Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing Critical Analysis In The Classroom To Negate Southern Stereotypes In Multi-Media, Julie Broyhill

MA in English Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to bring attention to the continued strong stereotypes against those who live in the southern region of the United States, especially those living in the deep south. Using literary examples from Southern authors Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God), Delores Philips (The Darkest Child), and Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina), as well as cartoons, movies, and the news media, this thesis stresses the importance of educators teaching how to apply critical analysis to literary works and other forms of multi-media in order to negate preconceived notions of Southern people.

The Art Of The Tweet: How To Change Political Rhetoric In 140 Characters Or Less, Alice Byrd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Excerpt from Literature Review

The Internet age has seen a huge shift in the way that candidates communicate their political rhetoric, because there has been a huge shift in how voters consume that rhetoric. Twitter and Facebook are now some of the vehicles by which voters consume political rhetoric. Twitter and Facebook are home to lots of non-political content, but many members of the politically engaged community have flocked to both social networking sites to create politically engaged social networks. The emergence of social media as an important information source within the electorate has fundamentally changed not only the way …

Post Title Ix Representations Of Professional Female Athletes, Emily Shaw

MA in English Theses

Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972, female participation in athletics grows every year. Interestingly, media representations of professional female athletes have not always been indicative of this exciting and growing participation. This study explores the representations of professional female athletes and discusses implications and affordances of magazine and social media. In particular, the research analyzes five Sports Illustrated magazine covers and thirty Instagram posts to explore how female athletes have been presented on magazine covers and how they are representing themselves on social media. Using theories of gender, media, self-presentation, and visual rhetoric, this thesis analyzes how Sports …

Tabletop Role-Playing Games, Narrative, And Individual Development, Benjamin Luke Flournoy

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Excerpt from Introduction

In 1982, Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (BADD) was created. BADD was a group consisted of parents, teachers, and clergy who were worried about the spiritual and mental development of children, who they saw were at risk of being corrupted by a single game—Dungeons & Dragons. The group campaigned again and again, warning fellow parents about the detrimental effect that this game could have on a child’s life. They believed Dungeons & Dragons had a kind of power over its players—a power that could create meaning and even take children to their eternal doom. This …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Multiliterate Assignments Utilizing 21st Century Skills, Jessica Kennedy Miller

MA in English Theses

Today’s society requires students to be knowledgeable in both content and skill to be successful. In the secondary classroom it is important to fully prepare students for their futures in the post-secondary classroom or for their career, and through the implementation of Common Core State Standards, this focus has been emphasized in educational pedagogy. This thesis outlines a study and the implications of the perceptions of teachers and students on utilizing 21st century skills in the secondary English classroom through the implementation of multiliterate assignments. This thesis outlines reasons for the study, important terminology to ground the study, the methodology, …

The Storytellers’ Trauma: A Place To Call Home In Caribbean Literature, Ilari Pass

MA in English Theses

This thesis is an examination gathering of trauma, unhomeliness, and the use of non-traditional narrative structure in Caribbean literature. While literature helps the reader travel inside the skin of the character, the mystery of another human being, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies, and Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker, also help readers to explore the complicated process of identity formation in each work through the lenses of the imperialism, colonialism, racism and sexism that the protagonists experience. A non-traditional narrative structure enables this process of healing from trauma and allows for a new …

The Effects Of Social Media As Low-Stakes Writing Tasks, Roxanne Loving

MA in English Theses

nspired by a recognition of high school students’ frequent disengagement during reading and their lack of comfort and confidence with finding ways to engage with texts, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of social-media formatted low-stakes writing tasks in the high school English classroom. Drawing from research on writing instruction, reading engagement, literacy, and social media practices, the study utilized social media as a familiar writing format for high school students, bridging out-of-school literacy practices with classroom-based literacy practices. During the six-week study in a 10th-grade English course, student participants used Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook …

Fan Fiction In The English Language Arts Classroom, Kristen Finucan

MA in English Theses

Inspired by the observation of an obvious deficit in students’ comprehension of higher level literature, as well as an apparent weakness in both verbal and written critical analysis skills, this study explores the creation of collaborative fan fiction by students as they read the classic text, The Great Gatsby. Fueled by research in the areas of fan fiction, participatory culture, and cooperative learning, this inquiry took place over the course of six weeks in a high school English class comprised of 10th and 11th grade students. Throughout the study, the researcher examined student survey results, videos of students as they …

