“I’ll Tell You No Lies”: An Exploration of Trauma, Memory, and Violence Against Women in North Carolina Murder Ballads

Author

Madison Ava Helman, West Virginia UniversityFollow

Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

English

Committee Chair

Rosemary Hathaway

Committee Member

Lara Farina

Committee Member

Stephanie Foote

Committee Member

Christopher Haddox

Abstract

This dissertation explores trauma, memory and violence against women in Western North Carolina murder ballads “Tom Dooley,” “Poor Omie Wise,” “Poor Ellen Smith,” “The Ballad of the Lawson Family,” and “Frankie Silver.” I posit that these ballads were influenced by prescriptive societal conceptions of femininity, which in turn influenced societal ideations of violence against women. Using folklore performance theory, I analyze the text and context of these ballads and their subsequent histories, eventually arriving at a template for polyvocality that incorporates multiple ballad variants and encourages diverse performances.

Recommended Citation

Helman, Madison Ava, "“I’ll Tell You No Lies”: An Exploration of Trauma, Memory, and Violence Against Women in North Carolina Murder Ballads" (2023). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 12261.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/12261