English Language and Literature Commons^™

Children's Picture Book Biography Of The Historical American Woman, Amy Gochenouer Gardner

Graduate Research Papers

This research paper used content analysis to determine if the portrayals of historical American women in modern biographical children's books accurately reflect the lives of the women presented in those books. For the purpose of this paper historical American women included women who were born or lived in the United States at some time in their lives. The researcher has reviewed 23 different children's picture book biographies written about 23 different subjects and published between 2004 and 2008. The facts presented in those 23 picture book biographies were then compared to standard library reference materials to determine how accurately these …

The Portrayal Of Attention Deficit Disorder In Children's And Young Adult Literature, Ambri Refer

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine if characters with attention deficit disorder in children's and young adult literature possess the same traits as patients diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. This research examined books that contained at least one character with attention deficit disorder.

A content analysis methodology was used, and a book analysis form was completed for each book examined. The form was used to record the gender of the character with attention deficit disorder and characteristics associated with the disorder including inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. The researcher predicted that the majority of the books would have male …

Arabs And Muslims In Orientalist Hollywood: Trends In Perception Before And After 9/11, Marwa Hassan Genena

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Before 9/11, almost all Hollywood Orientalist films fit the tenets of Orientalist discourse, which Edward Said describes in Orientalism. Brushed with a series of negative qualities, the Oriental character is usually represented as an absolute opposite to the Western character, whose perfection is highlighted by the former's numerous flaws. Not only is the Arab or Muslim character in pre-9/11 Hollywood dumb and inept, but evil and dangerous as well. Additionally, Orientalist filmmakers avoid a solid, deep construction of their Arab or Muslim characters in such a way that the personal or humane side of these characters is completely ignored. In …

The Stuff That Affects You: Fiction, Poetry, And Doggerel, Lisa D. Brodersen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Inevitably writers write about the stuff that affects them. Maybe the stuff that affects them is life-altering, or in some way profound or sublime, like untimely death, divorce, or being in love. Or maybe it's the mundane stuff, like marbles, cats, crows, weeds, wind, rain, or riding a bike. This thesis includes fiction, poetry, and light verse (which I prefer to call doggerel) triggered by all of that stuff, but I've twisted and embellished it beyond the literal or whole truth, until what remains is nothing but the truth.

Iranian American Women Writing Their Lives: Poststructuralist Analysis Of Lipstick Jihad, Funny In Farsi And Saffron Sky, Chelsea Ann Thiebaut Delucenay

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study analyzes Azadeh Moaveni's Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America, and Gelareh Asayesh's Saffron Sky: A Life Between Iran and America all examined within, against, and through the lens of poststructuralist feminism. Emphasis is placed on issues of hybridity and naming in a dual-cultured, dual-languaged world. Moaveni, Dumas, and Asayesh begin the task of writing a memoir in order to better understand themselves and to attempt to create a solid identity based on both Iran and America. By …

Only One Quarterback, Stacey Galles

Graduate Research Papers

Only One Quarterback is a concept book about the game of football using photographs from the Remsen-Union Rocket football program introducing preschool children to the basic concepts of football and relating those concepts to the numbers they are learning. Each number introduces a different football concept. The text is written for the comprehension of preschool children. The words and photographs work together to give a full picture of the football concepts. The book is designed to help children become interested in reading and learning about the game of football. There are few football counting books written especially for preschool children. …

The Whisper Of An Echo And Other Stories, James Timothy Frazier

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

"The Whisper of an Echo and Other Stories" is a collection of short stories written during my many, many years of scholarship at the University of Northern Iowa

The Portrayal Of Teenage Sexuality In Young Adult Literature, Carolyn Marie Carr

Graduate Research Papers

The focus of this study was an investigation in to how teenage sexuality is portrayed in young adult literature. The purpose of this research was to investigate the portrayal of teenage sexuality within young adult literature in the United States. The methodology of this study was a quantitative content analysis of literature intended for young adult readers. Twenty young-adult books with teenage sexuality as a theme and a publication date within the last ten years were randomly selected from the following lists: 2009 Young Adult Library Services Association (Y ALSA): Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Best Books for Young Adults, …

The 4-1-1 On Adolescents' Attitudes Toward The 5-0 And The Portrayal Of Law Enforcement Officials In Young Adult Literature, Amy Chopard

Graduate Research Papers

For this content analysis, the portrayal of law enforcement officials in young adult fiction was examined. This researcher read and analyzed 15 young adult fiction titles portraying a law enforcement official in either a primary or secondary character role. The main research question this researcher sought to answer was: How are law enforcement officials portrayed in young adult fiction? Based on the findings of her study, this researcher concluded that law enforcement officials in the examined titles are portrayed as having indifferent attitudes toward adolescents in general. In addition, this researcher found that law enforcement officials portrayed in the examined …

A Content Analysis Of Holocaust Fiction For Young People, Teresa Ann Evans-Winfield

