp. 15-31.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. Translated by Justin O’Brien, VintageBooks, 1955.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Vintage, 2005.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. The World as Will and Representation. Translated by Judith Norman, et al., vol. 1, Cambridge UP, 2010.

Shaddox, Karl. “Generic Considerations in Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2, 2013, pp. 448-69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24518023.

Tsao, Tiffany. “The Tyranny of Purpose: Religion and Biotechnology in Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Literature and Theology, vol. 26, no. 2, 2012, pp. 214-32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23927483.

Whitehead, Anne. “Writing with Care: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Contemporary Literature, vol. 52, no. 1, 2011, pp. 54-83. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41261825.

Jane Eyre as a Premonition of Care Ethics Haley McCall

Abstract

Haley McCall is a 2024 graduate of High Point University with a double major in English and Philosophy. Her manuscript was inspired by the interdisciplinary connections between her two fields of study, allowing her to explore ideas beyond the traditional classroom setting. Haley found presenting her work at URCW especially rewarding, as it gave her the chance to engage in meaningful, collaborative discussions about her research. She is currently pursuing an M.A. in English with a focus on Children’s Literature at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Haley credits her mentor, Dr. Carlson, for being one of the most influential parts of her undergraduate experience offering consistent guidance, support, and encouragement that helped shape her both academically and personally.

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a premonition of the philosophical theory of care ethics, or ethics of care. Ethics of care is a traditionally feminist-categorized movement of weighing ethical considerations within the frame of caring relationships. It proposes that ethical dilemmas should weigh the factors of personal relationships in considerations of ethical and moral decision making. Many scholars point to feminist roots in the text, reflecting the author’s assertions of women’s place alongside men as equals. Jane Eyre provides early evidence of the specific emerging philosophical theory of ethics of care through emphasis on Jane’s caring relationships and her moral decisions supplemented by them. Titular Jane Eyre’s decisions are hinged at every turn upon the emotional truths and emphatic need for caring relationships to be the foundation of morality. Jane is defined by doing what is morally correct, not because it is right, as other characters do, but because she cares about the choice, its outcomes, and the overarching righteousness of the act as it is situated in her relationships with others.

There is a unique premonition of modern feminist ethics in the undercurrents of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Many scholars identify feminist roots in the text, reflecting the author’s assertions of women’s equality alongside men. As Emily Griesinger observes in “Charlotte Brontë’s Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre,” this novel is a critical work for tracing traditions of early feminism, including Brontë’s exploration of women’s education, rights, and ethical marriage (29). Jane is an independent individual who acts outside the realm of traditional morality, remaining steadfast in her morals despite the influence of both informal and formal education practices throughout the novel. As Brontë notes in her preface to

the text’s second edition, “conventionality is not morality,” nor is it wrong to question what is felt unjust (3). Jane remains resolute in adopting only versions of virtues that she feels are “right,” which is not how they are always passed down to her, but rather as they are questioned and shaped into morality.

The striking aspect of the moral compass that Jane develops is its resemblance to the ethics of care theory, a contemporary ethical theory that is officially only half a century old. As described in Living Philosophy, the ethics of care is an ethical theory that emerged from feminist perspectives on morality. Contrary to the tradition of abstract and barren notions of justice in ethics, care ethics attend to the importance of viewing morals in the light of the specific situation in which moral guidance is needed, as well as emphasizing the integrity of personal, caring relationships within the realm of ethical decision making (Vaughn 387).

Jane Eyre, as a harbinger of care ethics, presents Jane as consistently morally upright, but uniquely demonstrates Jane’s morality in such a way that includes her emotional truths and emphatic need for caring relationships to be the foundation of morality. Jane is defined by doing what is morally correct, but not only because it is right. Instead, she cares about the choice, its outcomes, and the overarching righteousness of the act as it is situated in her relationships with others.

In the context of the emergence of ethical care theory, the moral stakes in Jane Eyre are low enough that the seeds of an ethics of care could germinate in a setting with few instances of major ethical deliberation. Growing up, Jane faces many characters who are presented in a light of cruelty and unethical behavior, which she has a hard time coping with, as she needs to reconcile the fact that these figures of authority may not be treating her or others “right,” despite their commitment to being caregivers. Later in the novel, Jane’s main trials of adulthood, particularly in romance, also provide a setting for the sparks of this fresh moral outlook to kindle, especially as she struggles with St. John Rivers, someone with whom she shares a caring friendship until he attempts to coerce her into a loveless marriage. She must reject because she will not receive the all-important care she requires, making the sacrament morally wrong.

Early in the novel, Jane begins to develop her moral code. She often faces disproportionate punishment at the hands of the Reeds. As readers see her begin to stand up for herself, they can follow along as her rudimentary understanding of the ethics of her predicament grows. When she is locked into the unused bedroom, known as the haunted Red Room, for a wrong that she did not commit, she “resisted all the way: a new thing for [her]” (Brontë 11). Jane feels the injustice of Mrs. Reed’s competing responsibilities. As a mother, Mrs. Reed is naturally inclined to favor her children. Still, she has both the means and the obligation to care for Jane on equal grounds, making her favoritism unethical. She has given her word to her late husband, and therefore to Jane as well, that she will care for Jane as she would her children. However, she does not.

Though Jane already has a basic understanding of the community of care that she is missing, she can't construct this community in the hostile Reed household. She and the other children are on unequal grounds, and the rift between Jane and her cousin John is especially poignant in disrupting ethical equality. Talia Schaffer, in “Care Communities: Ethics, Fictions, Temporalities,” writes that this imbalance is “one reason the Reed household in Jane Eyre fails as a care community [because] John Reed is so tyrannical and Jane is so despised” (533). While perfectly distributing care across a group of siblings is often unrealistic, the huge gulf between John and Jane makes it impractical for Jane to feel cared for.

Jane struggles with the discrepancy between the promised commitment to care that Mrs. Reed has given and the lack of care she receives, noting that “[she] could not answer the

ceaseless inward question why [she] thus suffered” and that she could only understand this after many years (Brontë 15). Jane finds that the Reeds’ inability to treat her with care or affection is a type of lack of privilege that she faces as an orphan who has been stripped of a mother figure. Peta Bowden, in Caring: Gender-Sensitive Ethics, offers additional insight: As the first human relationship most people experience, the mother-child connection provides a privileged example of the possibilities of human connectedness. It plays a preeminent role in the creation of new persons, shaping their language and culture, and developing their morality, as well as providing a stock of memories of care on which they can draw in their ethical practices (21). This idea is not only relevant to care ethics, but also to other areas of ethics. It is noteworthy that the predominant place for developing and practicing morality is within a family dynamic.

Jane is a stranger in the Reed household, and so she is treated as an outcast within the family structure. Her ostracism is valuable to her sense of morality in the perverse way that it reveals what she deserves but is not receiving. Mrs. Reed’s break from her commitment to care for Jane goes beyond being a cold benefactress. In The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global, Virginia Held addresses the scenario of a mother’s favoritism in the home. She asserts that “One would not be caring well for two children, for instance, if one showed a persistent favoritism toward one of them that could not be justified based on some such factor as greater need” (15). With the Reeds’ wealth, there is no justification for Jane’s neglect based on the need for a mother to offer more care to her children than to any of her other responsibilities.

The early development of Jane’s ethics comes to a head when Mrs. Reed agrees with Mr. Brocklehurst on “consistency, my dear Mr. Brocklehurst; I advocate consistency in all things” (Brontë 34). The fundamental flaw in Mrs. Reed’s care agreement to attend to Jane is that she speaks one way and acts in another. Her violation of consistency occurs in the novel right before Jane’s infamous outburst, asserting to Mrs. Reed that the liars in the house are the Reeds, not Jane. With her note on the unethical conduct that Mrs. Reed has maintained throughout Jane’s life, she also speaks to the wrongness of Mrs. Reed’s neglect to extend any care to her. She accosts her aunt, saying, “You think I have no feelings, and that I can do without one bit of love or kindness; but I cannot live so, and you have no pity” (36). The ethics of care implies the importance of care itself, and to be cared for means the security of ethics that one who cares for another will treat them ethically. Yet, since Jane is not cared for, she is not treated ethically. Jane’s morals at this point have coalesced into a basic rule of the ethics of care: that she should receive some form of honest care, which is necessary to foster the growth and happiness of a child.

Unfortunately for Jane, her continuing development of ethics of care while at the Lowood Institute is equally marked by her learning what is right through being presented with what is wrong. Early in her stay, she becomes familiar with the routine of minimal comfort and minimal food. When the children are unable to eat a burned breakfast, Miss Temple orders a nice lunch to replace the inedible food, as it is her responsibility to maintain ethical care in the institution (Brontë 47). However, the missed breakfast is only a problem because the rationing system set by Superintendent Brocklehurst is unethical and keeps the children in a near-constant state of hunger. Jane’s relationship with Miss Temple is important in demonstrating that commitment to care can be followed in a straightforward and ethical manner: if one has promised to care for the well-being of another, they should do so. However, Miss Temple and Jane’s first friend, Helen, both have a code of morality shaped by tradition and Christian values, such that it interrupts what Jane naturally feels to be “right.”

Miss Temple and Helen are both more focused on the abstract applications of “goodness,” and Helen, in particular, has little concern for the ethics of her worldly life, as she is more interested in the heavenly rewards for her earthly goodness. Barbara Thaden, in Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender, writes that for Helen “to love her enemies, she must punish and deny herself” and that “Miss Temple’s actions, like Helen’s, seem exemplary of the Christian virtues of temperance and mildness, characteristics expected and admired then and, arguably, still now in women much more than in men” (160). They are both much milder than Jane, who is willing to assert her feelings of injustice when she has been abused.

In an interaction with Helen, Jane reveals her belief in a system of ethics that reflects the caring promise their teachers made when they consented to become official caregivers to the children at Lowood. Jane is then surprised when, despite being given a particularly harsh punishment, Helen has no desire to leave Lowood. Helen has accepted a breach of ethics, whereas Jane expresses a desire for the breach to be rectified and for ethical acts to follow. Jane professes that she would not quietly bear that wrong. “It would be your duty to bear it,” Helen says of her flogging and being made to stand and endure it in front of the class (Brontë 54).

Helen submits to a form of utilitarianism: more willing to bear cruelty to save her benefactors’ strife rather than fight the wrong punishment. Jane’s concern is with autonomy and the desire for care. Helen is more absorbed in traditional morality, in which “according to the justice perspective, emphasis is placed on rights, duties and general obligations” (Bowden 6).

Jane cannot share in Helen’s moral sentiment, however. She tells Helen, who believes that she is deserving of her continual punishment, that she is “good to those who are good to [her],” which is enough for Jane, who only aspires to that moral height (Brontë 56). “If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way,” Jane adds (56). What Jane has touched on, through her still-emerging moral compass, is the necessity of reciprocity in the ethics of care. Bowden claims that “reciprocity is essential to ethical caring” but recognizes that “the quality of reciprocity is particular to the specific relationship” (35). In the context of a relationship with a caregiver in this case, an educator Helen relinquishes her rights to care, while Jane leans into care ethics, noting that, especially because of the authority’s commitment to care, they should extend kindness within their corrective measures, and not dole out cruel punishment.

Once again, as with Mrs. Reed, Jane admits her driving need for care. She says that she is not content with her good self-opinion alone, and that she values relationships of equal love and care above life itself (Brontë 68). Of course, Helen, convinced of the unimportance of earthly life, chastises Jane’s view. She tells Jane that she “think[s] too much of the love of human beings” (68). Throughout the narrative, however, it seems that Helen instead does not care enough for the earthly love she receives.

Helen exhibits a genuine and profound sadness following a later instance of public punishment for her “slatternly” ways. Despite her past words, it is essential for her to have Jane at her side, angry at the injustice, and there to comfort Helen afterward. Even stoic Helen is subject to the need for human care. As Bowden describes, “caring expresses ethically significant ways in which we matter to each other, transforming interpersonal relatedness into something beyond ontological necessity or brute survival” (1). It is an essential and often overlooked aspect of human life, especially in the realm of ethics, which traditionally professes sterile words that would be difficult to interpret as caring if they were enacted beyond the realm of essays and textbooks.

The brunt of Jane’s significant moral development in laying the groundwork for care ethics, well ahead of its time, is evident in her early childhood and her confrontation with St. John. Yet, an analysis of Jane Eyre may be somehow incomplete without space dedicated to Jane’s relationship with Mr. Rochester. At Thornfield, Jane is generally more settled in her ethics; she is caring and cared for, and she practices small-scale moral uprightness throughout most of Volume II. Jane’s most important ethical consideration during her time at Thornfield is leaving after she becomes aware of the scandal that her near-marriage to Rochester would have caused. Jane finds out about Rochester’s still-living wife and determines that the most morally upright decision is to extract herself from the premises to avoid her and Rochester’s love being tainted by the affair it definitionally would be.

The elephant in the room in terms of the critical analysis of Jane Eyre is the madwoman in the attic. Madness is a crucial aspect of understanding Bertha Mason as well as Jane, considering they are the two thwarted marital interests of Rochester. While there is a plethora of conversation around colonialism and racism, explored both in literary analysis and Jean Rhys’s prequel, Wide Sargasso Sea, the conversation of madness is also situated in the feminist context. In “Jane Eyre: The Temptations of a Motherless Woman,” Adrienne Rich describes the discourse of madness as fitting into the conception of early feminism. She says that “Jane’s sense of herself as a woman as equal to and with the same needs as a man is next-door to insanity in England in the 1840s” (98). The idea of feminism as an insane practice allows the perspective of the madness-and-sanity dichotomy projected onto Jane and Bertha to take a more precise meaning. As Valerie Beattie articulates, “by thus rendering ‘madness’ as a primary motivating force in her heroine, Brontë defies the negative meanings historically associated with it and bestows on it a power that extends beyond mere disruption, a power that recognizes wrongs and will act to right them” (501). What makes Jane as “mad” as Bertha is this ethical care practice. Her assertion of equality and her demand for care lead her to become a force of morality that she is not meant to be as a woman.

Amid the deliberations on insanity, Jane is also forced to confront ethical marriage, as Rochester is already wed. Jane cares deeply for Rochester and struggles to leave him in the face of this scandal, but her morals have been shaped with care, meant to supplement ethics, not to be used to create exceptions for breaches in ethical behavior. Jane soliloquizes that “laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour . . . If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?” (Brontë 308). She has reached her developed understanding of ethics of care in Volume II, following her note that “feeling without judgement is a washy draught indeed; but judgement untampered by feeling is too bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition,” and determines that despite her desire to remain among friends, she must not stay at Thornfield (Brontë 230).

The problem, aside from the scandal, is that Rochester’s home has become the only place where she has any friends or anyone to care for. In care ethics, “if the relationship is deemed to be one of friendship, then at some level it seems that the participants also care about each other’s well-being without selfish motivation” (Bowden 65). Despite Rochester’s shady past and sometimes questionable morals, Jane and Rochester are genuinely friends and prove their selfless care for one another. Jane treats her friend kindly even in the face of his rumored marriage to Miss Ingram, despite being displeased by that arrangement. Rochester, on Jane’s proclamation that she is leaving, does intend to set her up financially to no gain of his own and out of genuine care for her.

Jane’s decision to leave and live without care when she has been desperate for it her whole life is even more significant in the crucial nature of “sharing, trust and intimacy for the active and continuous expression of one’s character and identity in the fullest and most genuine sense” (Bowden 70). Consistent in her morals, despite the tempting opportunity to accept the love that Rochester extends, Jane dwells on the emotional hardship, but does not waver in her decision. She promptly departs with her few possessions, even leaving gifts from Rochester that she does not feel are rightfully hers.

In her short but intense plight, Jane finds the harsh reality of her escape from Thornfield. With no friends, she cannot help but think that nobody should care about her fate. She does survive on charity, but it is not a substitute for care or love, as the generous people who aid her do not give her anything emotional beyond their excess resources. Her arrival at Moor House and consequent friendship with the Rivers siblings mark the end of her begging, but her struggle to assert her ethics is most tested. At the door, Hannah will not admit Jane, not for lack of morals, but for fear of the security of Diana and Mary, whom she cares to protect. Though being shut out offends Jane, it is ethical, and “few would hold that considerations of justice have no place at all in care” (Held 15). Why should she forgo the justice to her housemates to keep them safe in care over the charity of helping a potentially dangerous stranger? St. John lets her in, having heard Jane’s pitiful plea. He is later seen to be a man accustomed to giving and charity, though like the strangers in the town, he is not doing it for the love of humankind or for the connection of friendship, but rather out of that same sense of duty that Helen fostered.

Jane does form very strong, caring relationships with both sisters. From the moment they committed to caring for her, they fulfilled that commitment entirely. As “the central focus of the ethics of care is on the compelling moral salience of attending to and meeting the needs of the particular others for whom we take responsibility” (Held 10), the ethical care from Diane and Mary is the first that Jane can fully participate in. As much as she can reciprocate, she does, resulting in a very wholesome friendship among the three young women.

But there is not the same intimacy of friendship between Jane and St. John. “One reason of the distance . . . was, that he was comparatively seldom at home: a large proportion of his time appeared devoted to visiting the sick and poor,” Jane notes (Brontë 341). Early on, after meeting him, readers can associate St. John with the same moral considerations as Miss Temple and Helen. Jane is unsure, at first, whether he is acting from care or duty. He spends much of his time with the needy, but has no personal anecdotes or observable friendly relations with the individuals he attends to. It seems that his attention to those people is not out of genuine care, but rather out of a sense of duty as a pastor and a desire to gain the ultimate reward of heaven in exchange for his good deeds. When “he had performed an act of duty; made an exertion; felt his own strength to do and deny, [he] was on better terms with himself” (Brontë 384), which further details that his benevolence is rooted in his own personal salvation rather than with genuine concern for others.

Later, when Jane takes a post and works at St. John’s charity school, he worries about her discontent as a schoolteacher, proving that he does not have a relationship with her to know her disposition, but also reiterates the same concern that Helen had. “Human affections and sympathies have a most powerful hold on you” (Brontë 346-47), he says, as if that is some fatal flaw that cannot coincide with a healthy moral code. St. John and Helen hold this same outlook of commitment to duty to such a degree that they neglect the crucial importance of human connection. The only real problem with what is, in generous terms, a personal decision to neglect the social needs of humans, is that it attempts to discredit caring through “dominant moral

theories” which “tend to interpret moral problems as if they were conflicts between egoistic individual interests on the one hand, and universal moral principles on the other” (Held 12). It is not an abstract debate between morals and human interests; Jane’s ethical concerns demonstrate the need for both.

While Rochester is not the perfect example of morality, and therefore not an ideal representation of ethics of care, it is an important distinction to view his and St. John’s opposing reactions to Jane in an emotional outburst. Rochester was moved by Jane’s tears and reacted by attempting to comfort her when she cried. Jane cries in St. John’s presence, but because “Reason, and not Feeling, is [his] guide,” he instead regards her with no emotional display despite the obvious distress of someone he is supposed to care for (Brontë 365). In the scene where Jane cries, he is teaching her, specifically in his mind, to prepare her for becoming his wife. So naturally, a moral relationship between the courter and courted, despite her ignorance, should be one of care. However, with St. John’s steadfast traditional ethics, women “might be seen as reacting emotionally, but again, they were not associated with reasoning and thinking, certainly not with the possibility that there might be distinctive and valid forms of moral thought to which they have privileged access through their extensive experience with caring” (Held 26). He has no clue what Jane’s emotions are related to, because, given his perception of her as an over-reactive and unreasonable being, he does not care to engage with her thoughts at all.

Two main points of ethics or morality sit as the real contention between Jane and St. John: Jane’s sudden fortune and St. John’s proposal. In both instances, St. John demonstrates that he lacks a genuine understanding of care, as his grasp of reason is hindered by his inability to connect with the principles of love. When Jane receives the news of her sudden large fortune, it comes at the same time as St. John’s revelation that they are related; Jane is a cousin of St. John, Diana, and Mary. Jane, having never had a need or want for trifles or expensive things, is not as thrilled as one might expect by the news of her fortune; it is overwhelming to decide what to do with such a sum. However, she is elated by the other news, having “had nobody; and now three relations,” she is more than happy to tighten the bond between her and the Rivers family by blood as well as care, but St. John then criticizes the inversion of the expected reactions to those two pieces of news, stating that she is more interested in “trifles” than what is “essential” (Brontë 375). The decision she makes to distribute her fortune equally between herself and her three newly discovered cousins is the point of real contention.

St. John refuses such a massive gift out of principle, as the money rightfully belongs to Jane. He does not understand that in Jane’s mind, they are a unit of care and a family to whom she is deeply committed. St. John is appalled at her emotions leading this decision, to which she retorts that “It is fully as much a matter of feeling as of conscience” and she “must indulge [her] feelings” as she “so seldom [has] had an opportunity of doing so” (Brontë 376-77). Her justice comes from being able to care for her family under the pretense of righting the wrong that their uncle caused in ruining the Rivers’ fortune and then leaving his own to the unknown cousin Jane. Her care ethics, “in contrast [to rationalistic moral theories], appreciates the emotions and relational capabilities that enable morally concerned persons in actual interpersonal contexts to understand what would be best” (Held 10-11). There is a greater capacity for justice that is loving and plays directly on the relationship experienced by the parties of care.

The final argument that Jane and St. John have is where their relationship effectively dies, as she does not see him after the conclusion of their disagreement, and then he dies in India on his mission trip. This quarrel stems directly from St. John’s proposal of marriage to Jane. She has confided in him before that she does not wish to marry, as she wants marriage for love and does

not expect any possibility of that. In contemplating his reluctance to marry Rosamond, the woman he is attracted to and who shows him affection, Jane has also determined that he would not be a good husband. It is fair to assert, therefore, that Jane is not particularly inclined to want to marry St. John. Naturally, it follows that when St. John tells Jane she is “formed for labor, not for love” and admits that he does not have romantic love for her, which she has already asserted as a necessary condition to her being married, she is not exactly swayed into an agreeable sentiment (Brontë 391). In fact, she tells him that she “scorn[s his] idea of love” (397). While Jane disagrees with the traditional Christian morals that Helen and St. John express, she is not un-Christian herself.

Jane values her relationship with God and therefore also holds the sacrament of marriage to be of grave importance. Still, her understanding of it is as a union based on love. The reason St. John is so adamant about marrying Jane is to maintain decorum. He intends to coerce her into doing missionary work with him in India, and they cannot appear together as an unmarried man and woman without being perceived as a culpable pairing. St. John cannot fathom being accused of sacrilege. However, Thaden states that Jane can realize that a marriage devoid of love is a form of sacrilege, equal to marrying a man who is already married (161). Her refusal upsets St. John, who had hoped that by appealing to the rightness of their being wed, despite the lack of affection, he would be able to trap her in an inescapable sense of duty to the morality of the situation. What he had forgotten was Jane’s insistence on the importance of caring, which he would have understood if he had cared for her enough to value her opinions.

Reader, Jane did not marry him. Instead of the loveless life of service to strangers in a strange land, Jane “insists on her right to make choices and seek satisfaction,” which she expresses by setting out to learn of Rochester’s fate (Thaden 160). She marries Rochester, whose wife has died, leaving him free to remarry ethically. Her relationship with Rochester is stronger after the Bertha incident. What the exposure to that particular ethically and morally challenging scenario does for Jane, Christopher Gabbard argues, is make Jane conscious of other ethical considerations such as disability through interactions with Bertha, which she previously would not have understood, and therefore would not have had preparation for Rochester’s disability as a result of the fire (93). With this newly formulated acceptance of different parameters of care, Jane and Rochester rekindle their devoted love. Their marriage rests on mutual care and friendship, as they revel in the company of the other, and “are happy: and the more so, because those [they] most love are happy likewise” (Brontë 439). It is the ending fit for a woman who remains resolute in her concern for care, so when Jane announces to the reader St. John’s death, even she is not too greatly upset by the fact. “And why weep for this?” she asks, asserting that moral uprightness on earth without care for people is unnecessary (Brontë 440). If St. John assumes the eternal repose of heaven and does not value his human relations, then he can hasten there.

Jane Eyre undertakes ethical heavy lifting that predates even the formulation of the ethical theory to which Jane unwittingly subscribes. Arnold Shapiro calls Jane Eyre a “protest novel” that cries out against the submission of the individual to inhumane and unequal care (683). However, she battles uphill in a setting of traditional gender roles and, therefore, unethical practices. Throughout her youth and into adulthood, she grapples with the need to challenge convention by advocating for herself and the moral treatment she is not receiving, despite being promised ethical treatment in the context of her care relationships. Her moral code is part of the “significant but overlooked” accounts of “women’s ethical experience” that led to the founding of care ethics (Bowden 7). Jane does not submit to tradition and continues to seek care in every

relationship she develops. In distributing her fortune among her family and refusing to marry for anything other than love, “Jane finally achieves her goal: passionate love and true friendship” when she marries Rochester (Thaden 162). Jane Eyre anticipates the unheard voices of feminist ethicists, and through the novel, Charlotte Brontë proposes ethical considerations that would not be popularized for another century and a half.

Works Cited

Beattie, Valerie. “The Mystery at Thornfield: Representations of Madness in Jane Eyre.” Studies in the Novel, vol. 28, no. 4, 1996, pp. 493-505. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29533162

Bowden, Peta. Caring: Gender-Sensitive Ethics, Taylor & Francis, 1996. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/highpointebooks/detail.action?docID=165117.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Edited by Margaret Smith and Juliette Atkinson. Oxford UP, 2019. Gabbard, Christopher. “From Custodial Care to Caring Labor: The Discourse of Who Cares in Jane Eyre.” The Madwoman and the Blindman: Jane Eyre, Discourse, Disability, edited by David Bolt et al., The Ohio State UP, 2013, pp. 91-110.

Griesinger, Emily. “Charlotte Brontë’s Religion: Faith, Feminism, and Jane Eyre.” Christianity and Literature, vol. 58, no. 1, 2008, pp. 29-59. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44313877.

Held, Virginia. The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global. Oxford UP, 2006. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=151485&site=ehost-live.

Rich, Adrienne. On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose, 1966-1978. 1st ed., Norton, 1979. Shapiro, Arnold. “In Defense of Jane Eyre.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 8, no. 4, 1968, pp. 681-98. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/449473.

Schaffer, Talia. “Care Communities: Ethics, Fictions, Temporalities.” South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 118, no. 3, pp. 521-42. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-7616139.

Thaden, Barbara. “Be True to Yourself: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.” Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender, edited by Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen Silber, Greenwood, 2003, pp. 160-62. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=99185&site=ehost-live.

Vaughn, Lewis. Living Philosophy: A Historical Introduction to Philosophical Ideas. Oxford UP, 2015.

