English Language and Literature Commons^™

Review: Thanks For Thanksgiving, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: Sylvia Jean: Scout Supreme, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: Wilfred Gordon Mcdonald Partridge, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: The Lion & The Mouse, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: Elsie’S Bird, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

Ages 3-6

Character Traits: Diligence, Knowledge, Work Ethic

Review: Mercy Watson To The Rescue, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

Ages 3-6

Character Themes: Citizenship, Duty, Humor, Inquisitiveness

Review: The Berenstain Bears Show God's Love, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

Ages 3-6

Character Themes: Acceptance, Cooperation, Discernment, Discipline, Duty, Faith, Family love, Forgiveness, Friendliness, Friendship, Humility, Humor, Inspiration, Love, Neighborliness, Obedience, Respect, Spunk, Trustworthiness, Wisdom, Work ethic

Review: I Can Be Anything, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

Ages 3-6

Character Themes: Ambition, Creativity, Enthusiasm, Imagination, Individuality, Inspiration, Joyfulness

Review: Mary Englebreit's Nursery Tales, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

Ages 3-6

Character Themes: Creativity, Knowledge, Diligence, Spunk

"Just A Fool's Hope": J.R.R. Tolkien's Eucatastrophe As The Paradigm Of Christian Hope, Margaret A. Bush

Senior Honors Theses

In his essay titled “On Fairy-Stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien uses the term “eucatastrophe” to describe the unexpected, fortunate turn of events for the protagonist in a fantasy story. Tolkien applies the word beyond its literary context to signify the Christian’s experience of joy, especially resulting from the Incarnation and Resurrection. Such an explicit link between fiction and theology seems absent from his more well-known work, The Lord of the Rings. Yet both Tolkien himself and critics of his writing have labeled the novel a modern-day classic of Christian literature. This thesis will defend the Christian label of The Lord of …

Humor Me To Heaven: Humor's Redemptive Role In The Works Of Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, And Marilynne Robinson, Stephanie Johnson

Masters Theses

Humor is the topic of many psychological, social, and cultural studies, but this project examines humor under a new lens. Humor's unique qualities explored in this study prove that humor is capable of more than just causing laughter; the nature of humor allows it to unveil truths about humanity, both spiritual and physical, through exposing man's flaws. This quality is especially important to consider when analyzing humor in the context of literature, in which humor also works as an aesthetic element. This study searches several short stories by Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor along with Marilynne Robinson's Gilead to reveal …

Don't Take Orpheus Without The Lyre: The Intricacies Of Using Pagan Myths For Christian Purposes In The Divine Comedy And Paradise Lost, Rebekah J. Waltmann

Masters Theses

Because of their universal and artistic nature, the classical myths lend themselves well to use in literature, especially poetry. When used properly, as by Dante and Milton, the myths have the ability to enhance the work; when used poorly, they become gaudy ornamentation. It was, and is, this ability to enhance both the artistry and function of literature that pulled so many poets to the myths, despite the difficulties that could arise when the pagan myths did not quite match the Christian setting. My purpose in this thesis is not to explicate every use of myth within The Divine Comedy …

"Where Angels Fear To Tread": Tracing The Journey Of The Female Poet In Aurora Leigh, Dorcas Y. Lam

Senior Honors Theses

Through Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning explores the role of female poets as agents of social change in the Victorian society. During the Victorian period, the role of women was largely confined to the domestic setting. While women were allowed to write, female writers were limited to the realm of novels, which was perceived by the Victorian society to be the less distinguished genre. In writing Aurora Leigh, Barrett Browning challenged this gender stereotype by producing a "novel-poem" that unites the feminine voice with masculine authority and superiority. Like Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, in her fictional role as a …

An Examination Of Newbery Medal Books From The 1920s Through The 2000s: Biblical Perspective, Kimberly Fleming

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Content analysis was conducted to determine the frequency of the presence of positive Biblical virtues and paired opposite traits across 18 Newbery Medal books from the 1920s through the 2000s because the Newbery Award is a prestigious honor bestowed upon children's literature, and the criteria for selection among books specifically precludes the necessity of good character. The fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 served as the rubric by which the characters' thoughts, dialogue, and actions were measured. Consensus data was recorded, and chi-square tests of independence were conducted after three readers examined the presence and frequency of each …

