Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons^™

Imagining Evil: George Macdonald's The Wise Woman: A Parable (1875), Colin Manlove

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses a neglected and uncharacteristic children's story, The Wise Woman, by the Victorian Scottish novelist and fantasy writer George MacDonald, setting it in the context of MacDonald's own development and of other Victorian children's moral fantasy, concluding that "The Wise Woman is not simply a story of the attempted correction of two children, but a vision of good and evil in the mind and in God’s creation.... In its moral and spiritual complexity, and its picture of divine grace all about us if we will open our hearts, The Wise Woman has a profundity and a lucidity that …

"What's The Use Of Trying To Read Shakespeare?": Modes Of Memory In Virginia Woolf's Fiction And Essays, Sara Remedios Bloom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation maps the relationship between Virginia Woolf’s fiction and essays, and William Shakespeare’s person and plays. I argue that Woolf’s writing is intended as an interactive practice of cultural memory, challenging her readers to become responders and to engage critically with the canon. I further argue that Woolf offers herself as inheritor of a literary practice that actively seeks to shape the values and social ideology of the time. The introduction defines three modes of memory operating in Woolf’s work: memory as opiate; memory as political instrument; and memory as dialectic. The first chapter shows the cultural memory of …

"Your Reclamation”: The Gothic Child And Moral Restoration In Charles Dickens’S A Christmas Carol, Ashten Roberts

Master's Theses

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843), an example of Victorian Gothic literature, portrays spirits escorting Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey through time in order to transform him from a miser to a benefactor. Dickens’s text has received much critical attention, and while most critics agree that the novella includes various elements of the gothic, few draw attention to the possibility of the child characters as gothic elements. I argue that Carol’s child characters can be read in terms of what Margarita Georgieva calls “the gothic child.” According to Georgieva, the gothic child can be an adult’s memory from childhood …

When In Doubt: An Exploration Of The Role Of The Oracle In The Harry Potter Series, Emily J. Milner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The popular Harry Potter series serves as the basis for my study of the oracles that appear throughout the series. By focusing specifically on Professor Sybill Trelawney, Ron Weasley, and the Sorting Hat, I show the relationships between Harry Potter and the Oracles. I also focus on a few of Trelawney's various methods of Divination and her prophecies.

The Shadow Of The War: Postwar Destabilization, Nostalgia, And Fragile Truth In The Works Of A. A. Milne, Sarah E. Johnson Labarbera

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

“There Is Only Power”: Surveying The Structures And Operations Of Power In The Magical World Of Harry Potter, Aaron D. Marciniak

Departmental Honors Projects

As the internationally best-selling series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling moves into its second generation of readers, it becomes increasingly important to analyze the assumptions it communicates about power differentials between people and belief systems. A central tenant of narrative paradigm holds that humans are innately narrative, internalizing narrative frameworks as a means to understand the world which then become externalized through human action. Thus, while the social hierarchies, collective actions, and institutional authorities in the fantasy world of Harry Potter in some ways map onto Anglo-American social and political structures, the significant differences between these textual and “real world” …

There And Back Again… And Again, Dylan Spilinek

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The goal of this research project was to analyze literature to understand the time period the piece was written in. J. R. R. Tolkien claimed that his children’s story, The Hobbit, held no historical allegories that related to his time period. However, analyzing The Hobbit shows how Tolkien’s personal life held many areas that influenced his writing, and those who read his tales.

Tolkien was inspired by Beowulf’s epic hero plot and Christian beliefs as seen by his character, ideologies and symbolic objects, and by his naturalistic mindset reflected by the story’s species relations and underlying themes. This childhood …

Satire And Synthesis: Parody And Satire Of Victorian Education In The Works Of Lewis Carroll, Cameron D. Sedlacek

All Master's Theses

Education is an integral part of any society. Victorian England saw drastic reform in the method of childhood education, shifting from religious to secular forms of rote memorization. An analysis of the works of Lewis Carroll reveals significant instances of parody, pastiche, and satire on these styles of education and their corresponding reform. Unlike traditional satire, however, Lewis Carroll’s satire does not simply criticize these targets, but utilizes a strategy of synthesis to illustrate strengths and weaknesses of various conflicting educational ideologies and to suggest ways of adopting methods from all available options.

