English Language and Literature Commons^™

Wishing For The Watch Face In Jonathan Swift’S “The Progress Of Beauty”, Jantina Ellens

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This article illuminates the technological underpinnings of Jonathan Swift’s satire, “The Progress of Beauty” (1719), by exploring how eighteenth-century poetics of beauty and scientific progress pit human against automaton. This article ranges from the ego of masculine technological display to women’s self-identification with the automaton to suggest that Swift’s speaker blazons the aging prostitute’s body with the hope that it might resurrect a lost ideal, the beautiful watch face. Instead, readers are confronted with the vision of Celia who, with her chipped paint, greasy joints, and faulty mechanisms, reminds them that humanity continues to break through its enamel. When readers …

Final Ma Portfolio, Stacey Magri

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

A Final Portfolio Submitted to the English Department of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of English with a specialization in English Teaching. An identity focused research and pedagogy portfolio that explores the concept of and creation of identity through self-conscious thought, as well as through gender and familial relations.

Good Rhetoric From The Classical To The Jesuits; Or On Αγαθός Λόγος, Andrew J. Wells

The Criterion

Labeling rhetoric as ἀγαθός (good) or κακός (bad) might appear subjective. The Jesuit rhetorical tradition suggests otherwise. Once I place the pursuit of eloquentia perfecta within the context of ancient rhetoricians: Socrates, Gorgias, the author of Dissoi Logoi, and Quintillian, I attempt to find a definition for ἀγαθός λόγος (good speech/rhetoric).

What We Talk About When We Talk About The Ramsays: Gender Politics In To The Lighthouse, Ashley Riggleson

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

In my essay, I seek to complicate typical ideas surrounding gender politics in Virginia Woolf’s Modernist novel, To the Lighthouse. To do this, I first consider the portraits of Mr. Ramsay and his son, James, to show that Woolf, contrary to popular opinion shies away from simplistic portraits of masculine power. That is, rather than creating two typically masculine gentlemen, as most critics posit that she does, Woolf instead creates two characters who fail to conform to masculine norms. This discrepancy suggests that, Woolf captures a shifting cultural landscape in language and portrays the birth of a more “Modern …

The Impact Of Morphological Awareness On The Reading Development Of Children With Developmental Dyslexia, Christina Bloom

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The effects of phonological awareness on reading development have been widely researched and are understood and recognized by both educators and linguists. The effects of morphological awareness on reading, though, have been comparatively under-researched until the past fifteen to twenty years. Recent studies have shown that morphological awareness plays a significant role in children’s reading development, and an awareness of morphology makes a significant impact on the spelling, vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension skills of typically-developing children that is independent of the contribution made by phonological awareness. Children with developmental dyslexia struggle with a morphological deficit. These children do not …

Enduring Music: Migrant Appalachian Communities And The Shenandoah National Park, Madeline Marsh

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper is an archival study of the displaced children of families formerly living in the Shenandoah National Park which spans from Strasburg to Waynesboro, Virginia. The study looks at interviews, from the JMU Special Collections archives, of these children in the 1970-80s, nearly fifty years after their forced migration from the 197,438 acres that comprised the park. Change and pressure during the 1930s-40s combined with national policy began the nostalgic preservation and veneration of the culture of these people of the Blue Ridge Mountains; through the archives, a clear and diverse picture of the perspectives and lifestyles of people …

Of The Silmarils And The Ring: J. R. R. Tolkien's Fiction And The Importance Of Creation And Art, Michael Hartinger

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

J. R. R. Tolkien embodies the opposing ideals of Enchantment and the Machine in the Silmarils and the One Ring respectively. These created objects oppose each other just as Tolkien’s ideals of art do. Enchantment is art’s ideal, it's purpose is to glorify and enrich the beauty of reality through subcreation. The Silmarils exhibit the delight of making and perceiving beauty. Whereas the Machine is art’s shadowy reflection that utilizes apparatuses or devices rather than personal talent in order to coerce others and reality itself. Overall Tolkien's aesthetic theories reflect many fears surrounding modern attitudes toward weaponizing art. Tolkien supplies …