Queens of the Nile: Exploring the Power of Cleopatra

VII, Hatshepsut, and Nefertiti

Mack Oakley

Mack Oakley is a senior double majoring in History and Political Science, graduating in 2025. A lifelong fascination with antiquity especially ancient Egypt sparked his interest in the stories of female Egyptian rulers whose legacies have often been overshadowed. After reading Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff, Mack was inspired to explore how propaganda and modern biases have shaped the way we view these women. His research examines how powerful female leaders in ancient Egypt navigated leadership despite centuries of diminishing narratives. After graduating from High Point University, Mack plans to pursue an M.A. and eventually a Ph.D. in Egyptology, with the goal of becoming a university professor who shares his passion for Egyptian history while mentoring students in writing and research. For Mack, the most fulfilling part of undergraduate research has been the opportunity to develop critical skills in writing and analysis, as well as having his work recognized. He credits Dr. Andrew Tzavaras for transforming his outlook on writing, helping him discover a love for research, and building his confidence as a scholar.

Abstract

Women have been of growing importance to historians for the past few decades, with particular interest in ancient female rulers. This paper will look specifically at Cleopatra and how she dealt with the "tug-of-war" between internal and external influences like her brother Ptolemy, his advisors, and Roman leaders such as Julius Caesar. Through economic reforms, cultural acceptance, and alliance networking, she overcame numerous obstacles and challenges during her reign. This paper shines a light on the challenges Cleopatra faced and combats the stigma set forth by Emperor Augustus and the later Renaissance period. Cleopatra was a leader who possessed great diplomatic, economic, political, and social skills to keep herself and her kingdom safe in the face of Rome's growing power. By examining Cleopatra's leadership on its own terms, this study offers a fresh perspective that contributes to our understanding of female rulership in antiquity.

This is an excerpt of the original twenty-three-page paper used as my history capstone. This has been edited to stay within the parameters of the High Point University “Innovation Journal” and to allow anyone to read and understand, regardless of their historical background. The full paper examines the power wielded by three ancient Egyptian queens: Cleopatra VII, Hatshepsut, and Nefertiti. This version focuses solely on Cleopatra VII and her reign as queen.

Introduction

Egypt has long been a beacon of civilization, encompassing great feats in culture, religion, infrastructure, architecture, and technological breakthroughs. Historians often study these accomplishments, emphasizing the leaders’ roles in such achievements. This paper aims to explore the issues Cleopatra faced during her reign and how she handled them. It would be impossible not to compare Cleopatra to her male counterparts, given the prejudice already established by centuries of women’s history. However, the paper challenges the stigma passed down from Emperor Augustus and the later Renaissance period, which portrayed Cleopatra as an ineffective and poor leader, relying on her physical appearance to achieve her goals. Instead, it argues that Cleopatra was a bright, intelligent, and capable leader.

By the time of her ascension (51 BCE), she would face challenges both domestically and internationally, from her brother-husband Ptolemy and Roman leaders, such as Julius Caesar. Primary and secondary sources provide evidence of Cleopatra’s capable leadership, as she enacted currency reforms in Egypt by changing the value from weight to a value she deemed appropriate to compete with the Roman currency. She would placate Roman elites within Egypt to secure trade between Egypt and Rome. She learned the native Egyptian language to appeal to the indigenous population and further cement her legitimacy amongst her subjects. Cleopatra demonstrates her ability to lead and take action to protect her people, while also securing alliances with those who are much more powerful than herself.

Cleopatra VII

Cleopatra VII is a queen known by many both in antiquity and in the modern world. Cleopatra created a life of luxury, power, influence, spiritual authority, and strength that many cannot fathom today. She took her life and death into her own hands and, through war and the help of Rome through Julius Caesar, created a kingdom she called her own. Many people today are familiar with Cleopatra's escapades with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, utilizing her body to manipulate and take advantage of men to achieve her goals: power.1 Is this the truth? Was she only capable of gaining power with her physical features, or was she a capable Pharaoh who took advantage of situations, held mastery over politicians, and fought for a different outcome for Egypt?

The Ptolemaic Dynasty: Context for Cleopatra's Rule

Cleopatra was born c. 69 BCE to Ptolemy XII, successor to the Greek-Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty. Upon his death, Ptolemy XII willed that his daughter, Cleopatra, and son, Ptolemy XIII, rule Egypt together as co-rulers. Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII married to solidify their rule and legitimacy as Egypt's new king and queen incestuous marriages where nothing new to Egyptian royalty. Ancient Egyptian royals before the time of the Ptolemies, pre-323 BCE, were worshiped as the living reincarnations of gods. Furthermore, based on the Egyptian creation story, the god Atum – alone in the universe – would engage in an act of ‘divine masturbation,’ which produced the first offspring of male and female gods, Shu and Tefnut. These siblings would then have more children, and much like their parents, pair off with their siblings and continue to create more gods. Interestingly, the Ptolemies practiced incestuous

1 Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010.

marriages far more often than the old Pharaohs that came before.2 Jumping back to the Ptolemies, they too followed this belief of “living gods” as the Egyptians and eventually the Greek Macedonians would come to see them.3

Following the idea of “living gods,” the Ptolemies not only married their family members but also did so far more often than the Egyptians, attempting to consolidate their power in a manner similar to that of the ancient Egyptians. The Ptolemies only married outside their close family circle when seeking political marriages and alliances. The first Ptolemy to marry a relative was Ptolemy II, who married his sister, Arsinoe II. Many historians disagree on the reasoning behind their actions, as ancient Egyptian dynasties did not practice incestuous marriages as often as one might think. Some historians argue that this was a way for the Ptolemies to become more “Egyptian.” Interestingly, these scholars are refuted on the claim that early Ptolemaic rulers did not care about the opinions of the native Egyptians. Scholars note that later rulers, such as Cleopatra, were more receptive to Egyptian culture, religion, and social structure. This shows Cleopatra as a more open-minded ruler, learning ancient Egyptian and portraying herself as the Egyptian goddess, Isis.4

Early Challenges: Court Politics and Male Resistance

Much like past co-ruler marriages, Cleopatra and Ptolemy’s was full of underlying issues, most notably, Ptolemy’s advisors; the three "ring leaders," Pothinus, Achilles, and Theodotus. The steward, Pothinus, would control the king's funds, and, in his paranoia about being caught for his acts of undermining the treasury, he called upon Achilles, the general, to take control of the army in favor of the king. The last advisor to the king was the tutor, Theodotus, though he was not as influential as the others.5

The goal of this clique was to turn Egypt against Cleopatra and subsequently have the inexperienced and moldable Ptolemy as the sole ruler. In Book XLII (42) of Cassius Dio’s Roman History, written between 211 and 233 AD, he mentions their undermining of Cleopatra’s authority, stating:

To all of them alike, it seemed a shame to be ruled by a woman – for they [the clique] suspected that [Julius] Caesar, on occasion mentioned, has given the kingdom ostensibly to both the children merely to quiet the people and that over time, he would offer it to Cleopatra alone…6

Dio would not write this book for several centuries after the events in Egypt in the midfirst century BCE. However, he portrays the clique as power-hungry and paranoid. Their desire for total control over Ptolemy would be impossible with the potential for Roman intervention and its favor towards Cleopatra. It is interesting to see the cause of the king and queen's deteriorating relationship and the lead-up to the Egyptian civil war. On the other hand, caution is warranted, as Dio, though a historian, was a Roman and therefore may have held a

2 Kara Cooney. The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt. 1st ed. New York: Crown Publishers, 2014.

3 Heather Wellendorf. "Ptolemy’s Political Tool: Religion." The Young Researcher 2, no. 2 (2022): 19–30.

4 Ager, Sheila L. "Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty." Anthropologica 47, no. 1 (2005): 1–35.

5 Francine Prose, Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022), 39.

6 Cassius Dio, Roman History, Volume IV: Books 41-45, trans. Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916), 173.

biased Roman view of women, as seen at the end of Cleopatra's reign. For the most part, women did not have power, but many did have influence. These women would be widowed and wealthy and could do as they pleased.7 Whatever the case, the aforementioned quote from Dio also puts into perspective some of the challenges Cleopatra faced at the beginning of her rule.8

When Cleopatra's father died in 51 BCE, she inherited a kingdom that seemed to be on the brink of collapse. Ptolemy XII amassed a tremendous amount of debt, primarily to the Romans. With his ascension to the throne, Ptolemy XII spent tremendous amounts of money to safeguard his seat with diplomacy and bribes to Rome.9 This debt to the Romans would be passed down to his children at the time of his death in 51 BCE, and Caesar expected payment. Along with a vast amount of debt, the co-rulers faced corruption in many aspects of society, from administration to the religious sector and now the royal influence. What the young monarchs inherited from their father would test the skills and leadership of the inexperienced 18- and 10-year-olds.10

International Relations: Strategic Alliances with Rome

While Cleopatra, along with Ptolemy, ascended to the throne, contenders for the Consulship waged war throughout the Roman Republic. The Civil War was between Gaius Julius Caesar and his former friend and son-in-law, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey. These two great and powerful men chased and fought each other throughout the republic, but it was the defeat of Pompey’s army that led him to flee to Egypt for help. Pompey would attempt to meet with Ptolemy XIII but was assassinated in 48 BCE, under the orders of Ptolemy’s advisors. Caesar, in pursuit of Pompey, sought to capture him so that he would no longer be a threat to Caesar and his legitimacy. Ptolemy XIII was attempting to befriend Caesar, thinking that killing his enemy would provide potential political power for future dealings. However, Caesar was displeased with the death of Pompey. Although they were enemies on the battlefield, they had been friends at one point and held mutual respect for each other. After landing in Egypt in 48 BCE, Caesar would meet Cleopatra, requesting aid from Caesar after she was forced into exile by her brother. The Egyptian civil war ended in 47 BCE with the defeat of Ptolemy’s forces at the Battle of the Nile, solidifying Cleopatra’s rule. Ptolemy would die by drowning, in an attempt to flee the battle, although some believe that foul play was the cause of his demise. With Ptolemy gone, and with Caesar’s support, Cleopatra began to rebuild her kingdom.11

Historians debate Caesar’s full motives towards Egypt, but one thing can be said: the alliance between Caesar and Cleopatra was calculated. Though their love might have been real, it would be sensible to note that a coalition between these two powerful figures would truly create a “power couple.” Historians have analyzed documents from Caesar during the civil war, where he mentions a “foreign war” – the civil war between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra – happening in Egypt at the same time. The involvement of Caesar in this war suggests his wish to “impose a Roman settlement on the kingdom of Egypt.” Historians suggest that Caesar’s arrival in Egypt was intended to put an end to the civil war at home and

7 "Women in the Roman Empire," PBS.org - Empires - Romans, accessed the 17th of September, 2024.

8 Francine Prose, Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022), 39.

9 Mary Siani-Davies, "Ptolemy XII Auletes and the Romans," Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte 46, no. 3 (1997): 306-40.

10 Francine Prose, Cleopatra: Her History, Her Myth (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022), 39.

11 Kathleen Kuiper, “Ancient Egypt: From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest,” 94. New York: Britannica Educational.

to begin looking towards new conquests. An alliance of this nature would provide Rome with vast amounts of wealth, commerce, and grain, while on the other hand, Cleopatra would gain the “muscle” needed to secure and maintain her throne.12

Economic Leadership: Currency Reforms and Trade Policy

One way to combat the economic decline Egypt faced was for Cleopatra to rework the country's coinage. At the time, the value of coins was based on the weight not on the values that is given to it.13 For example, a penny that is one-hundredth of a dollar weighs 2.5 grams, therefore its value would be equal to 2.5 grams and would be used for something of equal weight, like buying 2.5 grams of wheat.14 Cleopatra increased the fiduciary trust of new coinage, no longer based on weight. She not only increased the value of the new coinage but, through this policy, placed the currency on a similar level to that of the Roman denarius. By doing this, she was able to contend with the Roman expansion of trade in Egypt and the Levant area, thus better securing Egyptian interests.15

Another policy from Cleopatra to combat the changing economy is portrayed in a Greek papyrus issued by Cleopatra herself, estimated to have been dated 23 February 33 BCE. In this papyrus, she dictated to a scribe that she was granting certain financial privileges to a Roman. The understanding of who this Roman is has been lost to time, but it gives excellent insight into Cleopatra's day-to-day administration. She says:

“We have granted to [the Roman] and his heirs that the annual exportation of 10,000 artabas (300 tons) of wheat and the annual importation of 5,000 Coan (34,500 gallons) of wine without anyone exacting anything in taxes from him or any other expense whatsoever."

Along with physical privileges, his labor on the land was protected from conscription along with any "beasts" on the farm. What makes this papyrus interesting is the Greek word ginestho at the bottom of the papyrus. The word is translated to "make it happen." Some historians believe that this could have been written by Cleopatra herself, who signed the edict into law.

On the one hand, this edict had a more significant impact on Egypt's economy through trade and land ownership. From a political perspective, however, this helped Cleopatra maintain the support of high-ranking Romans, especially when war with Rome was imminent. One historian said it best, "In contrast to later presentations of Cleopatra, sex was not the only thing she had to offer to important Roman men."16 This shows Cleopatra as more than a sex-driven woman but a ruler who was invested in the daily operations of her country as a capable and competent ruler. This edict is one of many dictated or run by Cleopatra that shows her as a leader who acts and knows what her people need. Many of these edicts have been stored in archives in Germany and Egypt since their discovery and are still being studied

12 William W. Batstone and Cynthia Damon, Caesar's Civil War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), accessed March 20, 2025, pg 3.

13 Bob Bianchi, "Cleopatra the Great: Last Power of the Ptolemaic Dynasty," Arce.org, accessed the 18th of September, 2024.

14 “Coin Specifications," U.S. Mint, accessed the 18th of September, 2024.

15 Bob Bianchi, "Cleopatra the Great: Last Power of the Ptolemaic Dynasty," Arce.org, accessed the 18th of September, 2024.

16 Jennifer Cromwell, "On A Document Signed by Cleopatra," Papyrus Stories, the 20th of July, 2020.

to determine the legitimacy of her writing.17

Cultural Strategy: Language, Religion, and Egyptian Identity

Cleopatra was a woman of determination, passion, and intelligence, with transformational ideas and a deep pride in her country. Cleopatra was fluent in several languages and, when traveling, would speak to her subjects in their native language, opening the door to those native to Egypt and bettering the relations between herself and her subjects. Cleopatra's life would end in 30 BCE, months after the decisive battle at Actium in which Octavian's navy would defeat the Egyptians led by Marc Antony in the wake of Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE. Before the end of the battle, Cleopatra and Antony fled to Egypt and would eventually take their own lives. From this battle, historians begin to see Cleopatra's rhetoric as that of a seducer and temptress of men, particularly among the Romans, starting with Octavian. The theory of Cleopatra's death by a snake provided the perfect anti-Cleopatra propaganda for Octavian, as he was not physically allowed to parade her as a prisoner in Rome. Roman writers could not fathom a world in which someone, much less a woman, could stand up to the power of Rome; therefore attacking and rendered her into nothing but a morally corrupt and manipulative figure and skew what is true about her character.16

Conclusion

Cleopatra, time and time again, has showcased her intelligence and political ability to stand alongside the powerful men of the era. She devised strategies to stabilize the economy, expand trade, and consolidate power. She further bolstered her rule by appealing to the masses of native Egyptians, speaking their language, presenting herself as the Goddess Isis one of their revered religious figures and bringing peace and prosperity to the realm. She maintained a level of control and level-headedness when dealing with their nation, like all rulers must to be successful. They must maintain stability, public order, religious reverence, and economic growth. In many cases, Cleopatra did use her body to sway the powerful Romans, such as Caesar and Antony. One could argue that Cleopatra saw more value in using her body as a more effective tool than in pursuing a trade agreement or alliance.

The leadership showcased by Cleopatra teaches us about her resolve and commitment to her dynasty and her people. She is surrounded by internal and external forces that view her as a threat, such as her brothers’ advisors, or as a powerful ally, such as the Romans. Either way, she is seen as a powerful woman, and these two factions refused to acknowledge her power explicitly due to the view on gender and leadership at the time.

Upon Cleopatra’s death, Emperor Augustus, also known as Octavian, would attempt to eradicate all records of the queen, in an act to demonstrate Rome's dominance over a nation ruled by a woman. Cleopatra was not the only female Egyptian leader to face setbacks and challenges to her rule because she was a woman. Queen Hatshepsut (r.1479 – 1458 BCE) would experience the same outcome after her death. Her stepson and nephew, Thutmose III, upon taking over the throne, would attempt to erase her records from history, in a likely attempt to continue the status-quo of male dominated succession. Lastly, Nefertiti, according to some historians, is depicted as equal to her husband, Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), and in some cases, more powerful than him. Nefertiti’s reign ends in mystery, due to her disappearance from historical records. Upon her disappearance and the death of her husband,

17 Ibid.

some of the Egyptian populace attempted to erase her from history, as well as her husband. Most historians agree that this is due to the impact of monotheism on a polytheistic kingdom; however, some Egyptians may not have supported Nefertiti’s more hands-on role in governance, given her gender.18

Within the broader context of ancient Egyptian female history, evidence suggests that women of power led with determination and fearlessness yet ultimately faced the same outcome. An ending where men controlled the narrative, where their insecurities and fears dictated that women could not out-politic, out-govern, and simply eclipse their male counterparts.

18 Some famous sources on these other powerful Egyptian monarchs are Tyldesley, Joyce. Nefertiti's Face: The Creation of an Icon. London: Profile Books, 2018. "New Kingdom Rulers Hatshepsut." New Kingdom Rulers. Accessed November 11, 2024. Cooney, Kara. The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt. 1st ed. New York: Crown Publishers, 2014.

Art and Characterization in James Joyce’s “The Dead”

Alyssa Pittari

Alyssa Pittari is a 2024 graduate of High Point University with a B.S.B.A. in Marketing and a B.A. in English. Her manuscript was inspired by James Joyce’s “The Dead,” where she noticed the contrast between Gabriel’s disinterest in music and his affinity for literature and painting. Intrigued by how Joyce used different art forms to shape character and explore themes like Irish nationalism and cultural identity, Alyssa examined these elements through her research. She found the experience deeply fulfilling, as it allowed her to grow intellectually and personally while sharpening her critical thinking and writing skills. Alyssa now works as a Marketing Specialist for Apogee Consulting Group in Cary, NC. She credits Dr. her mentor throughout her four years at HPU for consistently supporting and challenging her, helping her become a more confident and thoughtful writer.

Abstract

In James Joyce’s “The Dead,” music serves as a key element in the narrative, but it is not the only art form that shapes characterization. The short story from Joyce’s 1914 collection, Dubliners, focuses on Gabriel and his wife, Gretta, as they attend a holiday party hosted by Gabriel’s aunts. Throughout the story, art is present in many forms, including music, literature, and painting. Scholars have discussed the use of art in the narrative, but there has been a lack of focus on how art drives characterization, developing a clear divide between Gabriel and the rest of the characters. This essay examines the use of art as a vehicle for characterization, focusing on how the ways the characters interact – or fail to interact – with different art forms correlates to their beliefs regarding Irish nationalism and pride. Even though Gabriel is surrounded by accomplished musicians, his disconnection from music sets him apart from the other characters, including his own wife, reflecting his broader detachment from Irish culture.

James Joyce is no stranger to music. As a talented tenor and “frequent opera attendee,” it is no surprise that Joyce decided to place music at the forefront of “The Dead,” the final short story in his 1914 collection, Dubliners (Witen 4). In the narrative, Gabriel and his wife, Gretta, attend a holiday party hosted by Gabriel’s aunts, Julia and Kate. They are musically talented, as are many of the guests at the party. Music is a thread that runs throughout the story, but it isn’t the only art form that is present; literature and painting are included as well. In “The Dead,” art acts as a vehicle for characterization because the characters interact with these different art forms in contrasting ways. While many scholars have studied the effect that music has on “The Dead” and its characters, few have considered how other art forms play a role in

character development. The way the characters interact-or fail to interact–with different art forms reveals their traits and beliefs. Joyce uses art and the way that characters respond to various artistic mediums to show the stark contrast between Gabriel and the other characters in the narrative, including their dissimilar opinions on Irish nationalism and pride.

From as early as the second paragraph of “The Dead,” Joyce establishes that many of the characters are musically talented. Aunt Julia is the “leading soprano in Adam and Eve’s,” and Aunt Kate “[gives] music lessons to beginners on the old square piano in the back room” (Joyce 1249). Their niece, Mary Jane, also plays the organ. Aunt Julia sings for the party guests, and Joyce describes her performance: “Her voice, strong and clear in tone, attacked with great spirit the runs which embellish the air, and though she sang very rapidly, she did not miss even the smallest of the grace notes” (Joyce 1259). Gabriel’s family members are quickly established as accomplished musicians who enjoy sharing their art with others.

The characters, other than Gabriel, even engage in conversations about music. As scholars have pointed out, the other party guests’ “nearest approach to a common interest is... music, and more especially singers” (Beck 305). A prominent topic at the dinner table is the “opera company which was then at the Theatre Royal” (Joyce 1262). Gabriel is pointedly absent from these conversations, instead focusing intently on his dinner, which shows his disconnect with music and the other characters. One of the characters conversing about the opera is Mr. Bartell D’Arcy, a famous tenor, about whom Mary Janes says that “all [of] Dublin is raving” (Joyce 1253). Julia and Kate’s pupils and choir members also attend the holiday party. Even Michael Furey, later revealed to be Gretta’s first love, was musically talented. “He was going to study singing only for his health. He had a very good voice, poor Michael Furey” (Joyce 1275). Gabriel is surrounded by people who are adept musicians, and these characters are also established as having national pride. In this way, music in the narrative “serves as a framework for understanding all the characters in the story, thereby making them less abstract” (Penjak 213). Joyce uses music to help develop the characters and the party guests. Besides Gabriel, all the characters respond favorably to music and exhibit national pride.

Even though Gabriel’s aunts and the other party guests are musically talented, they are still portrayed as inferior and unsophisticated through Gabriel’s eyes. The narration reveals many moments when Gabriel comments on the other party guests in a demeaning manner. When Gabriel describes Aunt Julia, he says that “her slow eyes and parted lips gave her the appearance of a woman who did not know where she was or where she was going” (Joyce 1251). Gabriel recognizes his aunts’ talents, but he still focuses on their subpar knowledge of highbrow things, such as literature. When Gabriel is rehearsing his speech before dinner, he thinks about what he should say to the guests and contemplates the literary references he wants to make in his speech. Gabriel refers to his aunts as “two ignorant old women,” showing his lack of respect for his own family members and that he doesn’t believe his aunts will understand his speech (Joyce 1259). In addition, during conversation at dinner, when guests are talking about the Pope, Aunt Kate calls herself a “stupid old woman” (Joyce 1260). Aunt Kate does not claim to be as knowledgeable as the Pope, but she demeans herself, revealing her own lack of confidence in her ability to form educated opinions. Gabriel even says that the “indelicate clacking of the men’s heels and the shuffling of their soles reminded him that their grade of culture differed from his” (Joyce 1250). The characters who are musically talented are seen through Gabriel’s eyes as lacking the sophistication that he believes he possesses.

While some may believe Gabriel’s failure to connect with music indicates a lack of artistic ability, he is still artistic in his engagement with more sophisticated art forms. It is clear that

Gabriel is starkly different from the rest of the characters. He holds himself to a high standard of knowledge and education. Gabriel still has an artistic eye, but instead, he is drawn to literature and painting rather than music. Gabriel knows that this characteristic of his is inherited from his mother. He says that “it was strange that his mother had had no musical talent though Aunt Kate used to call her the brains carrier of the Morkan family” (Joyce 1255). Gabriel takes after his mother because he does not possess musical skills and values other art mediums instead.

Gabriel’s interest in literature is discussed multiple times throughout “The Dead.” Gabriel says that he “loves to feel the covers and turn over the pages of newly printed books,” and that he “used to wander down the quays to the second-hand booksellers” to buy more books to read (Joyce 1256). Towards the beginning of the narrative, when Gabriel is thinking about his dinner speech, he is “undecided about the lines from Robert Browning, for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers.” Gabriel instead considers using a “quotation that they would recognize from Shakespeare or from the Melodies” (Joyce 1250). Here, Gabriel is again viewing the other guests as inferior to him because he does not believe they will comprehend his sophisticated literary references. Joyce establishes Gabriel as a well-read individual, but at the same time shows that Gabriel assumes that the other party guests fail to match his level of intelligence.

Gabriel is shown taking an interest in certain art forms, but he does not understand or connect with music, unlike the other characters. When Mary Jane is playing a musical piece, Gabriel finds himself unable to listen, saying that “he liked the music but the piece she was playing had no melody for him” (Joyce 1254). Gabriel does not have a musical ear. However, perhaps the moment when Gabriel’s lack of connection with music is most glaring is towards the end of the narrative. While some of the guests are leaving, Gabriel wanders up the staircase and sees a woman at the top, her face obscured, but after recognizing her dress, Gabriel realizes this woman is his wife, Gretta. He notices that she is “listening to something,” but he “strains his ear to listen” and can “hear little save the noise of laughter and dispute on the front steps, a few chords struck on the piano and a few notes of a man’s voice singing” (Joyce 1269). While Gabriel continues to try to “catch the air that the voice was singing,” he notices the picturesque qualities of the scene in front of him. At this moment, Gabriel abandons trying to listen to the music and understand it. Instead, his mind wanders to thinking about how he might paint this scene as an artist. Even though Gabriel knows this woman is Gretta, she remains nameless in his painting, and Gabriel objectifies her, imagining what “a woman standing on the stairs in the shadow, listening to distant music” is a symbol of (Joyce 1269). Gabriel is unable to focus on the music, so he instead imagines himself as a painter and how he would replicate this scene. He is oblivious to the powerful connection that Gretta is feeling to the song and the memories that it is resurfacing for her. Here, Joyce establishes a clear distinction between Gabriel and Gretta, as well as their respective approaches to art. In this scene, “Gabriel’s memory is set off by the view of his wife Gretta, who is listening to a traditional ballad. Gretta’s memory, on the other hand, is stimulated by that very music” (Baccolini 155). Gabriel doesn’t connect with the music like Gretta does, but instead resonates more with the situation itself. Gabriel recognizes that “the song seemed to be in the old Irish tonality and the singer seemed uncertain both of his words and of his voice” (Joyce 1269). Unlike Gretta, Gabriel fails to recognize the beauty of the music and the emotional connection others have with it. He is instead focused on his theoretical painting – his sophisticated version of art.

In addition to their musical talents, another characteristic that unites the party guests is their pride in their country. In contrast, Gabriel lacks the strong nationalism that the other characters

possess. Joyce creates a disconnect between Gabriel and music, mirroring his detachment from his Irish heritage. Gabriel longs to be part of a more sophisticated culture, referencing “the Continent” many times and how he prefers European culture. Towards the beginning of the narrative, when Gabriel and Gretta arrive at the party, Gretta and the aunts engage in a playful conversation about Gabriel’s goloshes. Gretta says that goloshes are “the latest” thing that Gabriel is fixated on. Gretta says that “whenever it’s wet underfoot I must put on my goloshes. Tonight even, he wanted me to put them on, but I wouldn’t” (Joyce 1251). Gretta goes on to say that Gabriel reports that “everyone wears [goloshes] on the Continent” (Joyce 1252). Gabriel desires to assimilate with European culture and wants Gretta to do the same.