"Don't Read This!": Lemony Snicket And The Control Of Youth Reading Autonomy In Late-Nineteenth-Century Britain, Brittany A. Previte

Senior Independent Study Theses

This independent study investigates adult authority in youth literature in late-nineteenth-century Britain. Examining both sensational literature known as “penny dreadfuls” and the didactic magazines The Boy’s Own Paper and The Girl’s Own Paper, this project analyzes how rhetoric enforced middle class ideology outside of the classroom and shaped the youth reading experience. In an urbanizing, industrializing Britain, anxiety about social mobility ran high, and youth consumption of penny dreadfuls received suspicion due to their supposedly subversive content. This study argues that penny dreadfuls actually reinforced the social order, mirroring didactic literature in their construction of conservative adult authority. In …

Characters Through Time, Alyssa Venezia

Honors Thesis

T. S. Eliot once wrote that we “often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of [an author’s] work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously” (Eliot 37). By focusing on character adaptations, one comes to understand how authors of children’s books are able to adapt classic literature into age-appropriate texts that retain the merits of the original. Five sets of characters shall be analyzed to demonstrate the success of the adaptations presented in children’s literature. In the first, Sir Bedivere from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur …

Shakespeare And Boyhood: Early Modern Representations And Contemporary Appropriations, Marvin Tyler Sasser

Dissertations

This dissertation demonstrates that Shakespearean boyhood, both in early modern plays and contemporary reimaginings for young readers, critiques patriarchal and hegemonic ideals through the rhetoric and behavior of boy characters. Although critics have called Shakespeare’s boy characters indistinguishable, I find that they provide Shakespeare a unique resource to offer persuasive skepticism about heroic conventions, education, and political instability. This project begins by examining the lexical network of boy in order to chart its uses in early modern England. The subsequent three chapters establish how Shakespeare uses boys to comment on a range of ideal manhoods, such as the chivalrous …

"My Own Little Home": Historical Places Of Peace In British Literature, Erin Kayla Choate

Tenor of Our Times

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Literary Enterprise: How We Experience The Texts Of The Advanced Placement English Literature And Composition Curriculum, Molly Ostrow

Honors Theses

How we read the texts of the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition curriculum.

The Germ Theory Of Dystopias: Fears Of Human Nature In 1984 And Brave New World, Clea D. Harris

Scripps Senior Theses

This project is an exploration of 20^th century dystopian literature through the lens of germ theory. This scientific principle, which emerged in the late 19^th century, asserts that microorganisms pervade the world; these invisible and omnipresent germs cause specific diseases which are often life threatening. Additionally, germ theory states that vaccines and antiseptics can prevent some of these afflictions and that antibiotics can treat others. This concept of a pervasive, invisible, infection-causing other is not just a biological principle, though; in this paper, I argue that one can interpret it as an ideological framework for understanding human existence …

Birth By Sleep: An Immersive Adventure Through Wonderland, Edd Bass

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

When Lewis Carroll wrote down Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland he never expected it to become a worldwide sensation. His work has gained a following as psychoanalysis has allowed people to dive deeper into Alice’s dream world. Many books and movies based on the Alice books have been released, such as Sucker Punch. On a seemingly unrelated topic, a company called Punchdrunk has created an immersive theatre piece known as Sleep No More in which the audience runs around a “hotel” following different actors and trying to unveil the story unfolding. Immersive Theatre allows for the audience to be swallowed up …

Glass Slippers, Fairy Dust, And Feminist Ethics: Perrault And Barrie’S Influence On J.K. Rowling’S Independent Heroine, Gennesis Roman

English 502: Research Methods

My essay delves into J.K. Rowling's character of Hermione Granger. Hermione is a feminist character that seems to have been created with influence from Charles Perrault's "Cinderella" and J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan". This essay details the similarities between Cinderella, Wendy Darling, and Hermione Granger, all while proving Rowling's feminist leaning when creating Hermione.

How Effective Superintendents Select And Develop Principals, Rob Willman

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how effective superintendents select and develop principals. Through this qualitative study, the perceptions of four superintendents explored several areas: a) the process by which principals are selected which includes qualities desired, interviewing, education, and internal versus external candidates and b) the professional development that takes place after the principal has been selected. The superintendents in the study were located in the state of Indiana and met the study criteria outlined in Chapter 3. The topics of related literature reviewed included the characteristics of instructional leaders, succession management and studies of professional …

“The Future Of The Planet”− Scottish Cosmopolitanism/ Cosmofeminism And Environmentalism In Theresa Breslin’S Saskia’S Journey, Fiona Mcculloch

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses major themes and concerns in the young adult novel Saskia's Journey, by Theresa Breslin, with special attention to the relation between Breslin's environmental themes (and Scottish setting) with her portrayal of the novel's central character and multigenerational family relationships.

