English Language and Literature Commons^™

A Changed Opinion On “A Small Good Thing”, Sai Somasundaram '14

2014 Spring Semester

Suspense, surprise, shock, and awe are all parts of a great story, especially when intertwined together to keep the reader guessing until the last second. In Raymond Carver’s “A Small Good Thing”, the main characters go through a tragic story in which they come face to face with the vastness of the world, and the sincerity of human nature. When Scotty, the young boy who the story is centered around, is involved in an accident and hospitalized, his parents Howard and Ann, end up embarking on a journey to understand who is leaving them mysterious calls about their ailing …

The Name Of The Game: Great Expectations In Dickens’ Great Expectations, Daniel Collins '15

2014 Spring Semester

Charles Dickens’ seminal classic Great Expectations has received widespread acclaim from many critics, including George Bernard Shaw and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Shaw, for instance, has lauded Great Expectations as Dickens’ “most compactly perfect book” (qtd. in Trotter vii), while Swinburne has gone so far as to call it his “last great work … the defects [of which] are as nearly imperceptible as spots on the sun or shadow on a sunlit sea” (qtd. in Trotter vii). Such praise sets the bar high for Great Expectations, inducing readers to expect of the novel great things, as it were. As it …

She’S Dogging Him, Ana Curtis '15

2014 Spring Semester

It should come as no great surprise to readers of Victorian fiction that Charles Dickens makes great use of symbolism in his stories. This practice proves especially useful for his serialized stories, like Oliver Twist, where he uses criminals, including prostitutes like Nancy, to make an overall political point. At the time of this novel’s publication, prostitutes were looked down upon, sometimes as sub-human, and Dickens, though largely sympathetic to Nancy, takes this degradation a step further by directly comparing her to an animal. In Oliver Twist, Sikes’s dog acts a surrogate for Nancy, experiencing similar treatment from …

An Instance Of Apparent Plagiarism, Liam Mcparland '16

2014 Spring Semester

To the men whose lives were forever altered by them, Marian Forrester and Daisy Buchanan were always just out of reach. Be it age or water that separated them from their prizes, Niel Herbert and Jay Gatsby yearned for their remarkably similar objects of fascination. They were so similar that F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, wrote to Willa Cather, the author of A Lost Lady, to explain the apparent plagiarism of her character. Mrs. Forrester and Daisy Buchanan resemble each other in almost every aspect of their character.

Towards An Integrated Personhood Through Suffering: The Disparate Ideologies Of Freud, Maritain, And Aquinas And The Power Of Analogy In Graham Greene's The Power And The Glory, Dana Sarchet

Masters Theses

Freud, Maritain, and Aquinas have greatly influenced the literature of Graham Greene, and Greene's The Power and the Glory is no exception. As both Freud and Greene attest to the irrevocable influence of childhood on adulthood, we must read Luis, the primary child character in The Power and the Glory, in light of the characters who impact his transition into his adult life. But these characters reflect yet another thread in Greene's perspective of personhood; studying Catholicism at least four years before writing Catholic fiction, Greene was also greatly influenced by the theological thought of Aquinas and Maritain, and this …

Hippie Caulfield: The Catcher In The Rye's Influence On 1960s American Counterculture, Richard Neffinger

Masters Theses

This study covers the influence of The Catcher in the Rye on the 1960s youth counterculture in America. Drawing heavily from postmodern and new historicist theory, The Catcher in the Rye has developed a unique connection with the American public, most notably youth culture. This study examines why youth are so attracted to the character of Holden Caulfield and what implications their connection has meant and will mean for future generations of young Americans.

A Matter Of Principle: The Influence Of America’S Declaration Of Independence On Post-Declaration Literature, Kenneth J. Winkleman

McNair Scholars Research Journal

This study explores the ways in which selected principles contained within America’s Declaration of Independence are addressed in works of post-Declaration literature. The examined works are from the nineteenth-century. It was during this time that America’s writers were attempting to establish a uniquely American literature, and the Declaration of Independence, with its rhetoric of equality and unalienable rights, provided a fertile ground for that effort. Drawing upon scholarship from the document itself, I discuss the Declaration and provide a brief explication of the principles contained within the preamble. I then compare and contrast how those same principles are incorporated and …

Seeing The Rebel: Or, How To Do Things With Dictionaries In Nineteenth-Century America, Tim Cassedy

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Teaching Grammar-In-Context In College Writing Instruction: An Update On The Research Literature, Zak Lancaster, Andrea R. Olinger

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Does grammar instruction help to improve students’ writing? Should writing instructors focus on grammar in first-year composition or other university-level writing courses? These questions persist among writing professionals despite a long tradition of research-based conclusions that explicit grammar instruction has no effect or even a harmful effect on students’ writing development (e.g., Braddock, Lloyd-Jones, and Schoer, 1963; Harris, 1962; Hillocks, 1986; McQuade, 1980; Wyse, 2001).

