Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Objectivity And Aesthetic Judgment, Glenn Poskocil

Honors Theses

Where do we draw the line between what is and is not a work of art? and, how are we to distinguish between so called "good" and "bad" works of art? There is a tendency to blur the distinction between these questions because they seem, in certain senses, to be inextricably bound to one another. It is not uncommon, for instance, to hear someone praise something by referring to it as a "work of art," yet most of us agree that not all works of art are "good," even in the aesthetic sense. Too often this distinction is muddled by …

Radicalism In Literature: Proletarian Fiction Of The 1930s, Susan Maxwell

Honors Theses

In a study of working class literature from the 1930s, I would contend that the most radical work was produced primarily by female writers. For the most part, this radicalism owed to the subordination and the victimization of women in society. Since all of the writers that were studied (Tillie Olsen, Meridel Le Sueur, Fielding Burke, Agnes Smedley, Erskine Caldwell, Michael Gold, Jack Conroy, and Floyd Dell) were at least involved with, if not members of, the Communist Party, this makes a fascinating study into the power of a philosophy of government on the individual. Not only was the individual …

Apartheid: A Legacy Of Calvinism, Rosalind Hollins

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Richard Brautigan : A Man In Search Of America, Elizabeth A. Howell

Honors Theses

Avant-garde writing tends to be an "iffy" thing these days, more a matter of cocktail chatter than execution. The resources for experiments seem used up, or ash John Barth put it, "exhausted" (Pinkser 75). Things and words increase in quantity but diminish in value and meaning, making the contemporary writer more and more unwilling to follow the old ways of arranging them. Though this is not a new predicament for an aspiring writer, it is one that seems threatening in an age of self-conscious art. Writers must look for new grammars and new semantics. Some writers turn this quest for …

Evil And The Role Of Evil In The Book Of Revelation, Elizabeth Alger Pugh

Honors Theses

The symbolism of evil as used in the Book of Revelation portrayed God's response through the personal revelation of the author to the wickedness of humanity. The purpose of this focus on evil was to instill obedience and faith of the early church community as it held to strong messianic expectations.

Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Struggle For Poetic Vision, Kathryn M. Fessler

Honors Theses

In this study, I will trace the developmetn and history of Hopkins' struggle to realize and live by a vision of an immanent God, using as the gauge of his progress the poems, which are the celarest expressions of Hopkins' heart. I will illustrate the chronological progression of this vision in the poetry, and discuss specific poems in terms of their places in the history of Hopkins' life as a poet and a priest. I will also pay some degree of attention to linguistic innovations in the poetry, since these are manifestations of Hopkins' liberation from certain formal constraints made …

Alice Walker: An Interpretation Of Her Works, Niamh Walsh

Honors Theses

In summary, I feel as if Alice Walker has used her literature for far more than mere literary entertainment. I believe that she wrote with a very strong message for both blacks and women. To both minorities, of which she herself is proud to belong, she calls for acknowledgmetn of their attirubutes, their worth and their limitations: she calls for reclamation of the many positive attributes that have, for too long, been derided as insignificant: and she calls for a loud, joyous celebration of all the many defining aspects of womanhood and blackness. I see this evident in most, in …

Kate Chopin : A Different Look, Kimberly Ann Francis

Honors Theses

Kate Chopin? Who is she? This is a common resonse of many people who are not familiar with this outstanding woman writer of the late 1800's and early 1900's. In fact, this same question would more likely have gone unanswered then than today. For the most part, many of her contemporaries are prominently discussed and read today because they enjoyed popularity while they were alive. They not only established literary voges; in many cases they gave the public what it wanted to read. Such writers include Mark Twain and Stephen Crane as well as Edith Wharton and Ellen Glasgow. Kate …

Toni Morrison's Approach To Understanding, Joyce Dorris

Honors Theses

Toni Morrison tackles the problems for which she does not have resolutions. In order to make an impact on readers and achieve a meaningful understanding, Morrison manipulates readers' emotions. She says, "My writing expects, demands participatory reading. The reader supplies the emotions. Then we (you, the reader, and I, the author) come together to make this book, to feel this experience" (Tate, 125). Morrison carefully positions her readers to see what her characters see and react as they would. Morrison feels if the readers can see the person experiencing the thing, they do not need an explanation. The illustration will …

Truth Lifting Up Its Head Above Scandals : The New Law Of Righteousness Proposed By Gerrard Winstanley And The Diggers, John Cook

Honors Theses

In the beginning of 1649 a group of landless people began to build houses and plant crops on the common lands at George Hill in Surrey, England. However these were not ordinary squatters for the Diggers also had a program which declared "freedom to the creation, and that the earth must be set free of the entanglements of lords and landlords, and that it shall become a common treasury to all, as it was first made and given" to men by God. (p.128) Sometime just before this the Diggers' leading spokesman, Gerrard Winstanley, had begun to claim "that many things …

A History Of The Christian Day School Rationale, David W. Dailey

Honors Theses

No one can claim to be perceptive of the current religious and educational trends in this nation without noticing the phenomenal growth of Protestant day schools. Some have claimed that as many as four new schools are being built each day , but more reasonable estimates of two per day are still staggering . As two education experts wrote, "The most rapidly growing segment of American elementary and secondary education is that of private Fundamentalist schools."

While the overall enrollment in nonpublic schools declined 28% between 1965 and 1975, enrollment in fundamentalist and evangelical schools increased 118%. Also, the Association …

The Effects Of Noise And Music Upon Task Performance, Tina Johnson

Honors Theses

Forty-eight subjects from a university general psychology class took a series of four timed arithmetic tests of two differing complexities. Vocal music was played during half of the tests while instrumental music was played during the other half. Results were analyzed for the number of problems correct, number attempted and percentage of problems answered correctly. Results showed that subjects in the instrumental music condition had a significantly higher number of problems correct and attempted than the vocal condition, but the percentage correct was not significantly higher. Results for task complexity showed difficult problems had a significantly lower number correct and …

A Christian Perspective On World Religions, Regina Sullivan

Honors Theses

Throughout the history of Christianity, Christians have questioned how they, individually as well as collectively, should view other religious traditions. From the musings of Christian thinkers, one can discern four possible relationships between Christianity and other faiths. Some thinkers see Christianity as having continuity with other traditions. Those who hold this view strongly contend that Christianity is no different from other traditions as a means of existence.

Christianity is similar to other faiths but has special status as one's heritage or cultural background describes the weaker continuity position. Others hold that discontinuity exists between Christianity and other faiths. The weaker …