Transferring The Mantle: The Voice Of The Poet Prophet In The Works Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning And Emily Dickinson, Heidi Brown Hyde

MA in English Theses

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson are arguably two of the most recognized names in nineteenth-century poetry. One was famous in her lifetime, a pioneer of women’s poetics with a searing vision of what her world was, her place in it and how to live. The other was only recognized for her poetic genius after her death, and but for the love of her family and friends, her poetic voice would have never transformed the landscape of American literature. Although these two women were separated by culture and geography, they both had a shared Congregationalist heritage, a poetic gift and …

"Where Nature Was Most Plain And Pure": The Sacred Locus Amoenus And Its Profane Threat In Andrew Marvell's Pastoral Poetry, James Brent King

MA in English Theses

This thesis attempts to contribute to the vast pool of scholarship on Andrew Marvell’s poetry by analyzing his use of the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane in five of his pastoral poems. This objective is accomplished by first examining the dichotomies use as it relates to the archetype of the sacred locus amoenus in the story of the garden of Eden in Genesis, in Hesiod’s account of the golden age, and in Virgil’s first Eclogue. After discussing these ancient texts, the focus turns toward Marvell’s “The Mower Against Gardens,” “Damon the Mower,” “The Mower to the Glowworms,” “The …

The Intrinsic Factors That Influence Successful College Writing, Kenneth Dean Carlstrom

MA in English Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of several intrinsic or non-cognitive factors that can positively influence successful collegiate writing. Using college writing as a forum for exploring intrinsic traits such as curiosity, grit, self-efficacy, time management, organization, and a growth mindset, reveals success stories in this qualitative study. Since writing clearly connects to the vicissitudes students experience, it serves as an appropriate means of measuring intrinsic characteristics. This study entwines student experiences with cognitive theorists to generate benefits for students, high school teachers, and college professors. Through extension, the power of mentors, the growth mindset, and …

Colorblind: How Cable News And The “Cult Of Objectivity” Normalized Racism In Donald Trump’S Presidential Campaign, Amanda Leeann Shoaf

MA in English Theses

This thesis explores the connection between genre and the normalization of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s varied racist, sexist, and xenophobic comments during the height of the 2016 General Election. Examining the genre of cable news and the network CNN specifically, this thesis analyzes both the broad genre-specific elements and specific instances during CNN’s panel discussions where that normalization occurred. Combining Carolyn Miller’s framework for deconstructing genre, Classical rhetorical devices like stasis theory, Judith Butler’s interpretation of performativity, and pertinent political and historical context, this thesis highlights and examines the impact the “cult of objectivity” had on CNN’s normalization of Donald …

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 …

Exile And Identity: Chaim Potok's Contribution To Jewish-American Literature, Sarah Anne Hamner

MA in English Theses

Questions of identity and exile are deep in the bones of the Jewish people. In this thesis I will discuss the manifestations of exile and identity in the works of Chaim Potok, a Jewish-American novelist. Potok’s work has long been excluded from the canon of Jewish-American criticism. I suspect this exclusion is due to critical oversight, as Potok’s characters lead more traditional Jewish lives in terms of religious beliefs, backgrounds, and behaviors. In order to prove the critical value of Potok’s work I will note the gaps in Jewish-American criticism where Potok’s work is missing. Then I will concentrate around …

A Woman's Voice And Identity: Narrative Métissage As A Solution To Voicelessness In American Literature, Kali Lauren Oldacre

MA in English Theses

The objective of this thesis was to analyze the progression of a woman’s voice in literature looking particularly at three American women writers spanning the 20th and into the 21st century—Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Edwidge Danticat. In conjunction, these three novels show a progression through the history of American women’s literature, demonstrating the successes and failures of voice and silence in their works and the ways in which creating an identity through voice is necessary, even if one must create it complexly. Ultimately, the authors establish a voice in their works that lays the foundation for writers who …

Pop, Hip Hop, And Empire, Study Of A New Pedagogical Approach In A Developmental Reading And English Class, Karen Denise Taylor

