English Language and Literature Commons^™

"[B]Reaking Down The Walls, And Crying To The Mountains"--Isaiah 22:5: Dystopia And Ethics Of The Catcher In The Rye, Megan Marie Toone

Theses and Dissertations

Reading The Catcher in the Rye as dystopian fiction requires critical responsibility to evaluate the ethicality of the protagonist's sense of others and self, to assess the moral nature of the novel's dystopian world, and to evaluate the protagonist's agency or capacity to change his world or himself. The novel presents a multifaceted dystopia existing on multiple planes in the social dogma, the reality of the presented world, and Holden's mind before and after his paradigm shift. The dystopian aspects present in the novel highlight basic ideological systems as well as agency and action within the structure. The dystopian elements …

“I Take--No Less Than Skies”: Emily Dickinson And Nineteenth-Century Meteorology, Kjerstin Evans Ballard

Theses and Dissertations

Emily Dickinson's poetry functions where scientific attention to the physical world and abstract theorizing about the ineffable intersect. Critics who emphasize the poet's dedication to the scientific often take for granted how deeply the uncertainty that underlies all of Dickinson's poetry opposes scientific discussion of the day. Meteorology is an exceptional nineteenth-century science because it takes as its subject complex systems which are inexplicable in Newtonian terms. As such, meteorology can articulate the ways that Dickinson bridges the divide between the unknown and the known, particularly as she relates to the interplay of nature and culture, the role of careful …

What A Dream Was Here: An Ontological Approach To Love And Magic In Shakespeare’S A Midsummer Night’S Dream, Brittany May Rebarchik

Theses and Dissertations

This paper takes Heidegger’s notion of world disclosure and uses it for extended thematic analyses of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In contrast to the majority of Shakespeare critics who treat Shakespeare’s use of magic as an epistemological issue, I argue that the main action of the play develops through an inherent contradiction between the magical and non-magical ontological states of the characters and the love that results. Borrowing from German philosopher Martin Heidegger, I demonstrate magic’s role as a catalyst in giving certain kinds of love a “shift of existence.” I show that the characters come more fully into being, …

Evidences Of Critical Thinking In The Writing Of First-Year College Students, Shannon Bryn Soper

Theses and Dissertations

A healthy civil society depends on citizens who have mature critical thinking skills and a willingness to entertain opposing points of view. The development of critical thinking in young adults has long been studied, but there has been little agreement on what the attributes of critical thinking are and how to reliably assess them. While many studies have attempted to assess the critical thinking abilities of college students, none have yet measured critical thinking through using the Critical Thinking Analytic Rubric (CTAR) to assess first-year college students' writing. This study used a modified version of the CTAR rubric to investigate …

"Terror As Theater": Unraveling Spectacle In Post 9/11 Literatures, Elise Christine Silva

Faculty Publications

For the purposes of this paper, I will discuss two post 9/11 novels—both of which utilize the terror-as-theatre metaphor in order to work through the 9/11 spectacle. Both Don DeLillo’s Falling Man (2007), and Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) explore avenues of communication and meaning making in the face of an event that many critics suggested defied language, description, and expression. Through their thematic use of performance, these texts reject a closed and inert polarized interpretation of 9/11 and invite a pastiche of interpretations and interactions. Through this communicative connection, authors, texts, and readers convene to …

The Texting Smile, Richard K. Angel

Student Works

There's nothing like dating to turn us into a miserable puddle of falsehood. When we're with the person we like, we fight to play the game and find the right balance of not showing too much interest (so she'll know that you like her) and showing enough (so she doesn't think you don't). It's an art. But when we're only texting, we can behave however we'd like as long as we choose our words carefully; we don't even try to hide our emotions, and the perfect strangers surrounding us see more of our unabashed smile than the object of our …

Including Religion In Gender: Lds Men’S Experiences In Masculinity-Making, Ashley Brocious, Dr. Leslee Thorne-Murphy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Studies in masculinity have grown significantly in the last decades as conversations concerning gender have become more conscious of the meanings and constructions of gender in men’s experiences. Masculinity studies at its core questions the assumption that men have already achieved gender equality. Rather than blanketing all men into categories of privilege, patriarchy, or even neutrality, it seeks to give more nuance to men’s experiences and the transactional nature of their masculinity in the world around them. Latter-day Saint feminists have considered differences between men’s and women’s experiences and voices an important topic. The importance of women’s narratives as a …

Portraits Of An Immigrant Population: A Look Into The Life Of Mexican Migrant Workers In Florida, Jenna Carson, Patrick Madden

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I wrote creative non-fiction essays about my experiences with Mexican migrant workers living in Florida. Originally, I planned to focus primarily on their stories of survival in order to increase awareness among U.S. citizens; I wanted readers to understand many of the complications of illegal immigration, and therefore, better understand the Mexican “Other.” Surprisingly, I focused more on my own experiences with migrant workers and how my life has been changed by them (rather than simply record their life stories). I realized that my own experiences and meditations could foster compassion, understanding, and tolerance.