The Mythological Perspective Of Modern Media: Cross-Cultural Consciousness And Modern Myths, Rebecca E. Evans

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This piece assesses the cultural implications of modern narratives that incorporate classical mythology, specifically focusing on the hero’s journey. When the similarities of different myths across different cultures are analyzed, it becomes clear that there are modern analogs that incorporate mythic qualities and cultural values. These mythic foundations are analyzed here in popular works like Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Legend of Zelda, where the hero’s journey becomes an almost universal experience that inspires cross-cultural consciousness. The hero’s journey has evolved from a simple literary tool into a cross-cultural touchstone that shapes narratives into familiar works of cultural significance across …

Speaking Truth To Power: Writing (Against) History In "The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao" And "The Things They Carried", Karen Chau

Theses and Dissertations

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and The Things They Carried subvert dominating historical narratives by challenging the frameworks that construct them through introducing alternate narratives. By reframing the ethics of truth, they rupture central narrative space with marginal perspectives, rewriting History in service of their own truths.

Madison Washington’S Journey To Freedom: Protagonist Development In Frederick Douglass’ The Heroic Slave, Hallie Rene Gleasman

Theses and Dissertations

This analysis of Frederick Douglass’ novella The Heroic Slave explores the manner by which said work of fiction employs, references, and reworks the formulaic conventions of the slave narrative. It additionally examines how The Heroic Slave promotes black revolutionary leadership and models respectful white support of emancipation.

“The Idea Of Self In The Land Of Self-Help”: Globalization And A Structure Of Feeling In Mohsin Hamid’S How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, Sharmeen Mehri

Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on the novel, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, this paper examines Mohsin Hamid’s experimentation with narrative structure and the idea of the split self through the context of Frederic Jameson’s dialectic of the cultural and economic dimensions of globalization and David Harvey’s take on Postmodernism.

James Baldwin's Soundscape And Grain Of The Racialized Body, Vallerie M. Matos

Theses and Dissertations

I will investigate the language around, and in direct relation to, the musicality of James Baldwin’s work. The interdependence of music and literature compose the majority, if not all, of his literary corpus. However, at some point both art forms bifurcate and we are confronted by the difficulties of writing about music and sound, and about music in text. I confront Roland Barthes’s disdain for the adjective and his theory of the “Grain of the Voice” in order to argue that attention to Black expressive musical narrative forms make audible and allow readers to witness to the grain of the …

Remembrances Reconsidered: Site-Specific Affective Retellings, Melanie W. Lozier

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the ways in which strong affective feelings, trauma, and memories are written about by women through diverse narrative forms. Through storytelling, writers engage with the relationship between deep feelings, significant places, and language, such as the frequent employment of words containing the prefix "re."

Of Ivory And Eros: How Kurtz Was Corrupted By The Congo, Alexander T. Grey

The Criterion

While much ink has been spilled about the savagery and rawness of Conrad's magnum opus, Heart of Darkness, few scholars have sought to look at the softer side of Kurtz, Marlow, and the cast of characters. This essay attempts to view the work through the lens of love and the Grecian concepts of eros, philia and agape as they apply to Kurtz's tryst and what can be learned about this tormented man in the jungle when love enters the equation.

The Renaissance Woman's Guide To Divorce: Exploring Marriage In Arden Of Faversham And The Tragedy Of Mariam, Briana Tyler

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The societies in the Arden of Faversham (1592) and The Tragedy of Mariam (1613) reflect the patriarchal values of Renaissance England. Alice Arden, Arden’s female lead, and Salome, the antagonist in Elizabeth Cary’s Mariam, defy the social and legal parameters placed on early modern women by killing their husbands in order to marry their lovers. While Alice and Salome succeed in carrying out the respective murders, Alice is killed for her crimes and Salome remains unpunished.

