Abstracts Womens Studies

Dollhouse Dreams and Other Broken Things

by Rebecca Bowles Watkins

Dollhouse Dreams and Other Broken Things is a collection of personal essays exploring issues of the body, the historically silenced voice and shifting notions of femininity. The collection also investigates how myths that shape the body are continually carried down and reinforced by families, institutions, and culture. This essay collection is both a deconstruction of these myths and a reconstruction of what the body/home can look like—or rather what it means to (re)build after the deconstruction of patriarchal values. These essays illuminate both the holding of breath and the relinquishing of voice, but also the stirring movements towards agency. One sub-focus of this essay collection includes an interrogation of the fairy tale childhood—one that not only encourages a belief in happy endings anchored by a prince charming but also encourages this magical thinking in other avenues. Instead of doing away with these classic tales, I merge them with autobiographical essays in order to bring the woman back into these stories written by men, rebuilding and reshaping patriarchal representations of womanhood in the process. A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. March 4, 2024. Diane Roberts, Professor Directing Dissertation; Virginia Lewis, University Representative; David Kirby, Committee Member; Jaclyn Fiscus-Cannaday, Committee Member.