Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Beyond Gender : The Pursuit Of Power In The Henriad And Coriolanus, James Aaron Beavers

Master's Theses

The feminine in Shakespeare's plays, like the Bakhtinian grotesque, often offers a critical perspective on patriarchal society. Shakespeare creates characters whose feminine perspective enables them to stand outside of the patriarchal paradigm and operate according to alternative modes of behavior. While the dominant system regards power solely as a masculine territory, Shakespeare suggests that true power can only be effectively pursued by those who are not bound to a particular gender identity, but are able to shift their personas in accordance with their ever-changing milieu. In Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, and Coriolanus, Shakespeare depicts …

Learning To Lead And To Serve On Their Own Terms As A Means Of Transforming The Reservation : Female American Indians At Hampton Institute, 1878-1923, Elaine Tzu-Hsing Chou

Master's Theses

Female American Indian students who attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute defined their level of empowerment, playing pertinent roles within tribal communities during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While the Institute left an important legacy in the cause for federally-funded American Indian education, student behavior further determined the lasting effects of vocational training and socializing efforts. Organized topically, Chapter One summarizes the Indian Program's philosophy. Chapters Two through Four investigate the academic curriculum and vocational training, while exploring the ways in which the youth experienced and interpreted extracurricular and personal relationships. Chapter Five analyzes activities of Hampton alumnae …

Exploring Memory As A Narrative Strategy For Enabling Black Consciousness In Ezekial Mphahlele's Down Second Avenue And Mongane Serote's To Every Birth Its Blood, Christina Leigh Buckland

Master's Theses

Ezekial Mphahlele in Down Second Avenue and Mongane Serote in To Every Birth Its Blood use the function of memory as a narrative strategy to illuminate the evolution of individual black consciousness. Mphahlele's novel is autobiographical, investigating the chronological memory of Zeke as his consciousness evolves. Serote's work is a collection of stories investigating several characters whose individual experiential memories create a collective consciousness. For Zeke in Down Second Avenue and the characters in To Every Birth Its Blood, memory is an active device which can recall apartheid experience in order to heighten black consciousness and analyze the current …

The Battle For Women's Suffrage In The Old Dominion, Amanda Garrett

Master's Theses

In 1909, twenty women launched an eleven-year campaign to win the vote in the Old Dominion. In 1920, the necessary number of states ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. However, Virginia was not among these states; her General Assembly rejected the "Anthony Amendment" by a wide margin. This study attempts to answer the following question: What was the woman's suffrage movement like in Virginia? By exploring the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia, its leaders, arguments for and against suffrage, the public's reaction, the reaction of the legislature and the conclusion, the answer(s) to this multi-dimensional question can be discovered. …

Friedrich Nietzsche's Reception As A Marker Of American Intellectual Culture : Crane Brinton And Walter Kaufmann's Interpretations During The World War Ii And Postwar Eras, David Marshall Schilling

Master's Theses

Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has endured a torrent of both insightful analysis and faulty interpretation in America. This thesis seeks to examine a comer of this intellectual history, specifically some of the connections between political events and American readers' reception of Nietzsche's work. Chapter 1 introduces the study, arguing that an intellectual row created during the World War I era persisted into the Depression and World War II years. Chapter 2 analyzes Crane Brinton's Nietzsche and that historian's attempts to explain Nietzsche in terms of World War II politics, namely fascist thought. Brinton's efforts to establish a link between Nietzsche and …

From Fancy Women To Demimondames : Working Class Women In Peter Taylor's Short Fiction, Frank Sung Cha

Master's Theses

In "The Fancy Woman" and "The Old Forest," Peter Taylor examines the identity of working class women in the southern social structure and the roles they play in revising class and gender perceptions. Josie Carlson, "The Fancy Woman's" protagonist, discovers the stifling nature of class divisions. The gap between the working and upper-middle-classes remains as the social hierarchy and Taylor himself lock Josie in a subordinate position. They prevent her from attaining any sense of liberation. However, the working class 'Demimondames' in "The Old Forest" exhibit a stronger independence spirit, compelling society to reevaluate traditional social perceptions. Although they too …

