Date
5-11-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
In Ireland, the Great Famine of the 1840s caused not only hunger and starvation, but also diseases, emigration, and a rupture in the social framework. Many social critics of the time argued that a lack of food came from an imbalance in society between those who could afford to eat and those who could not. Hunger was described as a disease because British colonial society depended on feeding citizens from its economic and political menu. Irish people under British landlords lacked the ability to own land outright and this supported an inequality in land ownership that in turn affected government representation. Irish history shows how a society that keeps a nation hungry also controls what there is to consume. The State needs citizens to buy what it is selling, because economically that's how the cycle of consumption continues.
Department
English
Thesis Comittee
Dr. Ellen Scheible, Thesis Advisor
Dr. Sarah Wiggins, Committee Member
Dr. Halina Adams, Committee Member
Copyright and Permissions
Original document was submitted as an Honors Program requirement. Copyright is held by the author.
Recommended Citation
Tynan, Becky. (2021). Hunger, Capitalism, and Modern Gothic Literature. In BSU Honors Program Theses and Projects. Item 498. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj/498
Copyright © 2021 Becky Tynan