English Language and Literature Commons^™

Mrs. Dalloway (1925) Vs. The Hours (2002): How Does The Patriarchy Infringe On The Autonomy Of Marginalized Characters?, Mary E. Belton

2023 Symposium

Fans of Virginia Woolf know that her literature, such as A Room of One’s Own and Mrs. Dalloway, cover feminist themes. In adaptations of Virginia Woolf’s work, the same feminist themes are present. For example, Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, based on three women whose lives are connected through Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, carries similar feminist themes. In the 2002 adaptation of The Hours, directed by Stephen Daldry, the relationships between men and women in the film illustrate how the patriarchy operates socially.

To those who don’t know Virginia Woolf’s work well or are unaware of how …

Individualism And Nonconformity In Ralph Waldo Emerson's ‘Self-Reliance', Brendan Roof

2023 Symposium

My presentation utilizes the etymology of the word genius to explore Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.” Emerson would empower the individual in a conformist society to find harmony through nonconformity. The etymology of genius as a spiritual guide reinforces his stance on individualism, namely by qualifying the spirit, or the individual’s discretion, as all-powerful and constant. The word is rooted in the belief that a “spirit attendant” overlooks and guides the host body of each individual. Genius has also been defined as the “personification of a person’s natural appetites.” In terms of Emerson’s genius, man’s inherent appetite to belong to a collective reinforces …

Extranormal Sorcery In Toni Morrison's Song Of Solomon, Harleyquinn Wahl

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Acceptance Of Womanhood: Gender Performance And Self-Actualization In L.M. Montgomery's Anne Of Green Gables, Anne Of Avonlea, And Anne Of The Island, Lauren M. Hinshaw

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

There is a pervasive cultural conception of what it is to be a woman, and in literary criticism that preconceived notion of womanhood becomes the basis for a majority of feminist critique; however, because of the particularities of human experience, gender is a highly variable aspect of identity that is reliant on both internal and external factors. According to Judith Butler, among these factors is the means by which a given individual performs their gender. Performances that portray gender are not consistent from one individual to the next; rather, various masculinities and femininities can simultaneously exist as accurate representations of …

The Fall Of The House Of Usher, And The Rise Of The Civil War, Richard E. Campbell Ii

2022 Symposium

Poe may have died before the Civil War began, but he was close to the politics of his time. He was also an astute observer of people. His writings often explore deep aspects of the human condition. Using his in depth understanding of people and his close proximity and personal interest it would make sense that he could see how the wheels were turning. In the end it is possible that Poe would predict and hide clues of his observations within this writings, specifically The Fall of the House of Usher.

Transforming Yourself Through English, Travis Bonwell, Joscelyn Bradbury, Christina Hudson, Jenna Sotin

2022 Symposium

The purpose of this project is redesigning Patterson Hall’s English and Philosophy billboard to inspire students to join the department. English and Philosophy are important, interdisciplinary skills that can transcend into various careers. By creating a thought-provoking billboard, we hope to inspire current and future undergraduates to choose an English or Philosophy Major.

One of the biggest obstacles these programs face is overcoming the preconceived notions surrounding them. By informing students of the countless interdisciplinary skills these programs teach, as well as detailing alumni/famous figures who do not immediately induce thoughts of English or philosophy, we can pull students from …

Navigating The Labyrinth Of House Of Leaves Through A Postmodern Archetypal Literary Theory, Samuel K. Hval

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Realism As Weaponry: Challenging Victorian Ideals Of Femininity In Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret And Wilkie Collins' Armadale, Taylor Aalgaard

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Value Hierarchies Of J.R.R. Tolkien And His Legacy: A Reimagining Of Fantasy Fiction And The Propagation Of Colonial Racism, Alexander Richburg

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

J.R.R. Tolkien’s impact on modern fantasy fiction is remarkable. However, while some of the changes to the genre ushered in by Tolkien’s work are positive, other aspects of his legacy are more problematic. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion are based on his colonial worldview. They are biographical in that Tolkien draws heavily from his life experience to tell his stories. The biographical influence manifests in a hierarchical representation of everything from trees and their ancestry to the elves, humans, dwarves, hobbits, and orcs that populate his fiction. The hierarchies are value structures and the …

