English Language and Literature Commons^™

2012 Forces, Scott Yarbrough

Forces

No abstract provided.

Mothers, Sons, And The Gothic Family In Brown, Poe, And Wharton, Elizabeth Lain Lyon

Scripps Senior Theses

Within Gothic literature, the mother is frequently missing. In Charles Brockden Brown’s Edgar Huntly, Edgar Allan Poe’s “Morella,” “Ligeia,” and “Eleonora,” and Edith Wharton’s “Bewitched,” men are left without parents, and they attempt to recuperate a mother-figure. To do so, the men in these texts psychologically project the role of their mother onto other women. Wives, sisters, and daughters all have the potential to become mothers to these men. This is a catastrophe for the women involved, for male perception fails to distinguish females as autonomous, unique beings. By conflating roles in the family structure, men destroy women and …

Becoming Pearls: Patterns Of Social Reading In Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Rachel Elizabeth Gould

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As soon as the first English texts began to appear, Arabian Nights' Entertainments, as translated by Antoine Galland, captivated the imaginations of most of eighteenth century England, bringing the work instantly into demand. Although the Arabian Nights' Entertainments is generally recognized among scholars for its influence on other fictional tales and travel narratives and its shaping of the West's perception of the East, further study is needed in ascertaining the effect of the rhetorical device of repetition, which is so prevalent within the tales and which gives the collection both its unique character and its ability to engage readers …

Constructing Depth Through Jane: Contemporary Interactions Between Austen And Interiority, Nicole Catherine Peters

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The world is saturated with Jane Austen. She is in the movies, in bookstores, and in college courses. For years “lowbrow” and “highbrow” readers have fought over the “proper” way to read her work. Ian Watt, a popular literary critic, argued that Austen’s value resides in her use of interiority. For years, interiority was held as the measure of a novel’s worth or depth. Deidre Lynch exposed this interiority Watt spoke of as a cultural taste—one which Austen and Watt emerged from and helped to create.

In this project, I look at two contemporary manifestations of Austen—one that is considered …

A Kiss With A Fist Is Better Than None: Violence And Sexuality In The Maltese Falcon And The Big Sleep, Julie Nascone

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Based on Annette Kuhn’s theory that censorship does not merely repress a text but produces one as well, this thesis examines the ways in which The Maltese Falcon (1941) and The Big Sleep (1946) bear the mark of their industrial and cultural contexts. Censorship of violence and the transformation of actor Humphrey Bogart produce symptomatic representations of violence in the films The Big Sleep (1946) and The Maltese Falcon (1941).

The Maltese Falcon stars Humphrey Bogart in the early years of his film career. Until The Maltese Falcon, Bogart was known purely for his onscreen roles as a gangster …

2012 Literary Review (No. 25), Sigma Tau Delta

The Greenleaf Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Harry Potter And The Theory Of Things, Erica Maitland Lange

Master’s Theses

This thesis investigates the boundaries between body and object in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, seven children’s literature novels published between 1997 and 2007. Lord Voldemort, Rowling’s villain, creates Horcruxes—objects that contain fragments of his soul—in order to ensure his immortality. As vessels for human soul, these objects rupture the boundaries between body and object and become “things.” Using contemporary thing theorists including John Plotz and materialists Jean Baudrillard and Walter Benjamin, I look at Voldemort’s Horcruxes as transgressive, liminal, unclassifiable entities in the first chapter.

If objects can occupy the juncture between body and object, then bodies can as …

Prairie Bound: How Laura's Past Forged My Future, Lori J. Houston

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This work of creative non-fiction seeks to explore my past at the same time as I explore the past of a favorite childhood author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. This exploration took the form of a road trip with my father to visit the sites written about in Laura’s books. I found that Laura’s life appealed to me because it represented an insular security that I felt I needed, and that was why I chose, as a child, to immerse myself in the 1880’s. While finding out what she meant to me then, I also discovered that Laura is an even better …

Black-White Binaries Of European Christianity And Colonialism In African And Diasporic Literature, Tarius M. Roberts

Theses (Pre-2016)

The focus and aim of this research is two-fold. First, it is to highlight the implementation of a black-white binary system by European society created in order to establish a superior white and inferior non-white individual. Second, it is to provide an introduction into the mechanism of race and racism based off a color system recreated under white supremacy. The structural setup of this system, or better yet its execution, was done through strategic, vulture-like acts by foraging imperialists. It entails the appropriation of and the deflection of original, innate cultures, religions, resources, and traditions that Europe lacked, then twisting …

Heathens And How They're Made, Garret Crowe

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis contains 23 poems with an introduction in which I explain how I craft my poetry. In the introduction, I use examples from both critical and creative sources to identify tools I utilize during the craft process of a poem. The subject matter of the poems within this thesis ranges from speakers pondering childhood moments to mature voices examining domestic relationships. Some of the poems may be considered confessional poetry as the works are immensely personal and the speaker is I, the writer. Other poems apply literary styles that are commonly associated with Dirty Realism and Southern Gothic.

