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- Title
- "Is the world, then, so narrow?": the simultaneous need for home and travel in Hawthorne's The scarlet letter.
- Creator
- McGrath, Derek., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and its preface, "The Custom- House," the author himself and Pearl Prynne are characters who engage in travel, escaping the restrictiveness imposed onto them by their hometowns and finding greater creative freedom elsewhere. Their journey, however, is not necessarily physical but rather creative. Hawthorne and Pearl employ writing and imaginative thinking, respectively, in order to characterize Salem and Boston as foreign locations through which...
Show moreIn Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and its preface, "The Custom- House," the author himself and Pearl Prynne are characters who engage in travel, escaping the restrictiveness imposed onto them by their hometowns and finding greater creative freedom elsewhere. Their journey, however, is not necessarily physical but rather creative. Hawthorne and Pearl employ writing and imaginative thinking, respectively, in order to characterize Salem and Boston as foreign locations through which they may tour. The two are what Hawthorne calls "citizen[s] of somewhere else," although they have not departed from their homes yet. By considering how "The Custom-House" relates to The Scarlet Letter based on the themes of travel and home, a new interpretation arises about Hawthorne's book as well as his definition of the American romance, which posits that a person may use creativity in order to find his or her place both within and away from the community.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11605
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons!": twinship and doubling in Twelfth Night.
- Creator
- Puehn, Amanda M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
This thesis considers the relationship between scientific advances, identity formation, and literature in an early modern print culture. As medical theorists made their discoveries and defended their work they did so within the literary world; turning to the printed word to cultivate their personal identity and rebut dissenting colleagues. Subsequently, playwright William Shakespeare employed common medical knowledge within his plays. Twelfth Night presents male and female twins within the...
Show moreThis thesis considers the relationship between scientific advances, identity formation, and literature in an early modern print culture. As medical theorists made their discoveries and defended their work they did so within the literary world; turning to the printed word to cultivate their personal identity and rebut dissenting colleagues. Subsequently, playwright William Shakespeare employed common medical knowledge within his plays. Twelfth Night presents male and female twins within the scope of a comedy that plays upon the issues of cross-dressing and mistaken sexual identity. During the Renaissance, it was believed that male and female seed was co-present in every person and through dominance a distinct sexual identity was developed. This thesis argues that while Shakespeare initially convoluted this by allowing one of the twins to cross-dress; he resolved the anatomical doubling by presenting both characters together on stage at the close of the play.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335455
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Identity (Psychology) in literature, Sex role in literature, Literature and medicine, History
- 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
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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.
Show less - 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
- "You are the one fixed point in a changing age": the immortality of Sherlock Holmes in Japan.
- Creator
- Chick, Amanda., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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Sherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original...
Show moreSherlock Holmes has been popular in Japan since the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), but no critic has yet connected Holmes and the protagonist of the recent graphic novel Death Note (2003-2006). While American detective fiction has defined itself somewhat in opposition to Arthur Conan Doyle, Japan embraced Sherlock Holmes and created a series of detectives modeled on the English icon. These characters live and work in Japan, but they are never more than Japanese versions of an English original. Although Japan has a long history of adaptations and translations of Doyle's writings, no Japanese character has exemplified Holmes as fully as L, the protagonist of Death Note. While L is clearly similar to Holmes, he also blends English and Japanese characteristics in a way that no Japanese detective figure before him managed to do, and thus becomes the first quintessentially Japanese Sherlock Holmes.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334249
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Immortality in literature, Detective and mystery stories, Japanese, Criticism and interpretation, Detective and mystery stories, English, Appreciation, Holmes, Sherlock (Fictitious character), Appreciation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Alspach norm in classifying complemented subspaces of L[p], p > 2.
- Creator
- DeFrain, Isaac., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Identifying and classifying the complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2, has provided much insight into the geometric structure of Lp . In 1981, Bourgain, Rosenthal, and Schechtman proved the existence of uncountably many isomorphically distinct complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2. In 1999, Dale Alspach introduced a systematic method of studying the complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2. In this thesis, the theory of Lp spaces is developed with a concentration on techniques used to study the...
Show moreIdentifying and classifying the complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2, has provided much insight into the geometric structure of Lp . In 1981, Bourgain, Rosenthal, and Schechtman proved the existence of uncountably many isomorphically distinct complemented subspaces of L p , p > 2. In 1999, Dale Alspach introduced a systematic method of studying the complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2. In this thesis, the theory of Lp spaces is developed with a concentration on techniques used to study the complemented subspaces. We define the Alspach norm and show that the possible complemented subspaces of Lp , p > 2, generated by two compatible partitions and weights are £2, £p, £2 EB £p, and(2.:EfJ £2)ep ' We have not discovered any previously unknown complemented subspaces of Lp , but this method has reduced the study and classification of these subspaces to a study of partitions of N.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3334256, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FADT3334256
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, L[p] spaces, Banach spaces, Multipliers (Mathematical analysis), Functional analysis
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- America's flawed dream: F. Scott Fitzgerald's view of the American dream in the roaring twenties and the Great Depression.
