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Title: Aquatic phobias permeated through African American culture, economics, and politics.
Creator: Groover, Jon Eric., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This Project involves looking at African American culture as it relates to swimming, water safety awareness, and water skills. The paper explores the myths and cultural norms associated with drowning phobias in African Americans to discover the root causes. Through historic accounts of African American culture one begins to uncover reasons why this culture became, in a sense aqua phobic. The paper will show what water sport professionals are up against, when working with a culture that is...
Show moreThis Project involves looking at African American culture as it relates to swimming, water safety awareness, and water skills. The paper explores the myths and cultural norms associated with drowning phobias in African Americans to discover the root causes. Through historic accounts of African American culture one begins to uncover reasons why this culture became, in a sense aqua phobic. The paper will show what water sport professionals are up against, when working with a culture that is several generations removed from the water and their water skills. The ultimate goal is to draw attention to the importance of water safety and the ability to swim as a life skill.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170955
Subject Headings: Swimming pools, Social conditions, Minorities, Social conditions, Racism, African Americans, Economic conditions, African Americans in popular culture
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Blended: a memoir.
Creator: Greenberg, Abbe., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Blended: A Memoir is the author's recollection of her endeavors to overcome the difficulties that often accompany becoming a stepmother and build a "seamless" family.
Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360789
Subject Headings: Stepfamilies, Parent and child, Parent-child relationships, Remarriage, Children of divorced parents
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Can I call you brother?.
Creator: Norberg, Elizabeth Andrea., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and...
Show moreThe following manuscript is a novel intended to explore the confusing nature of butch lesbian gender identity and the unique bonds of friendship butch women often share with one another. Lesbian culture, today, sometimes puts pressure on the term butch and pushes butch women to choose between transgender, femme and androgynous. The lead character in this novel, Sarah, struggles to come to terms with her own sexual identity amidst all this pressure to conform. She watches her friends and searches for a model of what butch is and is not but she continues to feel emotionally and physically cut off from the people she cares about. Ultimately, Sarah realizes she can move fluidly between many genders. When she stops trying to be a stereotype, she is finally able to connect with the people she cares about.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186332
Subject Headings: Symbolism in literature, Lesbians, Attitudes, Homosexuality, Philosophy, Stereotype (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A dark, uncertain fate: homophobia, graphic novels, and queer identity.
Creator: Buso, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis focuses primarily on homophobia and how it plays a role in the construction of queer identities, specifically in graphic novels and comic books. The primary texts being analyzed are Alan Moore's Lost Girls, Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Michael Chabon's prose novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Throughout these and many other comics, queer identities reflect homophobic stereotypes rather than resisting them. However, this thesis argues that,...
Show moreThis thesis focuses primarily on homophobia and how it plays a role in the construction of queer identities, specifically in graphic novels and comic books. The primary texts being analyzed are Alan Moore's Lost Girls, Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and Michael Chabon's prose novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Throughout these and many other comics, queer identities reflect homophobic stereotypes rather than resisting them. However, this thesis argues that, despite the homophobic tendencies of these texts, the very nature of comics (their visual aspects, panel structures, and blank gutters) allows for an alternative space for positive queer identities.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2100584
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Sex in literature, Homophobia, Gender identity, Comic books, strips, etc, History and criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Drawing desires performance: dominance and submission in Will Eisner's The Spirit and Alan Moore's Watchmen.
Creator: Furlong, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis discusses the relationship between classic comic books and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.) Will Eisner's The Spirit is used to discuss sexuality and power in comics, with special attention paid to Eisner's "The Kissing Caper." The Eisner chapter explores the relationship between sadomasochism, film noir, gender dynamics and comics. Using Judith Butler, Fredric Wertham and Theodor Reik, the gender politics of The Spirit are discussed. Women's changing roles in the...
Show moreThis thesis discusses the relationship between classic comic books and BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.) Will Eisner's The Spirit is used to discuss sexuality and power in comics, with special attention paid to Eisner's "The Kissing Caper." The Eisner chapter explores the relationship between sadomasochism, film noir, gender dynamics and comics. Using Judith Butler, Fredric Wertham and Theodor Reik, the gender politics of The Spirit are discussed. Women's changing roles in the post-World War II American workplace are linked to Eisner's BDSM themes in The Spirit from the character's origin story to the 1950s. In examining Alan Moore's Watchmen, the paper focuses on transactional power dynamics and how BDSM rituals are enacted in modern American comics. American power relationships in politics are used as a comparison and contrast to BDSM dynamics in Watchmen. Samuel R. Delany, William Moulton Marston and Pat Califia are used as theorists within the discussion of power exchanges in Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore's graphic novel. The consensual fantasy element to this power relationship is demonstrated as the underlying dynamic of the act, and not as actual punishment or nonconsensual sadism.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332180
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Comic books, strips, etc, History and criticism, Erotic literature, History and criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Edith Wharton: self-actualization through characterization in The Age of Innocence.