More Than A Feeling: The Transmission Of Affect And Group Identity, Lauren Fine, Brian Jackson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We’ve all experienced moments where we walk in and feel the tension in the room. Even before our minds can process what’s happening, we start to mirror the emotions of the people we’re around. Instances like this, where the emotion (or affect) one person is feeling subconsciously triggers a similar affect in someone else, are possible through what neuroscientists refer to as the transmission of affect. The physiological shift that influences the receiver’s emotions is triggered through visual, auditory, and olfactory cues (pheromones).

Making A Case For Mark Twain’S A Horse’S Tale: Twain’S Use Of Templates And Myths As His Highest Moralism, Sara Guggisberg, Dr. Frank Christianson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Most of Mark Twain’s novels, full of sharp wit and relevant social commentary, suggest his strong ability to read people and create characters that endure through decades, while still concealing his own opinion on society beneath layers of sardonic criticism or feigned admiration. But A Horse’s Tale—an odd little novel about an orphan girl, her favorite horse named Soldier Boy (a gift from Buffalo Bill), and the bloody murder of both at the horns of a tortured bull—does not fit Twain’s typical formula. At first glance, this novel is full of earnest superlatives rendered trite, an uneven narrative arc, …

The College Writing Experience For At-Risk High School Students, Caroline Howard, Dawan Coombs

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Recently, studies have been conducted to measure the effects of mentored writing experiences on people struggling with low self-efficacy. Some studies intervene in high security prisons, where people with low self-perception reside. Writing has proven to help restore a sense of dignity in prison inmates because of its expressive nature. When people are encouraged and praised for their writing by mentors, especially when the writing is personal, they begin to have an increased sense of self-efficacy. Other studies have been conducted in middle schools, seeking to intervene with struggling writers before they get to high school. These studies are done …

Big Humanities, Big Data: Genre Analysis Of Eighteenth-Century British Poetry, Brittany Strobelt, Kylan Rice

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The continual digitalization of society has not only permeated research in the Humanities, but is constantly revealing just how crucial it is to the Humanities’ future. Whereas research in the Humanities is normally limited to a very narrow dataset, digital humanities tools allow for macroanalitic research—research that can analyze vast amounts of texts all at once. The database produced by our project can do just that. Because scholars’ such as Ted Underwood, Matthew Jockers, Franco Moretti, and others at the Stanford Literary Lab have focused extensively on macroanalysis of novels, we envisioned and designed a project focused specifically on poetry—a …

Ecological Humanist Mosaics: Dislocations And Relocations Of The Autobiographical Self In Terry Tempest Williams's Finding Beauty In A Broken World, Sharman Tullis Gill

Theses and Dissertations

Terry Tempest Williams, in Finding Beauty in a Broken World employs literary techniques that suggest dislocations and relocations of the human subject in ethical modes of being. Through narrative techniques, multidisciplinary language, and themes of conversation, gift-exchange, listening and response, Williams reflects ecological humanist mosaics, suggesting cooperative regeneration—an intersection of material beings facilitated by an ethical human imagination that listens, receives, and gives toward patterns of beauty, including, but not limited to, being human in a collective world. This eco-critical analysis of Williams’s work affirms the human being in post-humanist philosophy and repositions relational Romanticism for the 21st century.