"Trying Hard To Keep Her From Feeling Outdoors": Race, Ability, And Eugenics In Early Morrison, Grace Caraway

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

"It's Odd, Isn't It?": Irony, Breakdown, And Self-Healing In Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, Rachel M. Goodner

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Animistic Poetics: William Carlos Williams' Paterson And Animistic Ecology, Kurtis Ebeling

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

"To Find Healing In My Wounds": The Transformation Of Memory And Trauma Into Art In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Graysen S. Russell

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Facing The Horror Of Uncertainty: Using Female Slashers As A Model For Thinking About And Practicing English Literature And Composition, Rose Hall

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Phenomenology Of It All, Justin M. Campbell

2019 Symposium

Who is consumed when we read? Does the reader consume the text or does it consume us? This essay explores the complex and possibly parasitic relationship between reader and text. This unique exchange of knowledge and ideas between reader and texts during this relationship is the phenomenology of reading. During this, the text is transformed via the consciousness of the reader from a passive, inanimate object to an active living breathing immortal entity that transcends both space and time. In doing so, the unhuman text becomes an active consumer of the human reader in the same way the reader believes …

Capital Games: The Bourdieuxian Movements Of Heathcliff And Nelly Dean In Neo-Victorian Revisitations Of Wuthering Heights, Ryan S. Wise

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Bell Hooks’ “Enactment Of Non-Domination” In The “Practice Of Speaking In A Loving And Caring Manner”: An Autoethnography Of A Saudi “Widow’S Son”, Braik Aldoshan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The Prophet Mohammed lost his parents when he was a child, and because he was an orphan, he believed that anyone caring for an orphan would hold a special place in the hereafter. Often when children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lose the father, as the author did, there is a stigma attached to the boy with no father, and a tremendous hardship is placed on the family. Having married at age 11 to her third cousin 10 years her senior and giving birth to three children, and expecting another child, his mother became a widow. He analyzes his …

Teaching The Biography Of Pearl S. Buck: Developing Collaborative Reading Strategies For Multilingual Writers, Nichole S. La Torre

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The present study is action research with a narrative inquiry approach, and seeks to determine the benefits and challenges of using a collaborative method to teach reading comprehension strategies in English 112: Composition for Multilingual Students. As Kenneth Bruffee (1984; 1991), Margaret Mount (2014), Chiu-Hsin Lin (2007) and others have determined, there are many challenges English language learners face when reading college-level texts. This study sought to determine whether the use of collaboration would facilitate the learning of reading strategies and self-monitoring of reading skills.

Ten students participated in this study, including nine undergraduate students and one graduate-level Saudi teaching …

An Autoethnography Of A Novice Esl Teacher: Plato’S Cave And English Language Teaching In Japan, Kevin Lemberger

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This autoethnography documents the author’s one-year experience teaching English in Honjo, Japan. The author details daily life in the public schools and introduces World Englishes. Chapter 1 includes definitions and examples of autoethnography as well as the author’s background, which qualified him for employment in Japan. Chapter 2 is a literature review of research on varieties of English and how they are evolving and being used in classrooms in Japan. The author suggests that Baudrillard’s simulation and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave provide a framework for analyzing current teaching methods and materials being used in the national core curriculum in …

A Triple Case Study Of Two Saudi And One Italian Language Learners' Self-Perceptions Of Target Language (Tl) Speaking Proficiency, Jena M. Robinson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This triple case study examined the diverse ways in which two Saudis and one Italian English language learner (ELL) came to speaking proficiency according to his or her own perceptions and observations. The researcher conducted interviews of the two Saudi ELLs face-to-face and the one Italian ELL through Skype by asking 15 open-ended questions related to their English language learning experiences (narrative inquiry) specifically related to speaking proficiency from their beginning learning through the present. This study was not intended as a contrastive analysis.

The researcher was a monolingual English speaker with beginning experience in Korean and Spanish, and was …

Rebels From The Waist Down: An Exploration Of Sex And Love In 1984, Charles R. Vaught Jr.

