Other English Language and Literature Commons^™

English In India's Grand Stategy, Karthika Sasikumar

Faculty Publications

The term ‘grand strategy’ may appear be an extravagant and abstract expression, yet it is simply a shorthand manner of describing a country’s efforts in diverse areas towards its key goals. According to Yale historian Paul Kennedy, the crux of grand strategy lies in the “capacity of the nation’s leaders to bring together all of the elements, both military and nonmilitary, for the preservation and enhancement of the nation’s long-term (that is, in wartime and peacetime) best interests” (Kennedy 1991:5). Thus, grand strategy deploys all of a country’s assets. For India, one such asset is the English language. Although English …

Exorcising Power, John Jarzemsky

Theses and Dissertations

This paper theorizes that authors, in an act I have termed “literary exorcism,” project and expunge parts of their identities that are in conflict with the overriding political agenda of their texts, into the figure of the villain. Drawing upon theories of power put forth by Judith Butler, I argue that this sort of projection arises in reaction to dominant ideas and institutions, but that authors find ways to manipulate this process over time. By examining a broad cross-section of English-language literature over several centuries, this phenomenon and its evolution can be observed, as well as the means by which …

Text In The Natural World: Topics Of Evolutionary Theory Of Literature, Laurence A. Gregorio

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

The study of literature has expanded to include an evolutionary perspective. Its premise is that the literary text and literature as an overarching institution came into existence as a product of the same evolutionary process that gave rise to the human species. In this view, literature is an evolutionary adaptation that functions as any other adaptation does, as a means of enhancing survivability and also promoting benefits for the individual and society. Text in the Natural World is an introduction to the theory and a survey of topics pertinent to the evolutionary view of literature. After a polemical, prefatory chapter …

“On Soulless Feet We Cross The Floor...” The Illusion Of Control In Grim Fandango And Virtual Spaces, Christina Cicchetti

Theses and Dissertations

Even though users can choose what they do in virtual spaces, they are forced to operate within the confines of realms designed by the invisible authors of the game’s code. The illusion of choice blinds users to an assessment of the hidden structure supporting immersive virtual worlds.

Effects Of Multimedia Instruction On L2 Acquisition Of High-Level, Low-Frequency English Vocabulary Words, Euna Cho

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study examined the effects of multimedia enhancement in video form in addition to textual information on L2 vocabulary instruction for high-level, low-frequency English words among Korean learners of English. Although input-based incidental learning of L2 vocabulary through extensive reading has been conventionally believed to be appropriate for high-frequency words, intentional or explicit vocabulary learning is suggested to be more sensible or realistic for the acquisition of low-frequency academic words. Multimedia support in foreign language instruction has revealed benefits in promoting direct teaching and explicit learning of L2 vocabulary; moreover, adding textual information to video seems to boost students’ …

Shifting Focus: The Role Of Visual Literacy In The Twenty-First Century English Classroom, Bryanna Tester

Masters Theses

Ultimately, the English language arts classroom seeks to help make students “literate” members of society. Due to the dominance of images in twenty-first century communication, the term “literate” has also slowly shifted to include an individual’s ability to effectively and accurately communicate with verbal text as well as with visual images and symbols. Although students are native image-viewers, they are not able to be image-readers without instruction and training on how to critically “read” images. Therefore, an English teacher’s literary curriculum is not strictly bound to the written and spoken word. Instruction in reading and writing written texts are vital …

Fashioning A Feeble Mind: Cognitive Disability In American Fiction, 1830-1940, Lucy Wallitsch

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Between 1830 and 1940, American fiction is populated by an increasing number of cognitively disabled characters. I explore the relationships between these cognitively disabled characters and the rapidly changing scientific and political environments in which they were created. Drawing on a variety of regionally specific primary sources, I analyze the influences of medical and social conceptions of cognitive disability on works of American fiction containing characters which fit historical labels for cognitive disability such as The Deerslayer, “Life in the Iron Mills,” the short stories of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, The Sound and the Fury, and Of …

The Sounds Of Silence; Or, Isabella’S Counter Discourse In Measure For Measure, Gina Vivona

Theses and Dissertations

This argument reshapes the thinking about masculine dominance in Measure for Measure, and considers the patriarchy as a series of socially constructed, hence artificial, rules and regulations. It also explores how Isabella’s discourse and celibacy empower her to defy the constraints of early modern paradigms and achieve individual freedom.