These conclusions, of course, have had considerable influence on writing scholars’ views of grammar instruction. Some writing scholars, furthermore, have found theoretical backing for the case against grammar instruction in the linguist Stephen Krashen’s argument …

The May Queen: A Historical Novel, Kimber Albrechtsen, Dr. Leonard Tourney

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The objectives of my project were to identify and implement theoretical aspects of writing historical fiction, and to write the first four chapters of a historical novel. My creative text examined themes of the emergence of communism, the development of modern terrorism, and the complexity of family relationships.

Victorian Domesticity And The Perpetuation Of Childhood: An Examination Of Gender Roles And The Family Unit In J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Abigail Nusbaum

Masters Theses

This work examines JM Barrie's Peter Pan in light of its cultural context. It works to show how the Victorian ideology of the separate spheres narrowed the scope of roles for men and women within the home, which ultimately led to an obsession with childhood that manifested itself strongly in the works of the children of the Victorians, the Edwardians. A study of the Victorian society in which Barrie grew up and first imagined Peter Pan, accompanied by a close reading of the text, reveals Barrie using the various characters' interactions with the title character as cultural artifacts that illuminate …

Almost A Man: A Collection Of Short Drama, Tyler Fruge'

English & Modern Languages: Theses, Dissertations & Student Publications

The purpose of this thesis is to examine through drama the concept of manhood and what our culture defines as being a man. Manhood is what my characters struggle to achieve, but they fall short of their goals due to issues of co-dependency, immaturity, and refusal to give up control; they are well-composed and obedient externally, yet struggle internally. My characters were brought up and raised in a setting with inarguable demands, explicitly on what to believe, how to behave, and what is and isn’t acceptable. They’ve never been taught/told it’s okay to say “I’m not sure if I agree …

R. Crumb’S The Book Of Genesis Illustrated: Biblical Narrative And The Impact Of Illustration, Liza A. Borders

Senior Honors Theses

An artist known for his sexually charged, grotesque art joins with the sacred text of the Bible’s Genesis in R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated. An academic approach to the graphic novel recognizes the depth of meaning the art develops through the story. The intriguing facial expressions within Crumb’s book call into question the motives of the active participants within the narrative of Noah and the infamous floating zoo. Deviant from a Christian view of the Bible, Crumb disputes the honor of Scripture and perpetuates his typical social satire though he uses a biblical text. Reflecting upon a traditional …

The Beauty And The Barrister: Gender Roles, Madness, And The Basis For Identity In Lady Audley's Secret, Corey Hayes

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the concept of identity in the novel Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. In the mid to late Victorian period, self-definition was strongly tied to gender roles. Men were expected to be mentally active, physical strong, and morally guiding leaders of society, and women were to be their passive, pious, domestically minded followers. These expectations for behavior were so strong that those breaking them were in danger of being considered insane. In Braddon’s novel, the behavior of most characters does not align with the expectations for their gender. The exception is Lady Audley, the apparently ideal …

Theological Creative Nonfiction: Christian Literature For Christian Life, Elizabeth R. Hurt

Senior Honors Theses

Since the Christian worldview is composed of more than theoretical truth, Christian literature should reflect these other aspects, such as how that truth is applied in the lives of the saints. Furthermore, the praxis element of worldview is reflected in literature more naturally in narrative genres than in more expository writings like systematic theology. Narrative genres mirror the complex, temporal way a person lives his life, and because of this are able to show how objective truth is applied in subjective situations. For this reason, Christians need contemporary writing that reflects the process of everyday Christian living to offer a …

A Love That Lasts: Jane Austen’S Argument For A Marriage Based On Love In Pride And Prejudice, Katlin A. Berry

Senior Honors Theses

During the period of Regency England, a woman’s life was planned for her before she was born, and her place in society was defined by her marital status. Before she was married, she was her father’s daughter with a slim possibility of inheriting property. After she was married, legally she did not exist; she was subsumed into her husband with absolutely no legal, political, or financial rights. She was someone’s wife; that is, if she was fortunate enough to marry because spinsters had very few opportunities to earn enough money to live on alone. Therefore, it was imperative that women …

