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Title: The discourse of confession and the rhetoric of the devil: unnatural attraction and gender instability in Wuthering Heights and The Master of Ballantrae.
Creator: DeFalco, Dana., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Often overlooked in the nineteenth century Gothic novel are the complicated social issues existing within the text. In Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, the authors each create villains who represent the preoccupation with appropriate sexuality and conventional gender roles existing in Victorian England. Brontèe's Heathcliff and Stevenson's James Durie embody all that is immoral and non-normative in society with their depraved behavior ;...
Show moreOften overlooked in the nineteenth century Gothic novel are the complicated social issues existing within the text. In Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae, the authors each create villains who represent the preoccupation with appropriate sexuality and conventional gender roles existing in Victorian England. Brontèe's Heathcliff and Stevenson's James Durie embody all that is immoral and non-normative in society with their depraved behavior ; however, because of the authors' craftiness with language, the authors, through their villains, manage to magnetize the other characters and subsequently emasculate those men in the text who emulate the Victorian ideal of masculinity. By focusing their novels on the plight of the Other and his disruption to the homogeneous rules regarding sexuality and gender in the nineteenth century, both authors articulate a profound understanding of the societal fears regarding these issues existing in their time.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3170602
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Homosexuality in literature, Symbolism in literature, Confession in literature, Desire in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao: an epistemological fantasy.
Creator: Creed, Daniel B., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Charles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, published in 1936, has been widely read in the last eighty years and has influenced significant authors in the field of fantasy, yet it has been examined in just three critical studies in that time. This study examines Finney's novel as an epistemological fantasy, a heretofore undefined term that precipitates an epistemological crisis of knowing and certainty. The novel opens a way for fantasy literature to establish itself in a Modernist landscape by...
Show moreCharles Finney's The Circus of Dr. Lao, published in 1936, has been widely read in the last eighty years and has influenced significant authors in the field of fantasy, yet it has been examined in just three critical studies in that time. This study examines Finney's novel as an epistemological fantasy, a heretofore undefined term that precipitates an epistemological crisis of knowing and certainty. The novel opens a way for fantasy literature to establish itself in a Modernist landscape by foregrounding the marvelous and extraordinary knowledge that lies just outside the realm of human experience. Finney presents Dr. Lao's circus as a surrogate model of success, and while many of the characters in the novel are unable to accept the truth offered them by the beings of fantasy, the author uses their experiences to satirize the complacencies he witnessed upon returning to America from the Far East in the 1930s.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683122
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Knowledge, Theory of, in literature, Fantasy fiction, American, Criticism and interpretation, Postmodernism (Literature)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Existential consciousness, redemption, and Buddhist allusions in the work of Saul Bellow.
Creator: Durbeej, Jerry K., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Within the past two centuries, massive industrialization, technological and scientific advances, wars, diseases, failures in social systems, and religious, ethnic, and political conflicts have produced an existential angst that has saturated the collective consciousness of modern man. The atrocities of World Wars I and II induced European and American authors and artists to confront this state of disillusionment, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and dread; consequently, much of our modern...
