English Language and Literature Commons^™

Ecofeminism In J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings, Stephanie Kroneiss

Multidisciplinary Studies Theses

Ecofeminist fiction merges the principles of ecological and feminist fiction, not only linking the oppression of women and the natural world by patriarchal cultures, but furthering the notion that the future survival of the planet and of humanity can only be accomplished through remedying the inequitable and oppressive treatment of both. Although not all ecofeminist fiction directly advocates for this philosophy, the most effective tales are those which ultimately culminate in establishing within the reader an undeniable connection between humans and the natural world, as well as an understanding of the need for balance between the feminine and masculine aspects …

“9/11 And The Collapse Of The American Dream: Imbolo Mbue’S Behold The Dreamers”, Elizabeth Toohey

Publications and Research

Behold the Dreamers follows a Cameroonian couple who, as newcomers to America, harbor dreams of success unavailable to them back home. Undocumented immigration, the widening gulf between rich and poor, and the thinly veiled racism of an avowedly "post-racial" culture converge in this new generation of immigrants' painful encounter with the American dream. I consider the ways Mbue's novel shares themes with a "second wave" of post- 9/11 literature—first, in centering the disillusionment of a protagonist aspiring to the American dream; next, in its representation of New York as a space haunted by 9/11, but also of resistance to the …

Adoption Of Bonded-Cellular Technology, Gregory Edward Phipps

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed four determinant factors attributed to the acceptance of Bonded Cellular (BC) technology and applies the tenants of Diffusion of Innovation and Technology Acceptance Models. BC “bonds” available cellular channels and transmits a multiplexed signal to a broadcaster. This study will advance the understanding of factors that may impact the acceptance of BC at the management level. Research Questions 1. Can behavioral intention (BI) to adopt BC tools be predicted by using an independent variable representing Perceived Ease-Of-Use (PEOU)? 2. Can behavioral intention (BI) to adopt BC tools be predicted by using an independent variable representing Perceived Usefulness …

Mitigating Black Claustrophobia: Space, Trauma, And Healing Modalities In The Postcolonial Narrative., Saleema Mustafa Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the space or spaces of blackness and the black body in the United States. This nation was shaped by the institution of slavery, and its greatest legacy is the trauma that still resonates in social structures and spaces complicating the lived experiences of many. The various responses to these traumas are documented in literary form by authors who serve as cultural witnesses. The narratives featured in this research project, collectively and individually, offer a voice to the traumatic plight of individuals in the U.S. who struggle to contemplate and rectify the traumas of this nation’s past. This …

I Told You That To Tell You This: Metagaming And Metacognition In The Hybrid Classroom, Marc A. Ouellette

English Faculty Publications

This paper theorizes the use of play and gamified methods to foster metacognition, or strategies for learning and learning about learning, in online graduate instruction. In the process, it calls into question the determinism of “serious” games as being the only means of facilitating metacognition. Ultimately, by adopting metagame approaches—that is, approaches based on0 goals and achievements that are external to the game and/or are developed by the players themselves—metacognition can and does occur because students participate in the development of the rewards. Moreover, any metagame feature ultimately becomes a commentary so that an approach based on metagaming offers its …

Delivering Extinction, Tatum Cordy

Honors College Theses

Living during a human extinction is something no one is prepared for. No one thought humans would last this long. Even the sun dies eventually. A child’s drawing with a dripping smile. Sun rays heating soil into dust, melting metals, and large pine trees would light like matches. Smoke would rise into the air blocking out everything but the fires taking over the once livable landscape of Earth. Then, it would be over. The sun would explode. Simple and quick, painless for the few who wouldn’t try to resist their demise. Too bad humans were a few million years early. …

