Matching Items (22)
Description
This study looks at Geoffrey Chaucer's use of the color green as it appears in regards to the settings and antagonists of three of the Canterbury Tales: the Wife of Bath's Tale, the Friar's Tale, and the Merchant's Tale. Following the allegorical approach, it argues that the color green in these tales is symbolic of Fortune, modeled upon Boethian philosophy and the allegory of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun's thirteenth century French poem, The Romance of the Rose. It suggests, furthermore, that Fortune is a potential overarching theme of the Canterbury Tales, and that the tales, in turn, should be read as a cohesive unit.
ContributorsLemman, Krista (Author) / Sturges, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Corse, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
While tournaments, duels, and challenges were analyzed within literary texts prior to the 1980's, the most recent trend in scholarship has been to focus on how these proceedings fit into a historical context. Many authors have noted how medieval rulers used tournaments, duels, and challenges as a way to keep their militaristic knights under control; however, there has been relatively little study on the way that these three events function as a means of social control in medieval romances. This paper examines how the public nature of these events and the chivalric nature of their participants combine to subvert the agency of not only the nobles, but also King Arthur himself in four of the Sir Gawain romances, "Ywain and Gawain", "The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain", "The Awntyrs off Arthur at the Terne Wathelyne" and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
ContributorsWilhite, Amanda (Author) / Bjork, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Sturges, Robert (Committee member) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation examines the relationship between secular law and Old and early Middle English hagiography in order to illustrate important culturally determined aspects of early English saints’ lives. The project advances work in two fields of study, cultural readings of hagiography and legal history, by arguing that medieval English hagiographers use historically relevant legal concepts as an appeal to the experience of their readers and as literary devices that work to underscore the paradoxical nature of a saint's life by grounding the narrative in a historicized context. The study begins with a survey of the lexemes signifying theft in the 102 Old English saints’ lives in order to isolate some of the specific ways legal discourse was employed by early English hagiographers. Specialized language to refer to the theft of relics and moral discourse surrounding the concept of theft both work to place these saints lives in a distinctly literal and culturally significant idiom. Picking one of the texts from the survey, the following chapter focuses on Cynewulf’s Juliana and argues that the characterization of the marriage proposal at the center of the poem is intended to appeal to a specific audience: women in religious communities who were often under pressure from aggressive, and sometimes violent, suitors. The next chapter addresses Ælfric of Eynsham’s Lives of Saints and discusses his condemnation of the easy collaboration of secular legal authorities and ecclesiastics in his “Life of Swithun” and his suggestion in the “Life of Basil“ that litigiousness is itself a fundamentally wicked characteristic. Lastly, the project turns to the South English Legendary’s life of Saint Thomas Becket. Rather than a straightforward translation of the Latin source, the South English Legendary life is significant in the poet's inclusion of a composite version of the Constitutions of Clarendon, demonstrating the author's apparent interest in shaping the reception of legal culture for his or her readers and emphasizing the bureaucratic nature of Becket's sanctity. In sum, the study shows that the historicized legal material that appears in early medieval English hagiography functions to ground the biographies of holy men and women in the corporeal world.
ContributorsBolton, William E (Author) / Bjork, Robert E. (Thesis advisor) / Newhauser, Richard G. (Committee member) / Voaden, Rosalynn (Committee member) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Anglo-Saxon women wielded a remarkable amount of power in the early English church. They founded some of the country’s most influential institutions, and modern Christians continue to venerate many of them as saints. Their path to canonization, however, was informal—especially compared to men and women who were canonized after Pope Gregory IX’s decree in 1234 that reserved those powers for the pope. Many of Anglo-Saxon England’s most popular saints exhibited behaviors that, had they been born later, would have disqualified them from canonization. This project examines how the problematic lives of St. Æthelthryth of Ely and St. Edith of Wilton were simultaneously doubted and adopted by post-Norman Christians. Specifically, it considers the flawed ways that the saints, petitioners, and their communities were simultaneously doubted and legitimized by late-medieval hagiographers.
ContributorsBrown, Jessica (Author) / Bjork, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Newhauser, Richard (Committee member) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This is a constructed language made for fictional creatures that will be featured in a novel. The creatures are feral goblins, and they are based on Irish mythology. The novel that the goblins and the language will be featured in is titled MaddConn, and it was written by Jon Bendera. It is an urban fantasy novel. The goblins have a language in the novel because there are a number of goblin characters throughout the story. One of the main characters, Maddi, has to survive amongst the feral goblins for a portion of the novel while another main character, Connor, works his way to her. She has multiple close encounters with them, and also has to find her way around their territory, so she comes into contact with the language many times. Although the language in the story was created to have developed prior to humanity, this constructed language was made to look somewhat similar to human language. As it will be involved in fiction that will be read by humans, it needs to be easily understood by humans. The language reveals features of the goblin culture and anatomy. For instance, it can be seen in the language that their shallow, wide mouths and thin lips influence their phonology. Their physiology influences much of their language. Likewise, they have three fingers on each hand, which influences their number system. As the goblins and their language developed before humans and because they are not human creatures, the typology and word order do not follow all of the correlations found in human languages. All in all, the lexicon includes many words that have to do with three of their favorite things: violence, food, and work.