Show moreWithin the past two centuries, massive industrialization, technological and scientific advances, wars, diseases, failures in social systems, and religious, ethnic, and political conflicts have produced an existential angst that has saturated the collective consciousness of modern man. The atrocities of World Wars I and II induced European and American authors and artists to confront this state of disillusionment, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and dread; consequently, much of our modern literature reflects this nihilistic darkness. In this state of grave doubts and uncertainties, the modern man finds himself alienated and disconnected from the very essences that ground him. Scholars of literature, philosophy, and the various arts and social sciences, having examined this contemporary dilemma, find just cause to question our western belief that science, technology, and materialism put the world in order. The further indictment is that these rational and materialistic forces have usurped the place of God and dismantled the ancient mythologies that once grounded our existence. This study examines the selected work of Saul Bellow and argues that his recurring themes of suffering, compassion, humanity, and renewal of the human spirit are antithetical to this collective existential angst. My argument introduces the doctrine of Existentialism and then explores the basic existentialist theory of Jean-Paul Sartre. From this platform, I later establish that Bellow takes a stand against this collective nihilism in favor of community and the celebration of life that are defined by a moral framework. Bellow's most representative novel in this vein of existential dislocation is Dangling Man., From this novel, I argue that there is an inherent flaw in the notion that man's essential existence can only be defined through his agency as an individual, and that man, not God, is ultimately responsible for his actions and destiny. This pursuit of existence based on personal freedom and intellectual synthesis is prone to failure; Bellow's point of view is that the existentialist, having disconnected himself from God and community, plunges into an abyss fraught with angst and turmoil. Bellow's theme of humanity instructs that our redemption lies not in our personal quest, but in our absorption and participation in a community framed by moral precepts and the respect for God. Finally, and from another angle and through Bellow's Herzog, I establish a connection to Buddhism. From these Buddhist allusions, I further affirm that the quest for authentic existence and redemption demands a confrontation with our angst and an acknowledgement of our suffering.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1870695
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Existentialsim in literature, Symbolism in literature, Buddhism and literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: I'll be your mirror: reflections on doubling and the processing of aggression in the post(modern) fairy tales of Hesse & Winterson.
Creator: Rigdon, Brittany K., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Traditional fairy tales represent some of the oldest and most archetypal forms of literature. However, as humanity rapidly evolves, the genre and content of traditional fairy tales still operates as a prevalent socializing agent that fails to promote pluralism. Instead, traditional fairy tales illustrate and uphold limited gender roles and expectations. This paper examines Hermann Hesse's role as a pioneer in a now burgeoning movement of fairy tale revisions that blur boundaries between...
Show moreTraditional fairy tales represent some of the oldest and most archetypal forms of literature. However, as humanity rapidly evolves, the genre and content of traditional fairy tales still operates as a prevalent socializing agent that fails to promote pluralism. Instead, traditional fairy tales illustrate and uphold limited gender roles and expectations. This paper examines Hermann Hesse's role as a pioneer in a now burgeoning movement of fairy tale revisions that blur boundaries between fantasy and reality by introducing specific, everyday locations, countries, and individuals coupled with a copious use of the double. This formula draws the reader into the tale via the uncanny and prompts a reevaluation of especially violent historical moments and issues that affect all within a society. Hesse's work within this new tradition of revisions of beloved fairy tales, as well as his creation of literary fairy tales, has significantly influenced the work of key postmodern feminist fairy tale revisionists like Jeanette Winterson.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/369202
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Feminism in literature, Postmodernism (Literature), Fairy tales, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Spenser's spiritual vision: the Faerie Queene as a teleological romance.
Creator: Groves, Laura Hendricks., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: A recent trend in Spenser studies that relies heavily on materialist thinking either undervalues or misses altogether The Faerie Queene's inherent spiritual quality along with the irreducible interaction and ultimate reciprocity of earth and heaven. This thesis argues that Edmund Spenser's spiritual vision in The Faerie Queene expresses itself in a teleological romance that assumes a condition of mutability over stasis in the temporal earthly realm, as its first three heroes ascend a ladder...
Show moreA recent trend in Spenser studies that relies heavily on materialist thinking either undervalues or misses altogether The Faerie Queene's inherent spiritual quality along with the irreducible interaction and ultimate reciprocity of earth and heaven. This thesis argues that Edmund Spenser's spiritual vision in The Faerie Queene expresses itself in a teleological romance that assumes a condition of mutability over stasis in the temporal earthly realm, as its first three heroes ascend a ladder of perfection that evokes the heavenly and eternal, while at the same time heavenly glory reaches down into the story "romancing" the characters and exerting its own influence on the action.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210523
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Spirituality in literature, English literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Meis Oculis: eyes in the early poetry of T.S. Eliot.