The Economy Of (Dis)Honor In The Americas: A Transnational Rupturing Of American Literature Through Faulkner, García Márquez, And Silko, Clayton Neil Cobb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Honor is misunderstood within popular culture, but it is also misunderstood within academic contexts. This is due to a decoupling of the term from its long historical significance, a significance that must not be ignored. That is because honor in the Americas is a structure of the hemisphere’s colonial legacy, its manifestation in the cultural fabric a result of the invasion of the continents by European settlers and colonizers. In the case of history, philosophy, and social science, the study of honor is beginning to undergo appropriate theorization to recognize that legacy; however, within literary studies disciplines, critical understanding of …

Madres, Hijas, Y La Frontera: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Mexican Mothers And Mexican-American Daughters, Arianna Gabriela Razo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The goal of this thesis is to investigate the role Mexican mothers play in raising their children and how the border affects their abilities as mothers, looking specifically into the Mother-Daughter relationship, broken down even further into the Mexican mother versus the Mexican-American daughter. To explore this concept, I examine Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo, looking at all the mothers, but specifically into the Reyes matriarchs, and Aaron Bobrow-Strain, The Life and Death of Aida Hernandez, to show how the border has influenced Mexican mothering styles, along with juxtaposing how Mexican immigrants were treated in the 20th century to how politicization of …

Humanizing The Hero: Patrick Pearse’S Reimagination Of The Epic Hero For Modern Ireland, Chelsea Armstrong

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Between The Lines: Reflexive Misogyny And Remediated Forms In A Secret Online Group Of Women Poets, Rae Elizabeth Snobl

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines an online, secret writing community for 1,800+ women-only poets called “The Retreat.” Analysis of two years of Facebook posts and interviews with group members revealed a noticeable membership split between those publishing through conventional literary venues, the “traditional poets,” and social media poets. These “Instapoets,” as labeled by popular media each had between 10,000 to 125,000+ followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook—significant numbers when seen in the context of readership and monetizing. Yet, their digital, snippet poems did not hold to the literary norms of poetry, both in form and publishing method. This led to a …

Adventuring In The Winds: An Exploration Of Water Accessibility, Keystone Species, Environmental Justice, And Forest Fires In The Wind River Range, Rhianna Giron

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis is a braided narrative that incorporates personal experience, ecological research, and poetry to explain some of the impacts of human interaction in wild spaces and of climate change. The specific areas of study in this essay are the Wind River Range, Wyoming and Nebraska. The purpose of this paper is to discuss topics related to water availability and quality, forest fires, keystone species, and social injustices related to people and environments in the Wind River Range. It is important to learn about other places than the ones we are already familiar with as it helps to instill a …

Samuel Daniel’S Lyric Reception: The Role Of Poet-Critics From Wordsworth To Winters, Caleb Mcghee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Elizabethan poet Samuel Daniel was popular in his day, producing lyric, dramatic, and narrative poems. Contemporary anthologies, however, memorialize him primarily as a lyric poet, one that usually gets few entries. My thesis shows how Daniel had a minor reputation as a lyric poet by the 1960’s, despite having high-profile admirers. These well-known poet-critics who engaged with his work are essential to analyzing his lyric reputation: owing to the Romantic emphasis on the lyric, I begin with William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s reception of his lyrics in the 19th century. I then analyze the turn of the century …

Exploring The Rhetorical Power Of Speculative Fiction Through Jewelle Gomez’S The Gilda Stories And Octavia Butler’S Fledgling, Monique Dixon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There are apparent similarities between Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories and Octavia Butler’s Fledgling. However, this thesis will demonstrate that they share more than similar subject matter and yet differ in substantial ways. Utilizing Black feminist theory and alternative rhetoric this thesis examines how Gomez and Butler harness the potential of speculative fiction to critique the world around them and imagine an alternative world for those who are intersectionally marginalized.