The Founding Farce, Or, The Lost Debates Of The Constitutional Convention: Being An Account Of The Discovery Of An Overlooked Document, And The Loss Again, And Rediscovery Of Said Document, Wherein Is Written Unheard Proceedings In The Crafting Of The Glorious Constitution Of These 13 Colonies (Which Has Lately Been Misplaced), Alexander W. Pickens

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Constitutional Convention was shrouded in mystery, yet America has been confidently given a narrative of what went on behind closed doors in Philadelphia. Though most of our authentic records of what went on were written by men assumed to be reliable, the deeper one reads into history the more unreliable they become, recent evidence even suggesting that James Madison altered his notes on the Convention years after it was concluded. What if our perception of history is flawed and the Convention was not the glorious meeting of intellectual giants but instead a town hall full of immature behemoths who …

The Polyphonic Survivor: Dialogism And Heteroglossia In Art Spiegelman's "Maus: A Survivor's Tale", Joshua Novalis

Masters Theses

Using Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of polyphony, dialogism, and heteroglossia, this thesis will seek to show that Art Spiegelman's Maus is an innately heteroglossic work. Through the use of the graphic novel medium, a multi-perspectival blend of visual and textual narrative, Spiegelman creates a work where various key voices are allowed to speak within the work—without any one voice being given full authority over the other. Vladek Spiegelman, for example, is given the ability to speak freely, despite his narrative’s shortcomings. Although Spiegelman shows Vladek’s perspective to be flawed and inaccurate at times, Art’s interviews with Vladek provide a perspective into …

Healing Through Bibliotherapy, Kristina N. Spinelli

Senior Honors Projects

Emotions that adolescents face while experiencing their parents’ divorce can be traumatic. They often feel as though they have no one else to turn to, and feel alone. There are different types of therapy that can help individuals cope with their emotions and bibliotherapy can be used as a self-coping technique.

Bibliotherapy is a method used to cope with certain feelings from different experiences. It is a reading program that includes a variety of literature to offer emotional therapy. It is effective by aiding the individual who is struggling with his or her feelings to identify with a particular character, …

Incongruity And Social Expectations: Cultural Identity In Carson Mccullers’ Southern Gothic Novel The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Emily Page

Masters Theses

This study explores Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) in order to determine 1) the text’s relationship to cultural measures for identity in the 1930s and 40s American South and 2) the categorization of the novel as a Southern Gothic novel. The novel depicts cultural conflicts in the South and presents an intimate perspective of the corruption and prejudices between members of the southern community. Southerners in the novel fall into adopting ideal standards for race, gender, and class, judging and determining how people in different levels of each should act within the community. These culturally …

A Wood Comes Toward Dunsinane: The Synthesis Of Traditional And Constructivist Methodologies, Randall L. Kaplan

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Education professionals now favor Constructivist and project-based strategies for learning over Traditional methods, which include such frowned upon practices as rote memorization and recitation. The Constructivist approach is being taken to its natural apex by educators like Larry Rosenstock who have created Constructivist utopias such as High Tech High in San Diego, the school put under the microscope in the 2015 documentary film Most Likely to Succeed. Project-based, experiential units of study are effective, exciting, and edifying for both students and teachers. They promise to prepare students for the type of world they will inhabit, a world whose economy …

"Some Things Grew No Less With Time:" Tracing Atu 510b From The Thirteenth To The Twentieth Century, Rachel L. Maynard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of seven different variants of the fairy tale commonly known as “Donkeyskin,” classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale motif index as ATU 510B. By comparing so many different iterations of one fairy tale, it is easier to recognize the inherent attitudes concerning women and their place in society contained in this tale. Additionally, reading multiple variants from different centuries lends a perspective on the way that these attitudes changed over the centuries. Each of the thirteenth century texts considered end with their heroines trapped in loveless marriages, much like the seventeenth-century fairy tale, “Donkeyskin,” their …

