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Articles 1 - 25 of 25
Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature
The Trickster And Queen, Jagjit Sidhu
The Trickster And Queen, Jagjit Sidhu
Honors Theses
The trickster is a primary motif that appears in numerous cultures in the form of a mischievous and impulsive character, who tricks others to get what he wants. However, in reality the trickster is far from a simple-minded clown. He is actually very complex and sees through the facade of society and it’s strict hypocritical cultures and traditions, seeking to challenge these mechanisms that restrict the flow of logic and pleasure. For this paper, I will theoretically analyze the mechanism of the trickster, and the intimate relation between his trickery and his role as a culture-hero. I will apply this …
Performativity And Jazz In The Fiction Of James Baldwin And Ralph Ellison, Drako P. Wells
Performativity And Jazz In The Fiction Of James Baldwin And Ralph Ellison, Drako P. Wells
Honors Theses
Since slavery in the seventeenth century, African Americans have been politically and economically oppressed in the United States. Even in recent times, it seems as if simply being black is enough to have a person criticized by society, convicted of crimes, or even killed. However, the frustration that oppression causes has, in many ways, catalyzed the evolution of African American culture and the African American identity. In this study, I examine how two postwar African American authors, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin, portray the African American struggle with racial injustice and the means of overcoming its negative effects. In this …
What's "Really Real": David Foster Wallace And The Pursuit Of Sincerity In Infinite Jest, Henry Clayton
What's "Really Real": David Foster Wallace And The Pursuit Of Sincerity In Infinite Jest, Henry Clayton
Honors Theses
Throughout his literary career, David Foster Wallace articulated the problems associated with the profusion of irony in contemporary society. In this thesis I assert that his novel Infinite Jest promotes a shift from the reliance on irony and subversion to a celebration of the principles of sincerity. The emphasis on sincerity makes Infinite Jest a landmark novel in the canon of American fiction, as Wallace employs postmodern formal techniques, such as irony, metafiction, fragmentation, and maximalism, in the interest of promoting traditional, non-ironic values of emotion, community, and spirituality. I draw from works of postmodern theory and criticism to bolster …
“Listen To Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, And William Shakespeare, Anna Flores
“Listen To Many”: Intersectionality, Tragedy, And William Shakespeare, Anna Flores
Honors Theses
Centuries after his own lifetime, William Shakespeare dominates the Western canon and continues to have a profound effect on Western society. As the values of that society shift and social movements progress, so too must critical reception of Shakespeare's work. The purpose of this thesis is to reexamine Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1601), Othello (1604), and Antony and Cleopatra (1606) through a feminist lens in order to expose the larger societal issues addressed within the play. This thesis draws on Intersectionality, a modern branch of feminism, to discuss sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia within Shakespeare’s texts and the way in …
Blooming Lotus, Brian Nguyen
Blooming Lotus, Brian Nguyen
Honors Theses
While reflecting on my poetry chapbook, Blooming Lotus, I ask myself what I was trying to accomplish by creating the chapbook. I have always been interested in my East Asian culture, but growing up as an Asian American has resulted in some ignorance in regards to the topic. I wanted to explore more of my own heritage through the creation of this chapbook by writing poems inspired by East Asian culture. Not only did I want to expose myself to East Asian culture but I also wanted to expose my readers to it as well. Most of my poems required …
Unlikely Heroes In Despair: Existentialist Narrators In The Novels Of Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, And Don Delillo, Courtney Mullis
Unlikely Heroes In Despair: Existentialist Narrators In The Novels Of Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, And Don Delillo, Courtney Mullis
Honors Theses
Existentialism is a field of philosophy concerned with questions about existence, death, God, and consciousness. It is "a doctrine that concentrates on the existence of the individual, who, being free and responsible, is held to be what he makes himself by the self-development of his essence through acts of the will" (OED Online). Writing by existentialist philosophers "often belongs more to literature than to philosophy" (Bigelow 173). Existentialist characters in literature are autonomous agents who tend to lack religious faith, constantly ask existentialist questions, and struggle with their own existence and relationship to the world around them. Additionally, existentialist characters …
The Imagined Southern Setting Of Cormac Mccarthy's The Road, John Emory Hooks
The Imagined Southern Setting Of Cormac Mccarthy's The Road, John Emory Hooks
Honors Theses
The Road by Cormac McCarthy hardly seems like a work of southern literature at a first glance. The novel is post-apocalyptic. A man and his son, neither of whom are ever named, trek south as they struggle to survive in a world darkened by ash-filled skies. The setting surrounding them is not recognizable as the southern US anymore. The cities are burnt and everything is covered with ash. If we rely on the geography portrayed by a work of literature to identify that literature as southern or not, then The Road cannot be classified as southern based solely on the …