In this paper, I argue that Alice’s lack of access to legal power means that she must act outside the law; however, her reliance …

Defining The Genre Of Environmental Literature, Liam Kiehne

Honors Capstone Projects

Environmentalists try to make the world a better place, each in their own way. This is particularly true of the arts, in which sculptors and painters and film enthusiasts try to capture modern struggles within their respective mediums. This is less obvious in written works of fiction, where anthropomorphic narratives are dominant; in fact, it’s difficult to imagine a novel that could be wholly dedicated to the natural world’s story. But writers still want to contribute to environmentalist causes in their medium. How can this be done? To find out, I decided to read four works of fiction which I …

An Analysis Of Murals Painted By Students At Intermountain Indian School In Brigham City, Utah, Carlos Junior Guadarrama

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

My plan B thesis argues that Intermountain School in Brigham City, Utah was a progressive development, especially when placed within the context of other Native American boarding schools. I argue my point by conducting a close examination and analysis of several murals painted by prominent indigenous artist Allan Houser and students at the school as well as several other forms of art from Intermountain. In the first chapter of my thesis, I present evidence that demonstrates how damaging Native Boarding schools were for generations of students. I then present evidence which showcases how certain changes paved the way for Intermountain …

Final Ma Portfolio, Danielle Mehlman-Brightwell

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This portfolio contains the following: training manual, editing portfolio, teaching pedagogy, and grammar research.

Humanity's Unlikely Heroine: Examining Eve In John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' And "Paradise Regained", Alyssa V. White

The Criterion

This essay explores the biblical world of John Milton’s poetry through the eyes of the only woman given dialogue in his most famous works, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Eve has often been read with scrutiny and judgment, with many readers and scholars dismissing her character as weak and uninteresting. The paper draws on sources from several scholars, but it works primarily with the actual text of Milton’s epics themselves. The argument of this paper seeks to counter those beliefs and provide a thorough analysis of Eve’s character and development throughout Paradise Lost, as well as her impact on the …

We Love Big Brother: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Orwell’S Nineteen Eighty-Four And Modern Politics In The United States And Europe, Edward Pankowski

Honors Scholar Theses

In recent months since the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency of the United States in November 2016, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has seen a resurgence in sales, and terms invented by Orwell or brought about by his work, such as “Orwellian,” have re-entered the popular discourse. This is not a new phenomenon, however, as Nineteen Eighty-Four has had a unique impact on each of the generations that have read it, and the impact has stretched across racial, ethnic, political, and gender lines. This thesis project will examine the critical, popular, and scholarly reception of Nineteen Eighty-Four since its …

The Restricted Agency Of Women In Arden Of Faversham And The Spanish Tragedy, Amanda Howar

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Restricted Agency of Women in Arden of Faversham and The Spanish Tragedy

Amanda Howar

ENGL 447N: Renaissance Drama Seminar Sponsoring Faculty: Dr. Maya Mathur

This project looks at the restrictions placed on two early modern female characters: Alice Arden in Arden of Faversham (1592) and Bel-Imperia in The Spanish Tragedy (1589). In the paper, it argues that the female characters combat these restrictions through rhetorical and sexual manipulation, which gives them agency for a limited period of time. Alice Arden gains agency through rhetorical manipulation that pits people against her husband, Arden, and gives them opportunities to kill …

Reclaiming Independence: Comparing The Daughters In King Lear And A Thousand Acres, Zachary Caldwell

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

In William Shakespeare’s great tragedy, King Lear, Lear’s three daughters, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia, betray their father at different points in the play and die as a result. Jane Smiley reimagines the story of King Lear in her novel, A Thousand Acres, by combining new plot material with material from the original text.

