Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Light And Darkness In The Epiphanies Of Henry James’ Heroines, Rose Grosskopf

The Criterion

The famed author Henry James, who lived from 1843 to 1916, occupies a middle-ground between the romantic authors of the nineteenth century and the modernists of the twentieth. Two of his novels, The Portrait of a Lady and Washington Square, demonstrate his evolving sensibilities, as he bridges the traditional and the modern by marrying romantic stories with unconventional conclusions. His technique is present in his use of light symbolism, which, due to an etymological connection from the era of Enlightenment, has accompanied moments of learning and understanding. Through his symbolic and literary gestures, James explores a nuanced definition of “brightness,” …

Song: The Emotional Storyteller In The Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe, Sadie O'Conor

The Criterion

Edgar Allan Poe argues in his Marginalia column that “indefiniteness is an element … of the true musical expression.” Music is a powerful device for expression because of its intangible yet deeply rooted connection to human emotion; it captures ideas that cannot always be put into words. In a similar way, we can never truly “hear” music if it is only described on a page. Poe used this phenomenon on a literary level to illustrate a character’s deep, almost indescribable longing for something that they would rarely reveal to the other people in their stories. The references to instrumental music …

“Oceania Is Us:” An Intimate Portrait Of Chamoru Identity And Transpacific Solidarity In From Unincorporated Territory: [Lukao], Maressa Park

The Criterion

Guåhan’s history of Spanish colonization and inflicted genocide, Japanese occupancy, and American militarization poses profound effects on CHamoru land, rights, physical health, and language survival. These include instances of “celebration colonialism” such as Liberation Day, in which CHamorus celebrate the date that the United States dropped 124 tons of bombs on Guåhan to liberate them from the Japanese ([lukao] 44). Through an analysis of his 2017 anthology from unincorporated territory: [lukao], this essay examines how Dr. Craig Santos Perez casts light on the complex inheritance of native CHamorus via an intimate portrait of diasporic CHamoru identity. Furthermore, I argue that …

Narrator’S Attitudes Toward Slavery In Oroonoko And Robinson Crusoe, Meghan Gavis

The Criterion

Oroonoko by Aphra Behn and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe are narrated by speakers encountering enslaved people in South America during English imperialism. The narrators’ respective sentimental and practical voices are manifested through the details of their narratives: Behn’s speaker tends to dwell on romantic points, like Oroonoko’s relationship with his lover, while Crusoe favors pragmatic details, like the quantification of supplies. The narrators’ perspectives color their relationships with enslaved individuals. Behn’s narrator’s relationship with Oroonoko is filtered through her romantic lens, enabling a dynamic and communicative relationship with the Prince that exhibits her sympathy towards his enslavement. In contrast, …

The Battle For Love Under The Governance Of Strict Social Codes, Nina Masin-Moyer

The Criterion

Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale” presents a grand, romantic, and heroic story between Palamon and Emily, who pray to Roman deities that represent the values and qualities that were important to men and women of that time. Conversely, “The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope is a mockery of this heroic style and tells a satirical tale of Belinda and Baron, each of whom pray to the powers of mystical creatures and trinkets, which are tangible manifestations of the rules that govern a gendered social order. Although Pope’s story is a satire of tales such as Chaucer’s, both comment …

The Criterion (2019)

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Tracing "Fake News:" The Printing Press, Social Media, And Politics, Aine Doyle

The Criterion

During the 2016 presidential election, “fake news” became a hot topic that shattered the American public’s trust of traditional news outlets and creating even deeper rifts between the two major political parties. Although the election made the American public acutely aware of “fake news”, the practice of appropriating images and quotations and manipulating information to influence public opinion can be traced back to the beginnings of the printing press. In this essay, I discuss how the phenomena of the printing press sets a precedent for other literacy tools—including social media—in how government and religious institutions used it to assert hold …

Eleven: The Bitchin' Subject Of Desire In Stranger Things, Heather Domenicis

The Criterion

Throughout the Stranger Things series, Eleven’s telekinetic monster-fighting abilities incessantly establish her as the girl who

everyone wants on their side. The way she is closely shot on camera and the fact that nearly every other character seeks her help or companionship establishes her as the continual subject of desire— a figure that is present in many Gothic texts. In this essay, I wish to present a brief genealogy of that figure: Lucy in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Miles in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw are two examples of early figures whose depictions suggest that Gothic genre relies …

