Comparative Literature Commons^™

Japan And The Ancient Western Classics: The Role Of Divine Intervention In Greek Roman And Japanese Literature, Christian Garcia

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the reasons for divine intervention in Greek, Roman, and Japanese literature and how it impacts the cultures and traditions of ancient Greece,Rome, and Japan. In the first chapter, I discuss the main motivations of divine intervention in human affairs in Homer’s Iliad. In the second chapter, I examine the lack of divine intervention in Lucan’s Bellum Civile and the changing attitudes toward the role of divinities. In the third chapter, I examine divine intervention in both the ancient mythology and contemporary folklore of Japan, and ask whether or not we can find its impact on traditional values …

Funny Or French: How Humor Varies Across Cultures, Audrey Mefford

Honors Theses

This paper examines the works of four cartoonists (Saul Steinberg, Jean-Jacques Sempé, Roz Chast, and Claire Bretécher) in order to determine similarities and differences between French humor and American humor. It incorporates compiled data from each of the above artist's lifetime works, as well as knowledge from the fields of cartoons and comics, sociology, and cross-cultural psychology, to answer the question "What is funny?" in each of these two disparate cultures.

Shakespeare: The Mirror Of The Human Soul, Sarah Lynnette Davis

Honors Theses

Shakespeare is one of the most popular playwrights of all time. Even during his own life time, Shakespeare experienced tremendous popularity that has lasted hundreds of years. Perhaps no one has said it better than Shakespeare's own contemporary Ben Johnson:

He was not of an age, but for all time! And all the Muses still were in their prime, When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm! Nature herself was proud of his designs, And joyed to wear the dressing of his lines! Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit, …

The Reality Of Utopian And Dystopian Fiction: Thomas More's Utopia And Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Casey Holliday

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to explore the different methods that Thomas More's Utopia and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale utilize to create a compliant population, while also situating each in their appropriate historical context to draw on the authorial intentions. Different commonalities of the various definitions of utopia and dystopia are explored to form a framework to work within, and the two works are analyzed in relation to political theories set forth by Michel Foucault: the power over life and death in Utopia and the deployment of sexuality in The Handmaid's Tale. Both are used to enforce subjugation, …

Feminicidios En Cd. Juárez: Sombras Del Evanescente Olvido; Luces De Lucha, Fuerza Y Resistencia, Amber Ramirez

Honors Theses

Desde principios de los años noventa, mujeres y niñas en Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México han sido raptadas de día y de noche mientras se dirigen al trabajo, a sus casas, o a la escuela. Después de días, semanas y a veces hasta años, muchas han sido encontradas brutalmente asesinadas, calcinadas, mutiladas, violadas y torturadas; sus cuerpos han sido abandonados para luego ser localizados completamente desnudos o parcialmente vestidos, en completo estado de descomposición o solamente en huesos en las calles en las zonas desérticas de Cd. Juárez. El paradero de muchas otras mujeres y niñas aún se desconoce y a …