- Creator
- Stetson, Natalie C., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
F. Scott Fitzgerald's work is intrinsically connected to the American dream, which is the belief that through hard work and determination one can achieve success. The lives of the male protagonists in The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, however, reveal the many flaws of the American dream. The most significant flaw, as Fitzgerald demonstrates, is that although a certain level of success is possible, a dreamer is never satisfied. Despite the passage of nine years between the publication...
Show moreF. Scott Fitzgerald's work is intrinsically connected to the American dream, which is the belief that through hard work and determination one can achieve success. The lives of the male protagonists in The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, however, reveal the many flaws of the American dream. The most significant flaw, as Fitzgerald demonstrates, is that although a certain level of success is possible, a dreamer is never satisfied. Despite the passage of nine years between the publication of the two novels and the changes the nation underwent between 1925 and 1934, Fitzgerald's opinion is not altered; he remains pessimistic. He concludes in both novels that [the] American dream cannot be attained.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77695
- Subject Headings
- Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, Criticism and interpretation, Depressions, Economic conditions
- 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.
Show less - 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
- The cities, crowds, and masks of James Ensor: a critique of urbanization and modern city space.
- Creator
- Carney, Jeanette., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
James Ensor's depictions of Belgian cities and their inhabitants offer a derisive critique of modern urban space, and the resulting societal transformations, that developed during the nineteenth century. His illustrations of the contemporary urban societies of Brussels and Ostend generally always include images of crowds and masks, elements which represent the horror and emptiness of the modern city.
- Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/41006
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Modernism (Literature), Sociology, Urban, Cities and towns, Effect of technological innovations on
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Collective memory of Japanese naming rituals through the incorporation of anime and manga.
- Creator
- Kirk, LauraLynn., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
In this paper, I ask how members of Japanese society are able to remember naming practices in which some of the traditions are no longer in use. Members of Japanese society perpetuate their collective memory through the utilization of Japanese media to include past and present Japanese name alterations. I explain the reasons behind name alterations, and how knowledge and use of the naming rituals continue through the collective agency of contemporary Japanese media such as anime and manga....
Show moreIn this paper, I ask how members of Japanese society are able to remember naming practices in which some of the traditions are no longer in use. Members of Japanese society perpetuate their collective memory through the utilization of Japanese media to include past and present Japanese name alterations. I explain the reasons behind name alterations, and how knowledge and use of the naming rituals continue through the collective agency of contemporary Japanese media such as anime and manga. Each anime and manga example correlates to past and present naming rituals. Social name alterations occur at birth, genpuku, marriage, and changes in levels of skill. Political alterations occur from hostage exchange or adoption, change in ideologies, occupational change, or the assumption of new roles from a higher-ranking member of society. While members of Japanese society learn naming traditions from daily interactions with other people, media such as anime and manga reinforce expected behavior and customs.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165337
- Subject Headings
- Memory, Social aspects, Rites and ceremonies, Psychological aspects, Comic books, strips, etc, Criticism and interpretation, Animated films, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- "The depths of an English heart": Wittgenstinian private language in Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier.
- Creator
- Simundich, Joel., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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In Ford Madox Ford's 1915 novel The Good Soldier, John Dowell comments "I had never sounded the depths of an English heart," as he painstakingly reconstructs his "extreme intimacy" with his late wife and their two closest friends. Throughout his narrative, Dowell approaches the limits of language, struggling to connect with lost companions by bringing language into scenes of miscommunication and silence. By translating emotional impasses and wordless exchanges from memory into narrative,...
Show moreIn Ford Madox Ford's 1915 novel The Good Soldier, John Dowell comments "I had never sounded the depths of an English heart," as he painstakingly reconstructs his "extreme intimacy" with his late wife and their two closest friends. Throughout his narrative, Dowell approaches the limits of language, struggling to connect with lost companions by bringing language into scenes of miscommunication and silence. By translating emotional impasses and wordless exchanges from memory into narrative, Dowell seems to make these wordless interactions wordful. Ludwig Wittgenstein's investigation into "private language" helps elucidate Dowell's realization that he cannot fill wordlessness with words to reconstruct his memories. If Dowell can't fill wordlessness with words, his failure to "sound the depths of an English heart" isn't a failure at all, but rather an exposition on "private language" as public language, demonstrating that misunderstandings can be our best attempts at understanding each other.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77691
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Psychology, Philosophy
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Employing cultural landscapes in community preservation: the case of Druid Hills, Atlanta.
