Out of the broom closet: The deep hidden meaning of domesticity in postfeminist novels by Louise Erdrich, Mary Gordon, Toni Morrison, Marge Piercy, Jane Smiley and Amy Tan

This dissertation is an attempt to plumb the depths of meaning in the acts, attitudes and accoutrements of domesticity, a realm long considered trivial and relegated to women. I chose to explore domesticity's strong and varied influence on American women's consciousness by examining its role in postfeminist fiction written by women. My primary texts were novels published in the late 1980s or early 1990s by six women authors of diverse backgrounds--Louise Erdrich; Mary Gordon; Toni Morrison; Marge Piercy; Jane Smiley; Amy Tan.;Before exploring the imagery and insights gleaned from the novels, however, I surveyed the historical and social evolution of domesticity. Then, in my second chapter, I outlined the tensions recounted by women writers who felt torn between domesticity and creative self-expression.;After briefly considering the specific social, economic, ethnic, intellectual or religious influences on each writer included in this study, I outlined the plot of her novel, and gave an overview of domesticity's multiple functions within the text.;Next come more careful treatments of the themes that emerged from my study, and the patterns that ran through all six novels. Domesticity involved, first and foremost, bringing order out of chaos. But from that ordering principle flowed other levels of meaning, as well as a lack of meaning when chores are socially prescribed but drained of creativity, love or freedom. I examined domesticity's ability to connect women to the physical world, to men, to children, to each other, to the community--and its converse ability to sever such ties. Finally, I looked at domesticity's powers, both benign and malevolent, and its spiritual dimension, expressed in symbols and rituals that parallel the religious realm.