A Hierarchy Of Love: Myth In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, Joseph Walls

Masters Theses

In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, the transposed creature is drawn up into its "kindly stede" as a sacramental symbol of Christ through that fictional planet's unbroken relationship between meaning and form. Although Perelandra's "wheels-within-wheels" hierarchy may at first seem reminiscent of Catholicism's teachings on symbol, as a Protestant, Lewis believes that human beings cannot be truly sacramental symbols until the return of Christ. Lewis's optimistic depiction of a cosmic hierarchy is one of perfect love: superiors rule their subordinates with agape, and creatures who discover their submissive roles reciprocate with eros or adoring love. Every created being in Perelandra is part …

Post-War Europe: The Waste Land As A Metaphor, Semy Rhee

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the mindset of twentieth-century Europe through the perspective of a modern individual that T. S. Eliot creates in his poem The Waste Land. Although The Waste Land is the greatest modernist poem, it is often criticized for its esoteric nature. A thorough examination of the poem is useful in understanding and appreciating Eliot’s masterful demonstration of the modernist philosophy. This study analyzes the poem in light of the definition of modernism and the poem’s metaphorical nature. It also aims to reconcile the two most confusing elements of the poem—its allusive content and fragmented structure—to the design …

Orientalism And Three British Dames: De-Essentialization Of The Other In The Work Of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, And E.S. Drower, Lynn Sawyer

Masters Theses

Although postcolonial criticism has run its course for thirty years, a fresh look at Edward Said's Orientalism offers insight into how Orientalism functions in the writings of three British dames. Gertrude Bell in The Desert and the Sown, Freya Stark in The Southern Gates of Arabia, and E.S. Drower in The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, however, challenge Said's theory. Their writing raises questions about how gender alters the discourse about the Other, and whether Said essentializes the Occident. Bell, Stark, and Drower serve as case studies in which to analyze the politically and rhetorically complex interactions between the West …

You Sir Are A Fine Young Gentleman. Thank You, My Lady: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Eighteenth Century Conversations Regarding Gentility And Gender, Kati Overbey

Masters Theses

This study rhetorically analyzed the eighteenth century work of Richard Steele and Joseph Addison's The Spectator and Eliza Haywood's The Female Spectator using Kathleen Turner's framework for rhetorical history as social criticism integrating text and context. Ten essays from The Spectator as well as ten essays from The Female Spectator were selected based on content and subject matter regarding manners and gentility. When Turner's framework for analysis was applied to the essays, defining characteristics of gentility were revealed. A presentation of the results of the textual and contextual analysis of these twenty selected essays is provided. An analysis of the …

The Significance Of Silence: The Muted Voices Of Count Fosco And Laura Fairlie In The Woman In White, Melanie Page

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the intricacies of voice using narrative theory and reader-response theory with Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. Since Collins first wrote this epistolary novel serially, he wrote aware of his audience as he printed segments with different narrators. This novel allowed Collins the opportunity to reveal an internal set of narrators' responses to other characters' voices--responses that sometimes conflict with and modify one another. At the same time, Collins' contemporary audience's responses to the novel reveal the role of characters' voices in shaping reactions of members of the novel's reading public. Two opposing figures--Laura Fairlie and Count …

And Then, He Folds His Patterned Rug: Repressive Reality And The Eternal Soul In Vladimir Nabokov, Elizabeth Cook

Masters Theses

While Vladimir Nabokov has deservedly earned fame as a stylist of the strange, most critics who study his novels approach his absurd and beautiful characters as little more than fractured victims of a wholly subjective reality. Compounding the misunderstanding is the tired debate over whether or not Lolita is literary, pornographic, or some cruel game of cat-and-mouse in which Nabokov seizes control of his readers' sense of morality. However, critics who read Nabokov as nothing more than a manipulative stylist neglect to realize that his characters suffer such absurd distortions of spirit and mind because their environment--the "average" reality of …