Harry Potter As A Piece Of Apocalyptic Fiction, Cambria Findley-Grubb

e-Research: A Journal of Undergraduate Work

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series remains one of the most popular series ever created, loved by adults and children alike. The Harry Potter series has been translated into over thirty languages in more than one hundred and thirty countries (Killinger 2). This series has spawned a billion dollar industry eight movies, merchandise including shirts, cloaks, wands, and bobble heads, an intercollegiate muggle quidditch league, and a multimillion-dollar amusement park attraction However, despite its increasing popularity and fandom, Harry Potter remains a highly controversial book among fundamentalist religious groups because of its involvement in the world of witches, wizards, and magic. …

A Study On What Factors Influence Teachers To Remain In The Teaching Profession, Louis S. Jensen Jr.

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the employment factors that schools have control over and how teachers and administrators perceive these factors to have the most effect in influencing teachers to remain in the profession. This study was conducted by administering a survey to public school building administrators and public school teachers in Indiana. Teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions were measured on what reasons a teacher (hypothetically) might leave the profession. A total of 2,219 teachers and 208 building administrators submitted complete responses to the Teacher Retention Survey. The Teacher Retention Survey was developed by this researcher to quantitatively …

"Every Child In Our World Will Know His Name!": Malcolm Gladwell's Theories As An Explanation For The Cultural Phenomenon Of Harry Potter, Alicia Morgan

Masters Theses

When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hit stores in the United States in 1998, children and adults alike went wild. Not only had Rowling's first book made huge waves in the UK, but Americans were talking about the struggling, single-parent who had penned a children's classic before the book even reached American stores. American audiences accepted Rowling's first novel with open arms, making it one of the first children's books to reach and occupy The New York Times best-seller list for so long. While certain marketing techniques and the rise of the Internet did contribute to Harry Potter's initial …

The Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Student Perceptions Of Instructional Communication Behaviors, Samuel A. Crecelius

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In spite of desegregation and efforts to provide equitable education for all students, minorities and students living in poverty continue to underperform their peers. Education theorists have attributed this achievement gap to a cultural mismatch between students and their teachers and schools. At the same time, instructional communication research has found that cultural differences may influence student perceptions of teacher communication behaviors and that these behaviors have an effect on learning outcomes. Interestingly, while race has received extensive study in the instructional communication literature, little research has examined the role of socioeconomic status on students’ perceptions of instructor communication behaviors. …

Weight Loss Methods And Eating Disorder Risk Factors In Collegiate Wrestlers, Jessica Rea

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the weight loss of collegiate wrestlers and assess their risk for eating disorders (ED). Methods: Wrestlers were recruited by contacting the athletic trainer (AT) at the institution they wrestled. ATs who agreed to participate were sent an electronic link containing a survey, 143 wrestlers provided usable data. The survey was created from two surveys one allows the athlete to describe his eating behaviors and the ATHLETE questionnaire which measures risk for ED. We analyzed the data using descriptive statistics and frequencies. Results: 76.6% of wrestlers indicated binge eating; eating behaviors are …

“The Delight Of Our Earlier Days”: Character, Narrative, And The Village School, Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

‘Stations Of A Mourner’S Cross’: Samuel Beckett, Killiney, 1954, Graley Herren

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fearless Children And Fabulous Monsters: Angela Carter, Lewis Carroll, And Beastly Girls, Veronica L. Schanoes

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Adoptive Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Open Versus Closed Adoptions, Begum Nebol

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author presents a research study on adoptive parents’ perceptions of their own open versus closed adoptions. The main research interest behind this study was to identify similarities and differences between open versus closed adoption methods. Thus, this paper offers description and exploratory analysis of the adoption literature as well as discussion of the findings of this research study

Why The Greater Good Is Good: Lessons From Harry Potter, Maureen Zach

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

For me, this paper was an opportunity to bring Harry Potter into academia by evaluating a serious moral and philosophical concept, the greater good, with J.K. Rowling’s beloved series. In the end, we see that society could do well to learn from Harry’s selflessness in working for the greater good.

Review Essay: Anna Jackson, Karen Coats, And Roderick Mcgillis, Eds., The Gothic In Children’S Literature (2008) And Jarlath Killeen, The History Of The Gothic (2009), Patrick C. Fleming

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Naïve Narrators: The Voice Of The Child In The Poetry Of Paul Muldoon, Stephanie Jean Osburn Alexander

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon, author of eleven volumes of poetry and two books of criticism and the recipient of numerous other accolades, is often the subject of literary criticism. A complicated and multi-faceted poet known for his use of dense reference and allusion, clever wordplay, and dazzling technical prowess, Muldoon is often branded a "difficult" poet. In the face of this difficulty, this project attempts to navigate a new point of entry to Muldoon's work through the identification and study of na1ve narrators, or child speakers, and to study them alongside the larger themes of performance and play within …