- Creator
- Blythe, Rachel, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Druid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities...
Show moreDruid Hills is a historic suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, that was initially designed by landscape architech Frederick Law Olmsted in 1893. As one of Atlanta's first suburbs, Druid Hills has faced the consequences of sprawl, particularly in the 1980s when the Georgia Department of Transportation proposed construction of the Presidential Parkway, an expressway that would have cut through the middle of the neighborhood. In opposition to the expressway, members of the surrounding communities organized Citizens Against Unnecessary Thoroughfares In Older Neighborhoods (CAUTION). The strategic rhetoric of CAUTION's campaign emphasized Druid Hills' significance as "Olmsted's Vision of Atlanta," yet their use of this iconic figure did not capture the complete cultural landscape of Druid Hills. Although Olmsted designed the initial layout of the suburb, the suburb's form departed from his design during its development. I argue that preserving the community requires a comprehensive portrait of its varied history.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359291
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Ethnic neighborhoods, History, Historic preservation, Social life and customs, History and criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Entre Nebrija y Valdâes: un diâalogo gramatical sobre el castellano renacentista.
- Creator
- Lewis, Ron., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
The two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis...
Show moreThe two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis explores the linguistic substance of both works, evidence of the authors' personal attitudes and dispositions that influenced their works, and the political and social context surrounding all of these factors. The purpose of this investigation is to gain further insight into the Grammar and the Dialogue, as well as the history of Spain and the historical development of Castilian.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3335108
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, Spanish literature, Criticism and interpretation, Language and culture, History
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Establishing Hyrule: analyzing the construction of the world and levels in Shigeru Miyamoto's Ocarina of Time.
- Creator
- Hollingsworth, Douglas A., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are...
Show moreShigeru Miyamoto's The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time pushed the boundaries of video game design in 1998 by introducting players to one of the first virtual worlds fully-rendered in three-dimensions. The shift from rendering game worlds in two-dimensions to rendering them in three-dimensions required the development of new techniques for constructing virtual worlds. This thesis focuses on the construction of the virtual realm in Ocarina of Time, particularly the ways by which players are presented with cosmology of the virtual world and the divine ordering of the races that dwell there. In addition, this thesis explores how the process of building the virtual worldof Hyrule is mimicked in the design of the game's individual levels, in terms of the spaces that players explore, the rules they are bound by, and the goals that they must reach while progressing through the central plot.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3359295
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Video games (Philosophy), Legend of Zelda (Game), Computer games, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- A fistful of facts: reconsidering Dziga Vertov's cinematic truth.
- Creator
- Salomone, Peter., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
In 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more...
Show moreIn 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more clearly how the concept of cinematic truth has changed over time.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77687
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Documentary films, Sources, Motion pictures, Philosophy, Film criticism
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Inviting but frustrating over-simplification: (re)reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
- Creator
- Smith, Kathryn M., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Many critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin,...
Show moreMany critics and readers assume that Tess of the d'Urbervilles is simply the tragedy of a ruined country maiden and that the sexually-driven scenes are the most important aspects of the novel. In my thesis, however, I argue that Thomas Hardy created a novel centered on his complex heroine, Tess, not on simplistic notions of sexual ruination and sensational plot developments. In other words, Tess is an autonomous, detailed character who cannot be relegated to the usual stereotypes of Virgin, Whore, Mother, etc. Through my reading, we gain a greater understanding of the novel as a whole, instead of as a fractured, deterministic, and plot-driven tragedy. I begin my argument by examining Hardy's subtitle, "A Pure Woman," asserting that our focus should be on the word "Woman" and Tess's subjectivity, not reductive concepts of "purity" or chastity. In Chapter Two, I examine two significant scenes that occur in Alec's carriage, showing how many critics' readings underestimate Tess as helpless, and arguing that she fights against her oppressor in covert ways. My third chapter continues this defense of Tess by critiquing the critical debate surrounding the sexual encounter in "The Chase". I posit that the entire debate is flawed and that Tess should be defined based upon her actions and not simply her sexuality. Lastly, in my conclusion I present a broader defense of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, in which I assert that the ambiguous plot scenes in Tess are conscious attempts by Hardy to subvert traditional assumptions about what is important in a novel. My goal in this thesis is to critique popular but simplistic interpretations of Tess of the d'Urbervilles which diminish Tess's role; instead, I emphasize the way her character, in the words of critic Kathleen Blake, "invites but frustrates oversimplification."
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11601
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Social change in literature, Literature and society
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The " living presence" and the "ideal character": sex, fantasy, and photographs in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure.