The Relationship Between Text Message Volume And Formal Writing Performance Among Upper Level High School Students And College Freshmen, Brian Wardyga

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to reveal whether there is a relationship between students' volume of text messaging and formal writing performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test writing section. The study also examined gender as a contributing variable in this measure. As a supplementary correlation, student text message volume was also compared to their Writing I course final grade. The study focused solely on texting because texting has become the preferred method of telecommunication among teens and young adults (Lindley, 2008, p. 19). The design included a questionnaire that collected data to show whether any relationships exist that indicate …

Red-Marked Writing: High-Stakes Consequences On High School Writing Education, Dana Sarchet

Senior Honors Theses

The crucial role of writing in students’ educational growth and development is indisputable. Not only does the process of writing engage students in each level of Bloom’s taxonomy, but it also aids students in the development of their cognitive thinking skills. However, past and even recent statistics reveal a common trend: the vast majority of high school students lack even a basic understanding of writing. Though undoubtedly there are many issues contributing in this lapse of students’ writing abilities, high-stakes testing is a key factor in the decline of writing education in high school classrooms. In order for students to …

Snowball, Robert Weaver

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Mars And Venus: Symbols Of The Chaotic And Conflicted Human Passions And The Reestablishment Of Order In “The Knight’S Tale.”, Olivia L. Blessing

Senior Honors Theses

During the Middle Ages, Europe experienced a period when philosophers attempted to separate and analyze the passionate and rational elements of the soul.  Some supported strict reason as the sole moral basis for living, while others looked to the tempestuous passionate emotions.  Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale” portrays this conflict between reason and the passions through the depicted relationship between Mars and Venus and the uncontrolled passions of Arcite and Palamon.

Determining that a world controlled by passions results in chaos, Chaucer offers three different solutions—negating the passions, subjugating the passions to reason, and a balance between passion and reason. …

Language And Identity In Postcolonial African Literature: A Case Study Of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Abigail Guthrie

Masters Theses

Sociolinguists often research the development of language attitudes and the state of language within speech communities. Individual speakers reflect the status of their L1 language in both speaking and writing (Wa Thiong'o 1986, Showalter 2001), and the idea that writing can be used as a set of data that reflects an author's language attitude is the motivation for this research. Salikoko Mufwene (2001), one of the leading experts on creolization and the ecology of language, has argued that individual speakers of a language make daily choices that affect the future of their native tongue. Using the novel Things Fall Apart …

The Power Of Words: The Use Of Language In Ethan Frome, Heather Faye Spear

Masters Theses

Edith Wharton's novel, Ethan Frome, has been sharply criticized for its tragic ending, yet Wharton's compelling storytelling which depicts universal conditions of mankind accomplishes something powerful through its narrative: it defends language. The complicated relationship between the three main characters, Zeena, Ethan, and Mattie is rooted in their utilization of language. Using a combination of close reading for textual analysis and identifying a communicative style for each character, this thesis asserts that how the characters in this novel utilize language contests the meaninglessness and relativity supported by deconstructionists. Wharton clearly illustrates Zeena's linguistic power over both Ethan and Mattie, and …

The Enduring Austen Heroine: Self-Awareness And Moral Maturity In Jane Austen's Emma And In Modern Austen Fan-Fiction, Brittany A. Meng

Masters Theses

Jane Austen's novels continue to be popular in the twenty-first century because her heroines are both delightful and instructive; they can be viewed as role models of personal growth due to their honest self-examination and commitment to high moral standards. Chapter one establishes the patterns of personal growth that uniquely characterizes Austen's heroines in each of her six novels. Chapter two tests these conclusions by carefully examining the character of Emma Woodhouse. Though Emma is a unique heroine due to her wealth and social privileges, she follows the principles of personal growth possessed by Austen's other heroines. Chapter three further …

Review: A Faraway Island, Janice A. Delong, Rachel Schwedt

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Review: Reaching For The Sun, Rachel Schwedt, Janice A. Delong

All Children's Book Reviews

No abstract provided.