Didactic Anti-Didacticism : Aesthetics And Contradictions In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Dominic Laron Finney

Master's Theses

Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray calls for a reinvention of aestheticism during the Victorian Age. Wilde felt that the Victorians had surrendered any ornamentation in art to the rules of formality in religion and politics. He also believed that art should teach solely through its existence that there is a realm above mankind. Art should not be used for anything else. Dorian curses himself when he uses his portrait to exchange his soul for eternal beauty. Wilde wrote this novel as his work of art. And, the novel is to "civilize" the Victorian public, to return them to …

Katherine Anne Porter's Notorious Virgins : Female Sexuality And Catholicism In "Virgin Violeta", "Flowering Judas", And "Old Mortality", Christine L. Grogan

Master's Theses

The intersection of Roman Catholic ideology and female sexuality remains at the heart of Katherine Anne Porter's short stories, "Virgin Violeta" (1924), "Flowering Judas" (1930), and "Old Mortality" (1937). In these works, Porter implicitly suggests that the Catholic ideology of the early twentieth century has been reduced to a matter of sexuality, particularly female sexual purity. Through her portraits of the young virgin Violeta in "Virgin Violeta" and the frigid adult Laura in "Flowering Judas," Porter challenges the Roman Catholic emphasis on female chastity. In tracing the development of Miranda in "Old Mortality," Porter subverts Roman Catholic ideology by presenting …

The Politics Of Theater And The Theater Of Law: The Legal And Cultural Implications In Langston Hughes And John Wexley's Dramatizations Of The Scottsboro Trials, Mosby Garland Perrow Iv

Master's Theses

Collectively, the charges and convictions of nine black youths in Scottsboro in 1931 became a symbol of corruption and oppression for those interested in reshaping America's political and legal landscapes. Scottsboro instigated a decade of trials and retrials, two landmark United States Supreme Court opinions, countless dramatic interpretations, and various artistic responses. In particular, Scottsboro, Limited by Langston Hughes and They Shall Not Die by John Wexley were cultural revisions of the trials in 1931 and 1933, respectively. While both works supported the defendants, they were distinguished by their form, production and ultimate statement about the meaning of Scottsboro. These …

Forging The Anvil Of Victory : The British Combined Operations Command At The Start Of The Second World War (1940-42), Timothy Michael Gilhool

Master's Theses

The story of British combined operations is one too often overlooked in the study of World War II. For the Allies, success, perhaps survival, could only be achieved by developing and perfecting the techniques and equipment required for amphibious landings. In British parlance, the marrying of the ground, naval, and air components of such a landing was called combined operations. The organization built to accomplish this task was the Directorate for Combined Operations (DCO). Created in a time of great desperation (July 1940), the DCO represented the first and only ground offensive tool in the British arsenal, employing the legendary …

The History Of The One Hundred And Thirtieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Terrence W. Beltz

Master's Theses

In August 1862, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania quickly responded to President Lincoln's request for more troops. An overwhelming number of Pennsylvania volunteers promptly answered the call that supplied the Union Army eighteen new infantry regiments who were to serve for a period of nine months. This devoted group of central Pennsylvanians, rendezvoused at Camp Simmons, Pennsylvania, in mid-August 1862, was to become soldiers of 130th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers who, with no military experience and little training, would face hardened Confederate veterans at "Bloody Lane" at the Battle of Antietam and "Marye's Heights" at the Battle of Fredericksburg. They were to …

A Following Sea : Charting Sea Imagery And Identity In Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John And Paule Marshall's Praisesong For The Widow, Melanie Clore