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this research was to examine Holocaust literature for young adults to determine if the books in this sample are historically accurate, have themes of survival and resistance, and portray characters who model positive attributes of citizenship. This researcher read 24 books copyrighted between 1992-2008 that were selected from H. W. Wilson's Junior High and Middle School Core Collection and Senior High School Core Collection. Nineteen of the twenty-four books read by this researcher were copyrighted after the year 2000. The data gathered provided evidence that 15 (63%) of the books sampled were historically accurate and were fictionalized …

Childhood Grief: The Resilience Of Loss, Brenda A. Haskin

Graduate Research Papers

Children who have lost a parent will benefit from reading a story that helps them cope with the loss of a parent and the emotions they feel during the grieving process. The focus of this research project is a child's resiliency to the loss of her father. It is during the grieving process that the book created as a part of this research project will help children understand that what they are feeling is normal and that life goes on after loss.

This research project is a realistic fiction, free-verse novel that captures the emotions, feelings, and thoughts of an …

The Precognition Of Crime: Treason In Medieval England And Terrorism In Twenty-First Century America, E. Kay Harris

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

“The Knight of the Two Swords” in Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (1485) tells a story of an invisible knight who without provocation kills other knights. Rather than have the identity of this invisible knight become part of the plot of this tale, Malory names him immediately (1:79-80). This early identification of the invisible knight has led Eugene Vinaver to speculate that Malory “wants at all costs to avoid suspense, and so transfers the solution of the mystery from the end of the dialogue to the beginning. There are cases,” Vinaver continues, “where such a method can relieve the story of …

Honor And Transgression: The Poetics And Politics Of Shame And Guilt In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, April E. Cook

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Since its conception in the late fourteenth century, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has been lauded not only for its virtually seamless synthesis of Christian doctrine, Celtic myth, and Arthurian romance, but also for the complex and enigmatic poetics that have come to define and establish it as one of the most unique and perplexing texts within the diverse and substantial corpus of late medieval literature. A meticulously crafted, structurally symmetrical, alliterative romance governed by the dynamic interplay of proximate opposites and ostensibly contradictory discourses, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Sir Gawain) furnishes a revealing reflection of the …

Arthur C. Clarke’S Childhood’S End: A Prescription For Producing Humanity’S Psychological Maturity, Bill Koch

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Earlier this year, when I would tell people that my Intro to Lit class was reading Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End, they would react with smiles and nods of recognition.

Many said, “Yes, I read that long ago—it’s about spaceships coming to earth, right?”

Indeed it is, and more.

It was the first Clarke book I had read (several years ago for some forgotten reason), but when I finished the book I felt that Clarke had conveyed something of importance, even if in the form of science fiction. There was a gravitas to it I hadn’t expected. I read several …

Dryden’S Battle With Music In King Arthur: The Bracegirdle Hurdle, John Sievers

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

John Dryden came of age during a turbulent portion of England’s history. In his lifetime, he observed the collapse of four different governments. Born in 1631, Dryden lived through Charles I’s beheading, the republican experiment of the interregnum, the return to monarchy under Charles II, and finally the glorious revolution in which perhaps no blood was spilt but the condition of the English throne was undeniably weakened.1 These abrupt and tremendous political changes also included substantial cultural transformations. One of the transformations that had a limiting effect on Dryden’s literary career was the closing of the English theaters during the …

Of Magicians And Masculinity: Merlin And The Manifestation Of The New Man, Jennie Morton

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

As the Arthurian legends have continued to respond over time to fit specific cultural needs, the role of Merlin has evolved from mere sage to powerful wizard. In one of his most recent reincarnations, Merlin takes center stage as narrator and protagonist in a 1998 self-titled made-for-TV movie. While the story is a mixture of various Merlin traditions, hidden under the fantasy and special effects is a subtle cultural critique of masculinity. In this contemporary manifestation, Merlin, as both a man of action and emotion, embodies turn-of-the-century ideals for modern masculinity. Often at odds with what he considers his duty …

Visitation, Robin Underdahl

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Short Story, Volume 16, Number 1, Spring 2008 [Download Entire Issue]

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Who's "Punching" Whose Ticket: A Reading Of Lawrence's "Tickets, Please", Nicole A. Diederich

Short Story

No abstract provided.

The Parable Of Bliss, Sidney Kidd

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Front Matter - Table Of Contents

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Virginia Woolf's Female History In "The Journal Of Mistress Joan Martyn", Laura Lojo-Rodríguez

Short Story

No abstract provided.

In The Land Of Milk And Honey, Dan Moreau

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Front Matter - Table Of Contents

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Polly Beausoleil, Peter Behrens

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Nights In Radio, Michael Borshuk

Short Story

No abstract provided.

Wreck On The Highway, Brady Harrison

Short Story

No abstract provided.

In The Cage, Keith Jardim

Short Story

No abstract provided.

The Breakfast Room, Elizabeth Ordonez

Short Story

No abstract provided.

American Paranoia, Reed Zodrow

Short Story

No abstract provided.