A Queen’S Reputation: A Feminist Analysis Of The Cultural Appropriations Of Cleopatra, Chamara Moore
A Queen’S Reputation: A Feminist Analysis Of The Cultural Appropriations Of Cleopatra, Chamara Moore
Honors Theses
While there is no doubt that Cleopatra is considered a notable historical figure and popularly regarded character throughout modern media, there is a distinct pattern in her portrayal throughout time as a woman whose power is defined by her sexual promiscuity. Even throughout periods of powerful female monarchs, political change, and social progress her prowess as a leader has been assumingly attributed to her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. The purpose of this study is to examine how literature and media has contributed to this sexualized reputation of a queen who yielded authority over such a prosperous nation. …
The Implementation Of Common Core: Graphic Novels In The Classroom, Chesnie R. Keeler
The Implementation Of Common Core: Graphic Novels In The Classroom, Chesnie R. Keeler
Honors Theses
The Common Core State Standards are alive and thriving in schools across the nation, and teachers are constantly looking for the best possible ways to implement these rigorous standards with student interests in mind. These standards set goals, or benchmarks, for students to reach at any specified grade level throughout their primary and secondary education; school districts, administrators, and teachers have the choice of deciding how students meet these standards. As a pre-service teacher who will enter the teaching profession, I examine how graphic novels can be implemented into the English Language Arts classroom by analyzing Maus, Persepolis, …
Minding The Gap: Connecting The Mirror Cities Of London In The Novels Of Neil Gaiman And China Miéville, Miranda Hill
Minding The Gap: Connecting The Mirror Cities Of London In The Novels Of Neil Gaiman And China Miéville, Miranda Hill
Honors Theses
Cities in reality that are transformed into cities in literature create the opportunity for two thematic elements: firstly, the Gothic feeling of the uncanny is created because the two cities are similar and yet dissimilar to one another. Secondly, satirical elements are introduced when the author uses the city within literature to expound upon issues within the city in reality. Neil Gaiman and China Miéville employ different perspectives to recreate the historical city of London within their novels, but their results are the same, and both the uncanny and satire are achieved. In Gaiman’s Neverwhere (1996), and Miéville’s Perdido Street …
The Importance Of Appearances In Literature: What Does It Mean To Be A Redhead In Literature?, Chelsea J. Anderson
The Importance Of Appearances In Literature: What Does It Mean To Be A Redhead In Literature?, Chelsea J. Anderson
Honors Theses
In literature, appearances always seem to play a major part of each character. The physical descriptions of each character are important to the development of the story. Therefore, it seems that a character’s physical appearance becomes an important part of character development, and his/her physical traits help to determine the type of character he/she will be. Often times, different hair colors carry associations along with them. Redheads have been associated with certain temperaments and personality traits throughout history. In literature, red-headed characters often have the temperaments, traits, and negative connotations associated with redheads. One of the major assumptions made about …
Bakhtin’S Problems Of Dostoevsky’S Poetics And The Ideological Problem Of The Brothers Karamazov, Natalie N. Griner
Bakhtin’S Problems Of Dostoevsky’S Poetics And The Ideological Problem Of The Brothers Karamazov, Natalie N. Griner
Honors Theses
Dostoevsky’s final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, strives to resolve the question of God’s existence. But many critics have acknowledged that Dostoevsky seems to present Ivan’s skeptical voice with equal, if not greater, force than Alyosha’s affirmative voice—a feature of the novel that is difficult to explain in the context of Dostoevsky’s avowed Christianity. There is an overwhelming consensus among critics that The Brothers is a thesis-novel. But in order to establish the novel as a defense of faith, the critic must ultimately dismiss the strength of Ivan’s voice; and in attempting to demonstrate that the voice of doubt prevails, …
Out Of The Attic: Agency And Narratives Of Mental Illness By David Foster Wallace And Lauren Slater, Erin L. Mcleod
Out Of The Attic: Agency And Narratives Of Mental Illness By David Foster Wallace And Lauren Slater, Erin L. Mcleod
Honors Theses
Studies of Prozac Diary and Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir illustrate how Slater adapts conventions of fiction to the memoir form to create agency for the mentally ill subject. This study will apply this approach of narrative therapy to David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest to determine if the autobiographical conventions of mental illness may be adapted to fiction. An analysis of these primary texts seeks to address issues related to the therapeutic dimensions of autobiography as these are complicated by the narrative conventions that distinguish memoir and fiction.