ContributorsMartinez, Randi Nicole (Author) / Van Gelderen, Elly (Thesis director) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Schreyer, Christine (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This research examines the presentation of ASD in fictional children's literature. The goal is to use the research collected to determine what symptoms of ASD are receiving coverage versus what is not being covered but needs to be in a children's book about ASD. This was accomplished by first consulting background literature on ASD before examining 40 children's books about characters on the spectrum. It was found that girls on the spectrum received less coverage than boys did, and that most books conformed to one of two types: looking at ASD through the eyes of a neurotypical child and looking at it through the eyes of a child who has it. This led to the proposed idea of a book about a girl on the spectrum that would alternate between her point of view and the point of view of her neurotypical friend, and the subsequent draft of said book.
ContributorsAnderson, Sarah (Contributor) / Baldini, Cajsa (Contributor) / Adams, James (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Drawing on existing scholarship as well as primary analytical materials, the research within this report demonstrates Wile E. Coyote's character is reliant on human connectivity and is evocative of the human condition, reflecting his disciplined and stylized design he possesses. Comprised of literary, film/media, and rhetorical elements, this report illustrates how Wile E. is an individual whose character holds various influences that provide dimensionality to his existence. The research within this report is both primary and secondary through observational recordings about the cartoons Wile E. appears in and through thorough analysis of texts elaborating on the elements comprising Wile E.'s character. Primary research from the initial observational recordings provides direction for the secondary research after viewing multiple cartoons and films containing Wile E. Coyote in his Warner Brothers Studios appearances and noting unique moments in his cinematic career. The notes from this viewing of Wile E. in his natural "habitat" drive the secondary research to focus on specific aspects of Wile E.'s character through the analysis of supporting texts which ultimately leads to the findings within this report. Research in the fields of literature, film/media studies, and rhetoric shape the analysis of Wile E.'s character as this report studies the various components compiled within the cartoon coyote. As a multifaceted individual, Wile E. illustrates a complexity within a stylized character that allows viewers to connect to his plights and to identify with his struggles. Through his emulative form, Wile E. embodies vital elements of character creation that allow him to become a memorable and prominent character that resonates in viewers and artists. From Wile E. Coyote's example, future generations of story tellers, regardless of their medium, can learn how to create similarly iconic and timeless characters within their works. Such stories can then contribute significant additions to popular narrative and characterization.
ContributorsGarza, Christopher Aaron (Author) / Baldini, Cajsa (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / Sandler, Kevin (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Faërie exists in the mythology and literature of northwestern Europe as a spiritual Otherworld, a land of immortal beauty just tangential to our own. This project explored multiple conceptions of Faërie and their common association with things that have been lost. The pattern that emerged is one in which the Otherworld is not merely linked to lost things, but becomes a way of preserving and rediscovering them. Faërie embodies the hope that things lost live on, and can be found again.
ContributorsBell, Andrew Roos (Author) / Baldini, Cajsa (Thesis director) / Maring, Heather (Committee member) / Foy, Joseph (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The question of whether there has been an American Indian genocide has been contested, when genocide is defined according to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Yet, I argue that both social and cultural genocide of American Indians has had volatile consequences for both Native and non-Native peoples. Because of the contested nature of this genocide, American Indian Studies scholars contend that Indigenous people's experiences often get marginalized and reconstructed, relegating stories to the category oppression, rather than proof of genocide, which has created intellectual and social absences (Vizenor 2009). Other American Indian Studies scholars argue for reform within American Indian educational settings, where Indigenous nations use their values and traditions within curricula to combat national absences. Despite excellent work on American Indian education, scholars have not addressed the central questions of how such absences affect both Native and non-Native students, why those absences exist, and why the U.S. dialogue around genocide is a rhetoric of avoidance and erasure, once any comparison begins with other genocide victims. Without adequate analysis of both American Indian genocide and absences within curricula, particularly humanities courses such as literature, where stories about American Indians can have a prominent space, we undervalue their impact on America's past and present histories, as well as current knowledges and values. Erasure of American Indian presence affects both Native and non-Native youth. Many American Indians are traumatized and believe their tribe’s stories are not worthy of inclusion. As well many non-Natives are unaware of Indigenous experiences and often left with stereotypes rather than realities.
A Haudenosaunee paradigm of Good Mind can re-situate how we think about the canon, literature, and the classroom. The Good Mind allows for a two-way path where ideas pass back and forth, respecting differences, rather than replacing those differences with one ideology. This path is meant to open minds to connections with others which are kind and loving and lead to peaceful relationships. Theorizing literary erasure and genocide of the mind through experiences from Native and non-Native students and teachers embodies the Good Mind.
A Haudenosaunee paradigm of Good Mind can re-situate how we think about the canon, literature, and the classroom. The Good Mind allows for a two-way path where ideas pass back and forth, respecting differences, rather than replacing those differences with one ideology. This path is meant to open minds to connections with others which are kind and loving and lead to peaceful relationships. Theorizing literary erasure and genocide of the mind through experiences from Native and non-Native students and teachers embodies the Good Mind.
ContributorsMichal, Melissa (Author) / Maring, Heather (Thesis advisor) / Kelsey, Penelope (Thesis advisor) / Poe, Mya (Committee member) / Fredrick, Sharonah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
DescriptionThis project is an analysis of the similarities in character and plot in The Professor, Jane Eyre, and Villette, as well as the ultimate differences in theme and message within each individual novel.
ContributorsSkaggs, Deanna Samantha (Author) / Baldini, Cajsa (Thesis director) / Farmer, Steve (Committee member) / Tait, Dana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2013-05