Heroism, Terrorism, And The In-Between: The Validation Of Violence In V For Vendetta, Noah Mailloux

The Criterion

In Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta, a graphic novel made up of three installments, the titular character V dons a Guy Fawkes mask in celebration of a man who is historically known as a terrorist. V, though representative of a supposed extremist and violent in his behaviors, exemplifies the traits of a traditional hero rather than a terrorist. The word vendetta defines a person or group seeking vengeance or revenge on another person or group, and though this fits V’s role in the story, a personal vendetta is not the catalyst for his actions. The text examines …

"You Knew Him Well": The Galsworthy Letters And Trauma In Heart Of Darkness, Alexander T. Grey

The Criterion

Edward Said’s dissertation-turned-monograph Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of Autobiography (1966) was the first attempt in the realm of literary critique to apply Conrad’s personally letters to his fictions. Yet, since then, the multi-volume Collected Letters published in Cambridge University in 2008 has been but a resource for biographers and for a stray citation by an academic looking to ground a theory in a physical document. Considering the dearth of work looking into the Conrad letters, this essay traces the author’s understanding and processing of personal trauma through letters to Nobel Laureate John Galsworthy and use this theory to contextualize …

Chicken Paprika And Tug Of War: The Romantic "Dream Song 4" By John Berryman, Patrick Connell

The Criterion

Helen Vendler argues that John Berryman’s The Dream Songs synthesizes the Freudian Id and the Christian Conscience as personified by Henry and Mr. Bones respectively. Through a close reading, this essay seeks to analyze Vendler’s claim specifically within “Dream Song 4”, in which, the poet utilizes a trope from American minstrelsy to depict the lustful thoughts of a man, presumably Berryman himself, dining at an upscale restaurant. The two speakers of the poem personify and divide his mind and in keeping with the vaudeville performances Berryman draws from, Henry behaves with erratic irrationality, curbed only by the reason of his …

Drowning In Desire, Meghan Gavis

The Criterion

Despite being called a “love song,” T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is characterized by seemingly chaotic form that contrasts with a typical romance. Intentional irregularities in form express Prufrock’s overwhelming desire for companionship and his troubled self-consciousness. Through close readings of Eliot’s odd use of pronouns, rhyme scheme, and ellipses, Prufrock’s unsatiated desire and resulting inner instability are manifested. The undefined “you” and “I” demonstrate the tension between Prufrock’s public and private masks, which he creates to entice women. This romantic endeavor results in unharmonized versions of himself that wrestle with playfulness and agitation at his …

Father Figures In The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall: Bronte's Perspective On Victorian Era Masculinity, Mary Grace King

The Criterion

Anne Bronte presents two different depictions of fatherhood in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall that correspond to different expressions of masculinity. Anne Bronte comments on masculinity in the Victorian Era by presenting these different examples in the characters of Mr. Markham and Mr. Huntingdon as they interact with Arthur, Helen’s son. Both men display masculine traits as viewed by Victorian Era thought, but these traits vary between manly virtue (dignity and honesty) and manly vice (drinking and swearing). Furthermore, Bronte depicts patterns of abusive masculinity in the character Mr. Huntingdon in his interactions with Arthur as his biological father while …

Music As An Expression Of Traumatic Pasts And Conflicting Futures, Nina Masin-Moyer

The Criterion

Chad Abushanab’s “On the Dred Ranch Road Just off 283” and Emily Dickinson’s “Better—Than Music!” use their poetic forms to express the idea of music as being representative of each of their speakers’ spectrum of experiences and troubles. Despite the two poems being separated by hundreds of years and completely different life experiences, both speakers use the premise of music to establish their troubled pasts. The two poems begin to diverge when they also use music as a means of conveying their expectations for the future. Abushanab’s speaker laments his father’s alcoholism and the speaker has convinced himself the he …

Power Of The Weaker: Feminism In Uncle Tom's Cabin, Cidre Z. Zhou

The Criterion

Due to its contribution towards the abolition of slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was undoubtedly a huge hit in the nineteenth century and continues to influence our society today. This essay, however, focuses on the essentialist feminism of the book and examines whether it becomes male-chauvinist sexist in doing so. When men of the era failed to step out to defend the damned race, a group of women, though seemingly timid and frail, act boldly out of their kind, soft hearts and take chances to preserve the humanity left in this society. To illustrate this point, this essay …

Forgotten Fairies: Traditional English Folklore In "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Alexandra Larkin

