Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

Owning Your Story: Agency, Power, And Freedom In Greta Gerwig’S Faithful And Radical Little Women Adaptation, Siobhan Cooney

Honors Program Theses

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1868) has an extensive lineage of film adaptations. The classic novel’s most recent film adaptation was written for the screen and directed by Greta Gerwig (2019). This thesis employs adaptation theory as well as visual and verbal close reading and critical analysis of the film, source novel, and popular film reviews. Gerwig’s adaptation looks, sounds, and feels like the Little Women that has been cherished for decades. The director fulfills these aesthetic expectations to subvert our understandings of sentimentalism, domesticity, individuality, and the relinquishment of childhood. An examination of art’s imitation of life, the epistolary …

Dickens’S Changing Perspective Towards Capitalism And The Bourgeoisie, Christina Oliveira

Honors Program Theses

Most scholars agree that author and social activist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) made keen observations on human behavior and societal problems through his works. However, scholars are divided over whether to categorize Dickens and his work as radically reformist or pro-bourgeoisie. Through an analysis of three of Dickens’s texts, A Christmas Carol (1843), Bleak House (1852), and Great Expectations (1861), this thesis demonstrates that Dickens’s works carry contradictory ideologies. As time passes, Dickens becomes disillusioned with capitalism but continues to promote capitalist and bourgeois values and ideologies. The trajectory of Dickens’s views shows the difficulties in imagining different realities outside of …

A Feminine Gothic Revival: The Haunting Of Shirley Jackson And Toni Morrison, Mallory Danley

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

In the realm of Gothic literature, the main characters typically involve a helpless woman in the clutches of her male assailant. Critics have long established that the traditional Gothic genre is considered a male-dominated discipline fixated on ideas of power, control, and submission. This essay argues that Shirley Jackson and Toni Morrison separate from this trope and invent the haunted heroine, a leading lady so haunted by the past, relationships, and emotions that through unique character development, insidious use of dread, and malicious paranormal occurrences create a nouveau dichotomy within Gothic literature. This essay is a close reading of two …

Her Viking Spirit, Dorette Kaiser

English

This is a creative work.

Maiden Voyage (A Novel), Kyra Bauske

English

Maiden Voyage is an adventure story. It didn’t start out that way, but that’s what it has become. The story follows a young woman who stumbles onto her father’s secrets. Alexandra feels trapped in an 18th century English settlement on Nassau. Under her father’s protection, Alexandra is expected to marry and remain on the island. When she discovers a letter in her father’s office naming her as an “asset” she finds herself asking who her father really is. Who is the business associate who comes every month? Why does he really want her married to Lord Dewhurst? When her best …

The Man Who Put His Head In A Microwave Oven: A Look At James Incandenza From Infinite Jest, Esteban Meneses

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

I will attempt to reconstruct and interpret the elusive ‘Infinite Jest,’ the film within the novel of the same title. As James Incandenza’s final product whose cryptic message originates in the filmmaker’s broken upbringing and damaged relationship with his own family, the movie points beyond the novel to the world of the reader and serves as Wallace’s mirrored evaluation of the purpose and moral considerations on literary fiction, itself part of American culture. By analyzing primarily Incandenza’s relationship with his father in the two 1960s scenes, I intend to provide a missing component in previous IJ scholarship toward the elucidation …

Mauritian Literature Versus The Cambridge International Education System, Iman Gareeboo

Honors Program Theses

The motivating issue that drove me to compare Mauritian literature and the public literary education system is my fascination at the fact that the school system is British while the majority of popular Mauritian literature is written in French, with a burgeoning subgroup of works written in Mauritian Kreol. I cannot explain the divide, and many Mauritian students do study French language and (limited) literature, but I seek to show that Mauritians should be interested in their own literature and that they should actively question their British education.

Guarded Optimism, Cynical Fatalism: An Intertextual Analysis Of Selected Victorian Novels And Their Modernist Reinterpretations, Michelle L. Strickland

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The Victorian and modern eras are known for being a time of great change. Victorian authors focused their works on the social, political, and religious upheaval that the country was experiencing during the period. They felt a strong sense of pride in their country, and there was always a sense of hope in their writing. These views are what draw the modern author to retell Victorian novels; yet, the modern writer removes the Victorian sense of hope and replaces it with the sense of the disillusionment which engulfed their era. In this paper, I examine the concept of intertextuality, the …

Post-Colonial Female Identity: An Examination Of The Twentieth Century Narrative Between Nation And Identity In A Question Of Power, See Then Now, And Americanah, Jeannine Ortega