Creator: Feuerberg, Betty., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Edith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal...
Show moreEdith Wharton uses characterization in the primary three characters in The Age of Innocence to explore the aspects of her life. Early adulthood is represented by May Welland Archer, who was born into New York 400, where society suppressed an individual's emotions, aspirations, and freedoms. The intermediate phase of her life is depicted in Newland Archer, who tests the confining limits of the society to which he belongs and strives to understand the role of emotions in achieving personal satisfaction. Wharton rejected and craved the ties of the New York 400 in the final phase of her life as portrayed in Ellen Olenska who left the 400, lived in Europe, and returned to New York. By developing these characters, Wharton attempts to retrospectively reconcile the transformations she experienced. Indeed, it will be clear that Wharton's work serves as a personal assessment of her self-actualization.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3360784
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Women and literature, History, Feminism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A good woman is hard to find: discovering the voice of the woman satirist in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood.
Creator: Paxton, Virginia A., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: While Flannery O'Connor's characters and narrative landscape may share a history with those of other works often labeled "Southern gothic," her heavily judicious narrative voice utilizes the depravity of the South struggling to find its identity as a means to explore her vision of God's mercy and distinguishes her work as satirical criticism. This thesis analyzes her construction of a distinctive satirical narrative voice for Wise Blood, particularly as it deviates from how she initially...
Show moreWhile Flannery O'Connor's characters and narrative landscape may share a history with those of other works often labeled "Southern gothic," her heavily judicious narrative voice utilizes the depravity of the South struggling to find its identity as a means to explore her vision of God's mercy and distinguishes her work as satirical criticism. This thesis analyzes her construction of a distinctive satirical narrative voice for Wise Blood, particularly as it deviates from how she initially wrote the first chapters as presented in earlier short stories like "The Train" and "The Peeler." Here, the ways in which O'Connor revises her diction and syntax to create a satirical tone will be examined closely. For the purposes of this paper, satire is defined as a literary work aimed at utilizing irony, hyperbole, or sarcasm to reveal, critique, and correct some moral, ethical, or social phenomenon or situation that the author finds reprehensible.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/221951
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Feminism and literature, Didactic fiction, American, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Hanging in the balance: the lure of Nietzsche's Apollonian and Dionysiac impulses in Kate Chopin's The Awakening.
Creator: Salamin, Jessica., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis represents a study of Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel, The Awakening. Further, it applies Nietzsche's principles of Dionysiac and Apollonian impulses to the literary analysis of the novel. I argue that the protagonist of the novel, Edna Pontellier, embarks on a quest to determine how she may live an authentic life - that is, a life whereby she is true to herself above all others. Ultimately, her search for self is overwhelmed by the imbalance of the Apollonian and Dionysiac...
Show moreThis thesis represents a study of Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel, The Awakening. Further, it applies Nietzsche's principles of Dionysiac and Apollonian impulses to the literary analysis of the novel. I argue that the protagonist of the novel, Edna Pontellier, embarks on a quest to determine how she may live an authentic life - that is, a life whereby she is true to herself above all others. Ultimately, her search for self is overwhelmed by the imbalance of the Apollonian and Dionysiac impulses against which she struggles. Because Edna cannot successfully mediate this struggle, she reaches the conclusion that she may only attain a truth to her self if she finds that truth in death.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/216407
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Self in literature, Women and literature, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: One nation under gods: interfaith symbolism and the "American" race in the works of Jean Toomer.
Creator: Fallon, Laura Gayle., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study argues that the interfaith symbolism present in the works of American author Jean Toomer undermines dominant Christian justifications for racism in the United States. It also discusses the ways in which Toomer's interfaith symbolism promotes the establishment of a race Toomer called the "American" race, a group of interracial, interreligious people whom Toomer hoped would change the way race was viewed in the United States. The multireligious references in Toomer's works challenge...