The Criterion

While the fairies shown in the play would have been known by Shakespeare’s audience, there was a clear difference between the fairies of traditional folklore and the fairies that Shakespeare describes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In traditional English folklore, fairies were “made” for, and by, the middle and lower classes; their stories were most believed and the most encounters were experienced by these people. Fairies in folklore were alternatingly deadly and wildly helpful, giving humans who stumbled upon them presents or death. In the play, Shakespeare departs from more traditional depictions of fairies and instead characterizes these magical creatures …

Something In Nothing: A Discussion Of Madness And Wisdom In King Lear, Leela Mennillo

The Criterion

This essay argues against Shakespeare critic David Kastan’s nihilistic reading of King Lear. While I agree that nothingness lies at the heart of the tragedy, I maintain that the recurring theme of nothing does not depict a world devoid of meaning. Rather, Shakespeare suggests that the recognition of the abyss is necessary in the quest for higher meaning. I approach this debate through various philosophical lenses, presenting a reading that equates wisdom and nothingness. Cordelia’s recognition of the limitations of human knowledge first introduces this idea. I detect elements of the divine nature of nothingness in the seemingly nonsensical speeches …

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).

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.

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 …

Coverings Of White In Plath's 'The Bell Jar" And "Ariel" Poems, Emma M. Kuper

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Coming Of Age In The Disciplinary Structures Of The Catholic Church: Power And Discipline In A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man And The Land Of Spices, Rebecca Beaulieu

The Criterion

Coming of age in Ireland carries with it cultural and religious expectations drawn out from the history of Nationalism and the Catholic Church in Ireland. Using Michel Foucault’s theories on punishment and discipline, this essay looks at the way the Irish Catholic Church forms identity and conflict in characters from two different stories. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce and The Land of Spices by Kate O’Brien depict the coming-of-age of two main characters struggling to create their own identity in a strict Irish Catholic Culture. Though each of the characters grow and change …

Engaging The Traumatic Past In An Apocalyptic Present, Timothy J. Jerome

The Criterion

This essay explores the necessity of confronting the underlying issues of one's history in order to heal historic wounds, despite the difficulty and immediacy of one's current struggles. I examine how Pentecostalism functions as a touchstone to the past for John Grimes and his family in James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, and eventually allows protagonist John to transcend the traditional forms of self-identification in order to create a new informed model of identity within the religion.

Petticoats And Spurs: Female Armor In Spenser's "Faerie Queene" And Pope's "The Rape Of The Lock", Patrick D. Wilks

The Criterion

Both Britomart in Spenser’s Book 3, Canto 1 of Faerie Queene and Belinda in Pope’s The Rape of The Lock wear their clothes and (in Belinda’s case) makeup as their armor, both literally and figuratively. Both suffer unwanted advances, their image publicly besmirched as a result. Even though Belinda dresses to show off her beauty and Britomart dresses to conceal it, both women use their array as protection from cruel male world around them. Both feel safe, and both women have this safety violated and attack to defend their honor.

For Spenser, Chastity is a virtue to be held in …

"Song Is The Simple Rhythmic Liberation Of An Emotion": Stephen Dedalus' Musical Martyrdom, Colleen E. Mulhern

The Criterion

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is Joyce’s semi-autobiographical bildungsroman centered on Stephen Dedalus’ struggle to reconcile Catholic teachings with his own artistic ambitions. In Portrait, music aids Stephen’s epiphanies. Stephen uses music to express emotions unable to be conceived of in – what Joyce calls –“cut-and-dry language.” He appreciates the ability of songs to arouse emotion and induce thought; the songs that Stephen encounters help to form his identity, first as a martyr and, later, as a creator.

Awarded The Leonard J. McCarthy, S.J., Memorial Prize for 2018

When Time Stops: A Loss Of Identity Or A Lack Of Responsibility?, Emma M. Kuper

The Criterion

Elizabeth Bishop’s “In the Waiting Room”, and Louis MacNeice’s “Sunday Morning” follow a similar temporal structure as they begin with a normal passing of time, feature a hiatus or stretch of time in the central part of the poem, and then end with a return to normalcy. In addition, both poems include a connection among strangers during this stretched time period. However, Bishop’s speaker finds this connection frightening, due to her resulting loss of identity. In contrast, MacNeice portrays this connection as positive, as all of humanity shares in a peaceful, joyous morning. This difference originates in the cause of …