Later, Gabriel dances with Miss Ivors, another party guest, while she confronts him about the lack of national pride he displayed in his article in The Daily Express. At this moment, “issues like . . . nationalism . . . and music flow throughout the story, always accompanied by musical performances and various dances” (Penjak 218). While the two are dancing to the music, Miss Ivors asks Gabriel and Gretta to join her on a trip around Ireland, saying it would be “splendid” for Gretta to come, as “she’s from Connacht” (Joyce 1256). Gabriel retorts by saying Gretta’s “people” are from Connacht, clearly expressing annoyance with Miss Ivors and her proposition. Gabriel almost seems disgusted at the idea of traveling around Ireland. Gabriel responds that he is going on a cycling tour with friends in France, Belgium, or Germany, so he will not be able to accompany Miss Ivors on her trip. Miss Ivors challenges Gabriel, questioning why he wants to visit other countries “instead of visiting [his] own land” (Joyce 1256). Gabriel has had enough of the conversation and says that he is “sick of [his] own country, sick of it!” (Joyce 1257). Gabriel longs to fit in with continental European culture and associates literature with continental Europe because they are both highly sophisticated. The other characters contrast with Gabriel in this way, as many of them take pride in their Irish heritage and connect more deeply with music. Miss Ivors wears a large brooch that features an “Irish device and motto.” After Gabriel’s heated conversation with Miss Ivors, Gretta comments that she would “love to see Galway again” and accompany Miss Ivors on her trip (Joyce 1258). The other characters long to connect with their culture and are proud to show that they are Irish. However, Gabriel is sick of Ireland and dislikes its culture compared to that of continental Europe. While Gabriel maintains this mindset for most of the narrative, “The Dead” concludes on a hopeful note, leading readers to believe that Gabriel might be open to learning more about Ireland and reconnecting with his wife and their heritage. After Gretta confesses to Gabriel about her childhood love, Michael Furey, Gabriel has an epiphany about the meaning of his life and what he has lived for thus far. He acknowledges the absence of passion in his life and his failure to connect with others, including his wife. Gabriel questions his relationship with Gretta and “how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life” (Joyce 1276). Gabriel watches Gretta sleep, “as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife” (Joyce 1276). Gabriel recognizes the rift between himself and Gretta, part of which is caused by their differing opinions on Irish nationalism and is reflected in the art forms they respond to. Readers may perceive this as a sorrowful ending for Gabriel, but a hint of optimism remains in the final paragraph of the narrative. After seeing that it has begun to snow outside, Gabriel says that “the time had come for him to set out on his journey westward” (Joyce 1276). While this line has been interpreted in many ways, it can be understood to mean that Gabriel is declaring it is time for him to reconnect with his Irish roots, possibly by traveling to Galway with Gretta to visit her family. Gabriel’s revelation “leads him to compassion and empathy,” and readers get the sense that he is going to attempt to make a change and connect with his heritage, thereby strengthening his relationship

with Gretta (Baccolini 156). Even though Gabriel resonates with different art forms than the other characters, his epiphany suggests that he may try to connect with others and find joy in his Irish heritage.

In “The Dead,” Joyce contrasts Gabriel and the other characters by showing how they interact with various art forms. Gabriel is drawn to more sophisticated art forms, such as literature and painting, while the other characters are more connected to music. At the same time, Joyce uses art to illustrate the clear divide between Gabriel’s disconnection from his Irish heritage and that of the other characters, who exhibit strong nationalism. Art acts as its own element in “The Dead,” facilitating Joyce’s characterization and allowing him to explore the deeper issue of national pride.

Works Cited

Baccolini, Raffaella. “‘She Had Become a Memory’: Women as Memory in James Joyce’s Dubliners.” ReJoycing: New Readings of Dubliners, The University Press of Kentucky, 1998, pp. 145-64.

Beck, Warren. Joyce’s Dubliners: Substance, Vision, and Art. Duke University Press, 1969. Joyce, James. “The Dead.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors, vol. 2, 10th ed., Norton, 2018, pp. 1248-77.

Penjak, Ana. “Evoking Music, Evoking Memories: On the Role of Music in James Joyce’s ‘The Dead.’” Words, Music and Gender, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020, pp. 213-23. Witen, Michelle. James Joyce and Absolute Music. Bloomsbury, 2018.

Beyond the Binary: How Knowledge from Religion, Science, and Personal Contact Shape Hostility Toward Transgender Rights

Maggie M. Selman

Maggie M. Selman graduated from High Point University in 2024 with B.A. degrees in Political Science and Strategic Communication. Her manuscript explores public opinion surrounding transgender issues, inspired by witnessing friends from high school face discrimination while embracing their identities. Motivated by a desire to understand and address the roots of this prejudice, Maggie’s research aims to contribute to the creation of safer, more inclusive communities. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Education for Museums and Heritage at the University of Glasgow, with plans to develop museum programs that engage underserved communities. Maggie credits Drs. Setzler and Kifer for helping her cultivate professionalism and confidence in her work skills that have been essential in her graduate studies and future career path.

Abstract

Despite popular support for civil rights protections for transgender people, the last few years have seen hundreds of anti-trans bills introduced in state legislatures. Research has demonstrated that religion/religiosity, political party/ideology, gender, and race are all significant predictors of transprejudice. However, the literature has yet to examine how different sources of knowledge that inform attitudes toward trans identities predict hostility toward trans rights. This study analyzes data from Pew Research Center’s May 2022 American Trends Panel using bivariate logistic regression to analyze three sources of knowledge – religious views, scientific knowledge, and contact – as predictors of hostility toward civil and body-centric rights for transgender people. Results indicate citing strong influence from religious teachings increases the likelihood of exhibiting hostility toward both civil and body-centric rights. Citing knowledge from science as a strong influence had more mixed results, correlating to a lower likelihood of hostility toward civil rights but a higher likelihood of hostility toward laws requiring insurance coverage for gender-affirming healthcare (compared to those not citing science as a strong influence). Finally, though not a significant predictor of hostility toward civil rights, citing contact with a trans person as a strong influence significantly reduced a person’s likelihood of exhibiting hostility toward body-centric rights. These findings indicate that the knowledge source that informs one’s attitudes toward trans rights is worthy of consideration when developing strategies to reduce transprejudice, though there are more important factors to consider. Further research should continue to study education and interpersonal contact as strategies for mitigating LGBT+ prejudice.

According to recent estimates, somewhere between .44 and .93 percent of the U.S. population – about 1.4 million U.S. adults – identify as transgender (Doan and Grace 2022, 277; Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019, 1). Pew defines transgender individuals as “people whose gender is different from the sex they were assigned at birth” (Parker, Horowitz, and Brown 2022, 3). Despite their sizable numbers, trans people continue to be targets of harassment, violence, hate crimes, and discriminatory legislation (Cao and Gurcay 2022, 2210; Schipper 2022). Though twenty states and the District of Columbia have statutes explicitly prohibiting employment, housing, and public accommodation discrimination based on gender identity, the last few years have seen many states proposing anti-trans legislation (Luhur, Brown, and Flores 2019, 1; Schipper 2022, 1-2). A recent report by Reuters (Funakoshi & Raychaudhuri 2023) revealed that, in 2023 alone, “…37 U.S. states have introduced at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-expansive people this year, nearly three times as many as last year.” The report continued, explaining that nearly 80 percent of those bills target gender-affirming care for children under 18. For comparison, only 35 of the 250 anti-trans bills proposed in state legislatures in 2022 sought to block minors from accessing gender-affirming care (Schipper 2022, 2), while others aimed to limit or prohibit discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 schools (Parker, Horowitz, and Brown 2022, 26). Of the 142 bills introduced, 22 have already passed, while only 18 have failed or been vetoed (the rest remain “engrossed” in the legislative process) (Funakoshi & Raychaudhuri 2023). Yet, this slew of antitrans legislation is incongruent with several public opinion surveys showing that the majority of people (72.7% and 64% respectively) support laws that would protect trans people from discrimination (Luhur, Brown, and Flores 2019, 4; Parker, Horowitz, and Brown 2022, 4).

In recent years, researchers have increasingly shown interest in the factors that influence public opinion on LGBT+ rights. While much of this research has focused on opinions surrounding lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, the last decade has seen a significant increase in literature focusing on public opinion of transgender issues (Becker and Jones 2020, 10511052; Bowers and Whitley 2020, 400). It is well-established that, while public support for transgender identity has grown in recent decades, there are still trans issues that divide the public (Luhur, Brown, and Flores 2019, 1). Notably, while there seems to be general support for the protection of trans individuals on civil rights issues, there is greater disagreement on what are called “body-centric” issues – those that focus on “how transgender people present, engage, and seek treatment for their bodies as well as how this engagement and presentation should be managed by society” (Bowers and Whitley 2020, 403; Cao and Gurcay 2021, 2211). Specifically, these body-centric issues tend to center around healthcare and bathroom access for trans people.

Existing literature reveals several factors that significantly influence a person’s hostility toward transgender individuals. Specifically, scholars have determined that political affiliation, religion/religiosity, gender, and race (Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019; Bowers and Whitely 2020; Flores et al. 2020; Regnerus and Vurmurlen 2021; Doan and Grace 2022) are all strong predictors of a person’s likelihood of expressing hostility toward trans identities or rights.

Using data from the May 2022 American Trends Panel, I will build on this knowledge by investigating the relationship between the stated influence of various sources of knowledge (i.e., religion, science, and knowing someone who is trans) on individuals’ views of trans people and their displayed hostility toward transgender people as measured by their support (or opposition) to several laws either protecting or restricting trans rights. This research will provide valuable insight into possible motivations behind trans hostility. Moreover, I will discuss the impact of

scientific knowledge and education on the literature. Ultimately, the value of this research lies in its ability to provide insight into the root causes of hostility toward transgender individuals, which might help us combat such prejudice to make the world (or even just one community) a safer place for people to live authentically as themselves.

Literature Review Who is Hostile Toward Trans Identities & Rights?

Throughout the literature, two factors emerge as leading predictors of public opinion on transgender issues: religion/religiosity and partisanship/ideology. When it comes to religion, Evangelicals tend to be less supportive of trans issues and rights. Doan, Quadlin, and Powell (2019, 13) cite Evangelicals as one of the groups with the most restrictive views of transgender persons. Moreover, moral traditionalism and religious attendance are both negatively correlated with support for trans persons (Flores et al. 2020, 390; Cao and Gurcay 2022, 2222). In other words, higher religiosity (measured by religious attendance) predicts higher levels of transprejudice, though this result varies slightly among participants who identify as a sexual minority (Bowers and Whitely 2020, 406; Campbell, Hinton, and Anderson 2019). Additionally, those who interpret the Bible literally are significantly more likely to exhibit transprejudice. Still, religious fundamentalism was only a predictor among female participants (in one study) or when combined with authoritarian traits (Campbell, Hinton, and Anderson, 2019). In one study that examined the existing literature on the relationship between religion and attitudes toward trans people, researchers found that self-identification as “religious” was correlated to higher levels of transphobia. The same study indicated that Christian respondents were more likely than nonChristian and Jewish participants to hold prejudices against trans people. When it comes to the influence of religious denomination on support for trans people, the results were more mixed. While one study reviewed found more transprejudice among Protestants, another study found that any Christian identification except Evangelical or Protestant predicted increases in transprejudice (Campbell, Hinton, and Anderson 2019).

As explained by Becker and Jones (2021), partisanship is another significant predictor of support for transgender rights, with Democrats being consistently more likely than Republicans to indicate support for trans individuals and issues. Likewise, individuals who score higher on a political conservativeness scale tend to show less support for trans issues and rights. Across almost all prior studies examined, demographic factors such as sex, sexual orientation, race, age, income, and education are used as control variables. While most of these controls have shown varied results, sex is consistently a predictor of support for trans individuals. Specifically, men are less likely than women to support protections for trans individuals (Bowers and Whitley 2020; Flores et al. 2020; Flores 2015, 407; Becker and Jones 2020, 1054; Lewis et al. 2017, 870). This may be attributed to the fact that, as some research has indicated, men tend to have more conservative views when it comes to gender than women (Doan and Grace 2022, 294). Additionally, members of sexual minorities tend to hold more progressive attitudes toward transgender people (Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019). Another study found that race and ethnicity were correlated to support for medical intervention in the treatment of gender dysphoria. Specifically, identifying as Black was correlated to disapproval of medical interventions (Regnerus and Vurmurlen 2021). These results corroborate earlier findings by Flores (2015), which determined that respondents identifying as Black exhibited more negative transgender attitudes. While there are consistent indications that young people, individuals with higher levels of education, individuals with higher income, and White people tend to be more

supportive of trans individuals and rights, the significance of factors like race, income, and educational attainment varied significantly depending on what exactly was being measured and the addition of certain independent variables (Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019, 4; Cao and Gurcay 2022, 2211; Flores et al. 2020, 385; Flores 2015).

When it comes to measuring opinions about transgender persons, several approaches emerge in the literature. For measuring opinions toward legal protections of trans people, most studies utilize scales ranging from four to seven points, with some variation of “strongly agree” at one end and some variation of “strongly disagree” at the other (Lewis et al. 2017; Luhur, Brown, & Flores 2019; Flores 2015; Cao & Gurcay 2022; Regnerus & Vurmurlen 2021; Bowers & Whitley 2020). Though specific questions ranged by what was being measured, the following are several statements that participants were asked to rank by the scales above: [Transgender people] should be protected from discrimination, they should be allowed to use the restroom of the sex they identify with (Luhur, Brown, & Flores 2019), “[I support laws that…] allow transgender people to serve openly in the U.S. military,” “…grant transgender students the right to participate in sexsegregated programs/activities and use sex-segregated facilities based on their self-identified sex” (Cao & Gurcay 2022), “To what extent do you support the following protections for transgender people…” [employment discrimination, housing discrimination, bathroom access, and healthcare access, respectively] (Bowers & Whitley 2020), and “It should be ok for adolescents to ‘transition’ with hormones or surgery if they identify with another gender” (Regnerus & Vurmurlen 2021). These questions can be categorized more broadly into those that address civil rights and bodily autonomy (“body-centric”) rights.

Cognitive Consistency

Several theories can be used to address varying levels of hostility toward transgender rights. One such theory is Cognitive Consistency Theory. Essentially, the theory holds that humans tend to act in a way that is consistent with their existing attitudes and beliefs because inconsistent actions elicit negative reactions. According to Kruglanski et al. (2018), Cognitive Consistency Theory has been recognized by psychologists as a primary motivator in decision-making since the 1950s. Though Kruglanski et al. question the validity of the original theory, cognitive consistency has been used historically to guide public opinion research regarding transgender people. Specifically, Lewis et al. (2017, 863) posit that individuals may be “attitudinally constrained” by their established ideological and religious beliefs. Thus, they are likely to display attitudes toward transgender people consistent with their other attitudes toward the broader LGBT+ community. In particular, they believed that the cognitive consistency effect would be greater for “stronger ideologues” and “highly religious individuals.” Respondents were asked questions to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with the following policies: protection from discrimination in both employment and public accommodations, antibullying measures in schools, and rights of businesses to refuse service on religious grounds. They found that strong ideologues and religious affiliation (but not religious attendance) were likely to show consistency in their support for public accommodations policy. They ultimately conclude that, while these factors may not directly impact attitudes toward policy, they likely indirectly impact such attitudes by shaping views toward transgender and LGB people more broadly. Put simply, the results from this study indicate that the more extreme an individual is in their ideology or religiosity, the more likely they are to hold attitudes toward transgender people and protections that are consistent with the stances taken by those institutions (i.e., political parties and religion). Thus, it stands to reason that individuals who cite religion as a highly influential factor in their views toward trans people would, likewise, exhibit this consistency.

Education for Prejudice Reduction

Another theory that may explain variation in levels of hostility is the theory of education for prejudice reduction. Within the broader theory of multicultural education, prejudice reduction is its framework for teaching. According to Banks (1993), multicultural education is “education is signed to help students develop more democratic attitudes, values behaviors” (24). When Banks conducted his study, the field generally focused on multicultural education as a means of reducing racial and anti-woman prejudices. However, such a framework can easily be applied to any marginalized group, including transgender people. In Banks’ review of more than a dozen studies conducted between the 1940s and 1970s, he repeatedly found that incorporating multicultural (specifically racial) exposure and tolerance into school curriculums had a positive effect on children’s racial attitudes (26-28). In addition to the prejudice reduction framework, Banks also discusses the importance of the knowledge construction framework. Essentially, this framework explains that, rather than simply incorporating information about marginalized groups into a curriculum, the most effective way to alter attitudes is to establish a curriculum that “reconceptualizes” students’ understandings of where their attitudes and knowledge originate. In turn, this framework encourages students to think critically about the impact of their sources of knowledge and how different experiences may lead to different perceptions of the world (37). Looking at another potential means of prejudice reduction, McKown (2005) proposed a sciencebased framework for developing prejudice interventions in schools. McKown explains that combining multiple ecological frameworks, like social cognitive skills and cooperative learning, for one intervention may be a more effective way to obtain longer-lasting results because such a strategy addresses multiple aspects of prejudicial attitudes at once. According to McKown’s model, deciding on a prejudice intervention strategy should start with an ecological assessment to determine what is contributing to the prejudice, and then the intervention strategy can be more specifically targeted. Where Banks and McKown focused on multicultural education for children, a literature review conducted by Kiselica, Maben, and Locke (1999) tentatively reaffirmed prior findings as they apply to adults (specifically counseling trainees). One study they reviewed demonstrated significant prejudice reduction toward “homosexuals” among counseling trainees who underwent multicultural education (248).

Aside from using educational frameworks, other studies demonstrate that certain types of education, like scientific education, can influence political and moral opinions. Morrison, Duncan, and Parton (2015) found that an individual’s scientific knowledge had a significant mediating effect on views of climate change, particularly among certain religious groups. However, the direction of these effects was “perverse” (13). Perhaps the reason for this perversion is explained by Shils (1974) in his writings on the legitimacy of faith and science. Shils explains that religious thinkers have generally sought to make peace with scientific knowledge and use it as “possible bases for alliance” (1). However, religious thinkers may part from scientific knowledge where they perceive “excesses.” In other words, religious thinkers might disavow a particular scientific teaching when it egregiously contradicts their established beliefs and values. While literature has yet to exist investigating the influence of scientific knowledge on attitudes toward trans people, Shils’ work helps us understand when people might rely on scientific knowledge versus religious knowledge. Shils points out that many people express support for science because of its practicality and the perception that scientific technology will improve life in the future (2-3). Moreover, Shils explains that reliance on scientific knowledge may reflect broader trends toward secularism. Among less religious populations, particularly liberals, faith that once would have been placed in a priest, for example,

is now shifting to scientists (2-4). Collectively, Shils’ work implies that especially “radical” or liberal ideas could be where scientific knowledge and religious teachings diverge. Given the sharp ideological and religious divides established on transgender issues, it stands to reason that these issues might be one point where scientific knowledge and religious teachings diverge, with scientific knowledge supporting more liberal stances.

Evans (2011) delves deeper into the potential reasons for the conflict between religion and science. Like Shils, Evans explains that the typical perception of religion as an antagonist to science is not necessarily accurate. According to Evans, prior literature assumed that the conflict between religion and science stemmed from a lack of trust in science on the part of religious folks. However, Evans’ review determined that the conflict is also based upon moral oppositions to scientific findings (708). Though results vary depending on religious denomination, the study found that conservative Protestants exhibited the most conflict with scientific teachings. Evans found that the reason for this conflict stems from the fact that this population tends to believe in their religion more than science, though they do think that scientific findings should align with their religious teachings. Consequently, when conflict does arise, they are more apt to assume that the science got it wrong (721-723). Collectively, these results indicate that scientific knowledge may be both a means of reducing transprejudice and pose as an antagonist to religious views when it comes to public attitudes toward trans people.

Contact Theory

The final theory that might explain varied levels of hostility toward trans rights is Contact Theory. Contact Theory suggests that contact between groups can effectively reduce hostility between said groups. Like cognitive consistency, Contact Theory is a social scientific theory that was developed during the 1950s. The so-called “Intergroup Contact Theory” was pioneered by Gordon Allport in his 1954 book The Nature of Prejudice. According to Allport, prejudice could be reduced when both the in-group and out-group came into contact with one another under “equal status” conditions, especially when such conditions highlight commonalities between the two groups. Allport’s theory was reaffirmed in a meta-analysis of more than 500 studies on the impact of intergroup contact performed by Pettigrew and Tropp (2006). One notable finding from this review was that the prejudice-reduction effects of intergroup contact occurred even without the conditions outlined by Allport. A secondary review of the theory carried out by Paluck, Green, and Green (2019) found that the effects of intergroup contact were not as strong (though still significant) in larger, more rigorous studies.

Nevertheless, several recent studies have investigated the implications of contact theory for reducing prejudice toward LGBT+ people. Building off prior research about the positive effect of contact on reducing prejudice against lesbian and gay folks, Flores found that personal familiarity with transgender people and transgender rights issues correlated with more positive attitudes toward transgender (2015). Flores also found a secondary correlation between interpersonal contact with a lesbian or gay person and positive attitudes toward transgender rights. Surprisingly, Lewis et al. (2017) found that, while interpersonal contact with lesbian or gay individuals had a positive impact on attitudes toward non-discrimination policies for that population, the same was not true for contact with transgender people and support for nondiscrimination policies for the trans population. That said, interpersonal contact was correlated to more positive attitudes toward both populations. In 2022, a study by Cao and Gurcay examined the effects of interpersonal contact on support for transgender rights among moral traditionalists as mediated by a person’s expressed anxiety toward transgender people (specifically, anxiety toward a transgender person serving as the respondent’s child’s doctor or teacher). As in the

previous studies, interpersonal contact with a transgender was determined by a single question asking the respondent whether they know someone who is transgender. However, this study also measured the diversity of interpersonal contact by asking respondents whether they were familiar with (1) no transgender people, (2) only a transgender man or woman, or (3) both a transgender man and a transgender woman. The study determined that interpersonal contact with a transgender person was negatively associated with anxiety toward the trans population and positively associated with support for transgender rights. These effects were strengthened when a respondent knew both a trans man and a trans woman.

Further research examines the effects of mere exposure to transgender people, rather than interpersonal contact, on attitudes toward transgender people. In one study, participants were split into four groups and exposed to the idea of being “transgender” in different ways. Flores et al. (2018) provided three non-control groups with a short vignette about gender identity that included a definition of “transgender.” Two of these groups were shown images of transgender people (one group saw images of people whose facial features were congruent to their gender identity, while the other group saw incongruent images). Participants were then asked to indicate their feelings regarding five statements designed to gauge levels of transphobia and agreement/disagreement with nine different policies, including laws prohibiting employment or public accommodation discrimination, requiring insurance companies to pay for genderaffirming healthcare, and permitting trans people to use public bathrooms that align with their gender identities. The findings indicated that transphobia significantly impacted respondents’ attitudes toward transgender people. However, exposure to transgender people in all three noncontrol groups was correlated with a reduction in exhibited transphobia. In alignment with Lewis et al.’s earlier findings (2017), the group treated with only a vignette about transgender identity (with no accompanying image) displayed the most significant reduction in transphobia. However, the difference was only a 0.1 standard deviation difference from the group shown the incongruent image. Therefore, while exposure may not significantly alter attitudes toward policy, it did have a significant impact on people’s general attitudes toward transgender people.

Hypothesis

Previous research findings regarding predictors of hostility toward trans rights, attitudinal origins, and methods for prejudice reduction support three primary hypotheses:

H1: Those who say religion has a significant impact on their views of trans people are likely to hold attitudes aligned with religious teachings about the validity of transgender identities and the broader opinions expressed by highly religious individuals. Thus, they are more likely to express greater hostility toward both civil and body-centric transgender rights than those who do not cite religion as a significant influence on their views of trans people.

H2: Based on previous studies that pose scientific knowledge as an antagonist to religious teachings on select topics (Shils 1974; Evans 2011) and others that suggest education as a means of prejudice reduction (Banks 1993; Kiselica, Maben, and Locke 1999), I expect that those who do not cite knowledge gained from science as a significant influence are more likely to exhibit hostility toward both civil and body-centric trans rights.

H3: Because Contact Theory explains that individuals who have come into contact with members of another group are less likely to display prejudice toward the said group, I expect

that those who do not cite familiarity with a trans person as a source of their attitudes are more likely to display hostility toward both civil and body-centric rights for trans people.

Data & Measurement

To test these hypotheses, I utilize data from Wave 109 of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel. This survey fielded responses from 10,188 participants and was conducted online from May 16 to May 22, 2022. The American Trends Panel employs random sampling to gain a nationally representative sample of American adults. To ensure true randomization, Pew recruits panel members by sending out invitations at random to U.S. addresses. Within each household, participants are chosen at random based on the adult with the next birthday. To ensure true representativeness, Pew provides non-internet households with tablets for taking surveys. Once surveys are completed, participants receive some monetary compensation. All variables in this test derive from questions asked of the entire survey sample. After removing participants who refused to answer each question about influences on transgender attitudes and separating responses into strong influence and weak influence groups, I was left with the following samples: 2,886 respondents cite religion as a strong influence (7,206 do not); 4,455 respondents cite knowledge from science as a strong influence (5,639 do not); and 2,191 respondents cite contact with a trans person as a strong influence (7,902 do not).

Dependent and Independent Variables

The primary variables of interest in this study are an individual’s reported hostility toward transgender rights as measured by a respondent’s expressed support or opposition to several pieces of proposed legislation. As in previous studies, support was measured on a five-point scale ranging from “strongly favor” to “strongly oppose” (Lewis et al. 2017; Luhur, Brown, & Flores 2019; Flores 2015; Cao & Gurcay 2022; Regnerus & Vurmurlen 2021; Bowers & Whitley 2020). Specifically, respondents were provided the following prompt with each item presented in a random order:

Here are some current laws and policies in the U.S. related to transgender issues that are either in place or being considered. Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following?

(1) Protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces such as restaurants and stores.

(2) Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions.

(3) Make it illegal for healthcare professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition.

(4) Investigate parents for child abuse if they help someone younger than 18 get medical care for a gender transition.

Each of these measures was recoded as a dichotomous variable, where 1 indicated hostility. On the first two measures (i.e., discrimination protection and insurance coverage), respondents were coded as hostile only if they expressed opposition to the proposed policy (responses of 4 or 5). Considering alternative reasons respondents may feel less favorable to these policies (e.g., opposition to government intervention in civil rights, varying views on broader insurance practices, etc.), individuals who indicated a neutral stance were coded as not being hostile.