Creator: Richards, Joshua., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study is an examination of ocular imagery in the secular poetry of T.S. Eliot. As a symbol, eyes begin as a metonym for the panoptic vision of society. In the earliest poems, Michel Foucault's conceptions of discipline illuminate the acerbic paranoia attached to ocular imagery and its source in the culture of turn-of-the-century Boston. Towards 1919, the image of eyes becomes an objective correlative for the figure of Dante's Beatrice who represents both earthly and divine love. The loss...
Show moreThis study is an examination of ocular imagery in the secular poetry of T.S. Eliot. As a symbol, eyes begin as a metonym for the panoptic vision of society. In the earliest poems, Michel Foucault's conceptions of discipline illuminate the acerbic paranoia attached to ocular imagery and its source in the culture of turn-of-the-century Boston. Towards 1919, the image of eyes becomes an objective correlative for the figure of Dante's Beatrice who represents both earthly and divine love. The loss of sight by the various speakers in both - "Gerontion" and The Waste Land is then the loss of connection to both the earthly woman and God. Finally, in The Hollow Men, the tenor and vehicle merge completely so the eyes themselves become the object of desire.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/215286
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Postmodernism (Literature), Imagery (Psychology) in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: " Merely to officiate light": the subordination and glorification of God the Son in Paradise Lost.
Creator: Cruikshank, Kathryn H., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: This thesis considers the role and function of God the Son within the anti-Trinitarian system John Milton envisions in his epic poem, Paradise Lost. In the poem, God the Father frequently acts independently of His Son, and the divine attributes that traditionally describe the Son, including His timelessness, no longer apply to the character Milton constructs. Despite this apparent degradation, Milton still elevates the Son and considers Him to be a character worthy of our respect. To account...
Show moreThis thesis considers the role and function of God the Son within the anti-Trinitarian system John Milton envisions in his epic poem, Paradise Lost. In the poem, God the Father frequently acts independently of His Son, and the divine attributes that traditionally describe the Son, including His timelessness, no longer apply to the character Milton constructs. Despite this apparent degradation, Milton still elevates the Son and considers Him to be a character worthy of our respect. To account for this seeming paradox, I propose a reading of Paradise Lost that does not dismiss Milton's heretical belief in a subjected Son, but rather uses it as a way envision a new form of power. To do so, I compare the relationship between God the Father and His Son in terms of light and sun imagery, to demonstrate how power is divided and distributed between the two, according to the scientific principles of Milton's day. In addition, I consider how Michel Foucault's concept of the docile body both applies to the Son and explains His deference to the Father. Through these analyses, I hope to demonstrate that the Son's power exists as the result of properly exercising His free will, a will that would not have been His own had He been one with His Father.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209988
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Religion, Symbolism in literature, God in literature, Religion and literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Polysemy in John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Creator: Harrawood, Suzanne., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This is a study of the polysemous language in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Unlike some of his seventeenth-century contemporaries, Milton did not harbor a mistrust of highly symbolic and interpretable language, and the fact that he did not has deep repercussions in Milton's great epic. I examine the porous and mutable nature of Edenic language, and how it challenges the idea of prelapsarian language as devoid of polysemous gloss. Prior to the Fall, Adam and Eve's perfect acquisition of...
Show moreThis is a study of the polysemous language in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Unlike some of his seventeenth-century contemporaries, Milton did not harbor a mistrust of highly symbolic and interpretable language, and the fact that he did not has deep repercussions in Milton's great epic. I examine the porous and mutable nature of Edenic language, and how it challenges the idea of prelapsarian language as devoid of polysemous gloss. Prior to the Fall, Adam and Eve's perfect acquisition of knowledge is not undermined by the symbolism of language. Nevertheless, Satan cleverly exploits the polysemy of Edenic language in order to effectuate Adam and Eve's transgression. Ultimately, Milton's Paradise Lost departs from common seventeenth-century theories about language and knowledge. Milton's view is unique in that it retains a positive view of symbolic language and suggests that postlapsarian humanity is bereft of divine guidance and left to struggle for knowledge through experience.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/332913
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Narration (Rhetoric), Polysemy, Semiotics
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "...At the ear of Eve": hearing, gender, and the physiology of the fall in John Milton's Paradise lost.