MA in English Theses

This thesis focuses on the impact of studying students’ identities after using the television show, Empire as a Hip Hop studies based text in a developmental reading and English class. I frame the pedagogical approach to reading and writing by using the television show as a doorway into the varied language practices of the Hip Hop culture as opposed to Standard American English (SAE). This research uses James Paul Gee’s discourse analysis as a method for coding and analysis of the responses of the interviewees to survey questions. The questions were designed to determine from the students’ responses their attitudes …

The Nature, Function, And Value Of Emojis As Contemporary Tools Of Digital Interpersonal Communication, Nicole L. Bliss-Carroll

MA in English Theses

The roles and characteristics of emojis are rapidly expanding within computer-mediated communication spaces, forcing many to acknowledge their seemingly inescapable social influence as tools of digital written communication. These colorful, contemporary icons—which became widely available through a range of global, technical platforms in 2011—convey interpersonal emotional expressions in a much more sophisticated manner than their charming appearance initially indicates. Communicators can learn a great deal about the processes of interpretation that are contributing to the continued and expanding use of emojis. An emoji’s perceived meaning can paradoxically be clear in one instance and ambiguous in another when utilized by individuals …

Abandoning The Shadows And Seizing The Stage: A Perspective On A Feminine Discourse Of Resistance Theatre As Informed By The Work Of Susanna Centlivre, Eliza Haywood, Frances Sheridan, Hannah Cowley, And The Sistren Theatre Collective, Brianna A. Bleymaier

MA in English Theses

This thesis considers the development of a unique form of theatre - feminine resistance theatre. Through the process, this work will consider the true nature and power of theatre as an artform, the placement of the problematized female voice within society, literature, and theatre, and how the theatrical form can create a unique catalyst for the female voice to be considered and implemented. In order to fully comprehend the nature of this exploration, this thesis discusses the placement and relevancy of the foundation eighteenth century theatre provides, by examining four of the women who fought for the validity of the …

Mexican Immigrants As "Other": An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of U.S. Immigration Legislation And Political Cartoons, Olivia Teague Morgan

MA in English Theses

This paper uses postcolonial theory to analyze United States immigration legislation as it applies to the marginalized group of Mexican immigrants, beginning with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and ending with Obama’s proposed immigration plan in 2014. It also couples postcolonial theory with visual rhetoric concepts to analyze political cartoons and images relating to Mexican immigration, uncovering the attitudes and messages they represent.

"I Am A Living Enigma - And You Want To Know The Right Reading Of Me": Gender Anxiety In Wilkie Collins's The Haunted Hotel And The Guilty River, Hannah Allford

MA in English Theses

This paper discusses gender anxiety in two of Wilkie Collins's novellas, The Haunted Hotel and The Guilty River.As each of Collins's novella was written near the turn of the nineteenth century, commonly known as the Fin de Siècle, the author explores the social construction - and subsequent subverting - of Victorian notions of genderideology in each text. Arguing that the novella's emphasis on marginalized characters demands scholarly attention and literary worth, the author next investigates three discourses through which traditional genderspheres are subverted. In examining each novella's use of embedded narratives, discussion of science (specifically chemicals), and portrayal of …

Gender Performance And The Reclamation Of Masculinity In Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, John William Salyers Jr.

MA in English Theses

Salyers analyzes Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as both a product of and a commentary upon the American 1980s. The text focuses on analysis of key characters and their performance of socially assigned or accepted gender roles. Chief among these are James Gordon, seen as a nostalgic clinging to an antiquated masculinity, and Ellen Yindel, a woman who feels pressured by society to abandon her own gender identity in favor of a more socially acceptable one. The text posits that, against these two, Miller's work seeks to recognize a more modern, empowered, feminism in the character of Robin, …

"That's A Lotta Faith We're Putting In A Word": Language, Religion, And Heteroglossia As Oppression And Resistance In Comtemporary British Dystopian Fiction, Haley Cassandra Gambrell

MA in English Theses

Dystopian literature, in which writers imagine a chaotic, uncertain future, has become a trend in contemporary literature. Three recent British dystopian texts--Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V for Vendetta , Patrick Ness's young adult novel The Knife of Never Letting Go , and China Miéville's detective novel The City & the City --reveal important themes of dystopian literature that transcend genre and stylistic convention. When a totalitarian regime governs the people, language and religion become commodities used by both government and citizens. First, I will explain the role of naming in establishing identity of both governing bodies and …

