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Using Active Learning To Teach Hawthorne's 'My Kinsman, Major Molineux', Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

No abstract provided.

The Sacred And The Secular In Clay's Quilt, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

n a telling scene toward the opening of Clay's Quilt (NY: Ballantine, 2001), Silas House has the novel's protagonist, Clay Sizemore, heading up Town Mountain toward the Hilltop Club, the local honkytonk. As he approaches the club, Clay notices that "across the bowl that held the town, another mountain rose up" (52). The most noticeable feature on this opposite mountain is a "marble statue of Jesus with his arms stretched out in front ... so lit up that it could be seen for miles" (52). Importantly, this scene acts as House's foreshadowing of the struggle Clay will endure as he …

It Works For Us, Collaboratively! : Shared Tips For Effective Collaboration, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe

Hal Blythe

"Collaborating is a highly effective skill we develop and use throughout our lives … until we become faculty." Thus the authors begin their journey into yet another in their popular "It Works" series that include: It Works for Me! Shared Tips for Teaching It Works for Me, Too! More Shared Tips for Teaching It Works for Me, Online! Shared Tips for Online and Web-Enhanced Teaching Everyone in the following pages—the authors’ collaborators—has found some area of academia that has been improved through the use of collaboration. The book begins by presenting some general tips about collaboration, then moves to more …

Northrop Frye And The Phenomenology Of Myth, Glen Robert Gill

Department of Classics and General Humanities Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In Northrop Frye and the Phenomenology of Myth, Glen Robert Gill compares Frye's theories about myth to those of three other major twentieth-century mythologists: C.G. Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Mircea Eliade. Gill explores the theories of these respective thinkers as they relate to Frye's discussions of the phenomenological nature of myth, as well as its religious, literary, and psychological significance.

Gill substantiates Frye's work as both more radical and more tenable than that of his three contemporaries. Eliade's writings are shown to have a metaphysical basis that abrogates an understanding of myth as truly phenomenological, while Jung's theory of …

From The Illuminating Moon To The Radiating Sun: The Philosophical Writings Of Emerson And Nichiren, Sharon Mitsue Blythe

Theses & Honors Papers

Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophical writings possess deep correlations to the writings of Nichiren, a 13th century Japanese Buddhist philosopher. Both Emerson and Nichiren conceive the inherent and unlimited potential of human beings, and stress the inseparability of life from its psychological, spiritual, and physical environment. Both Emerson and Nichiren address the cyclical and universal nature of all phenomena, an understanding that derives from the oneness of all facets of existence. The greatest variation between these two writers occurs in the implementation and practice of their philosophies.

The Preface provides a synopsis of Buddhism and introduces Nichiren. It also discusses the …

A Seal Of Living Reality: The Role Of Personal Expression In Latter-Day Saint Discourse, C. Julianne Smith

Theses and Dissertations

A personal mode of discourse is central to Latter-day Saint culture. This mode is both pervasive throughout the culture and significant within it. Two specific genres-the personal experience narrative and the personal testimony-illustrate the importance of this discourse mode in LDS culture. Understanding the LDS personal mode of discourse is essential to properly understanding Mormonism. The personal orientation in LDS discourse mirrors a tendency towards personal expression which has become common throughout Western culture. This tendency has important roots in the Protestant religious movement. In particular, Puritanism represents a significant point of origin for American personal expression. Such expression has …

Finding Love Among Extreme Opposition In Toni Morrison's Jazz And Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter, John David Clark

English Theses

In Toni Morrison’s Jazz and Eudora Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter, extreme opposition is prevalent as the authors describe the makeup of each character, as well as the setting and plot in these novels. What are they accomplishing by portraying such opposition? By using Jacque Derrida’s deconstructive theory and Julia Kristeva’s definition of abjection as theoretical guides to navigate these novels, examples of how both authors use extreme opposition in each element of their works are cited and explored. Through this process, the realization that opposing extremes can harmoniously lie side by side and have as many similarities as differences is …

A World Of Our Own: William Blake And Abolition, Lisa Karee Parker

English Theses

This thesis examines the influence of the abolition debates on two of William Blake’s early writings, “The Little Black Boy” and The Visions of the Daughters of Albion. It also considers Blake’s engravings for John Gabriel Stedman’s Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam as proof of his abolitionist interest. Chapter one provides an overview of current Romantic criticism which situates Blake and other Romantic writers within a historical context. Chapter two summarizes the abolition movement in the late eighteenth century. Chapters three, four and five specifically discuss Blake’s work as abolitionist in intent.