Master's Theses

In Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John and Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow, the sea incites a vital discourse on western influence, diasporic identity, and self-discovery. Both female protagonists, Annie John and Avey Johnson, purge their old identities and learn to embrace their cultural origins through the guidance, care, and persuasion of ancestral figures. The sea is not only a purifying agent, but also a catalyst for change as both women struggle to manage their multiple cultural influences, and achieve a unified, stable, independent self. The sea is also charged with socio-political controversy as colonization and tourism intrude upon the …

Beachheads : A Historical Reconsideration Of The U.S. Landings At Anzio And Inchon, Travis James Hardy

Master's Theses

Traditional thinking in American military history holds that the amphibious Allied landing at Anzio, Italy, on 22 January 1944 was a complete failure and represents one of the biggest blunders of World War II. This is especially true when Anzio is compared to the American landing at Inchon, Korea, on 15 September 1950 during the Korean War, that has been widely hailed as being one of the unrivaled amphibious successes in American military history. This thesis addresses the issues of whether Anzio was truly a "failure" and whether Inchon was truly a "success." Relying upon the personal paper collections of …

"Enough Glory For Us All" : The "Negro Exhibit" At The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, 1907, John Thomas Wilkes

Master's Theses

The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition of 1907 invited the United States and the world to display their progress in a way befitting the dawn of a new century. Though this exposition fell short of matching the notoriety of other Victorian fairs, African- Americans successfully presented their advancement and historic contributions to American society, despite the shortcomings of the exposition itself and the dismal state of the nation's race relations. Black organizers at Jamestown underscored the rise of their people by maintaining firm control over the entire "Negro" exhibit, an achievement viewed as untenable at earlier fairs. Records of the United States …

"What Was I Created For, I Wonder?" : Occupation For Women In Shirley And Cranford, Julie Anne Tignor

Master's Theses

Charlotte Brontë's Shirley and Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford unite in asking and answering the question of what unmarried women were supposed to do with their time and talents in Victorian England, considering the constraints of both gentility and economic conditions. In writing these novels, Brontë and Gaskell joined mid-nineteenth century feminists such as Francis Power Cobbe and Florence Nightingale in discussing women's occupation. Cranford, rather than presenting the typical young unmarried woman as its heroine, features a community of old maids as its "heroines," revealing their story through the narration of Mary Smith. Shirley's Caroline Helstone examines the socially accepted …

Restoring The Light : Ministry To German Prisoners Of War In America During The Second World War, Melissa Weldon

Master's Theses

In 1942, the United States committed itself to the retention of German prisoners of war on American soil. Over 350,000 German soldiers lived and worked in several hundred camps throughout the contiguous United States. These prisoners required not only food and shelter, but spiritual care as well. The Geneva Convention of 1929 granted prisoners of war the right to worship according to their faith. The United States government not only permitted, but also encouraged, ministry to the prisoners in its care. Relying on the assistance of international relief organizations and national church bodies, the Office of the Provost Marshal General …

Sufferers Of The Revolution : The Paper Money Movement In Brunswick County, Virginia, 1780-1787, David Alan Geraghty

Master's Theses

The years following the American War for Independence were marked by economic decline and political uncertainty. In the mid-1780s, Virginia was mired in a depression that gave rise to a vocal movement that called for a return to a policy of emitting paper currency to augment scarce supplies of gold and silver coin. While historians have discussed Virginia's monetary situation at length there has never been a satisfactory examination of the people who supported this particular movement. Petitions from Brunswick County residents who backed emissions of paper money provide an opportunity to develop a more accurate portrait of this group. …

A "Relatively Northern Southern State:" Civil Rights Protest In Richmond And Danville, Virginia, 1959-1963, Sally Ryan Burgess

Master's Theses

This thesis reveals the historical narrative of the civil rights campaigns in Richmond and Danville, Virginia, from 1959 to 1963, emphasizing how protesters experienced the movement through direct action and examining the way an inherited philosophy and strategy of non-violent protest was employed by demonstrators. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of Virginia as an Upper South state during the movement. The evidence presented verifies a direct correlation between community size, economic foundations, and social outlooks and the community's level of resistance to direct action tactics and youth leadership of the movement. Protests were successful in urban areas such as Richmond …