The Pandemonium Of Change: Endurance Of The Carnivalesque Mode, Jeremy K. Horton
The Pandemonium Of Change: Endurance Of The Carnivalesque Mode, Jeremy K. Horton
Honors Theses
The carnivalesque is a literary mode that takes the characteristics of medieval carnivals and brings them to literature. Academic study of the carnivalesque has thus far been relatively limited, leaving the researcher to explore a largely untapped field of literary analysis. The carnivalesque is most easily observable in the more celebrated mode of literature known as magical realism, which is a mode generally associated with Latin American authors, including several Nobel laureates. Magical realism deals with the insertion of traditional supernatural elements into otherwise natural worlds, which is the point where this mode intersects with the carnivalesque (though the two …
Underworld Journeys In The Faerie Queene And The Lord Of The Rings: Exploring The “Belly Of The Whale” Of Joseph Campbell’S Monomyth And The Effect On The Hero’S Return From Adventure, Kayla M. Kirkendall
Underworld Journeys In The Faerie Queene And The Lord Of The Rings: Exploring The “Belly Of The Whale” Of Joseph Campbell’S Monomyth And The Effect On The Hero’S Return From Adventure, Kayla M. Kirkendall
Honors Theses
This paper examines Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth—the idea that great myths (heroes’ journeys) throughout history adhere to a single, basic structure. The most important step of this structure is arguably the Belly of the Whale/Descent into the Underworld, as can be seen in the Redcrosse Knight of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Book One) and Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. These individual heroes reveal that the way in which they overcome (or fail to overcome) their underworlds determines the success or failure of the character as a Campbellian hero. Most importantly, …
The Laureate Collection, Samantha Mcveigh
Genre Controversy: Human Universality Or Plagiarism In The Dystopian Genre?, Taylor V. Kingston
Genre Controversy: Human Universality Or Plagiarism In The Dystopian Genre?, Taylor V. Kingston
Honors Theses
In a fusion of behavioral psychology, evolutionary psychology, and literary analysis, this thesis considers the possibility that human nature dictates the types of rhetoric utilized in any given genre. Operant conditioning emerged as the governing device in a case study of the dystopian genre since readers must be made to associate fear or hope with particular government structures. Implicitly then, literature is molded into its genres by the human desires addressed by that genre’s reigning themes. This “mold” seems to have created a strain of novels within the dystopian genre that are so similar there have been accusations of plagiarism. …
Our Cosmogonies: Creation Myth In Everyday Moments, Samantha Bares
Our Cosmogonies: Creation Myth In Everyday Moments, Samantha Bares
Honors Theses
No abstract provided.