Because both questions deal with policies about access to gender-affirming healthcare among minors, they were combined to create one variable called NoCareForMinors. Due to the severity

of the proposed laws, Individuals who did not outright reject both policies were coded as being hostile. In other words, individuals were coded as being hostile if they expressed support or neutrality toward one or both of these policies.

My predictors for hostility are a set of factors whose influence on transgender identity was questioned in the American Trends Panel. The following questions were asked of all respondents, who then answered on a scale of 1 (a great deal) to 5 (not at all):

How much has each of the following influenced your views about whether someone’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth?

(1) Your religious views

(2) What you’ve learned from science

(3) Knowing someone who is transgender

(As a note, these questions were not mutually exclusive. A respondent could say that multiple items were strong influences). Each of these variables was then recoded to be dichotomous, with answers of 1 or 2 being coded as a strong influence (1) and 3 through 5 being a weak influence (0).

Control Variables

Based on prior findings about what influences attitudes toward transgender identities and rights, several controls have been incorporated into this model, including religiosity/religion, party/ideology, gender, race/ethnicity, age, and education. Religiosity was recoded from an interval variable, asking respondents the frequency with which they attend religious services, into a dichotomous variable, with those attending services once a week or more being coded as highly religious (1). Because numerous studies have linked Evangelism to higher levels of hostility toward trans people (Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019, 13; Campbell, Hinton, and Anderson 2019), I included a dummy variable identifying Evangelical Protestants (coded from those identifying as Protestant on one question and Evangelical or Born-Again Christian on another). As some of the most significant predictors of trans hostility (Becker and Jones 2021), dummy variables were also created to measure partisanship (Republican, Democrat, and Independent). However, ideology was kept as an interval variable (More Conservative to More Liberal). Dummy variables were also created for race/ethnicity (White, Black, and Other) after previous studies identified being Black as a significant predictor of negative attitudes toward trans people (Regnerus and Vurmurlen 2021; Flores 2015). Finally, because prior studies have had mixed results about their influence (Doan, Quadlin, and Powell 2019, 4; Cao and Gurcay 2022, 2211; Flores et al. 2020, 385; Flores 2015), I have also included controls for age (precoded as a four-category variable in the ATP) and education (pre-coded as a six-category variable in the ATP), both of which remain categorical variables (sans respondents who refused to answer).

The table below shows summary statistics for each of the aforementioned variables:

Dependent Variables

Hostile toward laws should protect trans people from discrimination

Hostile toward insurance should be required to cover gender-affirming healthcare

Independent Variables

Controls

For further information on coding, refer to Appendix A.

Results & Findings

Bivariate Analysis

The following charts display bivariate analyses for each of my independent variables: Figure 1. Bivariate analysis split by the influence of religious views.

Religious views influence attitudes of trans

Laws should protect trans from discrimination Insurance should cover gender affirming care

Minors can access gender-affirming healthcare

Religion is not strong influence Religion is strong influence

As shown in Figure 1, preliminary analysis of our first variable (without controlling for other factors) suggests that Hypothesis 1 may be correct. Across all measures of hostility, a significantly higher percentage of individuals who cited religious views as a strong influence on their attitudes toward transgender identities exhibited hostility in their responses to the proposed policies.

2. Bivariate analysis split by the influence of knowledge from science.

Figure

Science knowledge influences attitudes of trans

Laws should protect trans from discrimination Insurance should cover gender affirming care

Minors can access gender-affirming healthcare

Science is strong influence Science is not strong influence

Preliminary observation of the impact of attitudes gained from scientific knowledge suggests only partial correctness of Hypothesis 2. As predicted, those who did not cite scientific knowledge as a strong influence on their attitudes toward transgender people did display greater hostility on the civil rights measure and one body-centric rights measure. However, the variation was less drastic than anticipated. Contrary to the hypothesis, those citing scientific knowledge as a strong influence displayed greater hostility on the question about requiring insurance coverage of gender-affirming care.

Figure 3. Bivariate analysis split by the influence of knowledge from contact with a trans person.

Contact influences attitudes of trans

Minors can access

Contact is strong influence Contact is not strong influence

Like Hypothesis 2, these preliminary results suggest only partial correctness for Hypothesis 3. As predicted, those who did not cite knowledge from contact with a trans person as a significant influence on their attitudes exhibited significantly greater hostility toward trans rights across all measures. Contrary to the hypothesis, the effects of knowledge from contact did extend to body-centric rights. In fact, variations in exhibited hostility were far more pronounced on these measures compared to the measure for civil rights.

Logistic Regression

While these preliminary analyses provide a strong indication of what sources of knowledge might drive hostility toward trans rights, we must control for other factors to gain a more accurate understanding of the sources of knowledge that drive hostility. The following table shows results from logistic regression tests that included control variables:

Controls

Table 1. Logistic regression results

+ p<.1, * p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.00.

Upon examination, we can see that regression modeling also confirms Hypothesis 1. As the table shows, influence from religious knowledge was a significant predictor of hostility across all measures. Moreover, all measures show that citing knowledge gained from religious views and a strong influence on attitudes toward trans people increased a person’s likelihood of displaying hostility toward trans rights. Looking at anti-discrimination policies, the odds ratio indicates that individual who cites religious knowledge as a strong influence were about 53% more likely to exhibit hostility toward civil rights for trans people than those who cited religious knowledge as a weaker influence. That said, Wald scores for other variables indicate that several controls are more important predictors of hostility.

Moving on to body-centric rights measures, the results also indicate religious knowledge as a consistent predictor of hostility. For instance, those indicating strong influence were about 78% more likely to oppose laws requiring insurance companies to cover gender-affirming healthcare compared to those who cited religious knowledge as a weaker influence. According to Wald scores, influence from religious knowledge was among the top five most important predictors of hostility on this measure. Interestingly, citing a strong influence of religious knowledge on attitudes toward trans people was a more important predictor than an individual’s religiosity or identification as Evangelical Protestant (83.2 compared to 14.7 and 40.1, respectively). These results indicate that what a person learns from their religion may be more significant in shaping their views of trans rights than their religion and the strength of their belief. Looking more

specifically at hostility toward gender-affirming healthcare for minors, those who cited religious knowledge as a strong influence were almost three times more likely to exhibit hostility than those who cited such knowledge as a weaker influence.

Turning to Hypothesis 2, we see that the hypothesis is only partially correct. As with the bivariate analysis results, the logistic regression results show that those who cite knowledge from science as a strong influence display less hostility than those who cite such knowledge as a weaker influence on the measure for civil rights. However, the variation is more pronounced in the regression model. Specifically, the results indicate that those citing religious knowledge as a strong influence were about 15% less likely to exhibit hostility toward civil rights for trans people. Similar to the bivariate results, those citing scientific knowledge as a strong influence were more likely to exhibit hostility toward body-centric rights, though only one measure displayed significance. On the measure of support or opposition to requiring insurance companies to cover gender-affirming healthcare, those who cite scientific knowledge as a strong influence were just over one-third more likely to exhibit hostility than those who cite it as a weaker influence. Moreover, examining the Wald scores for both models, influence from scientific knowledge was a less significant predictor of hostility toward trans rights compared to the other independent variables, accounting for about half of the variance in the controls.

Regression results also partially confirmed Hypothesis 3. Notably, the influence of knowledge from contact with a trans person was not significant on the measure for civil rights, which directly contradicted the hypothesis that strong influence from contact would only mitigate hostility on that measure. That said, contact was a significant mitigating factor on both measures of hostility toward body-centric rights. Specifically, those who cite knowledge from contact with a trans person as a strong influence on their attitudes toward trans people were 66% less likely to exhibit hostility toward requiring insurance companies to cover gender-affirming healthcare and nearly 50% less likely to express hostility toward making gender-affirming healthcare available to minors than those who cited knowledge from contact as a weaker influence. Comparing Wald scores, citing knowledge from contact as a strong influence was consistently one of the most important predictors of hostility (i.e., it was the third most crucial predictor on the insurance measure and the second most important predictor on the healthcare for minors measure).

Finally, though I will not delve too deeply into my controls, they also yielded a few notable findings. Regression results support prior findings that high religiosity, more conservative political preferences, and being male increase a person’s likelihood of exhibiting hostility toward trans rights. Furthermore, ideology was consistently one of, if not the most important, predictors of hostility. Also of note is the finding that education was the most important predictor of hostility toward civil rights for trans people. This finding is interesting given that prior studies tended to find mixed results regarding the significance and importance of education as a predictor of attitudes toward transgender people. These findings suggest that education may warrant further study as a predictor of hostility toward transgender rights.

Predicted Probabilities

Before drawing conclusions, it is worth analyzing predicted probabilities to help contextualize these findings.

Figure 4. Predicted probabilities for the influence of religious views.

Religious views influence attitudes of trans

Laws should protect trans from discrimination Insurance should cover gender affirming care

Minors can access gender-affirming healthcare

Religion is not strong influence Religion is strong influence

Figure 5. Predicted probabilities for the influence of knowledge from science.

Science knowledge influences attitudes of trans

Laws should protect trans from discrimination

Insurance should cover gender affirming care Minors can access gender-affirming healthcare

Science is strong influence Science is not strong influence

Figure 6. Predicted probabilities for the influence of contact.

Contact influences attitudes of trans

Contact is strong influence

Contact is not strong influence

As these models show, when put into context, the source of knowledge that informs a person's attitudes toward trans rights does not significantly impact their overall likelihood of exhibiting hostility. This is perhaps most clear when examining “Minors can access genderaffirming healthcare” in Figure 4. Despite regression results indicating that a person citing religious views as a strong influence on their attitudes toward trans people was almost three times more likely to exhibit hostility toward trans rights, Figure 4 shows that this only translates to a 6% difference in probability. Similar results can be observed for all variables across all measures of hostility. The only variable where a person’s source of knowledge appears to matter a bit more is the issue of insurance coverage. Specifically, those who cite knowledge from contact with a trans person as a strong influence had about a 15% lower probability of exhibiting hostility on this measure compared to those who do not cite contact as a strong influence.

To further put these numbers into perspective, I also calculated predicted probabilities for education and ideology, both of which were identified as the most significant predictors of hostility across different measures. The results in the figure below show the difference in probabilities for someone with the most education compared to the least, and the most liberal views compared to the most conservative.

Figure 7. Predicted probabilities for the most important predictors of hostility.

Predicted Probabilities for Education & Ideology

High Education Low Education Liberal Conservative

These results reaffirm prior findings about the importance of political ideology when it comes to predicting trans hostility. This further demonstrates that, though worthy of consideration, the knowledge source that informs a person’s attitudes toward trans is far less important for predicting hostility than other factors.

Conclusions

These findings contribute to the literature in several ways. First, they reaffirm religion and religious teachings as a strong predictor of hostility toward transgender rights. Because the question measuring the influence of knowledge gained from religious views was not exclusive to those identifying as Christians, these findings indicate that further study into the influence of non-Christian religions on attitudes toward trans rights may be warranted. Moreover, no prior studies reviewed looked at the influence of scientific knowledge on attitudes toward trans people. Since these findings indicate that knowledge from science is a significant predictor of hostility toward two measures of trans rights and that educational attainment is the most important predictor of hostility toward civil rights, a more in-depth study should also be done into the broader influences of various types of education on attitudes toward transgender people and rights.

The finding that knowledge from contact with trans people is a strong predictor for lower hostility toward body-centric rights contributes to the emerging narrative about contact theory and attitudes toward transgender rights. Where prior studies determined that contact is an effective technique for reducing anxiety toward and increasing acceptance of trans identities but not an effective technique for changing attitudes toward civil rights policy, this study finds that influence from knowledge gained through contact with a trans person is an effective technique for changing attitudes toward body-centric rights. This variation could potentially be explained

Laws should protect trans from discrimination Insurance should cover gender affirming care Minors can access genderaffirming healthcare

by the fact that this study used a different methodology for evaluating the influence of contact theory than prior studies. Collectively, this indicates that contact theory warrants further study as it pertains to attitudes of trans people and their rights, and future studies should utilize varying methodologies.

Ultimately, my findings hold several implications for reducing hostility toward transgender rights. While sources of knowledge are not the most important determinants of hostility, they are still worthy of consideration when developing strategies to reduce trans hostility, particularly as it relates to body-centric rights. Because those citing religious teachings as a strong influence on their attitudes toward transgender people were consistently more likely to exhibit hostility toward trans rights, strategies for reducing these hostilities should target religious belief. Specifically, reducing hostility may require religions to incorporate a stronger message of tolerance (if not acceptance) toward LGBT+ folks in their teachings. Furthermore, because influence from contact was such a strong mitigating factor for hostility toward body-centric rights, campaigns to reduce hostility toward transgender rights should focus on increasing contact between transgender people and cisgender people. However, such campaigns will need to utilize alternative methods to reduce hostility toward civil rights (though hostility toward civil rights is already relatively low). Based on my findings, the most effective strategy for reducing hostility toward transgender rights should consider both established factors, like religion and ideology, as well as sources of knowledge. For example, advocacy organizations might work to encourage contact between transgender folks and members of groups that are more likely to hold hostile views, like highly conservative or highly religious folks. By doing so, these campaigns target multiple potential sources of hostility (or acceptance) simultaneously, thus improving the chances of overall campaign efficacy.

References

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Becker, Amy B. and Philip E. Jones. 2021. “Experience with discrimination, perceptions of difference, and the importance of gender conformity on support for transgender rights.” Politics, Groups, and Identities, 9(5), 1051-1067, https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2020.1743332.

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Appendix A. Codebook

Research Question: Who displays more hostility toward transgender people: those influenced by religion, those influenced by science, or those influenced by interpersonal contact?

Dataset: Pew ATP Wave 109 – May 2022

Dependent Variables

Would you favor or oppose laws or policies that do each of the following? Original Question Original Coding

TRANSGEND6_a_W109

Protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing, and public spaces such as restaurants and stores

1= Strongly

Favor

2= favor

3= neither favor nor oppose

4= oppose

5= Strongly oppose

99= refused

TRANSGEND6_e_W109

Require health insurance companies to cover medical care for gender transitions

1= Strongly

Favor

2= favor

3= neither favor nor oppose

4= oppose

5= Strongly oppose

99= refused

Coding

*ProtectTransFromDiscrimination

1= hostile (ans. 4 or 5)

0 = not hostile (ans. 1-3)

Code:

Compute

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination=$SYSMIS.

IF TRANSGEND6_a_W109>3

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination=1.

IF TRANSGEND6_a_W109<4

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination=0.

IF TRANSGEND6_a_W109>5

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination=$SYSMIS. VARIABLE LABELS

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination 'Laws should protect trans from discrimination'.

VALUE LABELS

ProtectTransFromDiscrimination

1 "Hostile"

0 "Not Hostile"

*ReqInsuranceToCoverCare

1= hostile (ans. 4 or 5)

0 = not hostile (1-3)

Code:

Compute

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare=$SYSMIS.

IF TRANSGEND6_e_W109>3

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare=1.

IF TRANSGEND6_e_W109<4

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare=0.

IF TRANSGEND6_e_W109>5

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare=$SYSMIS. VARIABLE LABELS

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare 'Insurance should cover gender affirming care'.

TRANSGEND6_f_W109

TRANSGEND6_f_W109. Make it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition

TRANSGEND6_g_W109

Investigate parents for child abuse if they help someone younger than 18 get medical care for a gender transition

Independent Variables

1= Strongly Favor

2= favor

3= neither favor nor oppose 4= oppose 5= Strongly oppose

99= refused

VALUE LABELS

ReqInsuranceToCoverCare

1 "Hostile"

0 "Not Hostile"

Recoded as hostile on NoCareForMinors if favor or neutral on either question.

COMPUTE NoCareForMinors_Recode=0. If (TRANSGEND6_f_W109<4) OR (TRANSGEND6_g_W109<4)

NoCareForMinors_Recode=1. IF (TRANSGEND6_f_W109=99) OR (TRANSGEND6_g_W109=99)

NoCareForMinors_Recode=$SYSMIS.

VARIABLE LABELS

NoCareForMinors_Recode "Illegal to help minors get gender affirming healthcare".

VALUE LABELS

NoCareForMinors_Recode

1 "Hostile"

0 "Not Hostile"

How much has each of the following influenced your views about whether someone’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth?

Original Question Original Coding Your Coding

TRANSGEND4_b_W109

Your religious views

1= a great deal

2= a fair amount 3= some 4= a little 5= not at all 99= refused

*ReligionStrongInfluence

1= strong influence (ans. 1 or 2)

0= not strong influence (ans. 3-5)

Code:

Compute Religion_Dummy=0. IF TRANSGEND4_b_W109=1 OR TRANSGEND4_b_W109=2 Religion_Dummy=1. IF TRANSGEND4_b_W109>5 Religion_Dummy=$SYSMIS.

VARIABLE LABELS Religion_Dummy 'Religion strongly influences views of trans'.

VALUE LABELS Religion_Dummy

1 "Religion is strong influence"

0 "Religion is not strong influence"

TRANSGEND4_a_W109

What you’ve learned from science

TRANSGEND4_e_W109

Knowing someone who is transgender

1= a great deal

2= a fair amount

3= some

4= a little

5= not at all

99= refused

*ScienceStrongInfluence

1= strong influence (ans. 1 or 2)

0= not strong influence (ans. 3-5)

Code:

Compute Science_Dummy=0.

IF TRANSGEND4_a_W109=1 OR TRANSGEND4_a_W109=2 Science_Dummy=1.

IF TRANSGEND4_a_W109>5 Science_Dummy=$SYSMIS.

VARIABLE LABELS Science_Dummy

'What is learned from science strongly influences views of trans'.

VALUE LABELS Science_Dummy

1 "Science is strong influence"

0 "Science is not strong influence"

Control Variables

Original Question

REL_ATTEND

1= a great deal

2= a fair amount

3= some

4= a little

5= not at all

99= refused

*ContactStrongInfluence

1= strong influence (ans. 1 or 2)

0= not strong influence (ans. 3-5)

Code:

Compute Contact_Dummy=0.

IF TRANSGEND4_e_W109=1 OR TRANSGEND4_e_W109=2 Contact_Dummy=1.

IF TRANSGEND4_e_W109>5 Contact_Dummy=$SYSMIS.

VARIABLE LABELS Contact_Dummy

'Knowing someone transgender strongly influences views of trans'.

VALUE LABELS

1 "Contact is strong influence"

0 "Contact is not strong influence"

Original Coding Your Coding

1= More than once a week

2= once a week

*VeryReligious_Dummy everyone once a week+ coded as highly religious

Code:

RELIG

BORN_AGAIN

3= once or twice a month

4= a few times a year

5= seldom

6= never

99= refused

1= Protestant

2= Roman Catholic

3= Mormon/LDS

4= Orthodox

5= Jewish

6= Muslim

7= Buddhist

8= Hindu

9= Atheist

10= Agnostic

11= Other

12= Nothing in particular

99= Refused

1= Yes, bornagain or evangelical Christian

2= No

99= refused

PARTY

1= Republican

2= Democrat

3= Independent

4= else

99= refused

RECODE REL_ATTEND (1=1) (2=1) (3=0) (4=0) (5=0) (6=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO VeryReligious_Dummy. VARIABLE LABELS

VeryReligious_Dummy 'Respondants religious attendance is once or more per week'. EXECUTE.

*Recode comb. With born_again à Prot/EA

Code:

RECODE RELIG (1=1) (99=SYSMIS) (ELSE=0) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Protestant_Dummy. VARIABLE LABELS

Protestant_Dummy 'Respondant identifies as Protestant'. EXECUTE.

COMPUTE EvangProt_Dummy=0. IF Evangelical_Dummy=1 AND Protestant_Dummy=1 EvangProt_Dummy=1.

*Evangelical_Dummy

1= yes (1)

2= no (2 and 99)

Code:

RECODE BORN_AGAIN (1=1) (2=0) (99=0) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Evangelical_Dummy. VARIABLE LABELS

Evangelical_Dummy 'Respondant identifies as Evangelical'. EXECUTE.

*Republican_Dummy

1= Republican (1)

0= not republican (2-4)

Code:

RECODE PARTY (1=1) (2=0) (3=0) (4=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Republican_Dummy.

IDEOLOGY

1= Very conservative

2= conservative

3= moderate

4= liberal

5= very liberal

99= refused

VARIABLE LABELS

Republican_Dummy 'Respondant is Republican'. EXECUTE.

*Democrat_Dummy

1= Democrat (2)

0= not democrat (1, 3, 4)

Code:

RECODE PARTY (1=0) (2=1) (3=0) (4=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS)

INTO Democrat_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS

Democrat_Dummy 'Respondant is Democrat'. EXECUTE.

*Independent_Dummy

1= Independent (3) 0= else (1, 2, 4)

Code:

RECODE PARTY (1=0) (2=0) (3=1) (4=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS)

INTO Independent_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS

Independent_Dummy 'Respondant is Independent'. EXECUTE.

*Conservative_Dummy

1= conservative (ans. 1 or 2)

0= not (3-5)

Code:

RECODE IDEOLOGY (1=1) (2=1) (3=0) (4=0) (5=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Conservative_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS

Conservative_Dummy 'Respondant is Conservative'. EXECUTE.

*Moderate_Dummy

1= moderate (3)

GENDER

1=male

2=female

3=else

99=refused

0= else (1-2, 4-5)

Code:

RECODE IDEOLOGY (1=0) (2=0) (3=1) (4=0) (5=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Moderate_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS Moderate_Dummy 'Respondant is Moderate'. EXECUTE.

*Liberal_Dummy

1= liberal (ans. 4 or 5) 0= else (1-3)

Code:

RECODE IDEOLOGY (1=0) (2=0) (3=0) (4=1) (5=1) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Liberal_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS Liberal_Dummy 'Respondant is Liberal'. EXECUTE.

*Male_dummy

1=Male

0= Female or other

Code:

RECODE GENDER (1=1) (2=0) (3=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Male_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS Male_Dummy 'Respondant is Male'. EXECUTE.

RACE_ETHNICITY

1= white nonhispanic

2= black nonhispanic

3= Hispanic

4= other

5= Asian nonHispanic

99= refused

*White_dummy

1= white non-hisp 0= else (99 recoded as SYSMIS)

Code:

RECODE RACE_ETHNICITY (1=1) (2=0) (3=0) (4=0) (5=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO White_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS White_Dummy 'Respondant is White, non-Hispanic'. EXECUTE.

AGE

1= 18-29

2= 30-49

3= 50-64

4= 65+

99=refused

EDU

1= less than high school

2= high school graduate

3= Some college

4= Associate’s degree

5= college graduate/some post grad

*Black_dummy

1= Black non-hisp 0= else (99 recoded as SYSMIS)

Code:

RECODE RACE_ETHNICITY (1=0) (2=1) (3=0) (4=0) (5=0) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Black_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS Black_Dummy 'Respondant is Black, non-Hispanic'. EXECUTE.

*Other_dummy

1= ans. 3-5 0= white or Black (99 recoded as SYSMIS)

Code: RECODE RACE_ETHNICITY (1=0) (2=0) (3=1) (4=1) (5=1) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Other_Dummy.

VARIABLE LABELS Other_Dummy 'Respondant is neither White nor Black'. EXECUTE.

*Recode with 99=SYSMIS

Code:

RECODE AGE (1=1) (2=2) (3=3) (4=4) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Age_Edited.

VARIABLE LABELS Age_Edited 'Age without refused to answer'. EXECUTE.

*Recode with 99=SYSMIS

Code:

RECODE EDU (1=1) (2=2) (3=3) (4=4) (5=5) (6=6) (99=SYSMIS) (SYSMIS=SYSMIS) INTO Edu_Edited. VARIABLE LABELS Edu_Edited 'Education without refused to answer'. EXECUTE.

6= post grad 99=refused

The Connection Between Self-Cultivation and Justice

Sophie Smith

Sofie Smith is a double major in Philosophy and Religion in the Class of 2025. Her passion for Eastern philosophy and religion inspired her to explore comparisons between Eastern and Western thought an area she believes offers valuable insights for all students. Sofie found the most fulfilling part of her research to be the collaboration with her professors, whose guidance and shared enthusiasm shaped both her work and her academic journey. After graduating from High Point University, she will pursue a master’s degree in Religious Traditions of Asia and the Pacific at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She credits her professors and mentor for encouraging her to dive deeper into her passions, supporting her both academically and personally throughout her studies.

Abstract

The topic of this paper revolves around the concept of self-cultivation in Chinese philosophies and religions, specifically Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Each view arises from their ideas of human nature, which is expanded on before defining their beliefs on self-cultivation. The different practices used to cultivate the self are included, such as meditation, learning, ritual, and specific principles. Then, there is a discussion of how all three schools of thought are compatible despite having differing ideas. With the common thread of the aim of creating harmony and fostering virtue, the view of self-cultivation for Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism is used to establish a view of justice that corresponds to each school of thought. A comparison is then made to Western theories of justice, such as social contract theories and communitarianism. After differences and similarities are shown, the paper concludes by arguing that creating a theory of justice that includes self-cultivation is more holistic and less selfcentered than Western theories and grows justice rather than enforcing it, which leads to the creation of a harmonious society and individual.

Typically, when considering contemporary theories of justice, we do not associate the term “harmony” with them, especially in the West. Contemporary Western conceptions of justice tend to be individualistic, prioritizing how well an individual is doing in society. However, if a theory of justice were to be created that includes the concept of selfcultivation in Chinese thought, then harmony would be associated with justice. This theory would be more beneficial and inclusive than other theories of justice. To create this theory, it is first necessary to establish the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist views of human nature. By doing

so, it reveals how their ideas and methods of self-cultivation evolved and how cultivating the self is closely tied to human nature. Following this, a discussion will take place on how the three schools are compatible with one another, despite having differing views. Then, justice will be understood and applied from each perspective, compared to Western views of justice. Finally, an explanation will be provided as to why the proposed theory is superior. In this paper, I argue that the concept of self-cultivation in Chinese thought, specifically Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, should be considered when creating a theory of justice, because for a society to function well, its people must also function well. Contemporary Western theories of justice tend to be more individualistic and lack a holistic perspective. The crucial aspect for most of these theories is how well a person can thrive in a society. Incorporating the concept of selfcultivation, as developed by the three Chinese philosophies and religions, into a theory of justice will allow for an aspect of the self to remain intact.

In contrast, the harmony cultivated within the self will be reflected in society. Furthermore, cultivation can be viewed as its own theory of justice, rather than merely being a condition of justice. If each person makes the deliberate effort to cultivate themselves, then people may be able to live harmoniously amongst one another.