Show moreThis study argues that the interfaith symbolism present in the works of American author Jean Toomer undermines dominant Christian justifications for racism in the United States. It also discusses the ways in which Toomer's interfaith symbolism promotes the establishment of a race Toomer called the "American" race, a group of interracial, interreligious people whom Toomer hoped would change the way race was viewed in the United States. The multireligious references in Toomer's works challenge constricted definitions of both religion and race by highlighting interchangeable religious ideals from several world religions.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/359926
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Race in popular culture, Race relations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The prairie and the pampas: a comparison of settlement policy and environmental influences on epic literature in the United States and Argentina.
Creator: Budinger, David., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis will examine the governmental settlement policies in two similar topographical areas, the North American prairie and the South American pampas. Specifically, three novels by Willa Cather, will be included: My Antonia, O Pioneers!, and A Lost Lady. They will be discussed in relation to the development of Nebraska as afforded by the Homestead Act of 1862 and compared to the very different land settlement policies of Argentina as conveyed through the Argentinian national epic poem El...
Show moreThis thesis will examine the governmental settlement policies in two similar topographical areas, the North American prairie and the South American pampas. Specifically, three novels by Willa Cather, will be included: My Antonia, O Pioneers!, and A Lost Lady. They will be discussed in relation to the development of Nebraska as afforded by the Homestead Act of 1862 and compared to the very different land settlement policies of Argentina as conveyed through the Argentinian national epic poem El Gaucho Martin Fierro by Josâe Hernâandez. Particular attention will be made to the influence of the land and its creatures as a shaping influence on the characters created by the authors. There will be additional examination of the effect these works had on historical development within their respective countries, which will involve social and political analysis to place the literature within the historical perspectives of both countries.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332177
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Epic poetry, Argentine literature, Criticism and interpretation, Environmentalism, Environmentalism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Reconfiguring the classic narrative of pulp fiction.
Creator: Gray, Alexandria S., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project considers four writers that have used postmodern narrative strategies to reconfigure classic pulp science fiction tropes. The primary texts are Catherine L. Moore's "Shambleau," Eleanor Arnason's "The Warlord of Saturn's Moons", Robert Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones", and Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin". Each experiments with narrative voices or uses a story-within-a-story structure. These strategies enable the authors to engage and comment on the process of how...
Show moreThis project considers four writers that have used postmodern narrative strategies to reconfigure classic pulp science fiction tropes. The primary texts are Catherine L. Moore's "Shambleau," Eleanor Arnason's "The Warlord of Saturn's Moons", Robert Heinlein's "The Rolling Stones", and Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin". Each experiments with narrative voices or uses a story-within-a-story structure. These strategies enable the authors to engage and comment on the process of how traditional tropes and narratives are brought into a new context through appropriation and reconstruction.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3332251
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Pulp literature, Criticism and interpretation, Popular literature, Criticism and interpretation, Postmodernism (Literature), Feminism and literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The rhetoric of unity in a pluralistic early America.
Creator: Wilson, Joel., Department of English
Abstract/Description: The push of the past half century to redefine the American canon through the incorporation of writers representative of America's heterogeneousness has given voice to a range of marginalized writers. This movement, predicated on the belief that American society was never as unified as its early leaders would have us believe, has overstated what it sought to challenge : the unitedness of early Americans. Casting the leaders of the Early Republic as in complete accord, such critical readings...
Show moreThe push of the past half century to redefine the American canon through the incorporation of writers representative of America's heterogeneousness has given voice to a range of marginalized writers. This movement, predicated on the belief that American society was never as unified as its early leaders would have us believe, has overstated what it sought to challenge : the unitedness of early Americans. Casting the leaders of the Early Republic as in complete accord, such critical readings negate the significant differences that existed and the pains necessary to present something akin to national unity and identity. It is my aim to show that this unity came about through a constructed rhetoric meant to unify the citizens in colonial America and the Early Republic. In this thesis, I will examine three modes of this rhetoric : American Exceptionalism, the American Enlightenment, and the movements supporting a mono-dialectal view of American English.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359161
Subject Headings: National characteristics, American, History, Civilization, History, Influence, History, Politics and government, Politics and government
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Strange time: block universes and strange loop phenomena in two novels by Kurt Vonnegut.