The Impact Of The 1918-1919 Influenza Epidemic On Virginia, Stephanie Forrest Barker

Master's Theses

In the fall of 1918 an unparalleled influenza pandemic spread throughout the world. More than a quarter of Americans became ill, and at least 600,000 died. For many Virginians, this was a time of acute crisis that only could be compared to the days of the Civil War. This thesis describes Spanish influenza's impact on Virginia, primarily focusing on the cities of Newport News, Richmond, and Roanoke. It details influenza's emergence in Virginia and explores how state and city officials dealt with this unprecedented epidemic. This study examines how the epidemic disrupted daily routines of life and overwhelmed the state's …

The Struggle Of The Lippian State Church During The Third Reich, 1933-1936, Stefanie Glasel Gordinier

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the struggle (Kirchenkampf) of the Protestant state church of Lippe during the Third Reich, concentrating on the years 1933 to 1936. During this period, the Lippian church struggled to maintain its autonomy in the face of a concerted effort on the part of Nazi authorities to create a united - and Nazi-controlled - German Evangelical Church. This work addresses a number of important questions, such as how the Lippian church tried to confront the threat to its existence, how its pastors reacted to the Nazi regime as well as how they were influenced by various …

Going To Nowhere : Narratives Of Patagonian Exploration, Mark W. Bell

Master's Theses

Since its discovery on Magellan's circumnavigation, Patagonia has been treated differently than any other region in the world. Effectively, Patagonia has been left empty or vacated by the North. But this emptiness and blankness have compulsively attracted curious travel writers who have filled the emptiness of Patagonia with self-reflexive projections. From Charles Darwin and W.H. Hudson to Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux, Northern commentators have found in Patagonia a landscape that accommodates their desire for self-reflexivity and self-consciousness. Thus, Patagonia has been simultaneously filled and evacuated by the Northern mind. As a result, Patagonia has become increasingly about the self …

Existential Freedom And Bad Faith : Exploring The "Infinite Possibilities" In Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man And Jean-Paul Sartre's Being And Nothingness, Robert Aubrey Mawyer

Master's Theses

J. Saunders Redding comments that "Existentialism is no philosophy to accommodate the reality of Negro life" (209). However, Ralph Ellison's concern in Invisible Man to explore his protagonist's freedom and the ways in which he deceives himself about his freedom invites a comparison with the ontological premises of Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, particularly his concept of "bad faith," in which individuals accept the identities that existing power structures force upon them. Both writers articulate the nature of selfhood in the modern world, and how easily one's true identity is lost when faced with absolute existential freedom. While Ellison …

The Re-Emergenge Of A Tory-Court Party : Peers Of The Bloomsbury Gang And Founders Of Modern British Conservatism, Matthew Thomas Locy Corkern

Master's Theses

From October 1768 to April 1784, the "Bloomsbury Gang," a political faction of intermarried, aristocratic families dedicated to conservative principles and patriotic sentiments, led the re-emergence of a Tory-Court party that developed into the modern Conservative party in Great Britain. These leaders founded a party of "Conservative Whigs" that was not ruled by, but worked in cooperation with, the monarch and his allies for almost three decades. In so doing, political opportunists such as the Duke of Bedford and the Lords Gower, Sandwich, and Weymouth, restored the English two-party system through which they maintained their dominance of eighteenth-century British society …

The First Fifty Years Of Professional Baseball In Richmond, Virginia : 1883-1932, Scott P. Mayer

Master's Theses

A detailed history of Richmond, Virginia's relationship with professional baseball has never been chronicled, especially the turbulent, early years of its development. This study explores Richmond's relationship with baseball from 1883-1932. It includes information about the men who played on the field, the team owners, and also comments on the relationship shared by the team and the city.