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This project endeavors to explore the variations of the post-colonial condition in the context of the twentieth and twenty-first century by following a literary analysis of Bessie Head’s A Question of Power, Jamaica Kincaid’s See Now Then, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. This thesis hopes to draw together a series of snapshots that provide examples of the progress of the post-colonial condition. Each chapter models the ways in which colonial ideology and culture continue to intersect in new modes of societal expectations especially in terms of race, class, and gender. The combination of post-colonial analysis and literary narratives model how …

Use Of Rhetoric In 1960'S Protest Music: A Case Study Of Bob Dylan's Music, Colleen Wilkowski

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of rhetoric in protest music of the 1960s, using Bob Dylan’s music as a case study. The 1960s was a time of revolution and social change in the United States. Throughout this time, protest music served as an outlet for musicians to voice their support for this change. By conducting a rhetorical analysis, this study assesses the ways in which the tools of classical rhetoric can be applied to the music of this time. The analysis focuses on the rhetorical functions of this music in the context of the protest …

Copyrights And Creativity: The Affects Of Copyrights On Fairy Tales, Dina Arouri

Honors Program Theses

This work attempts to argue for a correlative relationship between copyright law and the evolution of literary works. It uses the laws and common practices of intellectual property to achieve this hypothesis.

The Battle Of Good And Evil In Shakespeare, Erin K. Miller

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Drama through the ages—from the Greeks’ Oedipus Rex to the morality plays of the Middle Ages—centers on an exploration of the human condition, and the plays of Englishman William Shakespeare are no different. What starts as the impact of fate on the life of man becomes, by the Middle Ages, a religious spectacle centered on evil’s impact on man. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Shakespeare goes much further to develop the concept of evil. A chronological study of four of Shakespeare’s plays--Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Macbeth--demonstrates that the playwright evolves his portrayal of …

Handicraft, Hobbitcraft And The Fires Of Mordor: The Arts And Crafts Movement, Industrial Revolution And The Lord Of The Rings, Gina L. Hewitt

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

From the intimate nature of the characterization of an entirely new race of men-in-miniature and their home, where "peace and quiet and good, tilled Earth" (Tolkien 1) are held in the highest esteem, to the belching volcanoes, fires and lung-searing smoke of industry in the land of Mordor, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings brings the vision of the Arts and Crafts Movement to life and delivers a cautionary tale of the highest order. This is accomplished by crafting a mirror image of the world in which the author lived, reimagining its social and industrial history. A …

Inheritance Of The Past: Patriarchy, Race And Gender In Faulkner's And Chopin's South, Therese D. Osborne

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The death of the Confederacy sealed in white southern memory a lost world of beauty that denied the cruelty of its “peculiar institution.” Southern writers have seemed haunted by this conflict between the cherished past of their ancestors and the reality of the devastated region, with its legacy in slavery. Through the commentary of women diarists who mourn their crumbling society, and selected works of William Faulkner and Kate Chopin, this paper examines the myth and reality of the southern past. It reveals the enduring impact of the all-powerful white patriarchy that gave order to the antebellum South, destroyed it, …

The Rise Of The Moral Tale: Children's Literature, The Novel, And The Governess, Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

“The Delight Of Our Earlier Days”: Character, Narrative, And The Village School, Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Frankenstein: A Seminal Work Of Modern Literature, Traci K. Damron

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Although Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818, is assigned to the Romantic period of literature, it surpasses her contemporaries by its complexity of themes, philosophies, and social commentary embedded deep within. This paper contends that the novel should be considered one of the seminal works of modernity by closely examining the following elements of Modern literature as they apply to Frankenstein: the beginnings of speculative fiction found within the novel, science vs. religion, dark aspects of the psyche, disenchantment with the world, and the isolation/emptiness of the individual. Additionally, Mary Shelley’s own life and the influences …

William Fulford, “The Set,” And The Oxford And Cambridge Magazine, Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine is familiar to Victorian scholars largely because its contributors included William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones (the most famous members of the set that produced the magazine) and because Dante Gabriel Rossetti published several poems there. For the magazine’s first readers, however, its most important feature was not the identity of individual contributors but the fact that it was produced by college students. The magazine was a group project, produced not just by Morris and Burne-Jones but by their whole set. Morris’s and Burne-Jones’s contributions are well-known, and their biographies never fail to mention the magazine …

The Influence Of Carl Jung’S Archetype Of The Shadow On Early 20th Century Literature, Dana Brook Thurmond