Volume 06, Kristen Gains, Amanda Willis, Holly Backer, Monika Gutierrez, Cara O'Neal, Sara Nelson, Sasha Silberman, Jessica Beardsley, Jamie Gardner, Edward Peeples, Matthew Sakach, Tess Lione, Emily Wilkins, Kelsey Holt, Jessica Page, Jamie Clift, Charles Vancampen, Gilbert Hall, Jenny Nehrt, Kasey Dye, Amanda Tharp, Jamie Leeuwrik, Ashley Mcgee, Emily Poulin, Michael Kropf, Nick Pastore, Austin Polasky, Morgan Glasco, Laura L. Kahler, Melinda L. Edwards, Brandon C. Smith, Mariah Asbell, Cabell Edmunds, Amelia D. Perry, Alyssa Hayes, Irina Boothe, Perry Bason, James Early

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross

Caught Between Folklore and the Cold War: The Americanization of Russian Children's Literature by Kristen Gains

Graphic Design by Amanda Willis

Graphic Design by Holly Backer

Prejudices in Swiss German Accents by Monika Gutierrez

Photography by Cara O'Neal

Photography by Sara Nelson

Edmund Tyrone's Long Journey through Night by Sasha Silberman

Photography by Jessica Beardsley

Photography by Jamie Gardner and Edward Peeples

The Republican Razor: The Guillotine as a Symbol of Equality by Jamie Clift

Graphic Design by Matthew Sakach

Genocide: The Lasting Effects of Gender Stratification in Rwanda By Tess Lione and Emily …

Rope, Dylan Evers

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Centering The Right: Mapping The Queer Discourse Of The Family Research Council And Focus On The Family, Stephen C. Brown

Honors Theses

Religious Right organizations like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council have been known for their vitriolic discourse when it comes to the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) community. The ways in which they have discussed queer rights have characterized the LGB community as especially sinful and a threat to American society. Specifically targeting Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, this paper looks at rhetorical strategies they have used when discussing gay rights. The paper identifies a significant shift in their discursive practices such that recently the LGB community is portrayed in a more sympathetic …

The Disney Evolution: Princesses As Positive Role Models, Alexandria Irene Lueke

Honors Theses

The Disney Corporation has strategically captivated the attention of audiences worldwide with their iconic animated motion pictures and, as a result, has an impact on children in most nations. Due to their iconic popularity, these works have been discussed and analyzed in great detail by many scholars. Many have criticized the films for their seemingly sexist and oppressive gender messages and find fault with the princesses serving as role models for young girls; they argue that oppressive characteristics and ideas are presented. However, when one closely examines the films and compares the characteristics of the princesses to the progressive female …

Developing Social Consciousness Through Multicultural Young Adult Literature, Megan R. Abbate

Honors Theses

In this study, the novels We Were Here and Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Pena and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, works which feature male protagonists struggling tolocate their multicultural identities, will be analyzed. This research will legitimize the use of multicultural young adult literature, specifically these three texts, in the classroom, despite the presence of controversial themes. This research will demonstrate the value of these texts due to their potential to foster social consciousness and aid the establishment of identity within a global context. This thesis will demonstrate ways in which young …

Teaching The Writing Methods Course: A Multiple Case Study Of Teachers’ Professional Journeys, Teaching Contexts, Theoretical Frames, And Courses, Kristin A. K. Sovis

Dissertations

This study, situated within the fields of English education and writing teacher education, illustrates not only what is happening in writing methods courses but why in its examination of writing methods courses and instructor influences. The writing methods course is identified by English educators and writing teacher educators as “pivotal” in K-12 English teacher preparation, and the purpose of this study is to better understand multiple versions of this course and how teacher influences affect the design and implementation of the course (Grossman, 1990; Smagorinsky and Whiting, 1995; McCann, 2005).

This study builds upon scholarship that explores individual versions of …

Course Syllabus (Sp14) Coli 211 Literature & Psychology: "The Sublime, The Uncanny, And The Imagination", Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Course Description:

In a world in which what counts as knowledge is predominantly restricted to the measurable and the calculable, those elements of human experience which elude and exceed these parameters are often ignored and discounted. In this course, we will examine questions of the sublime, the uncanny, and the speculative as treated in literature, psychoanalysis, and philosophy in order to think and write critically about them. Here, we will consider the possible extent to which an openness to such experiences can enrich our lives.

