This paper1 reevaluates the portrayal of Mrs. Gant in William Faulkner＇s short story ＂Miss Zilphia Gant＂ （1932）. It argues that Faulkner represents her as ＂the mother as a monster＂ and looks at the features of ...This paper1 reevaluates the portrayal of Mrs. Gant in William Faulkner＇s short story ＂Miss Zilphia Gant＂ （1932）. It argues that Faulkner represents her as ＂the mother as a monster＂ and looks at the features of that representation. More specifically, the paper devotes attention to this abusive mother＇s curious masculinity, employing feminist readings from two angles. That is, on the one hand, the paper reexamines the nature of Mrs. Gant＇s unfemininity by considering the immense responsibility of child-rearing that mothers bear in modern societies. On the other hand, it attempts to locate the origin of her bodily manliness by considering the prism of images of women as evil and destabilizing that pervaded Western culture early in the twentieth century. Such approaches have revealed that making a monster of a mother requires a conspiracy taking advantage of both the inconsistencies inherent in the ideals of motherhood and the bizarre processes through which femininity itself is masculinized. In conclusion, this paper argues that Mrs. Gant＇s monstrosity is a reflection of a predicament which many women in modern times whether Faulkner＇s or our own share, that is, being expected to be a perfect mother while still being viciously castigated as sexually threatening.展开更多
Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal （HPA） axis liberates glucocorticoids, which provides an acute indication of an individual＇s response to stressors. The heritability of the stress response in wild ma...Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal （HPA） axis liberates glucocorticoids, which provides an acute indication of an individual＇s response to stressors. The heritability of the stress response in wild mammals, however, remains poorly documented. We quantified the cortisol stress response of female Richardson＇s ground squirrels （RGSs） to handling and physical restraint, testing for： （1） the effects of individual age, time of day, and sample latency; （2） repeatability within individuals; （3） narrow-sense heritability; and （4） differences among individuals owing to potential genetic and/or environmental effects. We detected a positive linear relationship between baseline plasma cortisol （BL-cortisol） concentration and stress-induced plasma cortisol （Sl-cortisol） concentration that defined each individual＇s cortisol stress response. BL-cortisol, SI-cortisol, and stress response did not differ according to the time the sample was taken, or by subject age. Cortisol stress response was highly repeatable within individuals, had a mother-offspring heritability of h2 =0.40 ± 0.24 （mean ±SE）, full-sibling heritability of h2s = 0.37 ± 0.71, and half-sibling heritabil- ity of hHS^2 = 0.75 ± 1.41. Stress responses of sibling groups, immediate-family groups, and squir- rels within a given area did not differ, whereas those of individuals from more distantly related matrilines did. Our results highlight the natural variability in HPA axis reactivity among individuals by quantifying both BL- and SI-cortisol levels, demonstrate partial heritability of the stress response that is not attributable to environmental variation, and suggest that at least part of an indi- vidual＇s stress response can be accounted for by differences in matrilineal history.展开更多
文摘This paper1 reevaluates the portrayal of Mrs. Gant in William Faulkner＇s short story ＂Miss Zilphia Gant＂ （1932）. It argues that Faulkner represents her as ＂the mother as a monster＂ and looks at the features of that representation. More specifically, the paper devotes attention to this abusive mother＇s curious masculinity, employing feminist readings from two angles. That is, on the one hand, the paper reexamines the nature of Mrs. Gant＇s unfemininity by considering the immense responsibility of child-rearing that mothers bear in modern societies. On the other hand, it attempts to locate the origin of her bodily manliness by considering the prism of images of women as evil and destabilizing that pervaded Western culture early in the twentieth century. Such approaches have revealed that making a monster of a mother requires a conspiracy taking advantage of both the inconsistencies inherent in the ideals of motherhood and the bizarre processes through which femininity itself is masculinized. In conclusion, this paper argues that Mrs. Gant＇s monstrosity is a reflection of a predicament which many women in modern times whether Faulkner＇s or our own share, that is, being expected to be a perfect mother while still being viciously castigated as sexually threatening.
文摘Activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal （HPA） axis liberates glucocorticoids, which provides an acute indication of an individual＇s response to stressors. The heritability of the stress response in wild mammals, however, remains poorly documented. We quantified the cortisol stress response of female Richardson＇s ground squirrels （RGSs） to handling and physical restraint, testing for： （1） the effects of individual age, time of day, and sample latency; （2） repeatability within individuals; （3） narrow-sense heritability; and （4） differences among individuals owing to potential genetic and/or environmental effects. We detected a positive linear relationship between baseline plasma cortisol （BL-cortisol） concentration and stress-induced plasma cortisol （Sl-cortisol） concentration that defined each individual＇s cortisol stress response. BL-cortisol, SI-cortisol, and stress response did not differ according to the time the sample was taken, or by subject age. Cortisol stress response was highly repeatable within individuals, had a mother-offspring heritability of h2 =0.40 ± 0.24 （mean ±SE）, full-sibling heritability of h2s = 0.37 ± 0.71, and half-sibling heritabil- ity of hHS^2 = 0.75 ± 1.41. Stress responses of sibling groups, immediate-family groups, and squir- rels within a given area did not differ, whereas those of individuals from more distantly related matrilines did. Our results highlight the natural variability in HPA axis reactivity among individuals by quantifying both BL- and SI-cortisol levels, demonstrate partial heritability of the stress response that is not attributable to environmental variation, and suggest that at least part of an indi- vidual＇s stress response can be accounted for by differences in matrilineal history.