Mostly True: An Exploration Of My Family History, Jessica Urban
Mostly True: An Exploration Of My Family History, Jessica Urban
Honors Theses
Family histories are tricky things, especially when the people in the stories don't necessarily want to talk about their pasts. My family immigrated to the US in the early 1800's, many to escape the anti-Semitism that was rampant in their countries. Through a series of personal interviews, family stories passed down from generation to generation, and my own imagination to fill in the gaps, I have compiled a series of short stories about my family and their lives in America from their arrival here in the 1800's to the present day. Although each family has a different story to tell, …
Sherlock Holmes And James Moriarty: Victorian Genius In A Millennial World, Allison K. Carey
Sherlock Holmes And James Moriarty: Victorian Genius In A Millennial World, Allison K. Carey
Honors Theses
In 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first novel regarding the detective Sherlock Holmes. He would go on to publish another three novels and 56 short stories detailing the great detective’s endeavors. Today, 128 years later, Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is as popular, as relevant, and as alive as ever. Adaptations continue to be made and achieve success, including the BBC’s mini-series, Sherlock. This modern adaptation and its interpretation of Conan Doyle’s characters, novels, stories, plots, and themes allow for a unique combination of Victorian and Modern England. It highlights the similarities and differences of a Victorian Holmes and …
The Seal Of Solomon: An Exploration Of Storytelling, Ryan M. Krisby
The Seal Of Solomon: An Exploration Of Storytelling, Ryan M. Krisby
Honors Theses
The Seal of Solomon is a work of fantasy with steampunk, flintlock-fantasy elements exploring Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, also known as the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey is both a physical and personal journey in which the hero ventures from their common world and into a realm of supernatural wonder where they encounter challenges, until they enter the “belly of the whale,” undergo an apotheosis and achieve the ultimate boon. They return to their common world changed, enlightened from their experiences and with a freedom over their life that they did not have before. I explore the tropes and elements of …
Honestly, Woman, You Call Yourself Our Mother?: Mothers And Witches In Harry Potter, Mary-Eileen Rankin Rankin
Honestly, Woman, You Call Yourself Our Mother?: Mothers And Witches In Harry Potter, Mary-Eileen Rankin Rankin
Honors Theses
This thesis aims to analyze the importance of maternal nurture and the witches as mothers trope in the Harry Potter series. This nurture is traditional as well as perverse and appears in characters besides the adult women. Rowling creates characters who appeal to paradigms of the Early Modern bad mother witch who harmed children among other accusations associated with female sexuality and motherhood. Additionally, Rowling challenges the negative stereotype of associating witches and bad mothering by presenting witches as good mothers. The power of maternal nurture in the series is best seen through the good mothers. This theme plays such …
Expanding The Literary Enterprise: How We Experience The Texts Of The Advanced Placement English Literature And Composition Curriculum, Molly Ostrow
Honors Theses
How we read the texts of the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition curriculum.
Modern American Myth-Making In Mass Media Texts, Kassandra Andreadis
Modern American Myth-Making In Mass Media Texts, Kassandra Andreadis
Honors Theses
What is an American myth? “Myth” can have many meanings and can refer to many different types of works. For example, Edwards and Klosa refer to Frankenstein as “an important mythic text” (Edwards and Klosa 34), which provides a middle point between ancient myths (e.g. the Odyssey) and current myths, showing that myths have continued to be produced and establishing myth-making as a continuous process. This process continues into the present, all over the world, so it stands to reason that the United States of America has its own myths. The identity of those myths is less certain. While ideas …
Gender Performance, Trauma, And Orality In Adichie's Half Of A Yellow Sun And Purple Hibiscus, Lauren Elizabeth Rackley
Gender Performance, Trauma, And Orality In Adichie's Half Of A Yellow Sun And Purple Hibiscus, Lauren Elizabeth Rackley
Honors Theses
This thesis examines Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus in order to explore the implications of trauma on middleclass Igbo women's gender performance. The traumas that the women encounter within the novels occur within the domestic sphere and are results of the Biafran War in Half of a Yellow Sun and domestic abuse in Purple Hibiscus. This thesis interrogates women's experiences within the domestic sphere, ultimately reflecting a larger national trauma that Biafra and later Nigeria undergo as a result of colonial occupation. This thesis concludes with an exploration of the culturally specific practice of …