Smiley’s novel is narrated by Larry’s eldest daughter, Ginny, whose voice reorients Shakespeare’s patriarchal narrative and transforms it into a feminist text. Smiley changes the overarching plot to create a more sympathetic link between the daughters and the reader by granting them a level of redemption. Ginny …

Merlin’S Role As Nationalist In Monmouth And Malory, Ashley C. Johnson

English Department Theses

In Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory’s medieval Arthurian texts, History of the Kings of Britain and Le Morte D’Arthur, Merlin is presented as a primary character with nuanced character traits and unique abilities. Merlin stands out because his often analyzed secondary roles as magician, prophet, and counselor culminate in a larger, primary role. Merlin is a nationalist. As such, he shows how legend and historical narrative can shape the history of a country. Through the texts, Merlin disseminates a distinct English identity based upon a shared lineage of valorous deeds and triumphant emancipations from foreign invaders …

A Form Of Flesh And Blood: Wordsworth’S Synthesis Of Science And Poetry, Kevin Reynolds

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Why The Marvel Cinematic Universe Can Show Us A Story, But Can’T Tell Us A Plot, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Black Panther'S Afrofuturism, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Snapshot In A Squiggle: How Painting Terminology Illuminates Short Fiction, Jennifer Pretzer

Senior Honors Theses

This paper will demonstrate that painting terms can offer a helpful avenue to understand short fiction, particularly abstract short fiction. After defining abstraction, realism, and the short story, it will trace relevant stages in the evolution of both painting and short fiction to show how and why the media share similar elements. In this examination, the paper will discuss which features of painting correspond with certain features of short fiction. Based on the essential elements of short fiction, as well as the features mentioned above, the paper will analyze examples of short stories that exemplify how painting parallels short fiction …

A Friend Beyond The Screen, Raymart Pontemayor

Laurus: Undergraduate Literature Journal of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

This essay highlights the importance of friendship through online communication which is not often seen in today's society. Most friendships occur on a real life basis, however there is a layer of intimacy when distance is involved. As a result, long distance relationships build a stronger foundation between friends that is underappreciated.

El Mundo Anti-Negro Y Los Hip-Hop Blues: Los Rakas Y J-Cole, Josué R. López

The Quiet Corner Interdisciplinary Journal

Tenemos que contender con el mundo anti-negro. Los Rakas, un dúo artístico panameño-estadounidense, y J-Cole, un artista afro-estadounidense, utilizan al hip-hop como una avenida para comunicar sus ansiedades, sufrimientos y fortalecerse en la lucha infinita al ser el Otro Oscuro. Los blues forman parte de como uno lidia con la permanencia del racismo y nuestra existencia en un mundo anti-negro. A través de Frantz Fanon, Derrick Bell y Lewis Gordon, argumento que el estilo musical de J-Cole y Los Rakas constituye una forma de los hip-hop blues. Examino las canciones “Sueño Americano” y “Neighbors” para analizar cómo los artistas entienden …

Satori 2018, Winona State University, Emma Lee Cavanaugh, Walker Larson, Eric Leith, Sara Wakeham, Rachel Williams-Belter, Claire Bowman, Cassie Douglas, Danielle Eberhard, Dahlia Garofalo, Grace Hughes, Katelin Kent, Ben Mccrary, Breanna Mcgeorge, Hyewon Oh, Sanja Petrashek, Remington Schmidt, Jiwon Seo, Kristine Smith, Kenneth Tham, Nicole Tompos, Melody Vang, Megan Wefel, Melanie Whitmore, Audrianna Wichman

Satori Literary Magazine

The Satori is a student literary publication that expresses the artistic spirit of the students of Winona State University. Student poetry, prose, and graphic art are published in the Satori every spring since 1970.

The Satori 2018 editors are Sajda Omar (Editor-in-Chief), Kylie Hoff, Keyanna Hultman, Audrey Sitte, Elyse Hoffmann. Art Director and Designer by Elyse Hoffmann. The 2018 Faculty advisor is Dr. Elizabeth Oness, Professor of English.