Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Who Is Still Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?, Laura Decrane

Honors Theses

One of the most well known villains of all time is the Big Bad Wolf. Usually a male entity, he has been present in child and adult literature for centuries and continues to unsettle readers in the twenty-first century. The Big Bad Wolf is consistently portrayed in a negative light because he originated in a time when wolves were feared, making him the perfect example to terrify village children. Over time, as a result of social and cultural changes, writers have transformed the wolf so that he is no longer the terror that plagued the nineteenth century. Instead, the Big …

A Woman Is A Dish For The Gods': Shakespeare's Use Of Myth To Criticize Patriarchy, Marissa Polascak

Honors Theses

William Shakespeare's canon is famous throughout the world, studied by scholars as well as read by laymen for leisure. These scholars and laymen value Shakespeare's works for their content and form, at the same time that they criticize them for their flaws. On the surface, it is clear that Shakespeare touches on many issues in his poems and plays, such as love and war, but hidden underneath are messages that are ambiguous. These hidden messages are a product of censorship. During the Renaissance, Sir Francis Walsingham established the State apparatus which helped to protect society against counter-Reformation activists. This apparatus …

Emerging Media In 18th Century Literature: How Jane Austen Invented Facebook, Rebecca Shaver

Honors Theses

The focus on the downfalls and misunderstandings of the Austen anthology has allowed critics to ignore her incredible ability to scientifically dissect the intricate workings of social circles and networks comprised of psychologically accurate characters and interactions. For instance, her portrayals of gender roles (heterosocial/sexual and homosocial/sexual) within those circles were so apt that they often still true today. The transcendental human nature of individuals like Emma's Emma Woodhouse and Mansfield Park's Fanny Price causes us to question how Austen amplifies and enlightens our understanding of how modern social networks, like Facebook or Twitter, stem directly from historically complex affective …

Who's Allowed To Ride The Short Bus?: Un-Defining Disability, Hannah Widdifield

Honors Theses

However easy it may be to do, criminalizing - or less maliciously, categorizing - disability does not make it easier to accommodate. Clumping people with "special needs" together does not meet those needs any more efficiently and labeling those needs as "special" is vague and ineffective. The disabled aren't pegged into their roles for practical reasons, but because of inherited stigmas that are continuously encouraged by institutional policies, popular culture, and art. My thesis is in part an attempt to uncover and articulate a personal and social history of disability. In it I try to puzzle out how misconceptions regarding …

A Brief Compilation Of Documents 722.23.6790021 Ag – 700.24.6790021 Ag, Rachel Zavecz

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Discovery Of Timbuktu: Geopolitical Rivalries And Myths, Katherine Van Meter

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the exploration and discovery of Timbuktu primarily focusing on the travels and narrative of René Caillié the first European to publish his successful journey to Timbucku in 1828. Timbuktu since the thirteenth century had become a romantic mystery for Europeans and stimulated massive interest in its discovery by major geographical Societies. Through a mixture of primary and secondary sources I am able to analyze the geopolitical rivalries and myths surrounding Timbuktu that would instigate the travels of twenty-five English, fourteen Frenchmen, two Americans and one German which the majority of resulted in death. Examining Caillié’s published narrative …

The Monster In The Mirror: Challenging The Glorification Of Humanity In Human And Monster Literature, Hanna Squire

Honors Theses

Earlier scholars have claimed that literary monsters merely serve the purposes of celebrating the human’s triumph over adversity. I contest this claim in my close analysis of Homer’s The Odyssey, the medieval epic Beowulf, and the Hannibal Lecter series of novels by twentieth‐century American author Thomas Harris. I show that each author uses monsters not to convey human dominance over their ability to defeat the monster but rather to reveal the monstrous flaws found within all of humanity: coveting, vengeance, and hybris. My analysis of these flaws shows how society’s willingness to admit our monstrosity progresses from Homer to Harris. …

When Mountain Meets Road: Mfankind's Connection To Nature Through Sublime Theory In Shelley's Mont Blanc And Mccarthy's The Road, Catherine Elliott

Honors Theses

Cormac McCarthy's The Road (2005) is a strong example of how post-modern dystopian fiction has captivated the mass imagination. Contemporary scholars have discussed The Road thoroughly, commenting on the text's redemptive journey, post-apocalyptic message or cauterized terrain. However, I argue that McCarthy's novel is not merely a modern text with an alienating landscape. Rather, the story conveys a strongly sublime aesthetic, which is recognizable from nineteenth­century British Romantic works such as Percy Bysshe Shelley's Mont Blanc (1817). These texts have a shared obsession vvith the fictional representation and investigation of the sublime aesthetic and humankind's relationship with the natural world. …