Humor Me To Heaven: Humor's Redemptive Role In The Works Of Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, And Marilynne Robinson, Stephanie Johnson

Masters Theses

Humor is the topic of many psychological, social, and cultural studies, but this project examines humor under a new lens. Humor's unique qualities explored in this study prove that humor is capable of more than just causing laughter; the nature of humor allows it to unveil truths about humanity, both spiritual and physical, through exposing man's flaws. This quality is especially important to consider when analyzing humor in the context of literature, in which humor also works as an aesthetic element. This study searches several short stories by Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor along with Marilynne Robinson's Gilead to reveal …

What’S In A Test? Constructions Of Literacy And Its Implications For English Proficiency Test Design, Josye Marie Brookter

Dissertations

Although college-level composition pedagogy is becoming more open to language diversity, some crucial current-traditional vestiges remain, particularly in proficiency exams. Too often these exams only identify students who are slipping through the cracks of literacy instruction, while the definition of English represented by this test limits alternate notions of writing and literacy. The test represents local, institutional values about written English, although those values must also be consistent with national standards. Typically, administrators, teachers, and students feel compelled to choose traditional forms of writing over postmodern ones, a choice that is seldom discussed in the literature. Conflicting perspectives of English …

"Robert Frost Blues”, Gregory Arthur Weiss

Dissertations

Robert Frost Blues collectively argues, stylistically and thematically, that apprehending the world is difficult. If one is able to know the world to some degree, the efficacy of that knowledge will be significantly affected by whether other people agree that that apprehension of the world is correct. But beyond that, Robert Frost Blues, with its casual sestinas and villanelles, colloquial language, found language, prose poems, dialogues, and iambic narratives, implicitly argues that the most important aspect of knowing the world is not the form that knowledge fits into or the literary devices it employs. Instead apprehending the world requires both …

Towards The Finite A Case Against Infinity In Jorge Luis Borges, Esteban Santis

HIM 1990-2015

The role of infinity as an antagonist in Jorge Luis Borges's oeuvre is undeniable. His stories in El jardi­n de senderos que se bifurcan (1941), Ficciones (1944), and El Aleph (1949) exhibit Borges's tendency to evoke dreams, labyrinths, mirrors, and libraries as both conduits for infinity and sources of conflict. Oftentimes, Borges's characters experience discomfort upon encountering the limitations of secular temporal succession. This discomfort is rooted in Borges's pessimism about the subject which is explored in Borges's most comprehensive essay on the issue of time: "A New Refutation of Time." Consequently, this thesis considers Borges's attitude towards the issue …

Why And How To Increase The Amount Of Writing In Utah's Schools, Sarah Orme

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The writing culture in elementary schools and secondary schools needs to change if students are going to be equipped for their future academic and career goals. An ideal writing culture promotes advanced writing by encouraging more writing, sharing, and a sense that everyone in the classroom is a developing writer. The writing students produce shows that this type of writing culture is not being nurtured in many secondary schools. It is apparent that the ideal writing culture in secondary schools is not being achieved because of the writing students produce. Arthur Applebee and Judith Langer, in connection with the National …

Developing Global Communication Skills For Technical Communicators In The 21st Century: Researching The Language Of Collaboration And Cooperation In The Bologna Process, Diane L. Martinez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Globalization presents opportunities, but also challenges for all professions, most especially for professional communicators. Likewise, professional communication programs must be aware of the complexities and nuances of contemporary global communication and adapt their instruction to reflect these realities. Thus, there is a need for research efforts in global communication that provide insight into the intricacies of this type of communication.

This dissertation is a study of the language of collaboration and cooperation in professional and global contexts. Using Burke’s theories of identification and terministic screens, cooperation theory, activity theory, and a brief historical perspective on the European Union, I conducted …

The Door-To-Door Mormon Pest Control Salesman: A Novel, John Charles Gilmore

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis engages readers in a story about contemporary Mormonism. It is a novel that follows a fictional Mormon man engaged in a quirky summer job: door-to-door sales. The Mormon characters in this novel encounter a collapsing Florida housing market that stalls their efforts at peddling pesticide, while the main character experiences serious doubts in his personal religious faith.

Though Mormons are a small fraction of the United States’ population, they have drawn considerable interest from the American public in recent years, in large part due to the success of the 2011 musical The Book of Mormon and the 2008 …

Don't Take Orpheus Without The Lyre: The Intricacies Of Using Pagan Myths For Christian Purposes In The Divine Comedy And Paradise Lost, Rebekah J. Waltmann

Masters Theses

Because of their universal and artistic nature, the classical myths lend themselves well to use in literature, especially poetry. When used properly, as by Dante and Milton, the myths have the ability to enhance the work; when used poorly, they become gaudy ornamentation. It was, and is, this ability to enhance both the artistry and function of literature that pulled so many poets to the myths, despite the difficulties that could arise when the pagan myths did not quite match the Christian setting. My purpose in this thesis is not to explicate every use of myth within The Divine Comedy …

Linden Hills And The Women Of Brewster Place : Race, Class, And Gender Seen Through The Gothic, Nicole Marie Riotto

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Gloria Naylor uses Gothic elements in two of her novels, Linden Hills and The Women of Brewster Place, to highlight struggles and fears of the black communities of these texts. In each, the characters try to navigate through a white, patriarchal world, which causes them to struggle economically, emotionally, and socially. Throughout reading these texts, it is clear that Naylor uses the sins of the father, the absent mother/fear of motherhood, and religion versus the state/science, all Gothic elements, to show how these characters are put in the position of other and how they respond to occupying that space.

Each …