Two Laureates And A Whore Debate Decorum And Delight: Dryden, Shadwell, And Behn In A Decade Of Comedy A-La-Mode, Patricia Ann Chapman

English Theses

The comedies of John Dryden, Thomas Shadwell, and Aphra Behn were equally well-received by Restoration audiences, yet each dramatist professes divergent dramatic theories and poetic goals. In prefatory material to their plays, Shadwell insists a dramatist’s duty is to depict virtue rewarded and vice punished, Behn rejects the idea that comic drama might influence morals or manners, and Dryden maintains that his only goal is to please the audience, despite his dull conversation and lack of wit. A comparison between the playwrights’ dramatic theory and their most popular comedies of the 1668-77 decade indicates that none of them represent with …

Melville's Quest For Certainty: Questing And Spiritual Stability In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Damien Brian Schlarb

English Theses

This paper investigates Herman Melville’s quest for spiritual stability and certainty in his novel Moby-Dick. The analysis establishes a philosophical tradition of doubt towards the Bible, outlining the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, Benedict de Spinoza, David Hume, Thomas Paine and John Henry Newman. This historical survey of spiritual uncertainty establishes the issue of uncertainty that Melville writes about in the nineteenth century. Having assessed the issue of doubt, I then analyze Melville’s use of metaphorical charts, which his characters use to resolve this issue. Finally, I present Melville’s philosophical findings as he expresses them through the metaphor of whaling. Here, …

Not So Immaculately Conceived: Imagining The Protestant Madonna 1850-1910, Deborah Ann Scaperoth

Doctoral Dissertations

Pius IX in the 1854 Bull Ineffabilis Deus defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as the belief that Mary; mother of Jesus, was from the moment of her conception free from the "stain of original sin." This idea was a part of ecclesiastical tradition, but prior to this time, the church had not officially defined Mary's sinless nature in writing. The publication of this definition, along with published accounts of Marian sightings, contributed to an already heightened awareness of her in a literate, culturally aware public. As a result, Protestant writers who sought to invoke her image interpreted a …

Democracy And Capitalism In The American Western, Michelle C. Greenwald

Doctoral Dissertations

In “Democracy and Capitalism in the American Western,” I argue that the Western consistently dramatizes the tensions between democracy and capitalism while revealing the cultural structure of feeling at the time of its production. Since the first modern Western, Wister’s The Virginian (1902), the genre has expressed a concern that the balance between democracy and capitalism has been upset and that this imbalance has engendered or exacerbated other social problems. The genre generally worked to promote consensus about progress until the breakdown of the liberal consensus in the 1960s, when Americans’ belief in progress was shaken, resulting, in turn, in …

Review Of Troubling Minds: The Cultural Politics Of Genius In The United States, 1840-1890 By Gustavus Stadler, Melissa J. Homestead

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Though the title suggests it is, this book is not a cultural history of genius in the 19th-century US. Working in a high cultural-studies mode, Stadler (Haverford College) addresses questions like those addressed in a special issue of American Literature, "Aesthetics and the End(s) of Cultural Studies" (ed. by Christopher Castiglia and Russ Castronovo, v. 76, no. 3, September 2004). He uses an oddly assorted group of figures to map out a grand narrative of how the genius works to accommodate ordinary individuals to "the troubling, potentially shattering phenomena associated with modernity." In the first three chapters Stadler focuses …

Boffin's Books And Darwin's Finches: Victorian Cultures Of Collecting, Michael W. Hancock '89

Doctoral Dissertations

Although wealthy continental virtuosos had passionately and selectively accumulated a variety of natural and artificial objects from the Renaissance onwards, not until the nineteenth century did collecting become a conspicuous national pastime among all classes in Britain. As industry and empire made available many new and exotic goods for acquisition and display, the collection as a cultural form offered the Victorians a popular strategy of self-fashioning that was often represented in the literature of the age as a source of prestige and social legitimation. Through interdisciplinary readings of Victorian fiction, narrative nonfiction, and poetry, my study examines how textual representations …

