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Monstrosity In Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein And Leigh Bardugo’S Six Of Crows, Jordyn Fortuna

Lux et Fides: A Journal for Undergraduate Christian Scholars

The main characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows reveal the potential within everyone for Monstrosity. This disregard for humanity can stem from many things, but it can also be prevented through community and sympathy. Monstrosity is often misconstrued due to a false perception guided by a sighted bias. In reality, however, characters’ humanity can be shown to the reader through a greater insight into their traumas and intentions. This paper highlights the idea that reputation cannot be trusted, but instead must be further examined to reveal the Monster within.

Reputation And Reality: Revelations Of Monstrosity In Frankenstein And Six Of Crows, Jordyn Fortuna

English Senior Capstone

The main characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows reveal the potential within everyone for Monstrosity. This disregard for humanity can stem from many things, but it can also be prevented through community and sympathy. Monstrosity is often misconstrued due to a false perception guided by a sighted bias. In reality, however, characters’ humanity can be shown to the reader through a greater insight into their traumas and intentions. This paper highlights the idea that reputation cannot be trusted, but instead but be further examined to reveal the Monster within.

Evermore And Evermore: A Discussion Of Spiritual Fulfillment As Found In Stoppard And Kerouac, Duncan Soughan

English Senior Capstone

Mankind has often struggled with the question of who am I? What am I if the institutions speaking into my life cease to adequately represent me? Nietzsche tackled this question and came to the conclusion that man should turn to his desire to fulfill that lack of direction. Tom Stoppard in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead as well as Jack Kerouac in his novel, On the Road, interact with Nietzsche’s proposals in fascinating ways with Stoppard’s work essentially proving Nietzsche’s point, and Kerouac clarifying that yes, outside the self should not be the sole input for direction but it …

"Big Medicine, Strong Magic": Sacrament And Sacrilege In Till We Have Faces And The Wind In The Willows, Kayla Kovacs

English Senior Capstone

Magic abounds as the fantastical and ordinary collide in C.S. Lewis’s final work of fiction, Till We Have Faces, and Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows. As these authors weave worlds of profound, yet wonderfully simple beauty, they tell stories that point towards the deep intersectionality between seen reality and myth. This paper aims to show the permeability of the veil separating these realms through the concept of sacrament. While sacrament is seen as a kind of gate through which characters may pass to taste and see with new senses, it is contrasted throughout with …

To Do Or Not To Do: Anne Elliot And Edith Hope’S Evolving Perceptions Of Marriage In Persuasion And Hotel Du Lac, Jillian Cook

English Senior Capstone

While Anita Brookner might deny a connection between her characters and those of Jane Austen, placing Brookner’s Hotel du Lac and Austen’s Persuasion in conversation with one another reveals how similarly their protagonists are shaped. Edith Hope and Anne Elliot are both characters who make choices based on a high opinion of love that has been cultivated through the various interactions they have with the single, married, and widowed people in their lives. This paper seeks to investigate these relationships to understand why the two women respond so differently to the marriage proposals they receive at the end of their …

“Don’T Stop Believin’”: Dante’S And Christian’S Journey To Heaven, Austin Cochrane

English Senior Capstone

Dante's "Divine Comedy" and John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" both encounter a protagonist who is journeying with the goal of reaching heaven in mind. During this journey, they are each met with and guided by various characters. In my paper, I focus on Virgil and Beatrice in "The Divine Comedy", and Evangelist and Hopeful in "The Pilgrim's Progress." Along with these guides, the geography that Dante and Christian each encounter is symbolic of a maturation of faith, as well as many Catholic and Protestant themes that Dante and Bunyan practiced.

