| The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the public narratives written by military officers' wives from two centuries as a study in continuity of status. These narratives reveal the ways in which wives are constrained by the army, its rank and protocol and by foreign duty. This study explores how wives combat the label of "dependent," objective marginalization and invisibility imposed by the military. Finally, it discusses how the writers present themselves by, constructing their own private selves and public images.; Women who marry into the Army are very similar to the Stranger social form, identified by Georg Simmel, and the Sojourner form, refined by Paul Siu. Because neither social form accounts for the dependency involved in marriage or the military it was necessary to develop a new social form which explains the military wife's attitudes and status within the culture surrounding the military: Satellite.; The writing wives establish this Satellite identity in two ways: by creating an individual identity within a community; by locating a sense of place for themselves, their experiences and their identities, in the 19th century, they locate themselves within the physical geography of the frontier, with an emphasis on travel. In the 20th century, people and social role are more important than physical location. This shift from external to internal shows the development and movement of the wives into a sense of community with individuals rather than individuals comprising community. |