The Rhetoric Of Crisis: How We Talk About The Vulnerability Of Youth, Casey Cramer

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The classical definition of rhetoric is generally understood to be the art of persuasion. Originating in ancient Greece, rhetoric was one of the three original liberal arts. It focused on effective use of language, most often in the arena of politics and public discourse (Brummett, 35). By mastering persuasive language, politicians were able to shape and sway public opinion in their favor. Conversely, by understanding the mechanics of rhetoric, citizens were able to recognize and interpret speech that was purposefully constructed. The prevalence of rhetoric in political speech made it an integral part of a democratic society - politicians needed …

Judith Merril: A Primary And Secondary Bibliography, Elizabeth Cummins

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Judith Merril bibliography includes both primary and secondary works, arranged in categories that are suitable for her career and that are, generally, common to the other bibliographies in the Center for Bibliographic Studies in Science Fiction. Works by Merril include a variety of types and modes—pieces she wrote at Morris High School in the Bronx, newsletters and fanzines she edited; sports, westerns, and detective fiction and non-fiction published in pulp magazines up to 1950; science fiction stories, novellas, and novels; book reviews; critical essays; edited anthologies; and both audio and video recordings of her fiction and non-fiction.

Is Teaching Always Local, Education Global?, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Courtship, Loe, And Marriage In Othello: Shakespeare's Mockery Of Courtly Love, Leigh Copas

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Othello is the forgery of a comedic play turned tragedy, for the play begins where the ordinary comedy would end. While many critics prefer to discuss the racial and exotic aspects of William Shakespeare's tragedy, there are several critics who focus on the role of love and the marital relationships that are also important in terms of interpreting the actions of key characters. Carol Thomas Neely, Maurice Charney, and several other literary critics have focused primarily on the role of marriage and love in Othello. The topic of marriage is generally discussed in terms of the wooing scene (Act 1, …

Bias And The Teachable Moment: Revisiting A Teacher Narrative, Darren Crovitz

Faculty and Research Publications

Such responsibility may be vital for English teachers, especially, as we strive to establish communities of writers and spaces for critical thinking and conversation. When I sat down to write about this experience, I saw it as an opportunity to discuss a taboo situation and its positive aftermath, with the aim of demonstrating how it might be possible to use such events as points of departure in creating engaging writing assignments.

Maintaining An Immigrant Heritage Language Other Than Spanish Or English In The Bilingual Culture Of The Rio Grande Valley Of South Texas, Sonia A. Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A 2005 study in the bilingual Spanish/English Rio Grande Valley of South Texas investigates the language strategies used by immigrant families from China, Greece, Hungary, Japan, the Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, and the Ukraine to preserve their heritage languages and pass them on to their children. Personal interviews determine that all the parents are well-educated and from an above average socio-economic level. This investigation categorizes the various strategies used by the parents. All the immigrant parents emphasize that the main reason they want to preserve the heritage language with their children is to insure that the children can continue to communicate …

Highway 11, Devon Koren Asdell

Masters Theses

Created in 1926, US Route 11 runs from the Canadian border at Rouses Point, New York, to just shy of New Orleans at an intersection with US-90. In Bristol, Virginia, the highway splits in two -- 11-E and 11-W -- and then reunites in Knoxville, Tennessee. This highway serves as the main thoroughfare for many small towns and cities, and it is known by many names -- Lee Highway, Andrew Johnson Highway, and Kingston Pike, to name a few. As many of the residents of these small towns might attest, it is easy to take a highway for granted when …

The Importance Of Continuity In First Language Education For Learning A Second Language, Stephen M. Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Scores from the Texas Reading Proficiency Tests in English (RPTE) for ninety-four Newcomer ESL students were analyzed to understand the differences between students who had attended school continuously and those who had discontinuity in their first language (LI) education in their home country. This research was performed in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, a few miles from the border with Mexico. The hypothesis is that students who have gaps in their L1 education will not learn to read as quickly in English as those who had none since the former are lacking cognitive skills which the latter already …