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis seeks to establish a direct relationship between the archetypes of Carl Jung, primarily the Shadow, and early 20th century literature. The Shadow is best described as our darker selves, the primitive unconsciousness that subtly invades our waking moments. Modern society has sought to suppress this Shadow, which has led to repression and potential psychoses. Many authors of the late Victorian and early modern period address the problems with societal expectations in their works. This thesis will explore the writing of Henry James, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and T. S. Eliot to see how they deal with Jung's …

Dante Gabriel Rossetti And The Romance Of Loss, Jane N. Cooper

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Through paired poems and paintings, Dante Gabriel Rossetti explored the nature of Love—both physical and spiritual—as made evident by distance or absence. Influenced early by his familiarity with Dante Alighieri and a confluence of changing social and artistic attitudes, Rossetti transformed the dialogue around him to a more personal internal conversation, revealed by pen and brush. This paper examines the dynamic of that pervasive thread in Rossetti’s work through a discussion of the influences upon the artist, the artist’s effect upon important figures of mid- to late nineteenth century England, and the important relationships that shaped his discourse. In addition, …

The Unbought Grace Of Life: Chivalry In Western Literature, Richard N. Boggs

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The code of chivalry has a rich literary history. From the violence and misogyny of pre-chivalric ancient Greece and Rome, the chivalric code was constructed in a deliberate effort to curb and improve the most violent aspects of male behavior. The chivalric male ideal was built upon the tripartite foundation of the ancient archaic virtues, the gallantry of Germanic barbarians, and the Christian beatitudes. Chivalry sought a male ideal which brought raw strength and power under the concept of legitimate authority. By casting the literary male ideal – the knight – into the role of the defender of the weak …

The Emergence Of Feminism During The Late Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries By Female Artists And Authors, Tracy S. Koubek

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis paper identifies the ways in which the painters Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and Mary Cassatt and the writers Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Barrett Browning challenged the limitations of their sex by engaging in professions outside of the domestic sphere during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This essay first focuses on the negative effects that a separation between the private and public spheres had on women, how these changes came about, the expectations society imposed on women, and how many women learned to cope and step forward into the public sphere. The emphasis shifts to an examination of the lives …

The Bicycle In Western Literature: Transformations On Two Wheels, Nanci J. Adler

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Since the invention of the modern bicycle in the 1880s, bicycles have played an integral role in western culture. As a reflection of its cultural significance and impact on individuals, many novelists have incorporated bicycles into their works in both realistic and symbolic ways. This paper focuses on the use of bicycles in western literature from the bicycle boom decade of the 1890s to the mid-twentieth century and includes works of H. G. Wells, Émile Zola, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Richardson, D. H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Becket, Luigi Bartolini and L. P. Hartley. …

The Bitter Relicks Of My Flame: The Embodiment Of Venereal Disease And Prostitution In The Novels Of Jane Austen, Melanie Erin Osborn

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Resembling the mercurial, black beauty mark used as an ornamental concealment of syphilitic sores, Jane Austen’s comedy of manners likewise acted as a superficial cosmetic device that concealed the ubiquity of venereal disease and prostitution hidden within. Through her characters, Austen used veiled narrative to highlight the reality of venereal disease and prostitution in eighteenth-century England. This thesis uncovers the hidden narrative in Jane Austen’s novels, as a means of better understanding the impact venereal disease and prostitution had on sexual issues with women and the female body during the eighteenth century. Beginning with an almost comic reference to venereal …

Review Essay: Anna Jackson, Karen Coats, And Roderick Mcgillis, Eds., The Gothic In Children’S Literature (2008) And Jarlath Killeen, The History Of The Gothic (2009), Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Talking Body Parts And Missing Commodities: Cinematic Complexes And Sylvia Plath, Vidhu Aggarwal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mirren's Autobiography: The Life And Poetry Of Marion Bernstein (1846-1906), Edward Cohen, Linda Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Austen Goes Pop: The Evolution Of Jane Austen From Rural Writer To Contemporary Icon, Christian Scholer

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Living in rural England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jane Austen had a very quiet life. She was pretty far removed from the strife and turmoil that existed during her lifetime. She never went to college. She never married and never had children. She never traveled outside of England. However, the idea that Austen had no life is simply a misnomer. If her novels were any indication of her world, Austen had a very rich life. Given that her novels are still being read and discussed today, they are many universal themes applicable to today.

When Austen died in …

Rosalind And The Mystification Of Male-Female In Elizabethan Literature, Richard Firestone

Richard Firestone Manuscripts on Elizabethan and Classical Literature

No abstract provided.