Keywords
Carmen Maria Machado; Violence; Point of View; Queer Archive; In the Dream House; Her Body and Other Parties
Abstract
This project analyzes In the Dream House (2019) alongside “The Husband Stitch” and “Eight Bites” from the collection Her Body and Other Parties (2017) by Carmen Maria Machado. The first, a memoir, details Machado’s personal experience with domestic abuse between partners who share a female gender identity; the latter is a collection of short stories outlining everyday violations made against women. Scholars have discussed these works with specifications including female domestic horror, Machado’s use of retellings, and domestic violence and abuse. This project fills a gap in the discourse by intersecting and connecting queer theory with archival studies to support a close reading of Machado’s works. These fields currently have limited overlap within scholarly discourse. This thesis argues that Machado’s queering of point of view outlines three sources of violence against women in the United States: patriarchy, partners, and person. In doing so, Carmen Maria Machado’s unique narrative voice in highlighting brutalities against women contributes to a queer archive, one that gives voice to the marginalized experiences of women in the United States. Machado’s contribution battles against the archival silencing of diverse stories that occur in favor of traditional archives containing a heteronormative, patriarchal representation of American culture. This thesis hence argues that Carmen Maria Machado opens spaces for silenced voices, pushing the boundaries of feminist and queer resistance against censorship with goals of reflection, resistance, and remembrance in the United States’ culture and future.
Thesis Completion Year
2025
Thesis Completion Semester
Summer
Thesis Chair
Ghosh, Amrita
College
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
Department of English
Thesis Discipline
English
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus Access
None
Campus Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
STARS Citation
Bryant, Audrey C., "Voicing the Violence: Carmen Maria Machado's Contribution to a Queer Archive" (2025). Honors Undergraduate Theses. 366.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/hut2024/366
Included in
American Literature Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, Queer Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Rights Statement