"Peculiar Insanity": Hereditary Sympathy And The Nationalist Enterprise In Twain's The American Claiment, Jared M. Pence

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis identifies a claimant narrative tradition in nineteenth-century American literature and examines the role of that tradition in the formation of American national identity. Drawing on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The American Claimant Manuscripts and Our Old Home (1863) as well as Mark Twain’s The American Claimant (1892), I argue that these writers confronted the paradoxical nature of claimant narratives—what Hawthorne called a “peculiar insanity”—which combined a hereditary sympathy between the United States and Britain with exceptionalist rhetoric about American republican values. Hawthorne’s ambivalence toward the claimant tradition identified the paradox, but his writing merely pointed out inconsistencies, while Twain censured …

Subversion And Containment In Adrienne Rich’S “Aunt Jennifer’S Tigers”, Samuel G. Turner

BYU English Symposium

This paper explores Stephen Greenblatt's theory of subversion and containment in the poem "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" by Adrienne Rich. Critics such as Claire Keyes and Cheri Langdell have identified patterns of subversion in Rich's early poetry, but have largely ignored patterns of containment by masculinst powers. I explore subversion and containment in the metrical structure and themes of the poem.

Persuasion And Sexuality, Emily Sullivan

BYU English Symposium

The sexual transformation of the protagonist, Anne Elliot, in Austen's Persuasion shows a self-confidence and independence uncommon during the Regency era. This article studies the sources and factors of this change and why the change is so revolutionary.

Wayward Sons: Modern Mythology In Supernatural, Alison Siggard

BYU English Symposium

Throughout human history, there have been myths that reflect societal ideals. This trend continues in the modern age in a new medium, that of television and movies. Though the way the stories are told may be different, the archetypes and motifs can still be seen in these new myths. In this paper, I analyze the motifs and archetypes used in the television show Supernatural to explore how ancient mythological aspects, including those of the hero's journey, monsters, and death and resurrection, are used and changed for a modern audience. Though classic archetypes are present, this paper also argues that they …

There's A Moral Here: Emerging Ethics In The Things They Carried, Jordan Wright

BYU English Symposium

In this paper, I argue against the mentality that all Vietnam War veterans were irreparably damaged by their time in service. My primary text, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, is very critical of the war and seems to agree with this mentality. However, I am intrigued by the underlying theme of race in the novel. Kiowa, a Native American character, suffers discrimination from his fellow soldiers. However, with further reading it becomes clear that Kiowa is loved and respected by the men, and that their experiences in the field have helped them transcend racial barriers. By researching everything …

Eve Transcending Demeaned: The Construct Of Female Gender In Paradise Lost, Jillie L. Orth

BYU English Symposium

A contradiction exists in John Milton’s Paradise Lost of Eve being simultaneously demeaned and esteemed. My paper focuses on these contradictions and explores the way in which Eve transcends the demeaned by analyzing the role of the female gender throughout the poem, epitomized by both Eve and female-gendered nonhuman entities: the Earth, the Garden of Eden, Reason, and Sin. This paper also delves into scenes of the poem that may at first seem oppressive for Eve, but that are actually complementary to the role of Eve and the female gender. This analysis serves to then uphold Eve as a representation …

The Modern Walden, Jeffrey G. Wray

BYU English Symposium

“Men have become tools of their tools.” Henry David Thoreau had no idea how much his declaration of the mid 19^th century would become a prophecy of the 21^st. As I entered my newly rented apartment to find a completely Wi-Fi free zone this past semester, I realized just how proud Thoreau would be. This would be my “modern-day Walden.” More out of irony than academic intrigue, I was motivated to read Thoreau’s Walden as I lived my very own. But as I read on, I realized I was part of the transcendentalist movement, just two centuries …

Complacency And Convergence: “Everything That Rises Must Converge", Alex Malouf

BYU English Symposium

Critics, such as Patricia Maida, have described Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” as a depiction of mankind’s defects shown through Julian’s fallacies. However, this explanation is far too simplistic. Although her presumption of Julian’s imperfection is most certainly correct, Maida has neglected to ask an important question: what is the barrier that prevents Julian from facing his inadequacies and advancing beyond such a flawed state? “Everything That Rises Must Converge” does far more than merely comment on human imperfection in a fictional setting. Rather, it details the hindering effect of self-image as a roadblock to potential change as …

A Revolutionary Act: Investigating The Draw Of Dystopia In Young Adult Literature, Rachel L. Pullan

BYU English Symposium

The Dystopian genre of the mid-18^th century, with underpinnings of Communism, Nazism, and totalitarianism, was one thing. The Hunger Games is quite another. Or is it? The recent upsurge in dystopia in the younger demographic is undeniable—but why is it so popular with teenagers? George Orwell wrote that “telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Dystopia's unique brand of “telling the truth”—with its basis in real sociopolitical issues and its development of believable young adult protagonists—is in fact what makes this genre so appealing to a younger readership. Young adult dystopia generally and The Hunger Games specifically defy assumptions …