The Light And The Nothing: Escapism In Ready Player One And Confessions Of An English Opium-Eater, Katherine Bodkin

English Senior Capstone

In their novels Ready Player One and Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, Ernest Cline and Thomas De Quincey shed light on the individual and societal desire to escape pain and suffering. The drastically different time periods of these two stories show that addiction and avoidance have been plaguing humans for centuries. These characters’ unhealthy use of escapism serves as a warning to readers about the dangers of identifying oneself within a false reality. Ultimately, both characters exemplify that placing one’s agency within a false reality renders one completely powerless. When one accepts their inability to change their undesirable pasts …

The Holding On, Lydia Price

English Senior Capstone

“The Holding On” is a work of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry that explores the tension that lies at the heart of growing up and departing the world as you have previously known it. Through the lens of reflections on home life and family, this project seeks to honor the unique blend of celebration and mourning that we meet with during the transitions of life. Joy does not undo sorrow, but neither does sorrow undo joy, and the ultimate purpose of these stories is to transport you to that threshold moment— the moment before leaving.

Chart Study, Abigail Franklin

English Senior Capstone

Chart Study is a collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that recounts moments of my life and explores my interpretation of the world. It spans decades and continents, from the Midwest to the Middle East, while following the thread of uncertainty that has always wrapped around me. Themes of self-discovery, independence, and insecurity are prominent as I play with formal poetry and sectioned essays. The title refers to my father’s time as an aviator and is an homage to all of the characteristics and quirks he instilled in me that are explored more fully in the project itself.

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Identity Achievement In The Lives Of Pip And Heathcliff, Brianna Leigh Blosenski

English Senior Capstone

Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations and Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights both focus on characters orphaned at a young age. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are clearly present throughout these characters’ adolescent lives, as they face various types of neglect, abuse, and household dysfunction. The presence of these ACEs thus influences their identity achievement: the settling of their moral codes and ethical standards. Through the exploration of their identities from childhood to adulthood, the reader observes Pip attaining identity achievement—due to the influence of a positive parental figure—and Heathcliff failing to do so.

The Stories Already Written: An Intertextual Analysis Of The Book Thief And Belonging, Jenna Kortenhoeven

English Senior Capstone

Intertextuality is a theoretical notion which enables a critic to analyze the way a writer’s story is the sum of the stories the writer has read and which can examine how human identity is also constructed from reading. Within Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and Nora Krug’s Belonging, the writers find their story and identity through reading, their relationship with words mirroring their relationship with themselves, others, and the world. The Book Thief details the story of Liesel Meminger, showcasing how her entire life is shaped by words and emphasizing how her growth as a reader leads her to …

Drawing Empathy: The Benefits Of Utilizing Graphic Memoirs In Secondary Classrooms, Hailey Simmons

English Senior Capstone

The use of graphic novels and graphic memoirs in the classroom is an active discussion in many schools. Some individuals who oppose using the genre with students argue that it does not provide enough depth to have an effect on the reader. By analyzing Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Nora Krug’s Belonging, this paper explains how graphic memoirs can provide depth for readers. As Spiegelman and Krug learn of their family history with the Holocaust and World War II, they utilize the techniques of representational art, the repetition of structural elements, and the use of color and shading to portray …

"Everyone Learns, Nobody Changes": Images And The Ideal In Anna Karenina And Closer, Leah Kiers

English Senior Capstone

The main characters in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and Patrick Marber’s Closer literally and figuratively surround themselves with images of themselves and others that define how they choose to see and be seen. Using the framework of Tolstoy’s What Is Art?, this paper evaluates how these images affect the characters’ relationships with one another. Tolstoy writes that art should enable humanity to pursue an ideal of unity with one another, but the characters’ ideals are more self-centered, making it so that the images they use prevent them from authentically connecting with each other. Proximity with suffering and death can tear …

The Pieces That Make The Self: Finding Balance Between Social And Individual Identity In Frances Burney’S Evelina And Virginia Woolf’S Mrs. Dalloway, Jenna King

English Senior Capstone

In their novels Evelina and Mrs. Dalloway, Frances Burney and Virginia Woolf pursue an understanding of the pieces of one’s “self.” Through the journeys of Evelina Anville and Clarissa Dalloway, Burney and Woolf explore how a woman’s identity is formed by both her social role and her individuality. Although the social settings examined in the two novels vary greatly due to differences in both time period and the main characters’ stages of life, Evelina’s and Clarissa’s stories are united by their shared goal of gaining understanding of and ownership over themselves. Ultimately, both Evelina and Mrs. Dalloway argue for …