I. What is Self-Cultivation?

Self-cultivation is a crucial component of Chinese philosophy and religion. To discuss the concept, it is necessary to try to understand what self-cultivation means. It can be understood as the process of bettering oneself through varying practices. Different views have different methods to cultivate the self, as I will discuss in the later sections. There appears to be a common goal or outcome to be achieved through self-cultivation, which is to become a moral, good, or enlightened person. To briefly observe a Western view, Aristotle’s virtue ethics idealize eudaimonia, or human flourishing. He believes that humans are rational and social animals, and cultivating oneself requires us to practice our sensible and social capacities, which implies the practice and habituation of virtues. The cultivation of the self, as described by Aristotle, leads to human flourishing. Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, the Chinese philosophies and religions I will discuss, have similar goals of cultivation, but their methods differ.

II. Human Nature

Before discussing the concept of self-cultivation, it is necessary to examine its origins. Selfcultivation in Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism stems from their distinct views of human nature. The way human nature is defined is the original state of humanity, devoid of any concepts of society, culture, emotions, upbringing, or personal attributes. All three schools of thought require one to be aware of our nature, but they differ in their definitions.

The first school of thought I will discuss is Confucianism, specifically the views of Mencius and Xunzi, who both have differing perspectives on human nature. Confucius himself does not hold a definitive view of human nature; instead, he emphasizes the importance of nurture and self-cultivation through the practice of virtues and rituals. His successors, Mencius and Xunzi, however, hold differing views on human nature. To briefly state Mencius’s view, he believes that human nature itself is good, but humans still have the ability to do bad things.1 So, his view creates a theory that explains why people do bad things while also showing that it is possible to overcome these desires by practicing our nature. In his argument, he defines the four seeds that we inherently possess. By practicing these capacities, we can cultivate certain virtues that bring us back to our natural goodness. The first capacity, or sprout, is that of compassion, which, if

1 Van Norden, “Mengzi”, 89.

practiced, leads to benevolence. The second is the sprout of disdain, and the outcome of practicing this is rightness. The third is the sprout of modesty, which develops into respect or propriety, and the last is the sprout of feeling affirmation or negation, which turns into wisdom. In chapter 2, Mencius provides a hypothetical example of our innate sense of compassion by describing how humans react to a child falling down a well. After the child falls down a well, he says that “everyone in such a situation would have a feeling of alarm and compassion not because one sought to get in good with the child’s parents, not because one wanted fame among their neighbors and friends, and not because one would dislike the sound of the child’s cries. From this, we can see that if one is without the heart of compassion, one is not a human.”2 Mencius argues that we have a natural inclination towards the good, meaning our human nature is good, and to maintain goodness, it is necessary to cultivate the self.

Another Confucian philosopher who discusses human nature in depth is Xunzi, who has an opposing view to Mencius. Xunzi does not think human nature is good; instead, it is wicked, disorderly, and chaotic. He argues that “we share a common human nature and that it is characterized primarily by self-interest.” Further, he believes that “because the objects of desire are always limited, each of us seeking to benefit ourselves without restraint will lead to chaos in the state of nature.”3 He argues we lack innate morality and tend to crave self-interested, paradigmatic desires.4 Despite our nature being chaotic, he believes that, similarly to Mencius, we can cultivate ourselves and overcome our nature. To achieve this, Xunzi emphasized the importance of ritual and learning, which will be discussed further in Section III.

The next view of human nature I will explore is that of Daoism. Daoism defines human nature as part of a cosmic or universal nature, meaning that our nature is inherent within it. The term ziran (自然) means nature or naturalness, and this is what characterizes the dao (道), or the way that humans are to follow. In Jiyuan Yu’s paper, he discusses the connection Laozi makes between dao and ziran and claims that “he is characterizing dao in terms of ziran. Ziran is the Dao of the universe, namely, the way the universe operates. The expression ‘the ziran of the myriad things’ means the universe’s state of free-flowing and self-transformation.”5 Since we are part of this cosmic nature, our nature is the same as it is, which requires us to be receptive to the constantly changing and transforming nature. This is the only inherent thing about human nature for the Daoists, so they do not define nature as being something good or bad; it simply is. The Daodejing (道德經) says, “People model themselves on the earth. The earth models itself on Heaven. Heaven models itself on the Way. The Way models itself on what is natural.”6 Both Laozi and Zhuangzi propose ways of returning to our nature and acknowledging that we are part of a larger whole through wu-wei (無为) and wu-xin (無心), which will be expanded upon in Section IV.

For Laozi and Zhuangzi, the sage exemplifies ziran and fulfills their nature. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Chapter 25 of the Daodejing describes how the dao, or the way, is

2 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Mengzi (Mencius)” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 132.

3 Van Norden, Bryan W. “Chapter 10: Xunzi’s Confucian Naturalism” in Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2011), 167.

4 Ibid, 172.

5 Jiyuan Yu, “Living with Nature: Stoicism and Daoism,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 25, no. 1 (2008): 4. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27745110

6 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Laozi” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 185.

characterized by being natural. Sherman points this out and says, “The dao as ‘being natural,’ then, appears to be the foundation, or core value, of the sage in practical understanding of how to live well.”7 He further says that “the sage alone appreciates the naturalness of the dao and takes the dao as the practical guide in non-action.”8 So for Laozi, the sage epitomizes naturalness and following the Dao. Zhuangzi also emphasizes the importance of the sage as an exemplar for realizing our nature. In Fraser’s translation of the Zhuangzi, he describes the sage as a “genuine human” and says that “someone like this, their mind forgets, their face is calm, their brow is placid. Cool like autumn, warm like spring, their delight and anger flow as naturally as the four seasons. They fit with things, no one knowing their limits.”9 This section illustrates how the sage models themselves on the Dao, which is further characterized by its naturalness. Thus, it has been shown how the sage for both Laozi and Zhuangzi has realized their nature and will use it to cultivate themselves.

The last view of human nature is that of the Buddhists, specifically Chinese Buddhists. The idea of human nature is understood in terms of Buddha nature. Sallie King discusses the relationship between the two by examining the Buddha Nature Treatise, also known as the Fo Hsing Lun (佛性論) in Chinese. This text is a crucial aspect of East Asian Buddhism, exploring the concept of human nature and what it means to be a person. In the Yogacara tradition, the Buddha nature is comprised of three natures collectively: the discriminating nature, the relative nature, and the true nature. The discriminating nature deals with “verbal expression” and is constituted by the relative nature, “which manifests as the twelvefold chain of conditioned origination.”10 Lastly, “the true nature is the Thusness (chen-ju) of all things.” It rectifies the discriminating and relative natures, leading to liberation.11 King further notes that “The Buddha nature, then..., is known by its functions: purification of the other two natures, liberation, and the cultivation of all virtues. Its nature is equated with Thusness: the reality of things as they are and knowledge of that reality.”12 It can be seen here that a necessary part of realizing and actualizing our Buddha nature is cultivating the self. The ways to do so will be elaborated in Section V. Further on, she says, “If the Buddha nature is the essential nature of a human being, then there is, on this level and in this context, a universal sameness shared by humanity at the core of our identity. We are all intrinsically enlightened and compassionate beings, and not just in potential but always and already in present reality.”13 It can be seen here how the Buddha nature is part of our own and that it is not just an individual nature but one of humanity as a whole, which brings us together and recognizes our capacity for enlightenment.

Now that each school’s view of human nature has been established, it becomes clear how the concept of self-cultivation emerged. All three philosophies and religions have some notion of a universal state of humanity, devoid of culture, personal attributes, and society. Realizing this state and returning to it, whether it be good or bad, naturalness, or “thusness,” requires us to

7 Sherman, Thomas J. “‘Being Natural,’ The Good Human Being, and the Goodness of Acting Naturally in the Laozi and The Nicomachean Ethics.” Dao 5, no. 2 (June 2006): 333. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02868039.

8 Ibid.

9 Fraser, Chris. Zhuāngzǐ: The complete writings. (Oxford University Press, 2024), 35-6.

10 King, Sallie B. “Buddha Nature and the Concept of Person.” Philosophy East and West 39, no. 2 (1989): 154. https://doi.org/10.2307/1399375.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid, 163.

cultivate ourselves. All three schools have their distinct ideas of self-cultivation, which will be discussed in the following three sections.

III. Self-Cultivation in Confucianism

Although Confucius does not hold a view of human nature similar to Mencius and Xunzi, self-cultivation remains a primary component of his philosophy. To create a well-ordered society, there must be well-ordered individuals. This can be seen through the Confucian classic, the Great Learning (da xue, 大學), which seeks “to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.”14 Confucius looked to the ancient sages as moral exemplars and believed that we should emulate them. Further along in the text, it says, “The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom first ordered well their states. Wishing to order their states well, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.”15 Cultivating the self for Confucius involves several key aspects, including ritual, filial piety, learning, and practicing other virtues.

Rites or rituals (禮) are crucial for Confucius. In the Analects, when Yan Hui asks about “Goodness,” Confucius says that it “lies within yourself,” and when Yan Hui asks how to achieve that “Goodness,” Confucius responds, “Do not look unless it is in accordance with ritual; do not listen unless it is in accordance with ritual; do not speak unless it is in accordance with ritual; do not move unless it is in accordance with ritual.”16 Practicing rituals, the virtues, and dedicating oneself to moral education is the basis of Confucius’s view of self-cultivation. His goal is to create a benevolent, righteous, dutiful, and wise person, similar to a junzi (君子), or a gentleman, a scholarly and exemplary person.

Mencius views our human nature to be inherently good, but it is something we must practice to maintain our “good” state. The four sprouts, or moral capacities, that we inherently have can be cultivated into virtue through practice. If we practice them, then we can become benevolent, righteous, respectful, and wise. Not only should we practice them, but we should also find joy in doing so to strengthen our motivations. Referring to the sprouts, Mencius says, “If one delights in them, then they grow. If they grow, then how can they be stopped? If they cannot be stopped, then without realizing it, one’s feet begin to step in time to them, and one’s hands dance according to their rhythms.”17 A crucial component of Mencius’s argument is that we innately contain some sense of morality. Dr. Carl Helsing points out that Mencius does not believe “that moral knowledge is innate, but rather it means we are born with emotional capacities that function within our living environments.”18 These emotional capacities are the four sprouts, which were discussed in the previous section. To fully develop a moral compass and nourish the four sprouts, we must cultivate ourselves through education and reflection. Reflection is necessary for Mencius because if people do not practice it, then they will “fail to develop

14 Sturgeon, Donald. “Liji: Da Xue.” Chinese Text Project. Section 1. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://ctext.org/liji/daxue#n10382.

15 Ibid.

16 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Kongzi (Confucius)” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 33.

17 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Mengzi (Mencius)” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 141.

18 Helsing, Carl. “Sprouts, Mountains, and Fields: Symbol and Sustainability in Mengzi’s Moral Psychology.” Philosophies of Place, June 30, 2019, 2. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824878627-017

morally.”19 Learning, the other necessary aspect of self-cultivation, not only fosters the expansion of knowledge but also promotes our moral development. Discipline is an integral part of the learning process, which keeps us in check and holds us accountable for our personal growth. Both learning and ritual, as described by Mencius, prevent us from becoming evil and immoral beings. Instead, it fosters the good nature that we inherently possess and makes us morally upright and outstanding individuals.

To cultivate the self, according to Xunzi, one must overcome their disorderly nature. Xunzi says that "human nature is the original beginning and the raw material, and deliberate effort is what makes it patterned, ordered, and exalted... When human nature and deliberate effort unite, then all under Heaven becomes ordered."20 There are two practices associated with deliberate effort: ritual and learning. Beginning with ritual, Xunzi’s view of ritual is not nearly as extreme as Confucius’s, which Xunzi is quite critical of. Instead of exuberant rituals that must be performed in a specific manner, rituals include everyday routines and matters of etiquette. Having everyday basic rituals gives structure to our lives that we inherently lack due to our nature, so by being consistent with everyday rituals, you are simultaneously cultivating the self. Learning is another vital component of self-cultivation for Xunzi, as it enables us to develop a sense of morality that we lack in our natural state. Expanding our minds and engaging with new content is invigorating, allowing us to be more open and receptive. Xunzi believes that it leads us down the path of becoming a reasonable person in line with the Way. He says, "If you never climb a high mountain, you will not know the height of Heaven. If you never approach a deep ravine, you will not know the depth of the earth. If you never hear the words passed down from the reformer kings, you will not know the magnificence of learning."21 Xunzi’s view of selfcultivation, which arises from his complex view of nature, makes us culpable for our actions and provides us with responsibilities to maintain, such as ritual and learning, leading us to become good and harmonious individuals.

IV. Self-Cultivation in Daoism

Cultivating oneself according to Laozi and Zhuangzi differs from the Confucian view. Rather than emphasizing virtue, ritual, or learning, there are specific practices that correlate with certain principles. The first is wu-wei (無为), established by Laozi, which translates to effortless action, or non-action. The meaning of wu-wei does not imply that we do not act; instead, we act without any premeditated responses or dispositions. Chapter sixty-three of the Daodejing says, “Act, but through nonaction. Be active, but have no activities.”22 This is a practice we can incorporate into our everyday lives, and by doing so, we can align with the Dao. An example of this is Cook Ding, a renowned butcher. When asked about his technique, he says, “When I first began cutting up oxen, I did not see anything but oxen. Three years later, I couldn’t see the whole ox. And now, I encounter them with spirit and don’t look with my eyes… [I] follow what is inherently

19 Van Norden, Bryan W. “Chapter 6: Mengzi and Human Nature” in Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2011), 93.

20 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William. “Xunzi” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 295.

21 Ibid, 271.

22 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Laozi,” 202.

so.”23 To achieve effortless action takes time, but by doing so, you cultivate the self and align with the natural flow of the universe.

Another principle discussed by Zhuangzi is wu-xin (無心), which translates to emptying of the mind or fasting the mind. This ties to the idea of the self, which “in the Zhuangzi is a substantial, persisting self; it is a simple, basic object that is distinct from its properties.”24 So, the “I” is the pure self, and the “me” denotes specific characteristics or words that are attached to the “I.” These characteristics are harmful because they are shaped by our perceptions and do not follow the state of naturalness. Nourishing virtue is what will allow one to return to the natural state, and as mentioned earlier, wu-xin for Zhuangzi aligns with de.

To further discuss the concept of fasting the mind or heart-mind, it is necessary to delve into Chapter 4 of the Zhuangzi. In this chapter, Yan Hui asks Confucius if he can go to Wei and attempt to reform their ruler. In Fraser’s “Psychological Emptiness in the Zhuangzi,” he argues that Confucius does not believe Yan Hui is ready for this because of his “lack of psychological preparation, his over ambitious preoccupation with his good name and knowledge, and the likelihood that lecturing a tyrant on morality will get him executed for being a pest.”25 After multiple attempts at giving Confucius different approaches he can take, Yan Hui gives in and asks Confucius what to do. What is necessary for Yan Hui to do, according to Confucius, is to fast the mind. When Yan Hui asks him how to do this, Confucius says, “Focus your intent. Listen not with your ears but with your mind; listen not with your mind but with your vital breath. Listening stops with the ears; the mind stops with tallies. The vital breath waits patiently for things to come. Only follow the Way of concentrating emptiness. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.”26 Fasting the mind relates back to ziran and the Daoist belief that our human nature resides within nature as a whole. Fraser highlights this passage from the Zhuangzi. He says that “our capacity for adjustment to the particular context may be severely limited by a particular system of tallies. In fasting, we empty the heart of these tallies, removing the fixed standards by which it normally guides us. We cease to take the heart as our master and at the same time open ourselves up to being guided by things themselves.”27 So, for Yan Hui to be prepared to go on this journey, he must cultivate himself by fasting the heart/mind, which will allow him to be guided by naturalness.

A common practice associated with emptying the mind is meditation, and for Zhuangzi, an example of this is zuowang (坐忘). This translates to “sitting and forgetting,” and in inner chapter six of the Zhuangzi, there is a conversation again between Confucius and Yan Hui, where Yan Hui claims to be improving on his practice of fasting the mind by forgetting benevolence, righteousness, rites, and music. For a couple of days, Yan Hui goes to Confucius, telling him that he has improved, and each time, Confucius asks how. Eventually, after Confucius asks the same monotonous question, Yan Hui replies, “I sit and forget,” which confuses Confucius.28 He then asks him to clarify what Yan Hui means, who responds with, “I cast off my limbs, dismiss hearing and sight, leave my form, abandon knowledge, and unify

23 Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Zhuangzi” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, 2023), 239.

24 Hung, Jenny. “THE THEORY OF THE SELF IN THE ZHUANGZI: A STRAWSONIAN INTERPRETATION.” Philosophy East and West 69, no. 2 (2019): 376. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26753927

25 Fraser, Chris. “Psychological Emptiness in the Zhuāngzǐ.” Asian Philosophy 18, no. 2 (July 2008), 126. https://doi.org/10.1080/09552360802218025.

26 Fraser, Zhuāngzǐ, 22.

27 Fraser, “Psychological Emptiness in the Zhuāngzǐ,” 128.

28 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Zhuangzi,” 255.

them in the great comprehension. That’s what I mean by ‘sit and forget.’”29 Through the act of zuowang, one can practice emptying the mind (wu-xin) and return to the state of naturalness that Daoism advocates for.

Ultimately, “The goal of a Daoist is to get rid of the ego and join the process of transformation of the universe.”30 The practices of wu-wei and wu-xin allow us to return to our state of naturalness known as ziran. Although there are other practices, such as Taijiquan or Tai Chi, internal and external alchemy, and other methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine associated with the concept of yin-yang, these two principles are crucial in cultivating the self and being one with the nature of the universe.

V. Self-Cultivation in Buddhism

The ways to cultivate the self in Chinese Buddhism relate to the concept of human nature, which, as described in Section II, is characterized by the Buddha nature. To achieve our Buddha nature, certain practices promote self-cultivation, which, over time, will lead to enlightenment. Chan Buddhism has a writing called The Treatise on the Essentials of Cultivating the Mind, which “describes the fundamental attitude toward spiritual cultivation in terms of ‘maintaining [awareness of the mind]’ (shouxin), which is essentially a posture of nurturing the Buddha-nature as a treasure within one’s own person."31 There is a secondary aspect to spiritual cultivation that goes along with the realization and nurturing of our inherent Buddha-nature, which is to not act with the mere desire to achieve enlightenment but instead to let it happen.32 The idea of being detached from one’s desires is a prevalent concept in Buddhist philosophy that can be achieved through different practices. One of the most important practices in Chan Buddhism is mindfulness. Shenxiu, a prominent Chan master who focused on the East Mountain Teaching, “advocated for a manner of living in which even the most prosaic of one’s activities-in every feature and detail is an act of religious practice.”33 This represents the extreme mindfulness in Chan Buddhism, which is a method of spiritual cultivation. Meditation is a practice that allows us to return to our natural state and cultivate mindfulness. Another Chan practitioner, Taigen, in his work Cultivating the Empty Field, says that “The practice of true reality is simply to sit serenely in silent introspection... Continuing to cultivate and nourish yourself will help you enact maturity and achieve stability. If you accord everywhere with thorough clarity and cut off sharp corners without dependence on doctrines, you can be called a complete person.”34 The way to cultivate the self according to Chan Buddhism is to practice mindfulness, sit in meditation, and realize our inherent Buddha-nature.

Tiantai Buddhism shares a similar view of self-cultivation with Chan, particularly in its emphasis on meditation. Zhiyi, the founder of Tiantai Buddhism, emphasizes the importance of contemplation in the process of transforming oneself. In Kantor’s writing on Zhiyi, he says,

29 Ibid, 256.

30 Yu, “Living with Nature: Stoicism and Daoism,” 13.

31 McRae, John R. “Beginnings: Differentiating/Connecting Bodhidharma and the East Mountain Teaching.” In Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. (University of California Press, 2004), 48. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520237971.001.0001

32 Ibid, 49.

33 McRae, John R. “Metropolitan Chan: Imperial Patronage and the Chan Style.” In Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. (University of California Press, 2004), 57. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520237971.001.0001

34 Leighton, Taigen Dan, and Yi Wu. Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi. (Tuttle Publishing, 2014), 30-31.

“According to Tiantai Buddhism, the Mahāyāna task of 'saving and transforming all sentient beings’ consists of self-transformation of one’s own Xin into Buddha-wisdom benefiting others. Doctrines like ‘benefiting others via self-benefit’ and ‘transforming others via self-practice’ express such interdependence between sentient beings.”35 Xin, according to Tiantai, means the mind, but there is a dualistic nature within it where it contains both the capacities for suffering from samsara and the capacities for nirvana. It is empty and, as the passage above says, interdependent. Therefore, for Tiantai to cultivate the self, it is necessary to transform the mind through practices of meditation, as well as through the chanting of the Lotus Sutra. For Tiantai Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra is “the profoundest expression of the dharma in words... [it] emphasizes the universality and eternity of buddhahood or nirvana. Its expansive reality is not limited in space or time. All sentient beings can find buddhahood, indeed, on a deeper level are buddhas, always have been and always shall be.”36 Thus, the means of self-cultivation for both Tiantai and Chan Buddhism, although slightly different, relate to the inherent Buddha-nature that everyone possesses, and by practicing these means, one can become enlightened.

VI. How All Three Schools of Thought Are Compatible

Although all three philosophies and religions differ from one another, there are similarities between them that make them compatible. As shown in sections II-V, all their views of selfcultivation are tied back to a theory of human nature, so their practices originate from the same concept, despite their differing opinions on the definition of nature. Second, they all have set practices that allow us to either overcome our nature, practice it, or reside within it. By doing so, humans not only resonate with their nature but also achieve a state of harmony that reflects their goodness and upstanding moral aptitude. For the Confucians, ritual, learning, and practicing different virtues will lead them towards this state. The Daoists emphasize the importance of practicing wu-wei and wu-xin through meditation and practice. Lastly, the Chan and Tiantai Buddhists also advocate for meditation and the study of the sutras. So, despite the fact that their initial theories on why we need to cultivate the self may differ, they all share a similar goal of becoming a virtuous, compassionate, and moral person, which, if observed further, could be argued to be just as effective. I would argue that, in this sense, the creation of a harmonious individual (which is achieved through self-cultivation) implies that the person is just. Another goal of these philosophies and religions is to create a harmonious society, and for them, it starts with the individual. If a society is harmonious, it then seems that it would be just, and vice versa. This idea will be explored in later sections, but it has now been shown how all three schools of thought are compatible and how they reach a similar conclusion. Trying to define justice in Confucianism, Daoism, or Buddhism proves to be quite difficult. There is no specific term for justice when reading the primary sources. Still, specific terms can be related to the idea of justice, which deals with how one should act in a society and how a society should be structured. The following few sections will dive further into ways to define justice based on each school of thought, and then a comparison will be made to Western views of justice.

VII. Justice in Confucianism

35 Kantor, Hans-Rudolf. “Zhiyi’s Great Calming and Contemplation.” In Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings. (Oxford University Press, 2009), 335.

36 Ellwood, Robert S. “Magic Mountains and the Old Court.” In Japanese Religion: The E-Book. (Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Books, 2007), 156. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=208708

The first school of thought to be discussed in relation to justice is Confucianism. Tao Jiang, an author well-versed in this topic, defines how justice relates to Confucian beliefs. He discusses the idea of “partialist humaneness” that is established through Confucius’s emphasis on virtues such as benevolence and filial piety. Jiang says, The famous moral-political paradigm, known as the cultivation-regulation-governancepacification (xiu qi xhi ping 修齊治平, hereafter XQZP) model, is most succinctly articulated in the Great Learning (daxue 平天下). The XQZP model integrates the personal, the familial, and the political domains through cultivating one’s personal virtues (xiushen 修身), regulating the family/kin (qijia 齊家), governing a feudal state (zhiguo 治國), and bringing peace to all under the Heaven (ping tianxia 平天下).37

For Confucius, justice begins at the personal level, but, as Jiang said, the individual is connected to everything else. Some of the most important virtues for Confucius are filial piety, benevolence, and ritual. Filial piety is essential for maintaining harmony within the family, where children demonstrate respect and dedication to their parents throughout their lives. Ritual propriety and benevolence for Confucius “served as indispensable foundations for proper human conduct. When perfected and enacted in the public arena with genuine sincerity, they naturally bring about positive social transformation.”38 As noted in the section on Confucian selfcultivation, rites and rituals are crucial components. To Confucius, rituals are the most important thing in his moral philosophy, which ties into his political philosophy, as noted in the previous quote. Another essential part of Confucian society is the ruler, who must be a moral exemplar. If a society does not have a good and virtuous ruler, it will be reflected in the behavior of its citizens. In Analects 12.19, Confucius says, “If you desire goodness, then the common people will be good. The Virtue of a gentleman is like the wind, and the Virtue of a petty person is like the grass when the wind moves over the grass, the grass is sure to bend.”39 Once again, as Jiang points out, there is interconnectedness between the self, the family, and society that is essential to consider when understanding justice in Confucian terms. So, it can be said that the practice of virtues intended to cultivate the self leads to the cultivation of the whole, where justice is grown and practiced rather than enforced.

The concept of justice evident in Mencius and Xunzi’s philosophies is similar to the Confucian view, but differs slightly due to their differing beliefs about human nature and selfcultivation. For Mencius, his “good” view of human nature leads to practices that reinforce our nature rather than deterring from it, like Xunzi’s view. Mencius’s four sprouts or seeds, which, if nourished or practiced, lead to the cultivation of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, on a personal level but also a societal one. For Xunzi, since our nature is evil, social harmony cannot be achieved through practicing our innate “goodness,” but instead must be achieved through ritual and learning. Ritual and learning, according to Mencius, are necessary for the creation of a just individual and a just society. Still, they are undertaken to support our good nature rather than overcome our bad one. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Confucius recognizes the need for a moral exemplar to rule society. Mencius agrees, and Chan notes that the concept of benevolence, which is central to Mencius’s thought, is reflected in the

37 Jiang, Tao. “Introduction §4: Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. (Oxford University Press, 2021), 37.

38 Poceski, Mario. “Chapter 2: The Classical Confucian Tradition.” Essay. In Chinese Religions: The Ebook. (Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Books, 2009), 36.

39 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Kongzi (Confucius),” 36.

idea of “benevolent rule,” which is “a set of social and economic policies that all legitimate rulers must implement.”40 When Mencius is talking to Chen about governance, he refers to a sage named Yao, who said, “‘Encourage them, draw them forward, straighten them, rectify them, help them, make them practice, assist them, make them get it themselves, and then benefit them.’”41 Similarly to Confucius, Mencius also realizes the necessity of having a good ruler to reinforce the cultivation of the virtues among the people, showing how justice grows instead of being forced.