The Intellectual Woman’S Cage: Complicating Ideals Of Fanon’S “Native Intellectual” In Nervous Conditions, Alyssa J. Mountain

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

This paper examines—through a post-colonial lens— Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions. In particular, this paper analyzes the characters of Tambu, Nyasha, and Maiguru and how their Western education allows them to fit into their roles as “native intellectuals.” Imposing Franz Fanon’s phases of becoming a “native intellectual” onto these strong, educated female characters greatly complicates his term and process. The idea of the native intellectual is most often applied to men. However, in terms of Dangarembga’s work, it is the female characters that rise to this title. In this acquisition of education the female characters are truly “between two …

The Motionless Half-Sun Over The Postcolonial Horizon: Adichie, Bhabha, And Inaction, Themal I. Ellawala 2896594

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

Action is a metaphysical reality of our daily existence, one so commonplace and privileged that it has transcended its dialectical relationship with inaction to preeminence. The latter has failed to capture the imagination of philosophers and critical theorists, leaving the subversive potential of this negative space unexplored. This essay seeks to interrogate the space of inaction, and restore the unity between the action and inaction. This exploration is situated within a postcolonial context, as a conversation between Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun and Homi Bhabha, to examine how inaction offers a site to challenge the violence of action …

Delving Into Multicultural Literature With Inquiry, Juan Gonzalez

Honors Theses

This paper argues for the use of multicultural literature in the classroom, and puts forth a unit plan that uses critical literacy in an English 11 classroom, though it can be readapted to fit other grade levels. Bishop (1990) describes multicultural literature as a set of windows, that people use to view the experiences of others, and mirrors, that reflect and validate peoples’ experience, a core principal in this paper. Critical literacy is comprised of four dimensions (Lewison, Flint, & Van Sluys, 2002) that allows for analyzing literature in a different and meaningful way. The final part of this paper …

Blade Runner And The Divine Menace, Alexander W. Pickens

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

Following the decline of Christianity in mainstream Western culture, a void rose in the moral and societal code. Those writers that emerged presented alternate visions that worked their way into the literature of the 20th century. Karl Marx's interpretation of the structure of labor in capitalism presented a new societal hierarchy whose finer points have been worked out in the complex film Blade Runner. This dystopian nightmare, in which a Marxist interpretation of current society bogged down by the ennui of capitalist accumulation is confronted, describes a new religious order based upon this economic theory. Central to this reimagining …

Who Are These People? Let's Find Out!, Niall E. Walsh, Lindsay Kline, Anastasia E. Zaluckyj, Crystal O. Nwokoro, Belynn Hollers, Paul Z. Armstrong, Lindsay Caudill

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Camin Melton

Papers presented:

"Muted Group Theory: A Struggle for Representation" by Niall E. Walsh

Abstract: This paper examines the concept of Cheris Kramarae's Muted Group Theory as it applies to a range of texts. The theory asserts that women have historically been at a disadvantage in society due to their inability to properly communicate their experiences. This problem is a direct result of a patriarchal society that has constructed predominantly masculine modes of communication.

"Cloelia: Breaking Class Ceilings Before it Was Cool (and How it Inspired Me)" by Lindsay Kline

Abstract: Cloelia lived during the sixth century …

Embracing Diversity In Dialect: Incorporating Informal Language Into The Classroom, Stephanie R. Jackson

Student Scholar Showcase

Long-standing myths about language have often affected teacher instruction in the classroom. Particularly in minority communities, teachers have faced difficulties educating students whose dialect varies greatly from Standard American English (SAE). In linguistics, dialect is defined as a variety of language associated with a particular social group. Many of the difficulties faced in education have arisen from misconceptions that certain dialects of English, and by extension, certain social groups, are inferior to others. All languages have one dialect that is considered the ‘standard’ or the most prestigious, so that factor cannot be changed. However, the way in which non-standard dialects …