Creator: Pollari, Niina., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: The organ of hearing, in John Milton's Paradise Lost, is inextricably connected with both the physical and the spiritual; it is the point of entry through which Satan's words enter Eve's brain, subsequently process, and lead eventually to the fall of mankind. Its symbolic importance is also indisputable, as it is a metaphor for the feminine passivity and penetrability that make Milton's Eve a particularly vulnerable target. There is, however, already a pre-existing connection between the ear...
Show moreThe organ of hearing, in John Milton's Paradise Lost, is inextricably connected with both the physical and the spiritual; it is the point of entry through which Satan's words enter Eve's brain, subsequently process, and lead eventually to the fall of mankind. Its symbolic importance is also indisputable, as it is a metaphor for the feminine passivity and penetrability that make Milton's Eve a particularly vulnerable target. There is, however, already a pre-existing connection between the ear and its role in Paradise Lost. The seventeenth-century medical texts of Milton's contemporaries gender the physiology of the ear and the process of hearing and therefore contribute to its importance in the pivotal temptation scene; that is, the rhetoric surrounding the physiology of the ear is the down fall of humankind in the epic poem. As a result of the dangerous connection between science and language, Milton's characters are already predestined to sin.
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Date Issued: 2006
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11583
Subject Headings: Symbolism in communication, Fall of man, Body, Human, in literature, Literature and science, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Under construction: positive-negative space in Faulkner and beyond.
Creator: Puleo, Simone Maria., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This thesis probes the materiality of a text by focusing on elliptical matters. In The Culture of Time and Space, Stephen Kern introduces the term "positive-negative space" to describe the primacy of empty space as a formal subject matter in sculptures of the early twentieth century. With some caveats and distinctions, the thesis argues that Kern's theory of positive-negative space is crucial for reading Faulkner's crytic and polyvalent production of space. Using a smorgasbord of approaches...
Show moreThis thesis probes the materiality of a text by focusing on elliptical matters. In The Culture of Time and Space, Stephen Kern introduces the term "positive-negative space" to describe the primacy of empty space as a formal subject matter in sculptures of the early twentieth century. With some caveats and distinctions, the thesis argues that Kern's theory of positive-negative space is crucial for reading Faulkner's crytic and polyvalent production of space. Using a smorgasbord of approaches including psychoanalytic and reader-response criticism, feminist and critical race theories, post-structuralist and formalist notions of space, theories of the "hole" in fine arts sculpture, and the New Southern studies, my thesis reinvents the conception of positive-negative space, and asserts that positive-negative space as an artistic principle" is the modus operandi of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and Sanctuary.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358961
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Space in literature, Place (Philosophy) in literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A literary history of sugarcane discourse in the works of James Grainger and Junot Dâiaz.
Creator: Linder, Michael., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study examines the recurrence of the image of sugarcane in Caribbean literature and traces a timeline of oppressive discourse. The image of the cane field represents a tension between silencing voice and identity independent of European nation-building ideologies. There is a history of silencing associated with sugarcane, even as Caribbean authors seek a potential to use this history to create a voice. While the authors examined employ the image of the cane field to create a voice...
Show moreThis study examines the recurrence of the image of sugarcane in Caribbean literature and traces a timeline of oppressive discourse. The image of the cane field represents a tension between silencing voice and identity independent of European nation-building ideologies. There is a history of silencing associated with sugarcane, even as Caribbean authors seek a potential to use this history to create a voice. While the authors examined employ the image of the cane field to create a voice outside of the dominant discourse, the voice of the Caribbean is nonetheless restricted. Postcolonial theory will be used to examine the history of oppression through the image of sugarcane as a negative past that authors try to get beyond, while dealing with the issue that it also helped to form their voice. My thesis investigates these issues using The Sugar-Cane: A Poem. In Four Books. With Notes, a poem by James Grainger, to set up the colonial history of sugar in the Caribbean and Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as a reaction to that colonial discourse.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342201
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Sugar in literature, Imperialism in literature, Caribbean literature (English), Criticism and interpretation, In literature
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: A humdrum aha!: John Clare's mundane sublime.