Calamus: Homoeroticism Or Brotherly Love?, Scott Hill

BYU English Symposium

Walt Whitman was gay. That was one of the first things I heard when I picked up Leaves of Grass and began my study of Whitman. While it wasn’t readily apparent in all of his works, there were some large contenders to back up the assertion, namely his Calamus poems. After I read Calamus I finally understood all of the talk about Whitman’s sexuality because some definitely seemed homoerotic. However, upon further study, I began to change my mind. The more I read over Calamus the less I saw these poems as some big “coming out” for Whitman, and the …

The Treachery Of The Persistence Of Memory: An Analysis Of The Manipulative Narrator Of Edgar Allan Poe's "Ligeia", Chelsea Lee

BYU English Symposium

By taking a narrator-centric approach to Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Ligeia,” I analyze the story through the motif of memory and highlight the ways the narrator manipulates his memories to serve his dark desires. Concluding that the resuscitated Ligeia at the end of the narrative is merely a projection, and the Ligeia we are presented with throughout the narrative does not exist outside of the narrator’s memory. I argue that the narrator uses his manipulations of memory to set himself up as the god of his narrative, which reconciles the events of the story with the Glanvill epigraph that …

Signifier, Signified, And The Nature Of Madness In The Winter's Tale, Adam Anderson

BYU English Symposium

This paper explores, through the careful marriage of psychoanalytic and linguistic literary theories, the nature and cause of Leontes’ madness in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Analysis of textual clues through a psychoanalytic lens coupled with the signifier-signified theory of linguistic sign construction reveal nuance - and cause - in the madness of Shakespeare’s timeless character.

Death And Irish Revivalism In "The Dead", William "Drew" Chandler

BYU English Symposium

Who is really dead in “The Dead”? My paper focuses on the concept of literal and figurative death as represented by the characters of James Joyce’s story “The Dead.” I argue that the protagonist of the story Gabriel Conroy is compelled to commit suicide as a means of competing with his wife Gretta’s long-dead lover. Joyce sets up Gabriel as a victim of Irish Revivalism, a backward-looking brand of Irish nationalism that the author rejected. Imagery from the story (and particularly the ending scene) point to Gabriel’s decision to kill himself and his interactions with other characters show us why …

The Will And Poe, Bethanie A. Sonnefeld

BYU English Symposium

Poe's treatment of "Ligeia" and "William Wilson" suggest that Poe believes in the power of the will in overcoming external and internal difficulties. "Ligeia" presents an external conflict with death as she struggles to remain alive while "William Wilson" deals with the internal conflict of tactile delusions. Ultimately, though, the titular characters' strong wills allow them to overcome their adversity, showing the power Poe believes the will possesses.

James Joyce And His War With The Catholic Church, Kimball R. Gardner

BYU English Symposium

At a young age, James Joyce was disillusioned with the Catholic Church, seeing corruption and intolerance toward humanity within the institution. As a result, he stated solemnly of the Church, "I make war with it by what I write and say and do." In his short story "The Dead," we see a complex criticism of the Catholic Church through characterization, imagery, and symbols.

Joyce uses the main character, Gabriel, as the vehicle of the criticism. He portrays the different characteristics of the Church through Gabriel, all culminating in the moment of epiphany at the end of the story, where he …

His Waxen Wings, Madeleine J. Dresden

BYU English Symposium

His Waxen Wings asks questions about redemption and heaven. These are issues that compel me to write a story about a protagonist who believes that erasing pain is the key to happiness, and is willing to fight against the natural order of God’s universe to get it. Wynn is a lonely man and a dreamer—a Byronic hero. As an Asian-American author, I’m entering the field of Byronic heroism to explore my own relationship with isolation and being a cultural outsider. Like Wynn, I have many questions about navigating a culture with expectations and alienating stereotypes for those who stand apart …

Wild Tongues In Education: Anzaldúa, Linguistic Oppression, And Power Culture, Alexandra Harker

BYU English Symposium

The issue of educating immigrants who do not speak English as their first language has been an extremely heated topic for decades. The American education system has chosen to deal with this issue in various ways, including the controversial English Only movement that has been implemented for some time in Arizona as well as other states. This research paper explores how linguistic oppression has occurred and continues to occur in the American education system using Gloria Anzaldúa's piece "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" as a primary resource. Anzaldúa's firsthand experiences with the American education system as well as the …