Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons^™

Chameleon Boy: An Autobiographical Literary Critique Of Biracial Subjects In A Racialized Society, David Robinson

All NMU Master's Theses

In American society, race is a determining factor when realizing a salient identity. Social engagements, relationships, and the perception has of one’s self are all effected and choreographed by race. Deeply ingrained within our social structure race aims to categorize humanity into easily identifiable, yet reductive, categories. However, an issue arises when the addition of the mixed-race subject throws the sorting machine into a frenzy. Unable to categorize the racially ambiguous, American society chooses to conflate their physicality to another ethnic group or race or write them off as Other. The late Gloria Anzaldua’s investigation into the limitless possibilities present …

From River Road Plantations To The Underground Railroad: Bringing The True Story Of American Slavery To The Present Racial Divide, Kari Lutes

All NMU Master's Theses

Much of the discourse in the nation is centered on the racial divide in America. This essay traces that divide back to American slavery, using a visit to five historical plantations and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad to illustrate the persistence of injustice beyond slavery to Jim Crow laws, color-blind rhetoric, and mass incarceration. At each plantation, I encounter a varied history of slavery and find that many of these historical sites trivialize the experience of the enslaved. The Whitney Plantation is the exception, focusing solely on the stories of the enslaved and revealing the power of narrative to undo …

"Compulsion": The Fictionalization Of The Leopold-Loeb Case And The Struggle For Creative Control Of "The Crime Of The Century", Maria L. Zambrana

All NMU Master's Theses

When an artist releases a project into the global marketplace, it is difficult to say that it is “their” project from that point onward. Once an artistic work is made accessible to the public, it all but becomes public property as it is reinterpreted and re-released in different forms. In the case of literature, everything from plagiarism to unauthorized publishing can take place. Some methods of “stealing,” such as fan fiction, have less of an impact and can be viewed as harmless appreciation (as long as there is no profit being made). But other forms of theft, like the illegal …

Framing Identity: Repudiating The Ideal In Chicana Literature, Michael A. Flores

All NMU Master's Theses

In the 1960s Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez penned his now canonical, epic poem “I Am Joaquin.” The poem chronicles the historic oppression of a transnational, Mexican people as well as revolutionary acts of their forefathers in resisting tyranny. Coinciding with a series of renewed, sociopolitical campaigns, collectively known as the Chicano Movement, Gonzales’ poem uses vivid imagery to present an idealized representation of Chicanos and encouraged his reader to engage in revolutionary action. Though the poem encourages strong leadership, upward mobility, and political engagement the representations of women in his text are misogynistic and limiting.

His presentation of the “black-shawled …