2016 Symposium

In 1984, George Orwell depicts a dystopian vision of London. The novel, published in 1949, is a depressing and unhopeful look at the future. However, at its core 1984 is much more than just a futuristic science fiction tale, it is a sexually tragic love story. Throughout the novel, Orwell represents sexuality in this dystopian society as something that has to be suppressed and ultimately warped into a forced love for Big Brother. The very act of sex for fun is viewed as an act of revolt, and those who participate in it are depicted as insurgents. This distorted …

Hunter S. Thompson And Gonzo Journalism As Literature, Michael P. Kiernan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Teaching The Biography Of Laura Ingalls Wilder: Fostering A Media Literacy Approach For Multilingual Writers, Kelly G. Hansen

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"In creating this thesis, the culmination of writings from teaching English composition to multilingual writers, contributed to my research. This action research study focuses on how to foster a media literacy approach when teaching multilingual writers. The literature focus unit was based on the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder using the book, Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Photographic Story of a Life (Stone, 2009). The research conducted for this study took place during the winter quarter of 2015 within English 112, which is a composition class offered at Eastern Washington University (EWU) for multilingual writers. During this time, questionnaires, journal responses, …

"Don't Wake Me, My Desk Is Far Too Comfortable": An Autoethnography Of A Novice Esl Teacher's First Year Of Teaching In Japan, Delaney Holland

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This thesis explores and analyzes a first year ESL teacher's experience teaching at an all-girl's private school in Nishinomiya, Japan. Chapter 3 is divided into 15 sections that tell the teacher's story of living and teaching in Japan. This chapter includes description, dialogue, concurrent diary excerpts, photos, and theory. Chapter 4 analyzes these experiences and discusses the lessons the author learned while reflecting on her teaching in Japan. The main lesson learned was the importance of practicing cultural relativity--that is, opening one's mind and realizing that there is more than one way to live, teach, and see the world. Chapter …

Beyond Fascism: W.B. Yeats’S A Vision And The Complexities Of His Authoritarian Politics, Justin Abel

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Teaching And Host Mothering Chinese Secondary Students: A Novice Esl Teacher’S Diary Study And Autoethnography, Diane Thames

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

In the summer of 2012, 29 students ages 12-17 came from China to Spokane with a special three-week teaching program for intensive English language instruction and community field trips. Since they were middle and high school students, they had been studying English from four to 13 years in their home country. A mixed methodology of retrospective diary study, case study, and critical and autoethnography helped me to refine my teaching for this population and to prepare others to teach English to Chinese adolescents in the United States. The purpose of the present study, therefore, was to (1) describe the experience …

Academic Reading And Writing At The College Level: Action Research In A Classroom Of A Homogeneous Group Of Male Students From Saudi Arabia, Margaret Mount

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis is the culmination of two years of working with and teaching English composition to primarily international students from Saudi Arabia whose first language is not English. For the purposes of this study, I will identify students whose first language is not English as English Language Learners (ELLs). I have decided to use this term because in many cases, English is not a student’s second language but their third or fourth. The research for this study uses a mixed methods and action research framework and was conducted in my English 101-SL (Second Language) class during the Winter of 2014 …

Clothing In An American Tragedy: A "True Picture Of Life", Rachel L. Flynn

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Written Corrective Feedback In The L2 Writing Classroom, Daniel Ducken

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

In 1996, a highly influential essay entitled “The Case against Grammar Correction in L2 Writing Class”, by John Truscott of National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, appeared in the June edition of Language Learning. In his essay, Truscott argued that empirical research, second language acquisition (SLA) theory, and practical concerns show written grammar correction (WCF) in the L2 writing classroom to be both “ineffective” and “harmful,” and that, therefore, it “should be abandoned” (p. 327). Since the time that Truscott originally expressed his concerns, much recent SLA theory and empirical research have indicated the potential efficacy of written corrective feedback …

Using Media To Teach Grammar In Context And Unesco Values: A Case Study Of Two English Teachers And Students From Saudi Arabia, Sultan Albalawi

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.