Mirroring The Madness: Caribbean Female Development In The Works Of Elizabeth Nunez, Lauren Delli Santi

MA in English Theses

Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian author, critic, and professor who explores the development of female identity within Trinidadian society through her fictional and critical writings. Nunez's article, "The Paradoxes of Belonging," questions the identity of the white creole woman in the Caribbean as she lives in exile due to rejection from her European heritage as well as Afro-Caribbean society. Nunez questions this shaping and questioning of identity through her own fictional works with the formation of her female characters. She uses her native country of Trinidad as the main setting to develop black and biracial female characters and utilizes the …

High School English Teachers' Perceptions Of Rigor In Student Assignments, Cynthia S. Misenheimer

Education Dissertations and Projects

This research was designed to examine the perceptions of high school English teachers as to the amount of rigor present in their student assignments as evidenced by a rubric based upon the revised Bloom's taxonomy.

The researcher developed a rubric to assess the amount of rigor based upon the revised Bloom's taxonomy. Teachers of standards and honors level English classes in high schools from two school systems were asked to assess four of their student assignments that they considered challenging utilizing the rubric. They were also asked to rank the assignment with a level of rigor from one for low …

"Atlas Shrugged" And Third-Wave Feminism: An Unlikely Alliance, Paul Mcmahan

MA in English Theses

Ayn Rand and her work are often ignored by feminist critics because of Rand's personal life, her views on sex, and her vehement rejections of collectivism. Feminism has moved through overlapping waves known as first, second, and third-wave feminism. Throughout its life feminism has been marked by two strands: relational and individual. The strand of individual feminism has been more prevalent in Anglo-American feminism while relational feminism has been more predominant in European feminism. Atlas Shrugged was published six years prior to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique , a text generally agreed upon as the starting point for second-wave feminism. …

"Sit Back Down Where You Belong, In The Corner Of My Bar With Your High Heels On": The Use Of Cross-Dressing In Order To Achieve Female Agency In Shakespeare's Transvestite Comedies, Heather Lynn Wright

MA in English Theses

In taking on their male disguises, Viola (Twelfth Night ), Rosalind (As You Like It ), and Portia (The Merchant of Venice ) are able to transcend the confines of their social roles and achieve agency and voice as both females and males. With their male disguises, they gain power and agency as lower-class males and as aristocratic females. This power correlates to the fact that they are not fully male. Their female attributes, ideas, and nature (the essence of their femininity) still come through. They are limited and marginalized as women not because of their intelligence …

Divergent Worldviews In Ron Rash's "Serena", Brenda Dye Stephens

MA in English Theses

Ron Rash, through Serena, captures the often misunderstood complex nature of the Appalachian people in the early twentieth century and the effects of human centered environmental changes on this culture and natural landscape. The focus of this analysis involves viewing Serena through the lens of ecofeminism and introducing Rash's vision of the important interrelationship between landscape and culture, particularly in light of the historical outsider vision and its impact upon the people of Appalachia.

The culture and natural environment of the Appalachian people are revealed through the gazes of the characters. Through the fictional viewpoints in Serena,Rash creates a …

Between The Way To The Cross And Emmaus: Deconstructing Identity In The 325 Ce Council Of Nicaea And "The Shack", Trevar Simmons

MA in English Theses

This paper argues that when Christians acknowledge the deconstruction of their identity surrounding orthodoxy/heresy, Christians can embody the imitatio Christi and imago Dei. The argument begins by analyzing how Christians construct their identity along the orthodoxy/heresy lines by investigating a 2009 Bible burning by Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, NC. Reaching into the past and present, deconstruction is found in a prototypical orthodoxy/heresy debate at the 325 CE Council of Nicaea and the modern hubbub in and surrounding William Paul Young's novel The Shack.

Theodicy From The Inside: Viewing The Problem Of Evil Through Shoah Survivor Narratives, Sabrina Kaye Jurey

MA in English Theses

We can know the facts and details of the Shoah from history books and official records, but if we go no further than this, we cannot get the full picture. To truly glimpse what happened in the camps, we must turn to the accounts of survivors, of those who experienced and lived those facts and details. To truly look the Shoah in the face, we must look into the faces of these survivors.

It is for this reason, then, that when I began to dig deeper into theodicy studies, I turned simultaneously to Shoah survival narratives. Those who have suffered …