English Language and Literature Commons^™

Violence And Edification In 19th Century Fiction: An Analysis Of The Novels Of Charles Dickens And Leo Tolstoy, Caroline Fassett

Honors Theses

This Thesis argues that violence is essential to the structures and plots of Charles Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities and of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and is particularly essential to the edification, or the moral and intellectual improvement, of principal characters in these four novels. Additionally, this Thesis contends that this edification is both anticipated and reinforced by the novelists’ incorporation of counterparts whose demeanor and/or narrative overtly mirror that of the principal characters.

To support this argument, I bring the theory of Thomas Carlyle into conversation with the novels of Dickens …

When Worlds Collide: Feminism, Conservatism And Twentieth Century Authors, Madison Cooney

Honors Theses

Two streams of literary narratives appearing during the Great Depression grew from personal and historical experiences of their women authors with overlapping but very different perspectives on American cultural history. These were: 1) The accounts of rural frontier Midwestern regional experiences of Laura Ingalls Wilder, as edited and shaped in part by her daughter and writing partner Rose Wilder Lane, in retrospect during the New Deal era; and 2) the 1920s urban African-American experience of Zora Neale Hurston in the context of an emerging national black artistic and intellectual scene. Through a shared feminism emphasizing freedom for women, these authors …

“Injuring Her Beauty By Study”: Women And Classical Learning In Frances Burney’S Novels, Stephanie Diehl

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Tension Between Reform And Orthodox Judaism In “Eli, The Fanatic”, Katie Grant

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.

Reading, The Academy, And The ‘Soft’ Avant-Garde: Tan Lin’S Heath And Heath Course Pak, Alan Golding

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Spiritual Transformative Process In Roethke’S “Cuttings (Later)” And “Root Cellar”, Pauline Park

Global Tides

This paper discusses the groundbreaking greenhouse poems of Theodore Roethke as a manifestation of the poet's internal psyche and personal childhood memories. It analyzes "Cuttings (later)" and "Root Cellar" as poems within a sequence, all exploring the speaker's desire for spiritual transformation and transcendence through the necessary process of decay, death, and rebirth. The paper reveals the poems as emulating the Roethke's own cycles of spiritual awakening and darkness amidst the cycles of manic depression he experienced throughout his life.

Fugitive Verses & Faded Histories: Recovering The Poetry & Influence Of The British American Loyalists, Michael C. Weisenburg

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces the literary history of the British American Loyalists as they spread through the Atlantic and across the North American continent during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in order to reassess our understanding of the origins of cultural nationalism and the early literary history of the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. As a result, it implicitly argues for a reconsideration of American literature as developing in a simultaneously hemispheric and transatlantic response to British Empire. I argue that the Loyalists, through their lived experience of the war, exile, and reincorporation back into the body politic, …

A Study Of The Tradition Of Extreme Literature, Matthew Chi Hei Chan

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis endeavours to investigate some of the many ways literary works can engage with the tradition of extremism. In so doing, the author hopes to demonstrate the importance of the tradition as a vessel for understanding the world around and within us. In an effort to show the breadth and endurance of this tradition, this thesis critically analyses selected works by Robert Browning, Harold Pinter, and Frank Bidart in context with various other literary works.

Tl;Dr - Communicating In The Age Of Social Media, Julia L. Czekaj

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This thesis uses a literature review and post analyzation to explore Facebook and Twitter as methods of communicating. This thesis examines social media history, genre, and rhetorical aspects.

Too Retro For Religion: Self-Identity And The Presence Of God In The Works Of L. J. Smith And Bram Stoker, Jasmyn C. Barringer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Since vampirism threatens the psychological stability of human beings, religion is utilized to combat vampires in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Jutta Schulze alludes to a dominant discourse that establishes moral binaries through religion. However, when the presence of God is limited or non-existent, individuals within L. J. Smith's Secret Vampire cannot rely on moral binaries to understand vampires. Instead, they must redefine their self-identity without Christian beliefs that would otherwise deem vampires unacceptable. "Too Retro for Religion" examines the exclusive nature presented by religious binaries in Victorian literature in comparison with the transformative human-vampire relationship in modern fiction.

The Nature Of Identity: Ecofeminism, Women's Poetry, And Reclaiming Power Through The Recognition Of Parallel Oppressions, Jessica Dailey

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The presence of Ecofeminism in women's poetry can empower women today who engage in feminist activism. The systematic oppression experienced by women is paralleled by the destruction inflicted upon nature (including animals). By recognizing these as similar, women can reclaim their connection to nature (while rejecting the idea that this is essentialist); through this connection women as readers find an escape from patriarchy, the male gaze, and sexual violence in Ecofeminist poetry.

