Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

English Language and Literature Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in English Language and Literature

Situating The Cetacean: Science And Storytelling In Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider, Lee Elton Dionne Jan 2006

Situating The Cetacean: Science And Storytelling In Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider, Lee Elton Dionne

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis analyzes two major discourses that intersect and inform one another in Witi Ihimaera's The whale rider: storytelling and modern science.


"What Now?": Willa Cather's Successful Male Professionals At Middle Age, Deena Michelle Baker Jan 2006

"What Now?": Willa Cather's Successful Male Professionals At Middle Age, Deena Michelle Baker

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines three male characters from Willa Cather's writing that epitomize the American Dream of professional and material success but they find no contentment once they achieve it. This disillusionment is particularly so with Cather's driven male professionals, Bartley Alexander (an architectural scholar), and Clement Sebastian (a critically acclaimed, international opera singer). Cather situates these characters at middle age and at the peak of their professional careers, which makes the examination of them an interesting study as to the effects of the encroaching modern age on successful men. This thesis begins with a brief overview of Cather's work, including …


Irony, Rhetoric, And The Portrayal Of "No Place": Construing The Elaborate Discourse Of Thomas More's Utopia, Davina Sun Padgett Jan 2006

Irony, Rhetoric, And The Portrayal Of "No Place": Construing The Elaborate Discourse Of Thomas More's Utopia, Davina Sun Padgett

Theses Digitization Project

While traditional readings of Thomas More's Utopia have largely relied upon literal interpretations, and accordingly have emphasized the significance of Utopia as a model of the ideal society, this thesis endeavors to explore beyond the conventional or literal appearance of More's language to consider the possible meanings, intentions, and strategies underlying Utopia's elaborate discourse, concentrating specifically on the significance of More's use of humor and irony and his familiarity with the conventions of satiric fiction.


Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Novels: Contemporary Subversive Tales, Amy Ruth Wilson Clark Jan 2006

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl Novels: Contemporary Subversive Tales, Amy Ruth Wilson Clark

Theses Digitization Project

Drawing especially on Donna Haraway's notion of the cyborg, this thesis argues that Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl novels, through their depiction of the cyborg and their use of metafiction, intertextuality, and irony, subvert binaries and hierarchies that cause social injustice. Chapter one argues that Colfer's characters disrupt the oppressive binary opposition between innocence and experience that characterizes children's literature. Chapter two argues that Colfer's fairy hierarchy satirizes the human hierarchy. Chapter three argues that Colfer's cyborg, by disrupting the boundary between machine and organism, breaches the wall around the pervasive garden hierarchy of childhood innocence. Chapter four argues against the …