Creator: Altomare, Francis C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Einsteinian relativity forever altered our understanding of the metaphysics of time. This study considers how this scientific theory affects the formulation of time in postmodern narratives as a necessary step toward understanding the relationship between empirical science and literary art. Two novels by Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five, exemplify this synthesis. Close readings of these texts reveal an underlying temporal scheme deeply informed by relativity....
Show moreEinsteinian relativity forever altered our understanding of the metaphysics of time. This study considers how this scientific theory affects the formulation of time in postmodern narratives as a necessary step toward understanding the relationship between empirical science and literary art. Two novels by Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-Five, exemplify this synthesis. Close readings of these texts reveal an underlying temporal scheme deeply informed by relativity. Furthermore, this study explores how relativity manifests in these texts in light of the block universe concept, Gèodelian universes, and strange loop phenomena. Vonnegut's treatment of free will is also discussed. All of these considerations emphasize Vonnegut's role as a member of the Third Culture, an author who consciously bridges C.P. Snow's two cultures.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2684306
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Postmodernism (Literature), Literature and science, Science and the humanities in literature, Space and time in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Telomeres.
Creator: Oquendo, Nicole., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Telomeres is a manuscript-length lyric essay in many parts that traces the relationship of the narrator and her father as they both navigate the landscape of post-traumatic stress disorder after his return from Vietnam.
Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359283
Subject Headings: Post-traumatic stress disorder, Fathers and daughters, VIetnam War, 1961-1975, Veterans, Mental health, Veterans, Mental health
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Trilling R's: meditations on immigration, assimilation, and language.
Creator: O'Brien, Shannon., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Immigration has become a hot button issue across the United States. Television newsmen dedicate hours of time to excoriate the "illegal invasion." I viewed the immigration debate as something not directly concerning me. I am a legal citizen of Hispanic descent. My mother is a naturalized citizen from Mexico. However, as the government conducted raids looking for illegal immigrants, my mother became more aware of her place as a Mexican woman living in the Midwest. She wondered whether people...
Show moreImmigration has become a hot button issue across the United States. Television newsmen dedicate hours of time to excoriate the "illegal invasion." I viewed the immigration debate as something not directly concerning me. I am a legal citizen of Hispanic descent. My mother is a naturalized citizen from Mexico. However, as the government conducted raids looking for illegal immigrants, my mother became more aware of her place as a Mexican woman living in the Midwest. She wondered whether people would assume she was illegal because of her accent and appearance. Our discussions prompted me to think about of my place in the story, and about my lack of connection with the Hispanic culture. I set out to interview migrants living in South Florida, and to document my and my mother's experience with immigration and assimilation.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186683
Subject Headings: Emigration and immigration, Assimilation (Sociology), Pluralism (Social sciences), Social adjustment, Hispanic Americans, Cultural assimilation, Emigration and immigration, Government policy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The use of the bastard identity: from Victorian subverters to superheroes in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Creator: Dessler, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of...
Show moreThis project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355567
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Literature and society, History, Literature and society, History, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Illegitimacy in literature, Sex role in literature, Sensationalism in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Criticism and interpretation (10)	+ -
History (4)	+ -
Comic books, strips, etc (3)	+ -
Symbolism in literature (3)	+ -
Feminism and literature (2)	+ -

History and criticism (2)	+ -
Postmodernism (Literature) (2)	+ -
Women and literature (2)	+ -
Aesthetics (1)	+ -
African Americans (1)	+ -
African Americans in popular culture (1)	+ -
Argentine literature (1)	+ -
Assimilation (Sociology) (1)	+ -
Attitudes (1)	+ -
Children of divorced parents (1)	+ -
Civilization (1)	+ -
Cultural assimilation (1)	+ -
Didactic fiction, American (1)	+ -
Economic conditions (1)	+ -
Emigration and immigration (1)	+ -
Environmentalism (1)	+ -
Epic poetry (1)	+ -
Erotic literature (1)	+ -
Fathers and daughters (1)	+ -
Feminism in literature (1)	+ -
Gender identity (1)	+ -
Government policy (1)	+ -
Hispanic Americans (1)	+ -
Homophobia (1)	+ -
Homosexuality (1)	+ -

Argentina (1)	+ -
Great Britain (1)	+ -

20th century (5)	+ -
19th century (3)	+ -
1775-1783 (1)	+ -
1783-1809 (1)	+ -
Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 (1)	+ -

Revolution, 1775-1783 (1)	+ -
To 1783 (1)	+ -

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