Instead of benevolent rule or leading with benevolence, Xunzi believes that society should be ruled by “ritual and standards of righteousness.”42 Since he does not think that we have an inherent moral compass like Mencius does, these rules also create a sense of morality and order. Xunzi says that “when government orders are not clear, when policies are not timely, when the fundamental tasks are not well-ordered these are called ‘human ill omens.’ When ritual and the standards of righteousness are not cultivated,” then there are human ill omens, which “arise from disorder.”43 Although Xunzi does not advocate for benevolent rule, he still realizes the necessity for self-cultivation and a ruler who exhibits proper self-cultivation, which requires ritual and learning. Since learning is required to become a virtuous and good person, justice still grows despite having rules and regulations enforced by the ruler. So, all three Confucian thinkers recognize the interconnectedness between the self and society, where the cultivation of the self leads to a cultivated and harmonious society, and the importance of a benevolent or righteous ruler.

VIII. Justice in Daoism

Understanding justice in Daoist thought is arguably much more difficult than understanding justice in Confucian thought. To discuss Daoist justice, it is necessary to examine how Laozi and Zhuangzi perceive society and how justice is reflected in their perspectives. First, I will use the concepts I have discussed in previous sections to advocate for how I believe Daoists would view society. Then I will refer to Tao Jiang’s book, Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China, to further expand on the Daoist view of justice.

In Section II, the Daoist view of human nature was described as part of a larger, universal nature. The term ziran, or naturalness, is used to describe nature, which is constantly transforming and in flux, and characterizes the Dao. The goal of self-cultivation in Daoism is to reside in our natural state and not be attached to things outside of our control. The practice of wu-wei, or effortless action, and wu-xin, or fasting of the mind, both allow us to do so. Yu says that “Everything is in the process of transformation, and this natural process is inevitable. A Daoist should be completely indifferent to everything outside him... [leading to] a life of detachment from social and conventional values.”44 In contrast to Confucianism, there is no interconnectedness between the self, family, and society. Instead, there is interconnectedness between ourselves, the Dao, and our state of naturalness. The principles of wu-wei and wu-xin should be applied when establishing a society and participating in it, so that the community can also align with the spontaneous and transformative nature of the universe. Yu continues to say

40 Chan, Joseph. “Chapter 7: Social Justice as Sufficiency for All.” Essay. In Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times. (Princeton University Press, 2017), 161.

41 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Mengzi (Mencius),” 135.

42 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Xunzi,” 281.

43 Ibid, 286.

44 Yu, “Living with Nature: Stoicism and Daoism,” 10.

that “Daoism acknowledges that family is important and friendship is valuable. Yet they are not a part of the life of nature (ziran).”45 Despite being detached and indifferent toward things outside of our control and naturalness, there is a need for justice since we all still live in a society. Whatever people do, whether they hold a governmental position or not, should be in line with the Dao. Therefore, it can be argued that justice should align with the natural state, suggesting a harmonious interconnectedness between the self and ziran. From this, it can be deduced that laws that enforce behavior, such as the ones indicated by Xunzi, would impede us from living with our nature, so justice should follow the same principles we use to cultivate the self.

Jiang says, “With the humans decentered and regarded as one among the myriad things, human actions have come to be understood as part of the natural processes of the cosmos.”46 This passage reinforces the idea that humans are a part of the whole and are just as susceptible to following natural processes as anything else. Continuing on, Jiang delineates between the way of Heaven and the way of humans, which are distinct from one another. Jiang elaborates on chapter seventy-seven of the Daodejing: “Laozi touts the way of Heaven as representing equity and justice, more specifically distributive justice, while railing against the way of humans as predatory and unjust.”47 From this, it can be argued that how a society should be set up is in a way that mirrors the way of Heaven, and the one who should keep society intact is the exemplary sage. This point will be expanded upon further in Section X. Still, it has been demonstrated that the Daodejing embodies a sense of justice that aligns with the natural processes of the universe. The application of justice in society shares similarities with the concept of distributive justice.

After discussing Laozi’s view on justice, Jiang dives into Zhuangzi’s view on justice. Jiang defines his contrarian view as “personal freedom,” implying a detachment from society and things outside of our control that allows us to wander carelessly. Unlike Confucian thinkers and Laozi, Zhuangzi rejects the notions of justice and humaneness that they advocate. Still, his theory of personal freedom remains applicable to the moral, political, and social order. As mentioned in section IV, part of the process of cultivating the self for Zhuangzi is emptying the mind. He applies this to his societal views by showing that wu-xin is necessary to not only empty the mind but also to transform it “from a fixed and closed one to an agile and open one” so that people can “enjoy some degree of personal freedom within the Chinese lifeworld, rigidly regulated by ritual and laws,” by cultivating “extraordinary discernment and social skills which can enable them to navigate the suffocating and often treacherous lifeworld.”48 So, the process of cultivating the self through practices such as wu-xin enables us to nurture the skills necessary to navigate society while remaining in line with the dao and the naturalness of the universe.

IX. Justice in Buddhism

The idea of justice in Buddhism ties back to the view of Buddha nature and the practices explained in section V. Although the scriptures and sutras may not explicitly outline a definitive view of justice, specific concepts, such as karma, dependent origination, and interconnectedness, help us understand Buddhist justice. In Sallie King’s book, Socially Engaged Buddhism, she

45 Ibid, 11.

46 Jiang, Tao. “Part 2 Chapter 3 §3: Laozi’s Dao and the Realignment of Values.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. (Oxford University Press, 2021), 197.

47 Ibid, 206.

48 Jiang, Tao. “Part 3 Chapter 5 §6: Conclusion: Tension between Personal Freedom and Humaneness/Justice.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. (Oxford University Press, 2021), 338.

discusses how the previously mentioned concepts are employed by Buddhists who actively participate in society and strive to bring a Buddhist perspective to fruition. Dependent origination, the idea that all things are causally linked and dependent on one another, is an important doctrine for self-transformation and cultivation. However, King also mentions how Engaged Buddhists apply the concept to social transformation. She says, “If there is something unwholesome from which one wants to free the world (for example, war, poverty, racism), then one should look to the causes and conditions that bring that reality into being and see what action can be brought to bear to eliminate or alter those causes or conditions.”49 This implies the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all beings, which relates to our Buddha nature. To return to Chan Buddhism, the purpose of their practices, such as sitting meditation or being constantly mindful, is to realize the inherent Buddha nature. In Chun’s chapter, “The Buddha Nature Theory and Its Social Value,” he argues that the Buddha nature’s subjective idealism motivates “all sentient beings to become Buddha or to behave morally in society.”50 From this, it can be understood that morality inherently resides within us, and by using methods of selfcultivation such as mindfulness for Chan, reciting the Lotus Sutra for Tiantai, or meditation for both, we will foster the sense of morality we have within us and thereby grow a sense of justice. Since everyone contains the Buddha nature, the doctrine itself is then one of equality, which Chun notes was appealing for the “Chinese masses,” who “saw the possibility of social justice and ethical fairness,” which empowered people “to cultivate the self-awareness of Buddha nature, constituting a solid intellectual ground for becoming Buddha and self-salvation for each individual regardless of their social status.”51 Although society may be set up in a way where not everyone is equal, people can find comfort in knowing that they can attain their Buddha nature. The ultimate goal of Buddhism, including Chinese Buddhism, is to end suffering and achieve enlightenment. King points out that engaged Buddhists do not look “for a ‘just’ outcome”; they instead “look for the reconciliation of alienated groups and an end of suffering.”52 The emphasis on interdependence and interconnectedness between all beings prevalent in all Buddhist thought would “tend to discourage the formation of the kind of strongly individualistic society that is common in the West (especially the United States) and encourage a more communitarian society, with a relatively stronger emphasis on the importance of social groups and on the natural world.”53 Ideally, this is the way in which a society would be set up according to Buddhism, where our inherent morality present within our Buddha nature is cultivated and everyone can end suffering together, leading to the establishment of harmony that is not enforced but instead is grown.

X. Comparison to Western Theories of Justice

Now that the views of justice for Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism have been laid out, a comparison must be made between these views and those of the Western ideas of justice. Since connections to distributive justice have been made in sections VII and VIII, I will first discuss Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness, the first Western theory I will examine. Rawls defines

49 King, Sallie. “Philosophy and Ethics.” In Socially Engaged Buddhism. Dimensions of Asian Spirituality. (University of Hawaii Press, 2009), 14. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=285954&site=ehost-live

50 Chun, Shan. “The Buddha Nature Theory and Its Social Value.” In Major Aspects of Chinese Religion and Philosophy: Dao of Inner Saint and Outer King. (Springer, 2012), 112. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29317-7

51 Ibid, 109.

52 King, Sallie. “Conclusion.” In Socially Engaged Buddhism. Dimensions of Asian Spirituality. (University of Hawaii Press, 2009), 178. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=285954&site=ehost-live

53 King, “Philosophy and Ethics,” 22.

“justice as fairness” as “the idea that the principles of justice are agreed to in an initial situation that is fair.”54 During his discussion of an ideal society, Rawls says, “A society is well-ordered when it is not only designed to advance the good of its members but when it is also effectively regulated by a public conception of justice.”55 For there to be regulation, there must be an institution that enforces the conventional belief of justice. Despite incorporating the well-being of the people into his concept of the ideal society, Rawls’s primary focus is on reforming and creating institutions that enforce justice, rather than examining the people themselves. In other words, he is building from the top down rather than starting at the bottom and working up. Further on, Rawls says, “For us the primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, how the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation.”56 This reiterates Rawls’s desire for institutions that make sure our rights are upheld but still enforce justice.

Another Western view of justice to observe arises from other social contract theories. Locke, Rousseau, and Hobbes are three popular philosophers who formulate a theory of justice based on a mutually agreed-upon social contract. Similar to Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, they begin by observing human nature. For Locke, our state of nature is freer and dictated by natural reason. Hobbes, on the other hand, believes our state of nature is chaotic and we are overwhelmed with our selfish desires (somewhat similarly to Xunzi). Rousseau had an idea that bears similarities to Mencius, namely that our state of nature is good, peaceful, and that we inherently possess some compassion. The three philosophers begin to differ when it comes to the creation of a social contract and what the agreed-upon terms of that contract are. For Hobbes, we believe we sign over our rights to a sovereign power. Locke seeks the creation of a government that is ultimately responsible for maintaining our rights and is controlled by the people. Rousseau, on the other hand, seeks a new form of government that takes inequalities into consideration and has the goal of resolving them. Hobbes emphasized “allegiance to the common power,” Locke advocates for an agreement of allegiance but also for there to be an agreed-upon social contract for society that the government must maintain, and Rousseau seeks no terms of allegiance but rather the protection of the social contract by the government.57 Despite having some similarities in views of nature, there is a lack of self-cultivation and the fostering of virtues in social contract theories, which is a crucial component of developing justice in Chinese philosophies and religions.

Returning to the concept of justice in Chinese philosophies and religions, it is helpful to understand how society should be structured by examining a passage from Chapter SeventySeven of the Daodejing.

It is the way of Heaven to take from what has an excess to make good what is deficient. The way of humans is otherwise. It takes from those who are in want to offer this to those who already have more than enough. Who is there that can take what he has in excess and deliver it to the empire? Only he who has the way. Therefore, the sage benefits them yet exacts no gratitude, accomplishes his task yet lays claim no merit.58

54 Rawls, John. “Justice as Fairness.” In A Theory of Justice. (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971), 12.

55 Ibid, 5.

56 Ibid, 7.

57 Pollock, Frederick. “Hobbes and Locke: The Social Contract in English Political Philosophy.” Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation 9, no. 1 (1908): 111. http://www.jstor.org/stable/752187

58 Jiang, Tao. “Part 2 Chapter 3 §3: Laozi’s Dao and the Realignment of Values.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. (Oxford University Press, 2021), 205.

The ultimate goal of a society should be to maintain the harmony created by harmonious individuals who foster their nature and cultivate their practices. This excerpt from the Daodejing exemplifies the natural state of Heaven and how it maintains harmony through the acquisition of balance. When a society is ruled by people who do not follow the way and overlook imbalances, chaos will ensue. Instead, a society with someone, such as a sage, who follows the way and ensures the well-being of all, will lead to a harmonious society where justice is not enforced, but cultivated. A theory of justice that aligns with the justice present in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism is a communitarian theory. This refers to the establishment and recognition of the importance of communities. The goal of communitarian theories “is to identify valued forms of community and to devise policies designed to protect and promote them, without sacrificing too much freedom,” thus implying interconnectedness and the cultivation of justice beginning with the people themselves.59 Back in Section IX, King mentioned communitarian views when discussing socially engaged Buddhism, noting how these views are “less forgetful of the fact that the individual does not stand alone but is very much formed by society and the physical world.”60 This then creates a more holistic view of justice where the self is recognized and justice is something that is nourished rather than enforced. Communitarianism, when interpreted correctly, is compatible with the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist senses of justice. In Ya Lan Chang’s “Communitarianism, Properly Understood,” she addresses the common misconception of communitarianism and its compatibility with human rights. Chang points out that some people have interpreted communitarianism as prioritizing the common good over individuals. She responds to this by saying that communitarianism “is a normatively appealing political philosophy that values both individual and community without championing one over the other. It retains the best aspects of liberalism and collectivism in articulating a political philosophy that protects the individual in harmony with community.”61 So, to think that communitarianism only prioritizes community. Not individual autonomy is incorrect. After clarifying what communitarianism actually is, Chang says that it “provides another way to resolve social controversies and foster communal harmony by shifting the focus from individual freedom to community as a source of meaning and value for individuals, and the normative significance of community membership. And it does so without sacrificing individual rights.”

62 Communitarianism prioritizes harmony, which shows its compatibility with self-cultivation. By cultivating the self, in turn, you cultivate the community, which fosters and establishes harmony.

XI. Why Including Self-Cultivation in a Theory of Justice is Necessary Western culture is caught up in individualism and consumerism, and when it comes to justice, it gets lost in the big picture. The concept of self-cultivation in Chinese thought, particularly in Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, views the self as part of the whole, and for the whole to function correctly, each part must function well. Self-cultivation allows us to do that

59 Bell, Daniel. “Communitarianism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June 7, 2024. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/communitarianism/.

60 King, “Philosophy and Ethics,” 22.

61 Chang, Ya Lan. “Communitarianism, Properly Understood.” Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence 35, no. 1 (January 20, 2022): 119. https://doi.org/10.1017/cjlj.2021.21.

62 Ibid, 120.

and become good and virtuous beings. Integrating this concept into theories of justice can provide a more holistic approach where all parts, even the self, are considered.

The views of human nature and the concept of self-cultivation prevalent in Chinese philosophies and religions differ radically from the human nature views of Western culture, such as social contract theories, which focus on an individual's success in society. It may seem as though both philosophies are individualistic, but the ways in which they are individualistic differ. The way Western theories are individualistic is reflected in their view of how well a person performs in society. The society that Western theories create attempts to enforce justice from some kind of moral high ground, which can lead to chaos and dispute between the people. The society created through the incorporation of self-cultivation is individual in the sense that it focuses quite literally on the well-being of the individual, rather than on how well they perform in society. Although the latter may be necessary, individuals must cultivate themselves to become harmonious and just individuals, so that this quality is reflected at a societal level. A society full of cultivated beings is one where justice is grown, not enforced. This is better because it allows for interconnectedness and compassion among all, where one may be focused on their personal cultivation, but by doing so, they are looking out for everyone else. Confucius says, “‘To live in the neighborhood of the Good is fine. If one does not choose to dwell among those who are Good, how will one obtain wisdom?’”63 It is difficult to be good if you are constantly surrounded by people who are not, which Mencius also agrees with. If we are not in a stable environment, our growth is stunted. As Xunzi discusses the importance of learning in overcoming our destructive nature, he also believes that we should surround ourselves with others who learn and our teachers. Rituals and rites are an essential part of Confucianism, and Chan says that they help moral cultivation by regulating unhealthy desires and refining feelings and attitudes (li jiao, ritual education); they express the basic principles of human relationships and roles (li yi, ritual principles) and help regulate society according to these principles (li zhi, ritual system); these functions in turn help achieve a harmonious, ethical society, which is the goal of Confucian governance (li zhi, ritual rule) that cannot be achieved by the use of penal law.64

The methods of self-cultivation for Daoism are also necessary in the creation of a just society because society should include the principles of wuwei and following the state of naturalness in order to obtain harmony. Similarly, in Buddhism, the emphasis on interconnectedness and the practices of meditation and mindfulness lead to the recognition of the Buddha nature and the creation of harmony at a societal level.

To reinforce the importance of self-cultivation, it is beneficial to look at a passage from the Analects of Confucius, which provides an analogy to music. He says, “What can be known about music is this: when it first begins, it resounds with a confusing variety of notes, but as it unfolds, these notes are reconciled by means of harmony, brought into tensions by means of counterpoint, and finally woven together into a seamless whole. It is in this way that music reaches its perfection.”65 Without self-cultivation in theories of justice, there is a lack of harmony and justice at the individual level, meaning that it will not be reflected at a societal level. Instead of enforcing justice, justice is cultivated as individuals develop themselves. A society with a theory

63 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Kongzi (Confucius),” 12.

64 Chan, Joseph. “Introduction.” In Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times. (Princeton University Press, 2017), 2.

65 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Kongzi (Confucius),” 11.

of justice that incorporates the concept of self-cultivation simply maintains the justice and harmony that already exist.

XII. Cultivation as Justice

I would like to further develop the proposed argument for incorporating cultivation into theories of justice by showing that cultivation is not only a condition of justice, but also a definition of justice. As shown throughout this paper, self-cultivation is a means of achieving harmony within the self, which is subsequently reflected in society. Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist views of justice all contain self-cultivation, and I believe that self-cultivation itself is justice. In Dr. Carl Helsing’s “Sprout, Mountains, and Fields: Symbol and Sustainability in Mengzi’s Moral Psychology,” he talks about the use of force in society, which impedes moral cultivation. When discussing a passage from Confucius regarding how to lead, Dr. Helsing says, Attempting to force human behavior to conform to standards of benevolence will instill resentment and distrust simply by virtue of trying to forcefully shape human behavior. Perceived violence will also inhibit the heart of compassion; the application of force creates emotional resistance to empathy; the application of violence or force directly inhibits the ability to feel compassion or empathy for others.

This relates to Section XI and the issue of Western theories of justice having a tendency to enforce justice from the top down through the creation of institutions. Through cultivation, justice would not have to be enforced but rather maintained. In chapter sixty-six of the Daodejing, it says, “The rivers and ocean can rule over a hundred valleys, because they are good at placing themselves in the lower position... This is why, if you want to be above people, you must proclaim that you are below them. If you want to lead the people, you must put yourself behind them.”

67 Having a leader who exhibits these qualities and has cultivated themselves can maintain justice and encourage others to cultivate themselves. This is compatible with communitarianism since the ultimate goal is to foster harmony at an individual and communal level. Rehabilitative justice is similar to restorative justice because they share the same desire to improve the individual while also creating a safe and harmonious society.

It has been shown that there are ties between cultivation and justice, but cultivation itself can be a theory of justice, not just a condition.

XIII. Conclusion

Throughout this paper, I have argued that incorporating the concept of self-cultivation, present in Chinese thought specifically Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism when developing a theory of justice is more holistic than contemporary Western theories of justice. In contemporary Western theories, justice is enforced by a government, which implies a top-down relationship. In contrast, theories of justice that prioritize self-cultivation encompass the whole person and cultivate justice, which is then reflected in society, demonstrating a relationship that begins at the bottom and works upwards, and is somewhat reciprocal. From this, I took the argument a step further by discussing how cultivation can be its theory of justice.

To illustrate this, I have examined each school's views on human nature and its methods for cultivating the self, which are informed by their understanding of nature. For the Confucians,

66 Helsing, “Sprouts, Mountains, and Fields,” 5.

67 Ivanhoe and Norden, “Laozi,” 204.

there is Mencius, who believes we are innately good-natured and possess the capacity for goodness. Then there is Xunzi, who argues that we are all inherently disorderly, chaotic, and driven by our selfish desires. Confucius himself does not discuss a view of nature. Still, he does emphasize the importance of self-cultivation through the habituation of virtues, such as benevolence, filial piety, righteousness, and ritual propriety. Mencius advocates for education and reflection to nurture our capacities and innate moral compasses, thereby maintaining goodness. Xunzi focuses on ritual and learning as methods of cultivating the self, which will lead us astray from our destructive nature and allow us to be good through deliberate effort. For Daoism, Laozi and Zhuangzi view human nature as part of the universe's nature, characterized by constant transformation and spontaneity. To be one with our nature, we must practice the principles of effortless action (wu-wei) and the emptying of the mind (wu-xin) that can be achieved through things such as meditation. Both Chan and Tiantai Buddhism, two schools of Chinese Buddhism, also recognize the necessity of meditation and mindfulness when attempting to realize our inherent Buddha nature, which allows us to all be enlightened. Despite Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism having different views of nature that correlate to their methods of self-cultivation, they all have a similar goal of achieving harmony. If individuals can cultivate virtues, including justice, then that will be reflected in society, making it harmonious as well.

After establishing the compatibility of all three schools of thought through their shared desire for harmony, I then examined how justice would be viewed in each school, despite none of them explicitly providing a definition. The Great Learning, one of the Confucian classics, establishes a paradigm that emphasizes the interconnectedness between the self, family, and society. For Confucius, justice can be practiced rather than enforced because the ruler would also serve as a moral exemplar whom people would follow. Mencius agrees with Confucius in this sense, but Xunzi somewhat disagrees. He still believes that justice should be cultivated but recognizes the need for rules and regulations to maintain it. To understand justice according to Daoism, I discussed their view of how to live in society, which advocates for a life of indifference to things outside of our control. Zhuangzi especially emphasizes a life of detachment from society and desires personal freedom. Society itself should mirror the natural state of the universe and follow the principle of wu-wei, which we also follow. Therefore, justice is not merely enforced but also cultivated through self-cultivation methods that are reflected at a societal level. In Buddhism, justice is closely tied to the doctrines of karma and dependent origination, which emphasize the interconnectedness inherent in our Buddha nature. By cultivating ourselves to attain Buddhahood and a sense of morality, harmony can be established along with justice that is not enforced.

After discussing each school’s view of justice and its relationship to their views on human nature and methods of self-cultivation, I made a comparison to Western theories of justice to illustrate why incorporating self-cultivation into a theory of justice is more beneficial. I began by going through Rawls’s theory of justice as fairness and his view of an ideal society, which leads to the creation of institutions to enforce justice rather than trying to cultivate it. The other theories of justice I mentioned were the social contract theories of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, which similarly lack self-cultivation in the creation of social theories, despite having views of human nature that were similar to some Chinese philosophies. Their goal is still to establish institutions (or a specific person for Hobbes) to enforce justice and maintain the social contract that was allegedly agreed upon in the state of nature. After establishing contrary arguments to my own, I returned to the discussion of incorporating self-cultivation into a theory of justice and how

its application relates to communitarian theories. Communitarian theories also appear to foster a more holistic view of justice that encompasses the self.

The paper concludes by advocating for the inclusion of self-cultivation in creating a theory of justice and further arguing that cultivation itself is a theory of justice. It is noted that contemporary Western theories of justice are overwhelmingly individualistic and enforce justice in a top-down model. Instead, suppose a theory of justice that includes self-cultivation is implemented. In that case, justice and harmony are cultivated and grown, then maintained, implying a model that works from the bottom up. In this model, people are prioritized more holistically, focusing on their well-being rather than their performance in society. Creating harmony at an individual level will be reflected in society, but the only way to achieve harmony is through self-cultivation, demonstrating that cultivation can be a theory of justice.

Bibliography

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Fraser, Chris. Zhuāngzǐ: The Complete Writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024.

Helsing, Carl. “Sprouts, Mountains, and Fields: Symbol and Sustainability in Mengzi’s Moral Psychology.” Philosophies of Place, June 30, 2019, 288–301. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824878627-017.

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Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Van Norden Bryan William, “Laozi” in Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2023.

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Jiang, Tao. “Part 2 Chapter 3 §3: Laozi’s Dao and the Realignment of Values.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. Oxford University Press, 2021.

Jiang, Tao. “Part 3 Chapter 5 §6: Conclusion: Tension between Personal Freedom and Humaneness/Justice.” In Origins of Moral-Political Philosophy in Early China. Oxford University Press, 2021.

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McRae, John R. “Metropolitan Chan: Imperial Patronage and the Chan Style.” In Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism. University of California Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520237971.001.0001.

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Nurturing a Romantic Childhood in The Secret Garden

Abstract

Tariana Williams

Tariana Williams (’28) is an English major with a minor in journalism. Tariana has always been interested in close reading analyses and was given the opportunity to develop this skill further under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Carlson. After reading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden and investigating Romanticism in her Honors Humanistic Inquiry course, she became particularly interested in exploring themes of nature and childhood growth. She notes that this would not have been possible without the help of Dr. Carlson, as he undoubtedly gave her the encouragement she needed to step out of her comfort zone and examine challenging ideas.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett follows Mary Lennox as she learns to be a better child through her interactions with nature. Once she meets Dickon and discovers the hidden garden, Mary’s personality begins to soften. Then, she meets Colin, a bedridden, angry boy who is afraid to go outside due to his illness. After spending time with Mary, Dickon, and the garden, Colin experiences a change in his health and personality. This essay examines an important yet overlooked passage from chapter 25 of The Secret Garden through the framework of Romanticism, focusing on themes of renewal, transformation, and a connection to nature. It illustrates how Burnett employs various literary devices to show Colin’s evolution from being non-Romantic and ill to an arguably Romantic character as he engages with the garden.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary Lennox and Colin Craven becoming better children through their interactions with nature and the influence of the country boy, Dickon. In a short key passage near the end of the book, Burnett illustrates the Romantic beliefs of renewal, transformation, and connection to nature through the use of literary devices, images of Colin, and the symbolism of eggs. In the following analysis, this essay explores how this passage exemplifies Romantic ideals while also acknowledging the nuances in Burnett’s portrayal of nature. Although she strays from some traditional Romantic beliefs, her emphasis on transformation and the connection between Colin and the garden is crucial to the narrative, illustrating the enduring power of nature as a source for personal growth.

On page 317, Colin is described as “walking and running about and digging and weeding” as he relishes in the day-to-day activities that he once was unable to do. Burnett utilizes a polysyndeton or the repetition of, in this case, the conjunction “and” to illustrate not only the excitement of Colin partaking in these activities, but the importance of it. Without the use of

commas, the repetition of “and” slows down the pace of this sentence, reflecting the ease with which Colin was able to connect with the garden. Colin’s seamless transition to his connection with nature establishes him as a Romantic character. While he did not begin as a purely Romantic character, the ability to connect with nature with the proper guidance contrasts with the idea that he cannot be Romantic. According to Hintz and Tribunella, a Romantic child is best described as “closer to the natural... world” (56), which Colin embodies because of the “sensitive guidance” from Mary (56). This guidance is essential to the idea held by some Romantics, stating that children must be guided to maintain their innate connection to nature. Colin, who was once fragile and bedridden, is now fully immersed in the garden; his close connection to nature is a clear demonstration of the Romantic belief that nature is transformative.

