Celebrating Betsy Barthelemy’s Honors Project

By Alice Asch ‘22

In our February issue, The Words published a piece on Besty Barthelemy ‘21, who has earned the impressive distinction of being the sole English major to undertake an honors project this school year. When we last spoke to Betsy, she was in the thick of her research, working towards an April deadline. Now, three months later, we’re thrilled to report that Betsy has successfully concluded her studies! She presented her project, titled “Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Girlhood in the Creation, Content, and Consumption of Victorian Children’s Literature” via Zoom on Tuesday, April 20th. 

If you’d like to read more about Betsy’s work, you can view this snippet of her presentation. See below for her abstract. The English Department congratulates Betsy on this wonderful accomplishment! 

Betsy’s abstract: The Golden Age of (British) Children’s Literature was famous not only for the  proliferation of fiction it hosted, but also for how much of that work featured young heroine  protagonists. Starting with the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and  examining two other fantasy works compared with three realistic children’s novels from this half century period, this project elucidates the differences between these genres and examines how  authors used the characteristics of each to empower their heroines. It argues that these fictitious  heroines influenced real-world readers to create progressive futures by providing examples of  rebellious girl characters finding happy endings.

Advisor: Andrea Kaston Tange, English Department