Creator: Pell, Dana Odwazny., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Following the work of Sara Houghton-Walker and Edward Strickland, this thesis theorizes the "mundane sublime" as encountered in romanticist John Clare's poetry. Instead of being oriented upward, as with Longinus's elevatory sublime, Clare's mundane sublime brings the subject downward to earth. While the sublime of the Burkean tradition begins with terror, I claim that the mundane sublime emerges out of love for that which is commonplace. Still revelatory, it may be further characterized by an...
Show moreFollowing the work of Sara Houghton-Walker and Edward Strickland, this thesis theorizes the "mundane sublime" as encountered in romanticist John Clare's poetry. Instead of being oriented upward, as with Longinus's elevatory sublime, Clare's mundane sublime brings the subject downward to earth. While the sublime of the Burkean tradition begins with terror, I claim that the mundane sublime emerges out of love for that which is commonplace. Still revelatory, it may be further characterized by an engagement with ecosystems, eternity, divinity, and nature as a whole. Clare's style scaffolds images resulting in a profusion of detail that arrests the mind and allows it to reflect on its own position in nature. As Clare's mundane sublime takes up simple natural objects and posits an ecological interconnectedness, it implies a more environmentally responsible relationship to one's surroundings, making it increasingly relevant for green studies.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355875
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in nature, Poets, English, Criticism and interpretation, Sublime, The, Criticism and interpretation, Sublime, The, in literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The celebration of uncertainty through gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights.
Creator: Copeland, Kimberly., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: While critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This...
Show moreWhile critics have argued that the Gothic moments in Emily Brontèe's Wuthering Heights merely illuminate the psyches of her characters, I show that these moments allow Brontèe to reveal a unique tension and overflow of emotion that arises between her two main protagonists. Blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, these displays --scenes of ghostly hauntings, bloody violence, and excessive emotion--create a desirable uncertainty about the limits of life and love in this novel. This uncertainty constitutes an escape from and an alternative to the conventional romantic relationship prescribed by social and narrative standards in which two people fall in love, get married, have children and die. In my thesis, I argue that the revelation of this desired uncertainty is made possible by Brontèe's use of Gothic devices and could not have been as successfully achieved by any other literary mode.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209987
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Gothic revival (Literature), English fiction, History and criticism
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Tolkien's The Silmarillion: a reexamination of providence.
Creator: Powell, David C., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Christian providence in the primary (real) world operates as the model for the spiritual movement of Eru/Illuvatar in Tolkien's secondary (imaginative) world. Paralleling the Christian God, Illuvatar maintains a relationship with his creation through a three-fold activity: preservation, concurrence, and government. Preservation affirms Eru's sovereignty as Creator, and concurrence guarantees creaturely freedom, while paradoxically, government controls, guides, and determines those wills in...
Show moreChristian providence in the primary (real) world operates as the model for the spiritual movement of Eru/Illuvatar in Tolkien's secondary (imaginative) world. Paralleling the Christian God, Illuvatar maintains a relationship with his creation through a three-fold activity: preservation, concurrence, and government. Preservation affirms Eru's sovereignty as Creator, and concurrence guarantees creaturely freedom, while paradoxically, government controls, guides, and determines those wills in Time. The union of these three activities comprises the providential relationship of Illuvatar in Tolkien's imaginary world. The following thesis endeavors to carry the argument for providence into The Silmarillion with a declarative and analytical detail that distinguishes Illuvatar's providence from other temporal manifestations. Finally, the analysis reveals not only the author's authentic orthodox perspective, but Illuvatar's role in the imaginative world emerges as a reflection of Tolkien's authorial role in the real world.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/228766
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), Fantasy literature, English, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: "Our fellows in mortality": kindness to animals in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure.