“(Who Discovered) America”: Ozomatli And The Mestiz@ Rhetoric Of Hip Hop, Cruz Medina

English

This article examines the rhetoric of Mexican-American hip hop through the analysis of the music by the multicultural hip hop fusion band, Ozomatli, from Los Angeles. The objective is to examine how Ozomatli performs linguistic, epistemic, and musical-rhetorical border crossing that provokes cultural and social consciousness. As a cross-cultural site of analysis, Ozomatli embodies cultural mestizaje, mestiza consciousness, and mestiz@ rhetoric that illuminates social justice issues beneath surface-level beats and rhythms. Appointed cultural ambassadors by the U.S. government, Ozomatli navigates dominant systems of power while performing music that contests hegemony. Their mestiz@ hip hop draws from diverse musical traditions like …

Chattering Classes/Twittering Revolutionaries: Journalism, Social Media, And The Arab Spring, John C. Hawley

English

In Culture and Imperialism Edward Said discusses internationality and cosmopolitanism against the backdrop of the Gulf War, and Ree's view that the "nation-form is a kind of false consciousness", as if it were "an expression of popular subjective will" (Said, 1993: 10). But the monopolization of power by central national authorities results in a kind of façade, whereby "processes which are actually the effect of internationality are experienced as an expression of the natures of different nations and their individual members" (Said, 1993: 10, emphasis added). Yet nationalism sits uncomfortably in countries that, some might say, were in some cases …

Thinking Otherwise About God, Marx, And Eagleton: A Response To Terry Eagleton, Marilyn Edelstein

English

I first read some of Eagleton’s work when I was in graduate school, and I began to use his best-selling Literary Theory: An Introduction2 in the new “Contemporary Literary Theory and Criticism” course I created shortly after I began teaching at Santa Clara University in 1987. My students, often initially baffled by the complexities of the primary texts we read, have appreciated Eagleton’s lucid and engaging primer on theories ranging from New Criticism and structuralism to psychoanalysis, as well as his openness about his own Marxist perspective. Since I have read other work by Eagleton over the years, I was …

Minor Characters With Major Impacts : Examining Giovanelli’S Role In Henry James’ Daisy Miller 2014, Zachary Lang

Master's Theses

Henry James’s first journey into the world of the American girl came in the form of one of his most read novellas, Daisy Miller. Through the eyes of Frederick Winterbourne, the reader begins a study of Daisy Miller, a character whom James uses to showcase many of the issues that were prevalent at the time including the role of women, societal standards, and class mobility. Winterbourne and Daisy are the principal characters, and as such they are given the most attention from readers and critics alike. The minor character Giovanelli, however, has received little critical attention. Despite being a minor …

Lesson Plan For Teaching Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Adriana M. Obiols Roca , '16, Peter Schmidt

English Literature Faculty Works

Suitable for high school and college and university classes. Developed by a Swarthmore College student, Adriana Obiols Roca, with feedback from Professor Peter Schmidt, as a final assignment in English 71D, "The Short Story in the U.S.," spring 2014.

Learning Objectives. Students will: understand the differences between direct and indirect characterization and be able to identify examples of each; understand the uses of irony and foreshadowing in the story as well as more generally in literature; become acquainted with Flannery O’Connor and her writing style, particularly with her use of the grotesque; explore the complexity of the themes present …

A Hero’S Journey: Aegean’S Destiny, Olivia J. Ullery

Honors Theses

A young woman named Aegean is summoned by the Oracle of her village to go on a journey to defeat an evil civilization at the center of the Three Villages. Though Aegean is independent, strong-willed, and assertive, she does not know her way. With the accompaniment of Maeve, a warrior woman, and Fumito, a cloistered sage, Aegean has a model of femininity and a model of masculinity to guide her in creating her own identity. They face perils on their quest, such as deadly creatures, private struggles – even death. Yet, while they travel they learn about the history of …

Tissi, Anna Demmitt

Honors Theses

Tissi is a series of short stories depicting the lives of children living in Sudan through the genocide. There are three stories of pain and suffering that depict the lives of Yaya, Abit, and Tahir. Each child is forced to deal with the ill effects of the genocide. The stories conclude with a story of hope of one child who was able to get help in a refugee camp located in Tissi.