American Literature Commons^™

Whirling Darkness: Witchery's Ascent In The Writings Of Leslie Marmon Silko, Kristin Monahan

Theses & Dissertations

Apocalyptic imagery spirals throughout Leslie Marmon Silko's works. The destruction of individuals, cultures, and eventually the Earth are purported by the grand plan of witchery. Evil has existed among Native American's in the form of witchery since time began. Its forces reside within all things. Yet with the tools provided by the spirits, namely the oral tradition and ceremonies, witchery can be controlled: the stories explain its origin and its power, showing how witchery has been overcome in the past, while the ceremonies provide a means of healing those who have been afflicted. By maintaining connections to the universe, past, …

Visionaries Of The American West : Mari Sandoz And Her Four Plains Protagonists, Lisa R. Lindell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The authorial reputation of Mari Sandoz has long rested in the shadow of other writers of her era. First of all, Sandoz wrote from and about a relatively remote region of the United States. In addition, she firmly refused to produce popular works at the expense of sacrificing the truth she perceived and wished to express. Consequently, Sandoz has often been classified as a regional writer and her works have been overlooked by many readers and critics. Her status as a woman, her unconventional writing style, point of view, and subject matter, and the blending of historical and fictional elements …

Romance By The Book: A Morphological Analysis Of The Popular Romance, Susie Zachik-Smith

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Creating Meaning From The Meaningless: Existentialism And The Function Of Language In Paul Bowles' "The Sheltering Sky", Scott Michael Karr

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Visitor Who Never Comes: Emerson And Friendship, Wallace Coleman Green Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Larry Mcmurtry's Argument With The Cowboy Myth, Lynn Holleman Rudloff

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Remembering To Forget: "Gone With The Wind", "Roots", And Consumer History, Annjeanette C. Rose

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Autobiographical Images: Photography And Identity In Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior" And "China Men", Nancy Etta Allison

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

His Lost City: F Scott Fitzgerald's New York, Kris Robert Murphy

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Truth And Exclusion: Verbal Dominance In "The House Of Mirth", Teresa A. Genaro

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Conspicuous Presence: Tom Wolfe's One Man Show, Vera Do Val Galante

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Mann Thinking Across Antebellum Culture---Mann Satterwhite Valentine's Literary Aspirations, Deborah Lynn Owen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Revisions And Evasions: Flannery O'Connor, Southern Literary Culture, And The Problem Of Female Authorship, Katherine Hemple Prown

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A look at the early manuscripts of Flannery O'Connor's two novels, Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away, reveals that she worked hard to remove any traces of feminine sensibility or perspective from her work, hoping to distinguish it as superior to the efforts of other southern "penwomen." Both novels underwent a long and difficult transformation from stories centered upon the exploits of a diverse group of characters to novels whose sole focus was on a few male protagonists. Eager to develop her art within a framework acceptable to southern New Critical authorities like John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, …

Fair And Tender Ladies At Tinker Creek: Women Writers Coming Of Age., Nancy Clyde Parrish

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Walker Percy's Linguistic Alienation, John Vernon Halbrooks

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Multiple Voices Of Frederick Douglass, Gesthemane Vasiliadou

Masters Theses

In this rhetorical analysis of Frederick Douglass' style, I argue that the power of his language comes from the multiplicity of voices arising from his work. I specifically concentrate on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself (1845), as well as on some of the speeches he delivered soon after the book was published.

Coming from a different culture, I was intrigued by my reaction to Douglass' writing style. I find him a writer with very strong rhetorical skills which have a tremendous appeal to any reader. My personal response explores the reasons …

Shattering The Myth : A Feminist Study Of Sister-Sister Relationships In Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books, Ellen T. Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the Introduction:

From horses and buggies through steam railway _engines to the prominence of the automobile, Laura Ingalls Wilder lived through a historically critical American experience--pioneering. At age sixty-five she published her first novel, Little House in the Big Woods, the first book in an as yet unforeseen nine book series about her experiences as a young girl raised on the Midwestern plains. Little House in the Big Woods is actually a compilation of her father's tales. Wilder feared that these stories and their value would be lost unless she preserved them in writing. ldealistica!ly, she wanted to tell …

The Kids Are (All) Right: Baby-Boomers And The Rhetoric Of Childhood In The Picture Books Of Chris Van Allsburg, Mark. Sprinkle

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Homelessness In Abraham Cahan's Fiction, Martha Anne Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of The Sexually Vital Woman In Willa Cather's My Antonia And A Lost Lady, Amy Beth Rafferty

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Chopinian Heroine: A Role Model For The Self-Assertion Of Women, Heidi Fite

Honors Theses

During the nineteenth century in America, women endured many restraints placed on them by society. These social restraints were often justified in the name of chivalry and the Bible. Fundamentalist religion, with its patriarchal nature and its strict moral code, hampered women's struggle for rights. The religious and social condemnation of divorce forced many women, rather than incurring the chastisement of society by seeking divorce from drunken and worthless husbands, to spend their lives in martyrdom. Most women also resented the limitations the chivalric code imposed on the full development of their minds and personalities. This code of chivalry led …