"Green In The Mulberry Bush": Quentin, Lancelot, And The Long Shadow Of The Lost Cause, Amy Renee Covington

Masters Theses

The purpose of this project is to examine the immensely popular post-Civil War "Myth of the Lost Cause" which developed in the Southern states after the Confederate defeat. Its primary tenet was the belief in a chivalric antebellum Southern society, complete with genteel plantation owners, faithful slaves, and an Edenic landscape. The myth also exalted the bravery of the Confederate soldier and the quiet heroism of the belles left behind. This carefully crafted fantasy was the product of an organized, sophisticated public relations campaign which originated in the former Confederacy and was quickly adopted by other parts of the country. …

A Spectre Is Haunting Samuel Clemens: A Marxist Critique Of Wealth As Resolution In Mark Twain's Novels, Jeff Carr

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The distribution of wealth occurs frequently in Mark Twain's novels, especially at the resolution. Indeed, Twain uses wealth as resolution in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Pudd'nhead Wilson. The repeated use of this formula in the author's approach to novel writing indicates the tremendous influence that capitalism had in shaping his worldview. In his early works, Twain appears to endorse capitalism in his use of wealth as resolution. Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and Huckleberry Finn each conclude with the distribution of capital as a reward to …

Man Down South, Joseph B. Plicka

Theses and Dissertations

In this novella the main character, David Crumm, is getting older and decides not to wait around and die on his frozen ranch, but to retire to warmer climates. He leaves everything with his daughter, gets in his truck and drives south with his dog. In Florida, he accidentally hits and kills a migrant woman on her bicycle. The woman has a young son who survives the accident and, through a number of converging factors, David is compelled to personally take the boy back to his relatives in Nicaragua. The book then deals with David's experiences as he heads farther …

Japanese North Americans, War, And Communal Healing Through Literature: Internment Memory As An Ascent In Meaning And Beauty, Chikako D. Kumamoto

Faculty Scholarship

To define ourselves as Americans, we often like to invoke the still-potent idea, inherited from the Puritans, of a "city upon a hill." Steeped in a mythic discourse on our earliest conception of America as an elect nation, this phrase envisions the community at large as "the pilot society for the world" engaged in a noble experiment of innocence, consensus, justice, and freedom for all, while driving to achieve myriad forms of greatness. But when this community at large is found fallen from the ideal conception of itself and conducts itself contrarily to its communal responsibilities towards its smaller communities …

What Archives Reveal: The Hidden Poems Of Amelia Earhart, Sammie L. Morris

Libraries Research Publications

The importance of primary source materials to scholarship is undeniable. Primary source materials can verify or contradict information accepted as true in history books and other secondary sources. They can tell the whole, or at least more complete, story of events. Unlike secondary sources, primary source materials offer first-hand accounts from the past, bringing history closer and making it feel more real. It can even be argued that primary source materials are less susceptible to the loss or misinterpretation of information over time in subsequent edition revisions. In particular among primary source materials, manuscripts such as diaries and letters offer …

Towards A Bibliography Of Critical Whiteness Studies, Tim Engles

Tim Engles

As the title implies, this book offers a multi-disciplinary overview of the explosion of work in scholarly critical whiteness studies. The contributing bibliographers acknowledge that this work follows and builds upon a great deal of whiteness critique previously provided by African American writers, and by those writing from other racialized positions. Each section provides a solid introduction to key concepts and practices regarding whiteness in a particular field, including: philosophy, history, literature, cinema, the visual arts, psychology, education, media studies, qualitative inquiry, personal narratives, and international and comparative approaches.

Penned, Nathalie Anderson

English Literature Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

"Don't You Mean 'Slaves,' Not 'Servants'?": Literary And Institutional Texts For An Interdisciplinary Classroom, Susanna Ashton

Publications

Editor's Note: This article begins a semiregular feature in which contributors analyze "texts" that figure in the daily lives of college English teachers: e.g., syllabi, course descriptions, administrative decrees, departmental bylaws, college Web sites. Your proposals are invited. Here, Susanna Ashton describes how undergraduates in her class on representations of slavery studied the words, sounds, and images they encountered at a historical site on her campus: the former slave plantation of leading antebellum racist John C. Calhoun. She also analyzes how her school depicts this site on the