Burnett follows with an apparent oxymoron, stating, “the nest in the corner was brooded over by a great peace and content” (317). This line adds depth to the sentence, providing strong imagery by using a word with a negative connotation, “brooded,” followed by words with positive connotations such as “peace” and “content.” The negative connotation is almost immediately resolved by the peaceful image of the robin’s nest, allowing readers to sense a cozy, safe environment. Additionally, with the word “brooded,” she uses a double entendre to illustrate that the robin was brooding, or incubating, its eggs. Just as the robin’s brooding provided safety for its eggs, the garden provided safety for Colin. One of the key Romantic ideals is the notion that nature serves as a sanctuary, a place that holds much restorative power. Colin’s ability to heal in the garden demonstrates this belief as he regains his childlike curiosity and sense of self.

The following line mentions that “fears for the Eggs” were “a thing of the past” (317). Burnett capitalizes the word “Eggs,” symbolizing rebirth, fragility, and transformation. In this chapter, she frequently references these eggs, beginning with the robin’s instinct to protect them from Mary and Colin. Her decision to introduce the robin as the narrator highlights the bird’s significance as a character, using its earlier role in Mary’s discovery of the garden to strengthen the connection to the garden. By personifying the robin, Burnett deepens this connection. The robin, while being the narrator, remains an animal a creature that is inherently connected to nature. This stark shift of narration deepens the story, allowing it to become more deeply embedded in the natural world. With the robin as the narrator, nature itself becomes a character, actively participating in Colin’s growth.

The symbolism of eggs and the robin’s protective role also suggests that the garden serves as an incubation space for Colin. At the moment, he is too fragile to be thrown immediately into the untamed wilderness; instead, he needs to be in a sheltered, enclosed area where he can safely develop. The garden serves as a nurturing environment, allowing him to gradually connect with nature and prepare him for the challenges that lie beyond.

Furthermore, the “fears for the Eggs” becoming “a thing of the past” symbolizes Colin’s transformation after connecting with the garden. Burnett’s use of the word “fears” refers to the anxieties of his previous state, which are now “a thing of the past.” Colin’s transformation parallels the eggs’ maturation: he blossoms from vulnerability to strength now that he is connected to nature.

The diction takes on a more playful approach as Burnett uses phrases such as “curious things” and “most entertaining occupation” (317). These phrases create a lighthearted tone, contradictory to the words “locked in a bank vault.” Here, Burnett strays from Romantic thought. The idea that it was “as safe as if they were locked in a bank vault” is contradictory to the beliefs of Romanticism. In Romantic literature, it is believed that for children to thrive fully, they must experience nature in its pure state. This passage specifically differs from Romantic

thought because it takes place in closed quarters, where Colin engages in childlike activities. While Colin’s experience contradicts the traditional Romantic emphasis on untamed wilderness, it can also be seen as a manifestation of Colin’s healing and connection to nature. Even in an enclosed space, Colin is still experiencing a connection to the natural world, which echoes the Romantic idea of human interaction with nature.

By using the phrase “Egg’s mother” (317), Burnett alludes to Mother Nature. The “Egg’s mother” symbolizes not only the robin, but also the garden. She emphasizes two key aspects of nature, as defined by Romantic ideals: nurture and protection. The garden and by extension, nature as a whole is a place of safety and growth. However, Burnett notes that the garden felt “a little dull” without the children (317). This is an interesting choice of diction, as it implies a mutual reliance between nature and humans. By portraying the garden as “dull” without the children, Burnett departs from the idea that nature is self-sustaining and instead implies that human engagement with the garden is essential for it to reach its full potential. Despite straying from the Romantic ideal of untamed wilderness, Burnett’s passage still illustrates the crucial significance of human interaction with nature.

Through Colin’s transformation, Burnett illustrates the Romantic idea that connecting with nature has a profound impact on a child’s life. She employs a range of literary devices such as symbolism, imagery, and personification to underscore the healing power of the garden. Though Burnett strays from Romantic thought by placing Colin in a controlled environment while suggesting that nature flourishes with human care, this passage embodies Romantic children’s literature by emphasizing the vital role of nature in a child’s development.

Works Cited

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. Harper, 2010.

Carlson, Matthew Paul. HNR 1105 Humanistic Inquiry: The Meaning of Childhood, High Point University, 2024. Class Lecture.

Hintz, Carrie, and Eric L. Tribunella. “Historical Models of Childhood.” Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed., Broadview, 2019, pp. 42-58

In Defense of the Papacy: Rethinking the Catholic Response to the Protestant Reformation

Kayla A. Wylie

Kayla A. Wylie is a senior double majoring in History and Religion, graduating in May 2025. Her manuscript topic grew out of an academic interest developed during a prior research project on the Italian Wars, where she examined the evolving Church-State relationship. This led her to explore how political instability within the Church helped shape the success of the Protestant Reformation an often overlooked aspect in many historical accounts. Beyond academics, Kayla was also motivated by a sense of justice, aiming to present a more balanced view of the Church’s role. After graduation, she will pursue a master's in history, with plans to eventually earn a PhD and teach European history at the college level. The most fulfilling part of her research has been the process itself discovering obscure sources, drawing meaningful connections, and learning to see the world through new perspectives. She credits her mentor, Dr. Tzavaras, for helping her grow both academically and personally, instilling confidence and providing essential guidance for her future.

Abstract

The Protestant Reformation is usually depicted as a battle between righteous, God-fearing reformers and a corrupt and immoral Catholic papacy. However, while the papacy is often blamed for the schism between Protestants and Catholics, my paper suggests the political, social, and economic circumstances leading up to the Reformation played a more prominent role. These developments not only laid the socio-political foundations of the Reformation but had a direct impact on individuals’ decisions throughout its early years. Therefore, my paper analyzes the Protestant Reformation from the Catholic perspective and explains how the Church’s history before 1517 shaped the papacy’s initial response to Martin Luther and the 95 Theses. Using a collection of written works, sermons, papal bulls, and secondary sources, my paper is divided into several sections discussing the historiography, historical context, and events of the Protestant Reformation. First, my paper explores the Church’s history during the medieval period and how the papacy’s growing power created significant problems within the Church institution. Then, it describes how malpractices and secularization of the Church led to scandals during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and explain how more people began calling for reform in their aftermath. After this, it discusses the Reformation itself, starting with a brief overview of the indulgence issue and the pope’s reaction to the 95 Theses, before delving into Luther’s clashes with Church authorities on the topic of papal authority. Finally, my paper concludes with Martin Luther’s excommunication and reassert that all parties held responsibility for this inevitable outcome.

From sixteenth-century satirical pamphlets to the twenty-first century’s detailed biographies, the Protestant Reformation has been extensively discussed and debated. According to popular narratives, the Reformation began when Protestant reformers, such as Martin Luther, attempted to purify and spiritually renew the corrupt Catholic Church from within. After being condemned by Church leaders, the reformers broke their ties with Rome, formed their churches, and continued their defiant struggles against papal tyranny. While this narrative presents reformers as righteous individuals and the papacy as greedy and immoral, it is not the whole truth. By criticizing the Church, Martin Luther inadvertently challenged the pope’s authority, which held a central role in maintaining Europe’s political and spiritual stability. As a result, individuals like Pope Leo X, Prierias, Cajetan, and Johann Eck had justifiable reasons to reform aggressively. Therefore, while the papacy is often villainized for its role in the Reformation, the circumstances surrounding reform, the attitudes of its participants, and the choices made by individuals on both sides were the true culprits behind the schism.

History and the Reformation

History remembers the Reformation as a titanic battle between Protestant reformers and the papacy, but it was also a war of words and paper. Between councils, diets, and debates, the printing press and pulpit were the main battlegrounds between these two opposing forces. The papacy’s powerful presence commanded respect from its congregations, but the Protestants’ revolutionary ideas, vernacular language, and hyperbole captured the attention of their flocks. As Protestantism spread, its memorable narratives became the most widely known, repeated, and accepted version of events.1 As a result, many historians accepted reformers like Martin Luther as God-fearing men of faith, condemned the Catholic clergy, and ultimately blamed the papacy for sparking the Reformation. According to nineteenth-century historian Mandell Creighton, multiple opportunities to de-escalate the situation arose. Still, the papacy had not shown “any capacity for meeting the questions which Luther had raised.”2 The papacy dismissed reformers’ concerns, “allowed a controversy to become serious,” and thus became responsible for the resulting schism.3 Although Creighton never demonized the pope to the degree John Wyclif or Martin Luther did, his commentary agreed with most accounts favoring the Protestant perspective.4 But what about the Catholic perspective? What reason did they have to condemn Protestant reform? In the past, few historians defended the papacy’s actions, but recent scholarship has challenged the dominant pro-Protestant narrative and has shown greater consideration for the Catholic point of view.

Since the mid-twentieth century, growing interest in political and spiritual factors compelled some historians to adopt a more sympathetic view of the papacy. For religious historians, Kenneth Setton and Hubert Jedin, the papacy’s resistance to reform stemmed from a desire to maintain order in Western Europe. After all, the papacy was not only a religious institution but also acted as the glue holding the socio-political fabric of Christendom together.5 Therefore, as Setton rightfully pointed out, the papacy “had reasons for caution beyond self-interest” since

1 Carlos M. N. Eire, Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), 374. Ebook.

2 M. Creighton, History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation, Vol. V- the German Revolt, 1517-1527, Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1894 (Norderstedt: Hansebooks GmbH, 2020), 74. E-book.

3 Ibid, 74.

4 Ibid, 74.

5 The papacy’s socio-political role in Europe will be explored further in the following section.

reform was not so straightforward.6 Top-down reform could produce immediate results; however, this approach often ended in failure, and so slow, gradual reform was typically preferred. In either case, reform required careful planning and execution to prevent potential disruptions or further injury to the Church’s reputation.7 Social unrest, political tension, and sudden power changes were just some of the factors that needed to be considered.8 While the papacy was troubled by internal issues, the animosity between France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire also played a significant role in preventing the implementation of reform. With foreign armies invading the Italian peninsula and threatening Rome between 1494 and 1559, self-preservation inevitably took precedence over reform.9 Thus, while pro-Protestant historians and reformers accused the Church of negligence, the papacy was merely being cautious and acting out of concern for Europe’s future stability.

The papacy’s decision to prioritize politics and hostile reaction to prospective reformers was considered ‘wrong choices,’ but the Church made these decisions knowing reform affected more than just religious matters. After the Reformation, Catholic dominance in Europe collapsed, and power shifted away from the Church toward the State, leading to the destruction of Christendom.10 Self-serving princes became less likely to unite against ‘infidels’ and started using religion as an excuse to incite conflict against each other 11 In short, without the papacy at its helm, Europe would be consumed by a maelstrom of violence and infighting, and the reformers failed to understand this until it was too late. Their war against the papacy undermined the political stability on which the Church was built.12 Therefore, while the papacy’s actions were harsh, they should not be viewed as malicious machinations, but as desperate attempts to preserve an ailing Christendom.

Papal Power in the Medieval Period

Prior to the Reformation, the Church was an unmatched political and economic power with iron-clad control over European religious affairs Europe’s princes and common people were under the Church’s thrall, and everything from social practices to intellectual ideas were subject to its influence. However, in the wake of papal scandals and secularization during the late medieval period, this long tradition of unchallenged Church rule began to falter.13

While the papacy’s official mandate was to serve as a spiritual guide, it also played a significant political role. The pope served the Christian community and protected the Faith from potential threats, which necessitated its entry into the political realm. During the medieval period, the papacy secured its position by maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with secular powers across Europe. In return for spiritual or economic concessions, Church leadership could convince princes to cooperate and redirect their aggression against non-Christian enemies

6 Kenneth Meyer Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571, Vol. 3 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1976), 453. E-book.

7 Eire, Reformations, 118.

8 Eire, Reformations, 118.

9 Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490-1700 (London: Allen Lane, 2003), 41. Cussen, Cultural Politics of Reform, 26.

10 Owen Chadwick “The Reformation and the Rise of National States,” in The Reformation, ed. Stephen P. Thompson (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999), 143.

11 Setton, The Papacy, 181, 454-455.

12 Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, 1490-1700 (London: Allen Lane, 2003), 41. Cussen, Politics of Reform, 26.

13 Karl H. Dannenfeldt, “The Church and Society Before the Reformation,” in The Reformation, ed. Stephen P. Thompson (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999), 35.

temporarily. As a result, the pope was not only seen as a mediator between heaven and earth, but as a powerful figurehead whose spiritual and political influence single-handedly held Christendom together.14

The papacy’s growing political and spiritual influence not only gave it powerful allies but also allowed it to establish a religious monopoly in Western Europe. By appealing to people’s desire for meaning and hope for life after death, the Church gained a powerful hold over the lives of Europeans. Daily routines were shaped by religious activities, such as Mass or Lent, and scholarly activities, which shaped morals and thoughts, were closely monitored to ensure people remained loyal to the Church.15 However, while these methods preserved peace and kept the Church in control for a time, religious authorities eventually began misusing their powers for personal gain.

Catholic priests always promoted piety and publicly denounced worldly desires at the pulpit, but the Church itself was an incredibly wealthy institution. The Church owned over half the cultivable land in Europe yet never paid taxes for these properties 16 Additionally, the Church generated profits from its parishioners, who compensated the clergy for performing religious services and paid annual tithes.17 For many, the wealth flowing into the papal treasury was incompatible with the Church’s message of pious poverty, becoming a serious point of contention. However, while the Church’s economic liberties generated some resentment amongst Europe’s population, it was the Church’s illicit, un-Christian-like activities that provoked widespread outrage.18

Cracks in the Church’s Foundation

During the Crusades, the papacy reached the height of its power. For two centuries, the papacy successfully united Europe against its enemies, accumulated enormous wealth, and extended its influence across the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, by the late thirteenth century, this success began to wither away. After several failed campaigns in the East, the Crusades ultimately ended in failure, and the papacy struggled to rally the armies of Christendom once again.19 Confidence in Church leadership was shaken and continued to weaken during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.20

Most people remember the Renaissance as a golden age of art and invention, but historians recall it as a period of unparalleled greed and corruption within the Church. Under the direction of popes such as Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, and Innocent VIII, the papacy became a subject of scandal and ridicule across Christendom. All three popes blatantly violated their clerical vows by taking concubines, fathering children, and living in excessive luxury. However, they “failed to provide spiritual leadership,” which not only propagated abuses in the Church but deepened the

14 Bryan Cussen, Pope Paul III and the Cultural Politics of Reform: 1534-1549 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020), 70, 134, 169. E-book.

15 Dannenfeldt, “Church and Society,” 27.

16 Erwin Iserloh, “The Inner Life of the Church,” in From the High Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation, eds. Hans-Georg Beck, and Anselm Biggs (NY: Herder and Herder, 1970), 567. E-book.

17 Lewis W. Spitz, “Problems in the Catholic Church Prior to the Reformation,” 48.

18 J. Russell Major, “Reasons for the Spread of Protestantism,” in The Reformation, ed. Stephen P. Thompson (San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999), 77.

19 Hill, History of Christianity, 205-206. MacCulloch, Reformation, 26.

20 MacCulloch, Reformation, 35.

rivalries between clerical factions.21 The threat of war also influenced Renaissance popes’ policies and contributed to the Church’s deteriorating state. Due to the Papal States’ central position on the Italian Peninsula, the papacy tried its best to maintain the balance of power among its neighbors and prevent conflict. Unfortunately, the papacy’s weakened state during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries made this task much more difficult. Eventually, conflict on the peninsula broke out, creating additional political problems for the papacy and drawing its attention even further away from spiritual matters.22

The Renaissance popes’ entanglement with politics, wars, and wealth resulted in personal gain, but their actions were met with little support. Throughout the fifteenth century, an onslaught of anticlerical propaganda was directed against the papacy, sparking even greater skepticism of its leadership capabilities. While many Italian humanists ridiculed the Church for its deception and corruption, few were as impactful as Lorenzo Valla and his most famous work, The Falsely Believed and Forged Donation of Constantine. Throughout the medieval period, the Donation the alleged last will of Constantine I provided the papacy with a legal basis to exercise its authority over “the entire West.”23 However, after examining the document, Valla insisted that the Donation was not authentic and was merely a pretext created by the papacy in their quest for power. By exposing the Church’s deception in this matter, Valla’s actions encouraged others to look at the Church more critically, and others swiftly followed his example.24 The fiery Florentine monk Girolamo Savonarola also spoke against the Church’s immoral and deceptive actions in his sermon, On the Renovation of the Church. He condemned the papacy for its sinfulness, declaring “when God permits that there be at the head of government ambition, lust and other vices… God’s flagellation is near.”25 While Savonarola was later declared a heretic by the Church, his death did not silence others from voicing their concerns about the papacy.26 Thus, by addressing the papacy’s past corruption and current misdeeds, men like Savonarola and Valla prepared the way for reformers and their rebellion against papal authority.

The Reformation Begins

Martin Luther is remembered as a leading figure amongst reformers and as a revolutionary who opposed the Catholic Church. However, this is not what he set out to do. In publishing the 95 Theses, Luther pointed out the Church’s flaws, not to cause a controversy, but to incite debate about how best to fix them. Moreover, at this time, Luther still readily acknowledged the pope’s authority, and mentioned so multiple times in his Theses. Overall, Luther’s frustration lay not with the Church, but with the sale of indulgences.

21 Ibid, 32-33. Spitz, “Prior to the Reformation,” 44-45.

22 Bryan Cussen, Politics of Reform, 134-135.

23 Emperor Constantine I elevated Christianity to the Roman empire’s state religion during his reign. Sometime after his death, the Church claimed to come into possession of his will and legitimized its authority over all territories once belonging to the empire. This ‘donation’ became an integral part of the Church’s claims to power and property throughout the medieval period and served as a point of contention with European secular powers for centuries.

24 Hill, History of Christianity, 177.

Lorenzo Valla, “The Falsely Believed and Forged Donation of Constantine,” in The European Reformations Sourcebook, Second edition, trans. Karl Benrath, ed. Carter Lindberg (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 19.

25 Girolamo Savonarola, “On the Renovation of the Church (1495),” in The European Reformations Sourcebook, Second edition, trans. John C. Olin, ed. Carter Lindberg (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 226.

26 Ibid, 226.

Indulgences were connected to teachings about Purgatory, a third realm of the afterlife where Christians were cleansed of their sins. They were spiritual concessions, given to believers who performed acts of penance, that reduced the time a sinner spent in Purgatory. While the sale of indulgences was not a new practice, Luther disliked how individuals like the Archbishop of Mainz, Albert of Brandenburg, and the Dominican friar, Johann Tetzel, exploited believers to fill their own pockets. Unfortunately, while Luther’s criticism came from an honest desire to revitalize the Faith and obtain justice for the common people, his daringness to question the Church was not well received. Instead of engaging in level-headed debate, Luther would find himself, by accident, in the crosshairs of powerful clergymen who saw danger lurking behind his seemingly harmless criticisms.27 Between 1517 and 1520, tensions between Luther and the clergy would continue to grow before finally snapping, and the resulting backlash would irreparably shatter the Church

In the past, proto-reformers were outmatched by the papacy’s extensive communication network and were unable to make significant progress due to its swift responses. However, because of the papacy’s weakness and the recent invention of the printing press, Luther’s movement in the sixteenth century was a great success. Aided by these two factors, Luther’s depictions of Church officials as opportunistic robbers and demands for change circulated quickly. This caused anticlerical sentiments which had increased steadily since the Renaissance popes’ reigns to grow even stronger in the twilight months of 1517.28 As a result, indulgences which were the primary catalyst behind Luther’s crusade against Church corruption and their marketability started being called into question. Seeds of doubt had been planted and, as the doubt began to germinate, sales and people’s trust in the Church declined. Concerned by this new development and the threat posed to his business, Albert of Brandenburg the Archbishop of Mainz tasked with overseeing the commission of indulgences in Germany resolved to bring this matter before the pope, hoping the papacy’s input would reassure the people and quiet Luther’s bold accusations.29

When a copy of Luther’s Theses first passed into Pope Leo X’s hands, he initially believed there was little cause for concern. The pope misinterpreted the entire affair between Johann Tetzel a renowned indulgence salesman whom Luther specifically targeted in the press and Luther as merely a minor disagreement between members of the Augustinian and Dominican religious orders 30 While one could argue that distance and biased accounts contributed to this miscommunication, ongoing turmoil in Italy was also a key factor in determining the pope’s immediate response. Since 1495, the Italian Peninsula had been at the center of European dynastic ambitions. During Leo X’s reign, the contest for dominance between the Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire and the Valois of France had taken a new turn, and both sought to win control over Italy.31 With armies threatening to sack Rome, Leo X had little time or patience to deal with the likes of Martin Luther.32 Politics and self-preservation took precedence, and this

27 Hill, History of Christianity, 242, 251. Creighton, History of the Papacy, 74.

28 Eire, Reformations, 44. Dannenfeldt, “Church and Society,” 35.

29 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 74.

30 Eire, Reformations, 372.

31 MacCulloch, Reformation, 41. Cussen, Politics of Reform, 134-135.

32 MacCulloch, Reformation, 124-125.

required the pope’s undivided attention. As a result, rather than taking on the task himself, the pope appointed loyal intermediaries to address the problem in his stead.33

Although Leo X left the task of wrangling the rogue monk to the Augustinian Order, several Roman theologians also took up the gauntlet in defense of the Church themselves. Spearheaded by the Dominicans, this wave of denunciations and accusatory responses against Luther’s Theses set the tone of the Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation for several years. Unlike the pope, who saw Luther as an unwelcome distraction, others saw a potential danger in Luther’s words and feared what would happen if they took root. For these individuals, Luther’s criticisms went much deeper than the issue of indulgences. By questioning doctrinal issues, Luther was also challenging the pope’s ultimate authority on spiritual matters.

One of the first great theologians to challenge Luther was Silvester Mazzolini, also known as Prierias, an Italian Dominican monk and renowned scholar with extensive knowledge of Scripture. Shortly after receiving his copy of the Theses, Prierias brandished his pen against it in his Dialogue Against the Arrogant Theses of Martin Luther on the Power of the Pope in 1518, which was followed by his Epitome in 1520 Both works aimed to dismantle Luther’s arguments on the grounds of papal authority backed by evidence found in Scripture.34

Prierias’ Dialogue and Epitome, both asserted that, as God’s chosen representative and head of the Church, the pope had the highest authority on all matters of faith. According to tradition, Christ gave the first Bishop of Rome, St. Peter, “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” and ever since, the bishops of Rome have had the power to interpret and enforce God’s will.35 Thus, while the college of Cardinals and councils may represent the collective will of the Church, as Prierias explained in his Epitome, “its decrees were of no force until confirmed by the Pope” and did not have the power to depose a pope. Popes, whether they were good or bad, were appointed by God and ultimately acted on His behalf As a result, while a pope could “err as a private person,” his judgment on Church law, doctrine, and theology was always by divine design.36 Therefore, because of the pope’s ability to commune with God in this fashion, all Christians were obligated to respect and obey the pope’s decisions “as an infallible rule of faith.”

Prierias’s belief in papal supremacy was shared by most Catholic theologians of his day and became a key argument used against Luther during the early years of the Reformation. The pope’s direct connection to the divine meant that to question a doctrinal issue was not simply an attack against a theological point, but an attack against the papacy, the Scriptures, and Christianity itself. Indulgences, connected as they were to the doctrine of Purgatory, penance, and Mass, were no exception. If one point made by the pope could be questioned, the entire system could also be called into question, posing a serious risk to the Church’s legitimacy.38 Because of this, when Luther protested indulgences, he was also seen as resisting papal authority

33 Eire, Reformations, 372.

34 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 69-70.

35 Matthew 16:18-19

36 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 127, 128. Sylvester Prierias, “Dialogue Against the Arrogant Theses of Martin Luther on the Power of the Pope (1518),” in The European Reformations Sourcebook, Second edition, trans. Valentin E. Loscher, ed. Carter Lindberg (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 31.

37 Prierias, “Dialogue,” 31.

38 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 128. Dannenfeldt, “Church and Society,” 31. MacCulloch, Reformation, 12-13.

and everything it entailed behavior that Prierias perceived as heretical and grounds for excommunication.39

Prierias’ scathing rebuttal against Luther left him in an awkward position. Luther was no longer just a controversial person; Prierias’ judgment left him branded as a potential heretic, whose failure to understand Scripture and the Church made him dangerous.40 With such serious accusations lobbied against him, Luther’s appearance before a papal representative to clarify his position became necessary to avoid grave consequences. In October 1518, the pope granted him this opportunity and ordered Luther to appear at the Diet of Augsburg.41 Unfortunately, the papal legate leading the proceedings was Cardinal Tommaso de Vio, a man as stubborn and uncompromising in his duties as Luther was in his beliefs.

Cardinal Tommaso, also known as Cajetan, was a respected superior general of the Dominican Order and a renowned scholar.42 Despite this, Cajetan thoughts on indulgences had a greater resemblance to Martin Luther’s views than Johann Tetzel’s. Like Luther, Cajetan opposed the sale tactics used by indulgence preachers and believed that the power of indulgences should not be treated carelessly. He understood that the distribution of indulgences should be regulated and reserved for individuals in lawful cases who were truly remorseful or should not be granted at all. However, while Cajetan may have lent a sympathetic ear to Luther at any other time, at Augsburg, he was representing the pope’s interests. Like Prierias, Cajetan was unfailingly loyal to the Church and was fully convinced that papal supremacy was by divine design. As a result, when the pope commanded him to demand Luther’s silence, Cajetan obeyed his instructions and anticipated Luther’s arrival “as a judge awaits a culprit.”43

In his memoir, Luther’s Hearing before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg, Luther complained about his poor treatment and the papal legate’s dismissiveness. Instead of withholding judgment, Cajetan also attacked Luther’s points using the same arguments as Prierias, demanding that he recognize the pope’s authority on the matter of indulgences. He also warned Luther that if he wished “to remain a member of the church and have a pope who is gracious,” he must recant his prior statements.44 Blinded by his indignation, Luther failed to recognize Cajetan’s reasoning behind such a harsh demand and began pushing back against the legate’s demands. As a result, this shared stubbornness would cause the situation to deteriorate even further.

Cajetan’s unwillingness to compromise arose from the concern that giving in to Luther’s demands would make the Church appear weak. He also recognized that if the situation continued, others could take advantage and use it to undermine the papacy’s authority. To prevent this from happening, Cajetan needed to resolve the issue quickly and without further incident, hence the aggressive ultimatum.45 Unfortunately, this was a severe miscalculation. Instead of submitting as the Church expected, Luther, driven by pride and belief in his interpretation of the Scriptures, stood his ground. In a bold declaration, Luther stated he could not recant “unless someone [taught him] something that [was] better” than the Scriptures he used

39 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 69. Prierias, “Dialogue,” 31.

40 Ibid, 31.

41 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 74-75.

42 Hill, History of Christianity, 243.

43 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 79.