- Creator
- Taylor, Margaret, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
In my thesis I will argue that the source of the major conflict in Jude the Obscure - the traumatic relationship between Sue and Jude - is Jude's viewing of his cousin's photograph early in the novel. Because of his tendency to idealize the individuals around him, Jude projects a desired image onto a photograph of Sue before meeting her in real life. This projection takes on an aspect of reality for Jude which he can not escape, despite Sue's efforts to disillusion him and introduce him to...
Show moreIn my thesis I will argue that the source of the major conflict in Jude the Obscure - the traumatic relationship between Sue and Jude - is Jude's viewing of his cousin's photograph early in the novel. Because of his tendency to idealize the individuals around him, Jude projects a desired image onto a photograph of Sue before meeting her in real life. This projection takes on an aspect of reality for Jude which he can not escape, despite Sue's efforts to disillusion him and introduce him to her actual self. Since his projection starkly contrasts to Sue's actual being, not only does Jude believe that the two are compatible when they are not, but he believes that Sue's attempts to disillusion him are in fact deceitful. Thus the initial impetus of the photograph eventually leads to their conflicted relationship and the tragedy of the novel overall.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210004
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Symbolism in literature, Imagination in literature, Despair in literature
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Media voyeurs in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.
- Creator
- Krupski, Maureen P., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, most often noted for its critique on consumerism in post-war America and the conflict between Old World European values with New World American ones, contains an equally strong critique on consumerism of media. Lolita's narrative style, the memoir of a pedophile and murderer simultaneously seeking absolution and applause, investigates the relationship between a seductive mass media and its prurient and Puritanical audience. Implicit in the narrative technique...
Show moreVladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, most often noted for its critique on consumerism in post-war America and the conflict between Old World European values with New World American ones, contains an equally strong critique on consumerism of media. Lolita's narrative style, the memoir of a pedophile and murderer simultaneously seeking absolution and applause, investigates the relationship between a seductive mass media and its prurient and Puritanical audience. Implicit in the narrative technique is the audience's own participation in the mediation of reality.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2007
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/40971
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Mass media and culture, Postmodernism
- 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.
Show less - 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
- The painful state of pleasure in Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre.
- Creator
- Cannon, Michelle., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
-
The heroine of Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Mr. Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him. Jane's need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester's desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane's desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension...
Show moreThe heroine of Charlotte Brontèe's Jane Eyre is torn between her physical desire to remain close to Mr. Rochester and her psychological need for distance from him. Jane's need for distance tends to dominate her desire for closeness, and this internal conflict is reproduced externally in her relationship with Rochester, with Rochester's desire for physical proximity conflicting with Jane's desire for distance. These internal and external power struggles create a healthy sense of tension necessary both to Jane, and to her relationship with Rochester because it prevents either of them from being fully satisfied, and ensures that both remain in a perpetual state of self-inflicted suffering. The suffering these characters impose on themselves and each other is necessary for the preservation of desires, which would be destroyed by fulfillment. Through my reading of the novel we gain a greater understanding of how the pain of unfulfilled desires becomes synonymous with pleasure, and the beneficial role pain, tension and unfulfilled desires plays in the text.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/209985
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Self in literature, Criticism and interpretation, Desire in literature, Criticism and interpretation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Paradise impaired: duality in Paradise lost.
- Creator
- Bernhard, Katherine Joy., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis examines the duality of meaning conveyed by John Milton's use of language in the epic poem, Paradise Lost, specifically repetition, pairing, alliteration and puns. Following a long tradition of close readings, especially critics RA. Shoaf and Christopher Ricks, I argue that Milton conceives the Fall of Adam and Eve as a falling into polysemy, or multiplicity of signification. Very few critics have undertaken a close reading of words that signal coupling in the poem, and their...
Show moreThis thesis examines the duality of meaning conveyed by John Milton's use of language in the epic poem, Paradise Lost, specifically repetition, pairing, alliteration and puns. Following a long tradition of close readings, especially critics RA. Shoaf and Christopher Ricks, I argue that Milton conceives the Fall of Adam and Eve as a falling into polysemy, or multiplicity of signification. Very few critics have undertaken a close reading of words that signal coupling in the poem, and their relationship to pairs and oppositions relevant to Genesis. Shoaf identifies pairs and oppositions in the poem as duals and duels, and connects them to binaries in the theology. However, he overlooks a great deal of evidence which supports his theory of the dual and the duel, and also disregards many significant examples of duality in Milton's wordplay that other critics identify, including alliterative pairs and words that convey ancient etymologies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/11595
- Subject Headings
- Criticism and interpretation, Milton, John, 1608-1674, Language, Narration (Rhetoric), Discourse analysis, Narrative, Semiotics
- Format
- Document (PDF)