The most reliable source of information regarding early baseball is the local newspaper. A detailed reading of the Richmond Daily Dispatch, and the successive Richmond Dispatch and Richmond Times-Dispatch, was undertaken for this project. While several newspapers have existed in Richmond's history, …

Wounded Women: A Study Of Central Virginia's Civil War Pension Widows, Heather R. Racer

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the lives of Civil War widows who applied for pensions under the 1888 law in Virginia, concentrating on Albemarle, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, and Nelson Counties. The focus of the study centers on both their pre- and post-war lives to determine who these women were before and after the loss of their husbands. Using the Confederate Pension Applications, a group of 156 widows emerged from these counties. The Manuscript Census of 1860 presented a picture of pre-war life while the censuses of 1870, 1880, and 1900, along with the pension applications, helped reveal their lives after …

Carolina Chameleons : North Carolina Confederate Soldiers Who Joined The Union Army, David E. Arthur

Master's Theses

This thesis traces 862 North Carolina Civil War soldiers who fought for the Confederacy, deserted or were taken prisoner, and then enrolled in the United States army. The pre-war lives, Confederate and United States military service, and post-war experiences of these men are examined to discover why they chose to enlist in the Union army. A sample of 226 soldiers was compiled by selecting every fourth county in the state in which these "Carolina Chameleons" lived. Their pre-war lives were revealed in the 1860 Population Census and their Southern service in Confederate military records compiled in Louis H. Manarin and …

Queen In Peril : The Elizabethan Parliament Of 1584-85, James Vernon Madison

Master's Theses

In November 1584 Queen Elizabeth I summoned her fifth Parliament. Over twelve years had elapsed since Parliamentary elections had been conducted, which resulted in a young and inexperienced House of Commons in 1584. Normally Parliaments addressed the granting of a subsidy, local issues, and concerns of the realm. However, this Parliament's primary concerns were with the protection of Elizabeth and the safety of the realm. In the months preceding the Parliamentary session London began receiving signatures to the Bond of Association. This unique document implemented a unified front against any person or persons involved with the untimely death of Elizabeth. …

White Savages In Hunting Shirts : The Rifleman's Costume Of National Identity And Rebellion In The American Revolution, Byron C. Smith

Master's Theses

This thesis relies on primary sources to address the significance of clothing and accoutrements worn by backwoods riflemen during the era of the American Revolution. As North America's rebellious colonies became a nation, they struggled to find cultural symbols that distinguished them from their European cousins. As Europeans often identified America symbolically as the "noble savage," in turn some Americans looked to the Indian for inspiration in their new search for national identity. During the Revolution many Americans from backwoods regions of the middle and southern colonies, wearing uniquely American garments called hunting shirts, openly rebelled against their European heritage …

Lord Lansdowne's Peace Letter And The Controversy It Caused, Mary Virginia Burton Cash

Master's Theses

This study analyzes the letter Lord Lansdowne published in the 29 November 1917 Daily Telegraph and the varied reactions to it. The letter and his Cabinet Memorandum, which preceded it by a year, give no evidence of the traitorous, cowardly, sick, or tired old man his detractors portrayed. The detractors naturally included his political opponents, but also Americans such as Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan. Interestingly, most abuse came from those of his own party with whom he had served his country in a variety of offices. This thesis explores the mystery of how a statesman could, by the …

John Donne's Sacred Aesthetics And Protestant Eschatology In La Corona, Karen R. Knudson

Master's Theses

The operative figure for describing John Donne's religious poem, La Corona, is not a circle, as it has often been characterized, but a spiral. This figure incorporates the linear narrative and climax of the poem while maintaining the circularity of on-going spiritual experience. Scholars such as Patrick O'Connell and Elizabeth Hodgson are correct in viewing the poem as Donne's "ars poetica sacra" - his apologetic for the religious poet. But such scholars see either a climax and resolution for the speaker of La Corona or an unresolved question of his place as a poet. This paper argues that while …