Creator: Brockway, Jessica L., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Abstract/Description: In Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy depicts characters who are especially sensitive to the suffering of all living creatures and thus engages his novel in the topic of animal rights. In this project I examine the human-animal relationships in Hardy's novel in terms of the ideas of two different philosophers: Peter Singer and Cora Diamond. I argue that, while Singer at first seems to provide a useful model for understanding these relationships in Jude, Diamond's account of these relationships is...
Show moreIn Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy depicts characters who are especially sensitive to the suffering of all living creatures and thus engages his novel in the topic of animal rights. In this project I examine the human-animal relationships in Hardy's novel in terms of the ideas of two different philosophers: Peter Singer and Cora Diamond. I argue that, while Singer at first seems to provide a useful model for understanding these relationships in Jude, Diamond's account of these relationships is ultimately a more helpful tool for understanding Hardy's ideas about animals. Diamond helps us see that Hardy believes people should help all living creatures in pain, no matter the cost to themselves, not because they recognize their suffering, but because they recognize a shared commonality with all sentient creatures.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334248
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Animal rights (Philosophy), Human-animal relationships in literature, Symbolism in literature, Animals and civilization
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Constituting community: expanding perceptions of community in Rawlings's Cross Creek and Thoreau's Walden.
Creator: Curran, Julianne., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Both Thoreau and Rawlings call attention to humanity's need to expand its perceptions and interpretations of what it means to be a part of a community in Walden and Cross Creek, respectively. Building on the established idea of what it means to be incorporated into a human community, each author also implores his or her readers to extend the perceived boundaries of what comprises a "community" to include the natural world. Ultimately, both texts point to the need for the establishment of what...
Show moreBoth Thoreau and Rawlings call attention to humanity's need to expand its perceptions and interpretations of what it means to be a part of a community in Walden and Cross Creek, respectively. Building on the established idea of what it means to be incorporated into a human community, each author also implores his or her readers to extend the perceived boundaries of what comprises a "community" to include the natural world. Ultimately, both texts point to the need for the establishment of what Aldo Leopold calls a land ethic, which requires the re-drawing of communal boundaries to include the land with man as a citizen rather than a conqueror of Nature. Thoreau and Rawlings demonstrate how an individual can start to expand his or her conception of community to move closer to Leopold's ideal by recounting the different experiences they have with human society and nature while living at Walden Pond and in Cross Creek, Florida. However, each author uses different approaches. Thoreau concentrates primarily on reflecting upon improving his individual self in order to eventually improve his Concord community. Rawlings, on the other hand, makes a greater effort to reflect upon her interactions with the people of Cross Creek in addition to her interactions with Nature in order to strengthen her bonds with these things. Such a difference causes Rawlings to be read as presenting a re-vision of Thoreau's ideas about the relationship between humankind, one's community, and Nature. While the kinds of experiences Thoreau and Rawlings encounter might be different, in the end it is their emphasis on the importance of an individual's relationship to the community-one that includes both humans and Nature-that resonates with readers.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683121
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, National characteristics, American, in literature, Nature, Effect of human beings on
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Fight for education, fight for freedom: from object to subject in freedom narratives.
Creator: Messinger, Samantha., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: The three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative...
Show moreThe three novels examined in this thesis do not deal with the subject of slavery directly; however, I argue that, much like slave narratives, they all depict oppressive master/slave relationships and feature protagonists who fight for freedom through literacy and/or education. This thesis outlines three contemporary novels that take place during or after the Civil Rights Movement, what I call "freedom narratives," that not only signify on, but pay tribute to, the slave and neo-slave narrative tradition. These novels borrow from the tradition, not only in terms of structure, but also in terms of plot, point of view, theme, and resolution. Additionally, through the novels, one can see how the trauma of slavery in America permeates contemporary American homes, both White and Black. This thesis focuses on PUSH by Sapphire, The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, and Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison to illustrate the significance and the impact of the traditional slave narrative and the trauma of slavery on contemporary novels and American people.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342241
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Slavery in literature, Symbolism in literature, African American women novelists, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gender, Myth, and Warfare: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Women Warriors.