Insomniac - A Collection Of Poetry, Fiction, And Creative Non-Fiction, Jason Abishekaraj John

English Senior Capstone

As the title would suggest, Insomniac is a multi-genre collection which represents a handful of my written works that were born during bouts of insomnia and depression. The poems I have placed in this collection revolve around my friendships with specific (and at times multiple) individuals. The creative non-fiction pieces focus on my experiences with depression, dissociation, suicide, anxiety, hypersensitivity, epilepsy, and self-harm in hopes that they might promote conversation. Lastly, the short stories are my own spin on Bhoot (Ghost) and ¬Shikari (Hunter) stories I hungrily devoured in my childhood. My hope is that each of these pieces can …

A Choice To Make: The Portrayal Of Female Characters’ Agency And Emotion In Madeline Miller’S Circe And Anaïs Mitchell’S Hadestown, Abby Swartzentruber

English Senior Capstone

In the novel Circe and the musical Hadestown, Madeline Miller and Anaïs Mitchell create transformative retellings of selected Greek myths, where the narrative perspective is shifted to the women, allowing for a deeper examination of the complexity of these characters. Circe details the life of the titular goddess as she grapples with the tension between her exile and her agency, experiencing a complex web of non-linear emotions. In Hadestown, Eurydice must learn to overcome her pessimism to trust another, while Persephone must abandon her coping mechanisms and finally stand up to the abuses of her husband, Hades. Mitchell …

Parnassus 2023

Parnassus

The 2023 edition of the student literary journal, Parnassus, published by Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.

Highlights Of Taylor Etiquette: 2022 Edition, Taylor University

Heritage Books and Booklets

Students in Dr. Aaron Housholder's ENG110 class collaborated with Special Collections & University Archives to produce an updated etiquette guide. The original etiquette guide was booklet produced circa 1930 detailing the expectations of Taylor University students. Sections in the booklet included:

• As Regarding the Dining Hall
• As Regarding the Campus
• As Regarding Chapel

Students in the ENG110 (College Composition) course spent time reviewing the original etiquette booklet, identified guidelines that should be carried forward into 2022, and then worked together to generate several new "guidelines" they felt were relevant to today's Taylor culture.

Grace, Grace, By The Side Of The Road, Hannah Tienvieri

English Senior Capstone

"Grace, Grace, By the Side of the Road" is a collection of poetry and creative nonfiction that contemplates the messiness of growing up and the events, relationships, and environments that shape a person’s identity. This collection traces my experiences from early childhood to college and maintains a particular interest in the landscape of the Midwest as being as integral to my sense of self as family, friendships, and the body. The text itself is an attempt to wrestle with the question: what does love look like amid hardship, change, and imperfection? In “Grace, Grace, By the Side of the Road,” …

From Renaissance To Robert: The Machiavellian Cycle Of Life, Death, And Rebirth, Noah Huseman

English Senior Capstone

In this paper, I explore the recursive nature of cultural commentary as it is informed by evolution of the monster. As one culture rises to prominence, so does the monster which comments upon it. I specifically examine the cultural monstrosity of the Machiavellian archetype as it is portrayed across time, first placing Machiavelli's theory in its original context, then branching out to the cultural context surrounding its appearance in both the literature of Renaissance England and the stories of today. Once I set up the broader theoretical context, I probe more deeply into two literary depictions of the Machiavel: Iago …

Sanctuary, Abigail G. Chandler

English Senior Capstone

Sanctuary is a collection of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that explores relationships. I pull from my own experiences with family, friendships, self-knowledge, and the divine to connect with readers over shared loss and over attempts at understanding goodness, beauty, and truth. Sanctuary seeks to look at relationships multilaterally, holding pain and pleasure in juxtaposition. Everyone needs people who make them feel safe, wanted, and known, and sanctuary is not found in the same places for everyone.