Environmental Cybernetics: Technology And The Perception Of Remediated Space, Lucas Gentry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Moby Dick, House of Leaves, and Ex Machina portray characters that rely on a form of technology to navigate their respective environments. As such, their settings are remediated spaces – spaces understood through their relationship with technology. The inhabitants of remediated spaces inherently resemble the cyborg as their perspectives fuse with machines in their understanding of space. Captain Ahab from Moby Dick must rely on his ivory leg and ship for mobility, often merging himself with the machine of the vessel. House of Leaves provides a space and family that exist exclusively within the confines of found footage, …

Battle Royale Video Games And Their Impact On First-Year Writing Students: Comparing The Writing Process Of Gamers To Non-Gamers, Jacob L. Molina

Theses and Dissertations

This study will examine the ways in which Battle Royale (BR) video games impact the writing process of first-year writing students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley by comparing the students that play video games recreationally to the non-gaming group. The study will focus on how the recreational use of video games impacts writing by exploring the ways that gamers engage in these video games. By comparing BR gamers to non-gaming students, these differences will be highlighted through the evaluation of surveys and information gathered through research.

Some of the areas of the writing process that stand out …

Mermaids Vs. Humans: Reality In Fantasy, Avery M. Powers

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis analyses how fantasy literature relates to and transforms concrete perceptions of reality, tracing its origins from mythic creation epics and the qualities that it shares with scripture. Overall, I propose a more imaginative approach to realistic literature that draws from the truths found in fantasy literature and by discussing fantasy literature and genre.

The creative element of this project includes an excerpt from an original children's fantasy novel. In it, I compare mythical characters with human characters and an imaginary world to the real world as it is experienced by characters from both worlds. The fantastical reality attempts …

Mining For Gold: Reimagining The Role Of Curricular Texts In Writing Instruction, Carrigan Price

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Secondary schools in northern Utah frequently combine literature and composition studies into a single English Language Arts course, limiting the time English teachers have to teach the skills and content important to both. Literature and reading often overshadow writing instruction in this situation, leading to concentrated writing instruction dependent on pre-made writing curriculum and texts. The way curricular materials used during writing instruction in ELA courses present the purpose of writing, the process of writing, and the identity of writers can impact student learning and academic identity in the short- and long-term. A rhetorical analysis, looking specifically at the writing …

“Fetch M’Dear”: Healers, Midwives, Witches, And Conjuring Women In Select Ya And Toni Morrison Novels, Diane Mallett-Birkitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accusations and persecution of witchcraft have been embedded in global culture for centuries. For as long as these persecutions have occurred, women have found themselves accused most frequently. Older women with herbal knowledge were often called on to assist with childbirth or termination of pregnancies and this “secret knowledge” often led them to be suspected of supernatural abilities, often of a satanic nature. Intrigued by these wise women who appeared to have mysterious powers and a penchant for arousing the ire of men in the legal, medical, and religious communities, I began to notice their frequent appearance in novels. Does …

The Case Of Limbo: The Search For Identity In Sylvia Plath’S Short Fiction And The Bell Jar, Kristin Lyons

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Though Sylvia Plath’s poems and novel undergo frequent scholarly research, her short fiction is often overlooked. Plath’s journals influenced her short fiction writing, and her stories reflected Plath’s lived experiences. Plath’s short fiction, like her other works, explore themes of identity and detachment. Each of her protagonists exist in a personal limbo, and they strive to find their identities and to fit the roles in which they occupy. This thesis focuses on “Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom,” stories from Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, and additional research from scholarly journals and biographies, with comparisons to identity struggles …

From The Womb To The Word: Pregnancy And Pregnancy Metaphors In 16th And 17th Century English Literature, Kelly S. Westeen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs a feminist theoretical lens in exploring the gendered uses of pregnancy and pregnancy metaphors in the production and dissemination of literary works in early modern England. By also examining the history of the printing press and the role it played in gendered textual production, early modern constructs of family and the role of mothers, as well as obstetric medicine and childbirth, I aim to demonstrate that mothering and authorship were congruent activities for female writers. Conversely, I argue that male writers of the period who employed metaphors of gestation did so not to try to claim biological …