The Hero’S Journey: A Postmodern Incarnation Of The Monomyth, Sarah Hoffman

Honors Theses

‘Monomyth’ is the term coined by James Joyce and popularized by Joseph Campbell in his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Its structure is delineated by Campbell, and it follows that of the traditional heroic myths that permeate human culture and history. Margaret Atwood’s two companion novels, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, incorporate Campbell’s monomyth and transplant it into the realm of postmodern dystopia. In this way, Atwood offers an escape from the existential dilemmas that face the postmodern subjectivity through the self-perpetuated, neo-shamanic journey toward the recognition of immanence. The …

Matriarchal Monsters: Literary Villians Through The Lens Of Gender, Katherine Currie

Honors Theses

The exposure of American readers to the literary monster culminates at an incredibly young and impressionable age. The genre of children’s literature seems to rely heavily on the impact of the presence of villainous monster characters. From the “boogey man” to “Cruella de Vil” to “The Grinch,” children are presented at a very young age with the character of evil. As a result of our early experience with villains, we as readers accept the “bad guy” created in a novel to be classified under the category of “monster.” However, most readers have never even pondered or questioned the label of …

“Critical Habitat” And Other Stories, Jon Michael Mitchell

Honors Theses

The nature of writing, that is, storytelling, is difficult to discuss in a technical manner. Often it is easier to demonstrate by example rather than theory how storytelling does and does not work. This thesis is a collection of short stories written to practice the art of writing and storytelling. They do not follow a central theme or motif; they are self-contained projects demonstrating the application of the theories discussed in the introduction. The point of this thesis is not to show the correct way to write or provide examples of perfect stories. It is to show the learning process …

What Makes A Man: Social Constructions Of Masculinity In The Works Of Stanley Kubrick, Michael Cory Taylor

Honors Theses

This study examines three male protagonists from films by Stanley Kubrick, and the original literary texts, with specific focus on the social influence of each character’s sense of masculinity. Much has been written about literature and film as a social critique, but there is a particular need for study through Kubrick’s lens. The original literary texts are Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. By considering the historical context of both the novel and its adaptation, it is possible to provide an indication of each protagonist’s effect on social constructions of manhood. It is also necessary to note the …

Let‟S Be Adventurers: An Original Collection Of Poems, Short Stories, And Drama, Omega Genevieve Leslie

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Laureate Eleventh Edition, Bridget Dooley

Honors Theses

Editor-in-chief of the 2012 Laureate.

Dead Or Exploding: A Book Of Letters, Jerika Marchan

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Shakespeare's Newest Stage: The Reshaping Of Cultural Capital Through Youtube, Ben G. Long

Honors Theses

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has quickly situated itself as a major facet of popular culture. The prevalence of Shakespeare on YouTube is fascinating considering the diversity of the videos found, and the tremendous audience response to these clips. Is YouTube helping or hurting Shakespeare's reputation? This thesis explores this question through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital. The argument is that amidst the process of reinvention, a redefining of what is Shakespeare is occurring. The support provided is framed through numerous video analyses, that cover a wide range of topics including: Shakespeare in education, Shakespeare …

The Assertion Of Identity: Storytelling And Testimony In The Works Of Edwidge Danticat, Michael R. Kurban

Honors Theses

Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat evokes the Haitian tradition of storytelling in many of her novels and short story collections. A tradition formulated by vodou religion and the amalgamation of African cultures, storytelling acts to entertain, educate and enlighten the people of Haiti. Additionally, her novels are often written in the context of traumatic events in Haitian history. While Danticat's works have been studied with focus on their depiction of storytelling and of trauma, little has been done on the restorative power that storytelling provides. In this thesis, I seek to examine the potential for Danticat's characters and works to create …

Mediums Change, Fears Stay The Same, Lucy Wilhelms

Honors Theses

Although generally dismissed by scholars as being overly sentimental or superstitious, the gothic genre has survived for over four centuries and maintained significant cultural appeal, outlasting the sentimental novel and the travelogue as popular literature. What, then, makes this genre different? What is so special about the gothic?

In my thesis, I examine the evolving cultural appeal of the gothic genre that keeps it attractive and relevant for readers by tracing the gothic text, The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, through its initial inception and its subsequent adaptations. As a novel, The Woman in Black both repeats and revises …

Love's Labour's Lost 2.0: Exploring Identity Formation On Facebook And Beyond, Mitchell Watson Hobbs

Honors Theses

An adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, Love's Labour's Lost 2.0 utilizes the social network website Facebook as its stage so as to explore the unique problems and opportunities that social media affords identity creation. Through this lens, I find that identity creation in this digital world is discursively composed, much like identity in the analog world, and serves to shunt dissent or action that may threaten the status quo. Facebook's ultimate promise to this constantly composing individual is the comfort and security of an audience.