Creator: Boomer, Anne-Louise Lyttle, Brown, Susan Love, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
Abstract/Description: A combination of cross-cultural and symbolic methodologies suggests that women warriors occur in societies where there is both an emphasis on the sacred feminine that allows women greater access to positions of power and authority (as per Peggy Sanday) and where marital residency rules permit female fighters (following David B. Adams´s theory on women warriors). While neither theory can stand alone in explaining the existence of women warriors, when combined both theories give a solid picture...
Show moreA combination of cross-cultural and symbolic methodologies suggests that women warriors occur in societies where there is both an emphasis on the sacred feminine that allows women greater access to positions of power and authority (as per Peggy Sanday) and where marital residency rules permit female fighters (following David B. Adams´s theory on women warriors). While neither theory can stand alone in explaining the existence of women warriors, when combined both theories give a solid picture of societies that allow for female combatants. In this paper I propose that by combining Sanday’s work on female power and Adams’s work on women warriors we can come to a better understanding about just what makes the cultures that allow for women’s participation in warfare unique, and perhaps what characteristics must be in place in order for a culture to have women warriors.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004571, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004571
Subject Headings: Sanday, Peggy Reeves.--Female power and male dominance--Criticism and interpretation., Adams, David B.--Why there are so few women warriors--Criticism and interpretation., Feminism in literature., Sex (Psychology)--Cross-cultural studies., Symbolism (Psychology)--Cross-cultural studies.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Divine alchemy in Paradise Lost.
Creator: Rutherford, Andrea J., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: This study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his...
Show moreThis study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his deliberate use of the alchemical metaphor. These themes support the proposal that Milton, a Christian humanist, uses alchemy as a metaphor described in this study as "divine alchemy," which begins with his belief that Christians, inheriting original sin, must submit themselves to a transformative process similar to transmutation to restore right reason and, ultimately, achieve salvation.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3358963
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Influence, Knowledge, Science, Symbolism in literature, Science in literature, Literature and science, History
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The bones of the ox: how J.R.R. Tolkien's cosmology reflects ancient Near Eastern creation myths.
Creator: Dutton, Amanda M., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
Abstract/Description: Scholars have well established the influence of the Old and Middle English, Norse, Welsh, and also Medieval Latin and Christian mythologies that influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. In particular, the mythology contained in The Silmarillion, specific the cosmology, behaves as sacred texts do in the primary world and mirrors a number of extant mythologies when they are directly compared. Several scholars have note, but as yet no one has studied in depth, the relationship between the...
Show moreScholars have well established the influence of the Old and Middle English, Norse, Welsh, and also Medieval Latin and Christian mythologies that influenced the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. In particular, the mythology contained in The Silmarillion, specific the cosmology, behaves as sacred texts do in the primary world and mirrors a number of extant mythologies when they are directly compared. Several scholars have note, but as yet no one has studied in depth, the relationship between the cosmology the The Silmarillion to that of a number of extant ancient Near Eastern mythologies. This thesis seeks to address that gap in the scholarship by specifically exploring Tolkien's mythological creation story in relation to those of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Abrahamic of the Near East. Such a comparative study reveals a number of structural and thematic parallels that attest to the complexity of Tolkien's work that and can be used to argue that his mythology can be considered as well-developed and surprisingly authentic as any of these ancient mythological traditions.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355562
Subject Headings: Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Myths in literature, Symbolism in literature, Cosmology, Middle Eastern literature, Criticism and interpretation
Format: Document (PDF)

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