Superficialy [Sic] And Maturity Within J. D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye And Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, Louise Caroline Barbosa

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this research is to analyze the concept of maturity between postcolonialism and modem literature through a close reading of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Both Huck and Finn reside in a world where growing older means accepting the often fake societies and communities that regulate societal norms. Both characters face mature themes, such as death/mortality/ isolation, the hypocrisy of"civilized" society, and depression. In evaluating these texts, it is reasonable to believe that Holden and Huck will forever be displaced in society because of their repression …

Return To Sender, Katherine Noelle Nypaver

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Return to Sender is a fictional short story that illustrates the potential consequences of neglecting to take others seriously. River Ellison, a high school senior at St. Jude’s Academy struggling with depression and habitual self-harm, receives a note from his peer regarding his thoughts on suicide. His ordinary school day transforms into twenty-four hours of repercussions that force River to see his peer for what she is—an equal. Prefacing the short story, my critical essay explains why I find C.D. Payne, John Green, Jesse Andrews, and J.D. Salinger so inspiring to the young adult literature world. I also analyze how …

"The Mouth Of The Void," "Hum", Hannah L. Comeriato

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project presents two distinct pieces of short fiction, linked through intentional stylized language, grammatical patterns, and a sectionalized narrative structure. Each individual piece of short fiction functions independently – as separate and distinct from the other, with no explicit connection in content (i.e. recurring characters, parallel timelines etc.). However, each narrative also displays a kind of complex interaction with the other, each crafted to produce, when read alongside one another, a shared indistinct aesthetic and emotional experience. This aesthetic and emotional experience is crafted, specifically, by the use of stylized verbs, the em-dash, and alternating dialogue-based and image-based sections. …

Oppressive Gender Roles In Crime Novels, Alexis Hardee

Bridges: A Journal of Student Research

Throughout history, women have been perceived as unequal or lower-class in comparison to men. This misogynistic opinion makes its way into movies, history books, politics, mass media, novels, music, and employment. Mystery novels are no exception. In this essay, I will specifically target British mystery novels that include these gender stereotypes. The works I chose to research were written by three of the "Queens of Crime" who were extremely famous and influential authors: The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham, The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, and A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh. This analysis determines …

“I Am No Woman, I”: The Myth Of Ganymede In Shakespeare’S Venus And Adonis And Marlowe’S Hero And Leander, Kristiana Karathanassis

2017 Undergraduate Awards

Epyllion poems, or little epics, functioned in Renaissance society as provocative, comedic, and deeply intertextual explorations of Elizabethan sexuality and gender. Venus and Adonis (1593) by William Shakespeare and Hero and Leander (1598) by Christopher Marlowe are widely recognized as seminal poems of this erotic genre. Through their engagement and experimentation with the titular characters and narratives from Ovidian classical mythology, both poems seem to present subversive explorations of heterosexual love and desire in the Renaissance. In apparent transgressions and reversals of Petrarchan love conventions, Adonis, the beautiful male youth, is feminine and sexless, while Venus—the love goddess herself—is aggressive …

Gaming The Comic Book: Turning The Page On How Comics And Videogames Intersect As Interactive, Digital Experiences, Joseph Austin Thurmond

MA in English Theses

Little attention has been given to how digital technologies have impacted the comic medium. Despite the astronomical impact this shift has had on all sorts of traditional media, it is common to believe that digital comics are simply electronic versions of print comics, but the implementation of audio, animation, three-dimensional effects, and interactivity with other kinds of digital comics reveal that they are hardly so simple. Analyzing and classifying them is essential for English studies, comics studies, and even game studies. Digital comics are a hybridized medium that challenge the essence and existing definitions of comics with disparate instances and …

“Not As She Is” But As She Is Expected To Be: Representations, Limitations, And Implications Of The “Woman” And Womanhood In Selected Victorian Literature And Contemporary Chick Lit., Amanda Ellen Bridgers

MA in English Theses

In this thesis, I address the influences of the Separate Spheres ideology on representations of women in both Victorian women’s literature and modern Chick Lit. I analyze three primary images of women – the Angel of the House, the Governess, and the New Woman, the relationships between these images and the Spheres ideology, and how modern images have been influenced by the social impacts of the gendered expectations within the ideology. Within each investigation, I include a discussion on works of literature including Charlotte Yonge’s The Daisy Chain, Jennifer Weiner’s Little Earthquakes, Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola …

Scientific Literacy Matters: Using Literature To Meet Next Generation Science Standards And 21st Century Skills, Cynthia Tomovic, Sueanne Mckinney, Clair Berube

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Scientific literacy matters. It matters because it is vitally important to the education and development of America’s children, tomorrow's workforce, and the keepers of our future. If the future of American individual decision making, engagement in civic and cultural affairs, and valuable contributions to economic development is to be protected, it is critical that American students become more scientifically literate than they are today. Today, most Americans, including students, are considered scientifically illiterate. Recognizing the need to develop and enhance scientific literacy (also known as science literacy), science educators have worked diligently at developing new science standards, new approaches to …

The Ideas Of Milton’S Areopagitica In Contemporary Society, Emily Moore

Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference

Milton fought against editors who sought to change his work and the work of others before it was published. The ideas conveyed in the Areopagitica are reflected in contemporary copyright laws and the concept of self-publishing. Specifically, the idea of self-publishing would have appealed to Milton so he could publish his works without constraint. Although he advocated for the people to write despite certain risks, such as censorship, Milton sought to inspire people to change the way society thought, not to display their sometimes ill opinions. The contemporary mediums of social media allow people to post these opinions without restraint, …