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An Interdisciplinary Approach: Schizophrenia Derails Heteronormative Expectations In Psychological Narratives 2021, Bobbie Jo Weaver

Master's Theses

Required introductory psychology courses teach students a general and oversimplified version of the immense number of subfields within Psychology studies, much like introductory literature classes compress different genera throughout history into a miniscule number of “representative” texts. Nevertheless, these footholds generate an entryway into a whole new world of (specialized) exploration. Reading a text such as The Quiet Room: A Journey out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett provides a window for many students to crawl into one of Psychology’s darkest shadows, the field of abnormal psychology. Schiller’s non-fictional memoir, The Quiet Room, tells readers …

Whiteness: An Ideology Of Violence And Power As Represented In Chesnutt's The Marrow Of Tradition, Schuyler's Black No More And Larsen's Passing, Keith Giles

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the representations of whiteness found in three pieces of literature. The thesis not only teases out the nuances of whiteness, but specifically analyzes the violence that whiteness inflicts upon the black body. To begin, I define what whiteness and whiteness ideology is in relation to race. After introducing the idea and functions of whiteness, I dive into the investigation by analyzing three major novels written by African American authors during the early twentieth century. While analyzing the instances of white violence in one of the three novels, the other two novels will …

Using Modern Portfolio Theory To Analyze Virgil's Aeneid (Or Any Other Poem), David Patterson

Master's Theses

This paper demonstrates that it is possible to use mathematics to study literature as it has been used to study the social sciences. By focusing on mathematically defining economic and literary terms, it can be shown that the underlying mathematical structure behind key concepts in economics and literature are analogous. This opens the possibility of applying economic models in literature. Specifically, it is demonstrated that the economic mathematical model of modern portfolio theory can answer long standing questions around the Roman epic Aeneid by Virgil. The poet died before completing his poem. The relative completeness of the books of the …

Representations Of Women And Minorities Groups In Comics, Laticia Donelle Marshall

Master's Theses

The focus of this research is to examine the representation of women and minority groups within comic books. Comic books are a cultural product that involves many actors when it comes to changing the representations of women and minorities. Therefore, this research focused on examining not only literary works but also the actions and contributions of producers and consumers throughout the publication of American comics. In the chapters, I examined the various representations of women, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians in comic books. To conduct my research on changing cultural productions, I used the method of textual analysis …

"Do Not Fashion The Other": Representing Contemporary Haudenosaunee Literature 2016, Michael Patrick Brewster

Master's Theses

Historically, the issue of representation in postcolonial studies is one of some contention. While scholarship might recognize the necessity for highlighting the plights and struggles attendant to postcolonial societies, the primary literature being studied is most often written by natives of those societies themselves. This gap is especially evident with Indigenous cultures, because there are relatively few Indigenous scholars working in the academy. We are at the point now when we have a multiplicity (but not a plurality) of Indigenous voices writing literature (poetry, memoir, fiction, film, etc.) and academic criticism. However, there is value in non-Natives reading and writing …

Looker: Stories, George Robert Hargett

Master's Theses

The following stories, completed by the author between August 2013 and February 2015, deal with love, obscurity, isolation, failure, vulnerability and insecurity, looking and losing, the fears tied up in all these, and, once in a while, gaining.

Mistakes Were Made, Michael Paul Adams

Master's Theses

Daniel Sorlin proposes that he and his wife, Claire, engage in an open marriage. Daniel has already been cheating on Claire for years, so the open marriage will allow him to stop feeling guilty for being a philanderer. Little does he know that Claire has fantasized about having an affair with one of their neighbors, an artist named Greg. Claire takes Daniel up on his offer, leading to an exploration of what happens to a relationship when the idea of fidelity is removed. The novel shows how a series of unplanned events (pregnancy, an early marriage, extramarital affairs, the death …

Watch The Sky, Kelly Ann Curtis

Master's Theses

Watch the Sky is a coming of age novel that follows a young man named Eddie Leland. Sixteen-year-old Eddie lives in an isolated part of Southern Oregon. His father is dead and his mother, torn with grief, is unable to contribute to Eddie's development into manhood. For two years, Eddie has had one true companion, his father's hunting dog. When the dog is violently killed by his mother's boyfriend and his mother's life is threatened, Eddie takes drastic measures to preserve what is left of his family. As a result, Eddie must flee the only life he has ever known. …

Zazie De Louis Malle : Une Traduction Intersémiotique, Clara Elahe Varjavandi

Master's Theses

In his novel, Zazie dans le métro (1959), Raymond Queneau reinvents the French language while telling the story of a young girl, Zazie, visiting her uncle in Paris for the weekend. The absurdities of the world are examined through her eyes as well as the effort by French society to forget the atrocities of World War II.

Because of its intricate use of language, Queneau's masterpiece seemed impossible to adapt to film. Yet, already in 1960, Louis Malle took it upon himself to convert the renowned novel into a film.

This thesis approaches the film as an intersemiotic translation rather …

Nowhere: Blank Verse Concerning Small-Town Life In California, Daniel Scarpa

Master's Theses

I wanted to explore the process of using place - specifically, small towns in California that I visited - as inspiration for the writing of a book of poetry. This has been done in the past, most notably by poets such as Kenneth Rexroth and Gary Snyder. I was inspired by these poets and several others and my own experience in these often overlooked small towns to create a collection of syllabic blank verse poems that touch on their economies, practical reasons for isolation, and unique micro-cultures. While on the whole, I am pleased with the way the collection turned …

Footprints Fill And Fade, James Conrad Beck

Master's Theses

A collection of poems with preface. Poems are inspired by Buddhist thought and the poetry of Ko Un, William Carlos Williams, Robert Creeley, and Rayomond Carver among others.

James Barron Hope : Virginia's Poet-Laureate, Cullen S. Pitt

Master's Theses

Previous to the Civil War comparatively little literary work had been done in the south. Of course if we take into consideration all kinds of composition, such as narratives of adventure, diaries, histories, speeches, sermons and the like, we are forced to admit that the total amount was very large. But when we speak of literature in the higher and more restricted sense, we mean that which stimulates the imagination, awakens thought and aims to please as well as to instruct. And, using the word in this narrow and more restricted sense, it is quite evident that there had been …