44 Martin Luther, “Luther’s Hearing before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg (1518),” in The European Reformations Sourcebook, Second Edition, ed. Carter Linberg (Wiley-Blackwell, 2014), 31.

45 MacCulloch, Reformation, 41.

to support his claims.46 Unable to find a solution, the tensions that arose at Augsburg lingered long after Luther’s departure for Wittenberg, and Cajetan’s fears of backlash against the Church were gradually realized.

While the papacy sought to use Augsburg to silence Luther and reinforce its control over religion, it had not considered that its animosity towards him would ultimately vindicate his claims in the eyes of the Germans. Frederick of Saxony, the founder of the University of Wittenberg and a powerful political figure within the Holy Roman Empire, initially advised the pope to hold a trial in Germany instead of Rome, because he believed it would create a balanced discussion between the parties. However, Augsburg did not unfold as the Elector wanted. Instead of being led by a German bishop who might have found common ground with Luther, the pope appointed an Italian bishop to carry out his will without compromise. Thus, after the proceedings abruptly ended, Luther was often regarded as “a man of high character and great religious enthusiasm” whose concern for the Church’s well-being was valid. In contrast, many Germans perceived the Church’s domineering attitude and unwillingness to consider Luther’s arguments during the trial as unreasonable and unjust. Troubled by the papacy’s actions, Augsburg drove many who supported papal supremacy to begin sympathizing with Luther.47

After failing to quell Luther’s rebellion at Augsburg, the Church continued its attacks against him in the press. While Luther successfully defended his claims against many of his assailants, his greatest adversary became Johann Eck.48 Eck was a German Dominican friar and theology professor from the University of Ingolstadt, who adopted similar arguments shared by his Dominican brethren. He also saw Luther’s ideas as potentially harmful to the Church and attacked them on the grounds of papal authority. By the summer of 1519, the two theologians had become locked in a stalemate with no clear victor, but this changed when both men and their supporters were invited to debate at the University of Leipzig. Although they intended to use this meeting to settle the matter for good, unbeknownst to them at the time, Leipzig would only herald the unified Church’s impending doom.49

Peter Mosellanus, a supporter of Luther who bore witness to this epic clash, described Eck as incredibly intelligent and well-read; a scholar of “unbelievable brashness” possessing a “remarkable craftiness.” Therefore, Eck was able to effortlessly dodge unfavorable questions, redirect arguments, and put his opponents on the defensive. In contrast to Eck’s serious demeanor, Mosellanus described Luther as “a humorous and witty entertainer” devoted to Scripture. However, like many of Luther’s critics, Mosellanus noted Luther had one glaring flaw: His tone and temperament were “a little too sharply than is proper for a theologian” and unbefitting “for one who desires to renew the godly.”50 As a result, Eck would use Luther’s fiery personality against him and force him to reveal his true thoughts on Church doctrine.51

From the start, Eck steered the debate towards papal authority and questioned Luther on its legitimacy. After Luther confirmed that Christ, not the pope, was the head of the Church, Eck shifted the argument towards the papacy’s rulings against heretics, especially the cases of John

46 Luther, “Luther’s Hearing,” 32. Creighton, History of the Papacy, 84.

47 Ibid, 75, 84-85, 91-92.

48 Eire, Reformations, 154-155.

49 MacCulloch, Reformation, 127.

50 Peter Mosellanus “Description of Luther, Karlstadt, and Eck at the Leipzig Debate,” in The European Reformations Sourcebook, Second edition, trans. Helmar Junghans, ed. Carter Lindberg (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 33.

51 MacCulloch, Reformation, 127.

Wyclif and Jan Hus.52 Like Luther, fourteenth-century proto-reformer John Wyclif had disapproved of indulgences and believed the pope’s claim to “a power to save men almost without limit” was “a manifest blasphemy against Christ.”53 He also believed “no one in the church had any authority apart from God’s grace” and any abuse of spiritual authority stripped them of it 54 Therefore, no one except God and the Scriptures could be relied upon to interpret God’s will. Jan Hus, a fifteenth-century German monk who followed in Wyclif’s footsteps, also denied the pope’s role as sole interpreter of God’s will. He, much like Luther and Wyclif, also believed in the Scriptures’ superiority and supported the idea of making them accessible to everyone.55 For their unorthodox ideas, both men were condemned. After this death, Wyclif’s bones were dug up and burnt, while Hus was summoned to Rome, where he was captured and burnt alive by his clerical colleagues.56

By dragging Wyclif and Hus into the debate and comparing their doctrines to Luther’s, Eck left Luther with only two options: he could either deny the relation and concede or agree and face the inevitable consequences. Unwilling to back down, Luther took the second option, declaring that “many of Hus’ beliefs were completely evangelical and Christian.”57 By defending Hus’s beliefs, Luther incriminated himself; he no longer defied the pope but publicly rejected papal authority by siding with condemned heretics. As a result, after the debate concluded, Eck immediately reported these alarming new developments to the pope.

Although the conflict between Luther and the Dominicans dragged on for almost two years, the pope remained mostly silent during this time. While Leo X was preoccupied with political issues such as the election of a new Holy Roman Emperor, it is equally likely that he remained silent because he was unaware of the magnitude of the situation.58 Because Luther’s most vocal attackers were all connected to the Dominican Order, the pope may have initially mistaken the affair as a mere squabble between religious orders. While this initially contributed to his silence, over time, Pope Leo X eventually recognized the threat Luther posed to papal power and responded accordingly 59

Division of the Church

In 1520, Leo X published the Exsurge Domine in a last-ditch effort to force Luther to recant. In the Domine, the pope claimed Luther “always refused to listen” and “disdained” any attempts Rome made to resolve the matter peacefully As a result, the papacy concluded it could “under no circumstances tolerate or overlook any longer the pernicious poison” Luther was spreading and, for all Christians’ safety, declared his works heretical. Yet despite the trouble Luther had caused, the Domine offered Luther one last chance to “cease to disturb the peace, unity, and truth of the Church” and return to the Church’s embrace. However, if he did not recant, the pope would “condemn this Martin, his supporters, adherents and accomplices as barren vines which are not in Christ” and excommunicate him.60 While they were confident this final threat would

52 Eire, Reformations, 59, 376.

53 John Wyclif, “On Indulgences,” 13.

54 Hill, History of Christianity, 214-215.

55 Eire, Reformations, 52.

56 Ibid, 55.

57 MacCulloch, Reformation, 127.

58 Eire, Reformations, 156-157, 166-167. Major, “Reasons for the Spread of Protestantism,” 76.

59 Creighton, History of the Papacy, 138-139.

60 Pope Leo X, “Exsurge domine (June 15, 1520),” Papal Encyclicals Online.

finally bring an end to the matter, the pope and his supporters continued to underestimate Luther’s resolve. Instead of complying with their wishes, Luther burnt the Domine publicly at Wittenberg’s city gates, putting an end to any hopes of future reconciliation. And so, the Reformation had arrived.61

Conclusion

Most Protestant narratives of Reformation history firmly side with reformers, but actual history indicates that it was more than a case of good versus evil. The Protestant Reformation was a culmination of factors and decisions spanning generations, influenced by countless individuals acting for their own or others’ well-being. While the Church’s choices created the conditions for the Reformation, they were not solely to blame for its outcome, as Protestant reformers like Luther also failed to recognize the negative impact of their actions on the Church. The choices of all individuals involved mattered because neither side reconsidered their positions nor sought clarification from others. As a result, because neither side was willing to tolerate the other’s views, the situation deteriorated and created an unavoidable separation. Therefore, this paper concludes that while the papacy made mistakes before and during the Reformation, it is undeserving of the hatred it so often received. Instead, it should be given more opportunities to defend itself against the biased and unflattering portrayals associated with the Protestant perspective.

61 MacCulloch, Reformation, 127-128.

The Presence/Absence of Father Figures and its Effect on Fairy Tale Heroines

Rachel Vesper

Rachel Vesper is a fifth year graduating student with a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Environmental Studies, as well as a B.A. in English. Known for her curiosity and commitment to wellrounded learning, Rachel was inspired to write her manuscript, The Presence/Absence of Father Figures and its Effect on Fairy Tale Heroines, after taking Approaches to Genre Theory with Dr. Laura Alexander. Her interest in blending science and humanities has led her to explore writing and communication as tools for engaging both scholarly and public audiences. After graduating from High Point University in 2025, Rachel plans to pursue a Master of Science in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University in Oxfordshire, England, with the goal of working in conservation journalism. She credits High Point University for giving her the freedom to explore her interests and discover her career path, and thanks her mentors Dr. Matthew Carlson, Dr. Dinene Crater, Dr. Virginia Leclercq, Dr. Nicole Hughes, and Dr. Laura Alexander for their guidance, encouragement, and support in expanding her horizons.

Abstract

Fairy tales often depict the absence or negative presence of father figures, impacting female protagonists' development and their relationships with maternal figures. This paper analyzes classic tales like "Donkeyskin," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "Snow White" to examine how the lack or harmful influence of fathers shapes female characters' journeys. By exploring psychoanalytic concepts such as the Oedipus complex, the paper reveals how these narratives reflect societal expectations and power dynamics. The analysis highlights the challenges faced by female protagonists in patriarchal societies, where they often struggle to achieve independence and self-determination due to the absence or negative influence of paternal figures. It further examines how the absence of a father figure can lead to a longing for paternal protection and a vulnerability to exploitation, as seen in the character of Little Red Riding Hood. Conversely, the presence of a harmful father figure can force female protagonists to develop resilience and self-reliance, as exemplified by Donkeyskin. Additionally, the paper explores the complex dynamics between female protagonists and maternal figures, particularly in the absence of a strong paternal figure. The relationship between Snow White and her stepmother is analyzed to illustrate how the lack of a father figure can exacerbate tensions and competition between women. By examining these fairy tales through a psychoanalytic lens, the paper sheds light on the enduring impact of patriarchal structures on female identity and agency.

One of the foundational understandings of fairy tales and their impact on culture is the influence they have on children. Fairy tales offer an outlet for children to see how making certain decisions will not only reflect on the characters who make said decisions, but also the way others’ decisions impact the protagonists of said stories. One of the stereotypes of fairy tales, specifically those surrounding a princess, is that both parental characters cannot be alive. What I will analyze is how the presence or absence of the father figure in fairy tales typically affects female protagonists, how this is supported by psychoanalytic ideas (such as the Oedipus complex), and how this dynamic could lead to a negative relationship between the protagonist and her same-sex parent. In this analysis, I will examine tales such as “Donkeyskin,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Snow White” by Perrault and collected by the Brothers Grimm.

The first step in understanding the impact of fathers on their daughters in fairy tales is to examine their influence when fathers are present. Typically, the connotation of their presence is not entirely positive with popular examples being Hansel and Gretel’s father agreeing to leave them for dead in the woods, or Beauty’s father in “Beauty and the Beast” letting her sacrifice herself for him, or the example I will discuss, Perrault’s “Donkeyskin,” where the father pursues an incestual relationship due to the absence of her mother. While these present-father situations are all potentially traumatizing to the characters, the female protagonists in all of these stories ultimately develop independence, a quality that many women have struggled to achieve, as an indirect result of their fathers’ actions. I hypothesize that through the realization developed by being able to see the person most capable of protecting them fall short or even worse threaten their well-being, they learn to take care of themselves, a skill hardly taught to women of that era (prior to first-wave feminism). However, their absence can be even more damaging as the female protagonists seek out that masculine protective figure in their lives without the knowledge that there are more masculine figures that want to hurt them than protect them, making them vulnerable to even more trauma, with a longer period of time necessary for growth. Some girls will continue to mistakenly trust conniving men in an attempt to overcome the longing they have for that paternal connection and may never achieve independence as a result. An example I will analyze for this idea is Perrault’s “Little Red Riding Hood” to determine whether I think Perrault found the presence of the father figure, even when malicious, to be more beneficial to the protagonist's growth. Lastly, I will examine “Snow White,” collected by the Brothers Grimm, to explore how the typical absence of a father figure in these fairy tales influences the relationship between the mother figure and the protagonist, and how the Oedipus complex helps explain this dynamic.

The absence of father figures in a child’s life is something that we cannot claim is exclusive to a specific generation or even century. Since the beginning of time, and even in most animal species, we see that fathers are less invested in the welfare of their offspring than their mothers are. As for humans, what does this entail for the future of the absent father’s children when they are absent? In Angelergues’s article, which reviews Korff-Sausse’s work and compares it with Freudian concepts, Korff-Sausse argues that society does not perceive fathers as necessary, and when they are not actively involved in parenting, they are often quickly considered “absent” (Angelergues 1175). Essentially, an absentee father does not have to be physically absent to be considered absent, as they are not intentionally engaging with their child. I include this research to emphasize the contrast between how desperately some children seek a connection with their father, while many fathers choose to abandon that relationship at the expense of their child’s mental health because they believe the mother is more responsible for covering the parental

duties. This is why mothers will more often have a longer-lasting role with their children (Angelergues 1176). There are theories that the wolf in “Little Red Riding Hood” is supposed to represent the father that the young girl is so eagerly seeking out for love. Little Red Riding Hood lives with her mother and is sent to go to her sick grandmother’s house to deliver food and goods. Once she has told the prying wolf her plans, she has sealed her fate. While it may seem ridiculous to most readers that the girl could mistake the wolf for her grandmother, the symbolism is present. “The wolf in sheep’s clothing” is a popular metaphor, and it typically represents someone menacing and evil disguised as someone you can trust. The girl sees a male figure in her home environment who is lying to her, telling her why she should trust him, all the while luring her in for the kill. She longs for that father-daughter connection, looking past the legs, the ears, the eyes, and the teeth, because she keeps telling herself that he would never hurt her. In Perrault’s version of this story, the wolf throws himself on the girl, eats her, and that is the end. His moral is hard to get a read on, as it could be intended to be read seriously or tonguein-cheek, given the vast difference in language between then and now. Regardless of the tone, the lines say it all, “…following young ladies right into their homes, into their chambers, but watch out if you haven’t learned that tame wolves are the most dangerous of all” (Perrault LRRH). The readers do not need to be told that the most threatening men to a young woman’s safety are the ones closest to her, and usually one of, if not the closest, men in a woman’s life is her father.

How does this relate to the absence of a father? We assume Little Red Riding Hood does not physically live with her father as he was never mentioned in the fairy tale, so I view the wolf as both an image of what the father is capable of doing to his daughter and also what happens when a young girl seeks out a man to fill that father figure role for her. The result is similar: men are capable of and frequently use their very apparent power advantage over vulnerable women, including their children. The saddest part is how these children will go so far as to justify those actions as being done out of love, due to how strongly they want that relationship to work out. This can be the case with both sons and daughters with their fathers. Freud believed that to lose your father was the single most significant loss a person could experience (Freud, edited by Joosen, 42). Often, the mental images of parents, particularly the father (the parent away most often), undergo great changes in a child’s fantasy compared with the birth parent in the child’s past (Freud, edited by Joosen, 43). This was not because of the parent actually undergoing change, but rather because the child had paternal needs that were not being met in reality (Freud, edited by Joosen, 44). Ironically enough, men have sat themselves in the “head of household” position in traditional patriarchal societies as a role model and sometimes even a spiritual leader for their children, to abandon that role emotionally, physically, or in both ways. This only propagates the idea that fathers are not essential – even Freud tries to promote paternal authority without being present: “The Oedipus complex is premised upon the father’s absence from the pre-oedipal sphere, perpetuating an image of paternal authority legitimated by men’s distance from the naturalized domain of mother-child relations” (Freeman 113).

If the father has such a negative impact by being absent, it might imply that the father figure being present is crucial to the mental health of his child. This is, in some ways, true and, in some ways, incredibly wrong, as proven in various fairy tales. With tales such as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Donkeyskin,” these cover the three significant types of father figures when present within fairy tales: a father who will give up his children on a whim (apathetic), a father who cares for his child but will not go out of his way to protect his children (sentimental yet dismissive), and a father who is actively traumatizing his child (harmful). I

specifically wanted to analyze how a harmful but indirectly enlightening father can be, so “Donkeyskin” is the focus of this section. The young princess sees how her father breaks his promise to her mother by pursuing her, and her safety in her home is invaded by the very man who was supposed to protect it. The confusing polarity of him showing his affection to her through his gifts and clear desire to make her happy, but that affection being incestuous is horrifying to a daughter who once was happy and loved her father. He proved to her that he saw her as an object that he owned, and she became a sexual object to him once he lost his wife and made a clear display of his values that women could only have two functions: to be owned and to please. While this is a traumatic event, it pushes the princess to go out of her comfort zone and leave on her own to try and be self-sufficient, something a young woman, particularly a princess, would never be expected to do in those periods. She never pursued the prince that she ended up marrying, was living just fine on her own (even if she was poor, she was happy), and she ultimately was able to experience the freedom that a young man would have had at that time. Although her father ultimately betrayed her trust, she learned how to look after herself as an indirect result of being forced to abandon the man who initially “owned” and was supposed to protect her. This is not to say that the presence of a poor father figure is better than not having a father at all; however, there is a benefit in knowing that looking for something to make you whole (like a father figure) will not fulfill you. The only thing that will fill the hole of an absent father is learning to love and take care of yourself. This enlightenment of the princess Donkeyskin is precisely the opposite of what Freud thinks defines femininity. Angelergues writes reflecting on Korff-Sausse what the new femininity is in contrast to what it used to be: “Femininity is not associated with the passive position as contrasted with the active, masculine one [Freud’s prior analysis of femininity vs. masculinity]; its characteristic feature is receptiveness, linked to the oral origin of the Oedipus complex in both sexes” (Angelergues 1178). Donkeyskin’s receptiveness in the fairy tale can be seen as her openness and willingness to explore a new life that was not necessarily secure, yet to live happily in that lifestyle. This heroine’s behavior and attitude are applauded and ultimately ensures her marriage to the handsome prince.

To gain an appreciation for the differences between the absent/present father-daughter and son relationships, I analyzed Jack and the Beanstalk and compared the dynamic of a son with an absent father to that of other fairy tales I had studied. Jack never seemed to need or even want a father figure. The giant who represents the alpha male takes the form of a symbolic Oedipal father figure, but there is no desire to fix the bond that has been missing in Jack’s life, nor to assert his dominance over the giant. Instead, Jack wanted to fulfill his sense of masculinity and provide for his family (however dishonestly). Jack was able to go through the process of maturation without the appearance of his father, all in an effort to support his widowed mother. I would argue that this is a prime example of the Oedipus complex, as he took from his Oedipal father figure to ultimately “woo” his mother figure. Attebery argues, “The stage Jack is typically played as just emerging from adolescence and troubled by his relationships with his mother…The male giant is as Freudian a rival as can be imagined: a powerful, devouring, bestial adult with which the young man can hardly hope to compete” (323). There are far fewer male protagonists than female in fairy tales; however, in the few we read with male protagonists, we see them explore their masculinity and grow into their adult selves without having to experience trauma due to the ill-will of their parents, like the females do. The female characters more often than not have to assert themselves towards a father figure or a stepmother figure to prove their maturity and self-sufficiency. Jack does not prove his maturity whatsoever. He employs greedy

and dishonest means to raid a different species’ home in order to acquire what he wants, while still being perceived as a hero. Whenever a female protagonist does something similar, she is considered evil and no longer a heroine. The behavior necessary for a female and a male protagonist to become mature and be a hero may be the same. However, the steps needed to become a hero may be much more difficult for the heroine to maneuver while still being viewed as good, often as a result of the thoughts projected on her by her parents, specifically her mother.

The absence of the father figure in these fairy tales has a significant impact on the protagonist, not just because she now lacks a healthy paternal connection, but also because of the isolation of the daughter with her same-sex parent and their Oedipal competitive relationship. A perfect example of this is the Brothers Grimm’s “Snow White,” where we examine the evil queen (stepmother) and Snow White. With the loss of Snow White’s mother, she no longer has that support, and her stepmother has complete control over her since her father does not engage with her in the story. As far as the fairy tale goes, there is no initial animosity towards one another until the stepmother starts asking the mirror, “Who is the fairest one of all?” Once she realizes that the male gaze no longer finds her appealing, but instead her 7-year-old stepdaughter holds the power in their eyes, she becomes out for blood. Rather than question the intentions of the mirror that finds the 7-year-old to be the fairest of them all, she immediately turns on Snow White. Why is this? Could it be that Freud’s Oedipus complex has taken hold and induced the competition between the same-sex relatives, or is it more of a power dynamic where the queen is worried about losing her value in a patriarchal world? The queen did have all the power at one point; however, as soon as she loses her beauty (and we assume she can no longer bear children), we know that she will never regain that power. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar wrote a commentary on this story called “The Madwoman in the Mirror” that Vanessa Joosen studied where the potential relationship between the stepmother and stepdaughter is explained: “A healthy relationship between the two is not possible, because men dominate their lives: ‘female bonding is tough in patriarchy’ (Gilbert and Gubar 1979, 38). In Gilbert and Gubar’s interpretation, the voice of the patriarch is represented by the magic mirror: ‘the voice of the looking glass [is] the patriarchal voice of judgement that rules the Queen’s – and every woman’s – self-evaluation’ (1979, 38)” (Joosen 8). In reality, the answer to my earlier question is that it is both an Oedipal complex issue and a patriarchal issue, and they go hand in hand. This is the analysis I have made by comparing “Snow White” and “Jack and the Beanstalk”. There is much more tension between the same-sex female relatives in an immediate household than there is between the male same-sex relatives, and it all stems from the patriarchy. When in a hierarchy, people who are comfortable at the top, in this case, men, do not feel the need to attack each other because they do not feel threatened. Instead, they do whatever pleases them, whether it is selfish and hurts others or not, as displayed in Jack’s fairy tale. The women, on the other hand, are fighting tooth and nail to make sure they are not on the very bottom of the totem pole because then they would be more vulnerable than they already are. This is what makes the stepmother in “Snow White” the evil queen.

The father’s character plays a sort of omnipotent character in “Snow White” as the reader could deduce that the mirror is possibly the voice of the father, a voice that the queen would value, and the only person more powerful and with an opinion more valuable than the queen, the king. Even with the father figure only being mentioned to clarify that he was remarried, he holds all of the power both societally and within the minds of the women in his life, regardless of whether they know it’s his opinion that they hold to a higher standard than their own. This perspective for the queen, that the only way she can have value is by being beautiful in the eyes

of her husband, makes it clear why she would feel so threatened by her stepdaughter, even though Snow White has not done anything directly to her. It is not necessarily the case that the queen thinks the King will choose to marry Snow White, but rather that her sexual appeal cannot match up to that of a possibly 20 or more years younger woman. All of this to say that the relationship between Snow White and her father (and even just his character) is nonexistent in this fairy tale, and yet his voice is louder than hers. Snow White’s only notable behavior in her fairy tale is that she does what the men in her life tell her to do. She runs when the hunter says run, cleans when expected of her by the dwarves, and goes with the prince just because he finds her in the woods. This is yet another example that demonstrates how the absence of a father figure prevents the female protagonist, his daughter, from developing her own independence and sense of self-sufficiency. Instead of searching for herself, she seeks someone to fill the gap in her childhood. With Snow White, one could argue it was the seven dwarves – men who she could please by being the golden child yet again and mother them without them having to ask. Suppose Snow White’s story were to be extended and we were able to see how she lived as queen. In that case, I do not believe she would have found herself even then because the prince would have undoubtedly made all of the royal decisions and she would have followed along like a good wife until one day, she also was not the fairest of them all and the cycle would continue.

Modern culture refers to this type of struggle as “daddy issues”, but the fact that these issues occur when the father is both absent and present from their daughter’s life says more about the expectations and strong effects of an unhealthy father-daughter relationship. While men are often taught to be self-sufficient in society, women are frequently taught from a young age to be cautious and hesitant about trusting strange men who come into their lives. However, what is less often taught is how fathers can also be dangerous to their daughters. When fathers teach their daughters to be cautionary because they are intent on protecting something they “own”, their daughters do not learn the real value in being self-sufficient because they end up thinking that the world is either a “be alone and vulnerable” place or a “have a protective man keep me safe” place, which leads women to think their lives should revolve around finding a man that will protect them when they no longer live with their father. We can see this effect in fairy tales, where the father is absent, as the female protagonists seek out someone to protect them, such as Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf. She needs to defend herself from the strangers lurking about but ends up lying with the wolf himself. Jack, on the other hand, is completely selfsufficient from the get-go, having grown up without a father, and proceeds to provide for his mother with a cunning intelligence rarely seen in female protagonists. When the daughter’s father is present, she is still looking for safety, for example, with Gretel trying to find food in the forest, with Beauty trying to save her father even though he has significantly less time on Earth than she does, and notably Donkeyskin who is not safe in her own house because her father wants to form an incestuous relationship and dishonor his promise to her mother. These female protagonists fight the validity of the Oedipus complex because they do not seek to outwit their same-sex parent but rather fight the patriarchy and provide for themselves. For example, Gretel saves her brother from the witch and kills her; Beauty is able to calm the beast, not only saving her family but also gaining status and wealth; and Donkeyskin can outsmart her way out of a toxic household for the sake of her happiness and wellbeing. In all of these tales, the father is never portrayed as evil; even in Donkeyskin, he is written to be a well-tempered man who “cares” for his daughter. The patriarchal system we live in puts no pressure on these men to perform as fathers other than the bare minimum – to be present. Even then, we see in these stories how traumatizing their presence can be to the female protagonists and how these women

can prove their maturity in uncomfortable households and societies that are not favorable towards them. Fairy tales aim to create an imaginary world with exaggerated reflections of the real world at the time. With the limited information available on father-daughter relationships in the past, it becomes clear that we have not necessarily progressed as much as we may have thought.

Works Cited

Angelergues, J. “Éloge Des Péres [in Praise of Fathers].” International Journal of Psychoanalysis, vol. 97, no. 4, 2016, pp. 1174–1178.

Attebery, Brian. “Reinventing Masculinity in Fairy Tales by Men.” Marvels & Tales, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 314–337.

Freeman, Tabitha. “Psychoanalytic Concepts of Fatherhood: Patriarchal Paradoxes and the Presence of an Absent Authority.” Studies in Gender and Sexuality, vol. 9, no. 2, 2008, pp. 113–139.

Jones, Kim A. "Assessing the Impact of Father-Absence from a Psychoanalytic Perspective." Psychoanalytic Social Work, vol. 14, no. 1, 2007, pp. 43-58.

Joosen, Vanessa. "Feminist Criticism and the Fairy Tale." New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, vol. 10, no. 1, 2004, pp. 5-14.

Grimm, Brothers. “Snow White,” edited by Maria Tatar. The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1999.

Perrault, Charles. “Donkeyskin,” edited by Maria Tatar. The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1999.

Perrault, Charles. “Little Red Riding Hood,” edited by Maria Tatar. The Classic Fairy Tales: Texts, Criticism. New York: Norton, 1999.