The Paradox Of Loss, Abby Pugsley

English Senior Capstone

The Paradox of Loss is a collection of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry that leans into the tension humans experience as eternal beings in a world marked by impermanence. We encounter loss in countless ways throughout our lives, and yet we also look toward a future where all is restored. This collection is an exploration of the losses I have experienced, presented in both fictional and nonfictional forms. My hope is to show the life that pervades even in loss, both through our attachment to the physical world and in the way our grief points toward our desire for permanence, …

The Effects Of Trauma On Identity Formation: Pursuing And Obtaining Individual Freedom In Emerson’S Nature And Creech’S Chasing Redbird, Mckenzie Hershberger

English Senior Capstone

Nature and Chasing Redbird provide poignant examples of the restorative power found in the natural world, and a thorough analysis of the works and lives of the authors reveal past trauma created the need for this restoration. Traumatic experiences shape an individual’s thought processes, as each decision the individual makes is based upon fearing an uncertain outcome. Throughout Nature, Emerson references a child’s innocence, demonstrating that a child’s perspective has not yet been tainted by experience. Emerson idealizes his past childhood as he endured grievances that motivated him to confront his trauma while in nature himself. An example for Emerson’s …

Parnassus

Parnassus

The 2022 edition of the student literary journal, Parnassus, published by Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.

Gothic Determinism: The Interplay Of Atavism And Hope In "The Old Nurse's Story" And "The Fall Of The House Of Usher", Madison Howland

English Senior Capstone

No abstract provided.

Note To Self: Don't Forget To Title Your Project!, Abby Wilson

English Senior Capstone

Note to Self: Don’t Forget to Title Your Project! is a collection of creative nonfiction, poetry, and visual art reflecting on the author’s ADHD diagnosis. With an approachable and direct tone, I become a tour guide for my readers as they explore the landscape of my neurodivergent brain. These readers will discover aspects of ADHD that can be strengths or drawbacks, such as executive dysfunction, outside-the-box thinking, emotional dysregulation, and hyperfixation. They will also briefly peek into the way that ADHD intersects with aspects of my identity, such as other neurodivergencies, gender, and spirituality.

Stories That Bark For Themselves: The Fall Of A Rooster And A Princess From Pride To Repentant Humility As Depicted In The Book Of The Dun Cow And The Light Princess, Ella Harris

English Senior Capstone

Walter Wangerin Jr. and George MacDonald, authors of The Book of the Dun Cow and The Light Princess respectively, created the self-serving characters Chauntecleer the Rooster and the cursed princess. Both characters, ignorant about the subtle strength of those around them and the power of a sacrificial act against encroaching evil, are shown their own insufficiency through the sacrifice of their humble and believed-to-be inconsequential companions. Both companions, Mundo Cani Dog and the prince, willingly sacrifice their lives to conquer the evil powers that threaten lands and to save those whom they love. The actions and behaviors of all four …

“Nothing Much Happens”: The Process Of Constructing Coherent Selves In A Tree Grows In Brooklyn And I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Laytham

English Senior Capstone

In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, respectively, Betty Smith and Maya Angelou vividly paint the places, people, and customs that contextualize Francie and Marguerite’s growth. In fact, the societies to which both the protagonists and the authors talk back contribute greatly to how they express themselves. The interplays between past and present and between personal and public all inform how Smith and Angelou describe and develop the stories of their younger selves. While it might sound strange to find such dynamism in something as apparently inert as written word, the works …

Contemporaries & Other Inklings Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The Contemporaries & Other Inklings Collection features a variety of rare books, pamphlets, and articles written by and about members of the Inklings and those who were their friends or inspirations. Please refer to the separate finding aids for these authors: C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, and Owen Barfield.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022

C.S. Lewis Collection Finding Aid, Taylor University

Finding Aids

The C. S. Lewis Collection features a variety of books and articles by and about Lewis. It also includes letters and manuscripts written by Lewis, as well as rare and first editions of his books.
Last Updated: August 29, 2022