Matching Items (10)
Description
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has revolutionized the young adult publishing industry. So popular are the Potter books that they have managed to spawn an empire of merchandise, scholarly literature, movies, and even a theme park, suggesting that Harry Potter is more than just a children's book. In fact, The Harry Potter books, although often categorized under children's literature, contain many elements that make a book distinctly young adult; therefore, by conducting a rhetorical analysis of Rowling's first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, this thesis will delve deeper into the specifics of theme, literary elements, rhetorical devices, plot, marketing, and characterization to analyze, on a basic level, why Rowling's books appeal to so many, and why they are quintessentially young adult.
ContributorsMarshall, Haley Jung Ae (Author) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Thesis director) / Fazio, Marsha (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis examines how the physical construction of the ooloi Oankali aliens in Octavia Butler's trilogy Lilith's Brood enables the text to explore the limitations of a two-gender construct. It does so by positing the existence of other conscious organic life with a third gender outside the scope of Earth-bound organisms. The ooloi must be understood by a definition of gender that takes into consideration socially constructed and performed roles. The physical bodies of the ooloi have a "boundary-crossing" identity that is unambiguous. Their transformative and healing abilities, physical characteristics, and place in the social structure of the Oankali makes them the targets of disgust and hatred by humans who fear difference. This thesis analyzes how Butler uses the ooloi to demonstrate the possibility that humans living on a future Earth can supersede their innately destructive qualities.
ContributorsBrady, Sarah Rachel (Author) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Thesis director) / Cook, Paul (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The first section of this project analyzes and compares writing techniques of authors who write in the spy fiction genre. A short story written by Marissa Arnold makes up the second component of the project and begins on page 23. The story follows the unexpected adventure of a covert agent working in 2029.
ContributorsArnold, Marissa Ann (Author) / Fazio, Marsha (Thesis director) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis influenced literary criticism and cultural studies in profound ways; significant modern and postmodern theories of literature frequently engage with Freud's theories of the human unconscious. Psychoanalytic criticism and the arrival of "Deconstruction" in America destabilized the boundaries between linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and literature. When theorists applied psychoanalysis to literary study in the twentieth century, texts suddenly brimmed with secret meaning, distortion, the Symbolic order, and Ecriture feminine; writers and poets became patients susceptible to regressions, unconscious repression, projections and interjections appearing in their work. Reading a text was a form of dream interpretation for the literary critic and using a psychoanalytic approach provided the necessary framework to decode symbolism and untangle loose fantasies. Decades before Freud developed any of his theories, Edgar Allan Poe illustrated the unconscious and other uncharted psychological territory with his Gothic tales. Poe's fascination with psychological behavior has been the perfect subject for psychoanalytic criticism for decades. This project will analyze representations of psychoanalytic denial and projection in Poe's short fiction: "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Imp of the Perverse", "William Wilson", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", and "The Masque of the Red Death".
ContributorsSmith, Noah (Author) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Thesis director) / Cisler, Sherry (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Young voters are the future of the country, yet are disengaged and disinterested in politics, leading to low turnout rates. This paper focuses on the Millennial generation, which consists of adults ages 18 to 33, and at times, narrowly focuses on the subset of college students. Since individuals should learn about the presidential candidates and the election before casting a vote, I analyze the similarities and differences between receiving election content through television news, a traditional source, compared to social media. Next, I examine the importance of political expression and political discussion, along with how millennials engaging in such activity on social media allows for a deeper level of engagement in elections than what was possible before the birth of social media. Thus, as opposed to focusing on the reasons milllennials shy away from politics, the purpose of the first three chapters is to highlight the potential benefits for using social media during presidential elections. Lastly, I analyze millennials' voting behaviors, particularly the generation's preference for liberal social values. Since we are currently in the 2016 U.S. presidential election season, the purpose of this chapter is to highlight current research regarding millennials' voting patterns, which should then be compared to the future 2016 general election studies. By analyzing consistent and divergent trends, researchers can further add to the discussion of millennials' political behavior. Although I dedicate a brief part to the 2016 presidential election in Chapters 2 through 4 to discuss how trends are similar or different from current research, the overall purpose of this paper is to inform readers about how millennials learn, engage, and participate in presidential elections.
ContributorsLarson, Dakota Alexis Ok-Ran (Author) / Ackroyd, William (Thesis director) / Cisler, Sherry (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
A 16-page research paper highlights the struggles that people with Auditory Processing Disorder have and how reading with an audiobook can help improve those struggles. The 23-page short story provides a set of text for the reader to enjoy along with hopes of one day making it an audiobook.
ContributorsThompson, Madison (Author) / Cisler, Sherry (Thesis director) / Amparano Garcia, Julie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2023-05
DescriptionA 16-page research paper highlights the struggles that people with Auditory Processing Disorder have and how reading with an audiobook can help improve those struggles. The 23-page short story provides a set of text for the reader to enjoy along with hopes of one day making it an audiobook.
ContributorsThompson, Madison (Author) / Cisler, Sherry (Thesis director) / Amparano Garcia, Julie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2023-05
DescriptionA 16-page research paper highlights the struggles that people with Auditory Processing Disorder have and how reading with an audiobook can help improve those struggles. The 23-page short story provides a set of text for the reader to enjoy along with hopes of one day making it an audiobook.
ContributorsThompson, Madison (Author) / Cisler, Sherry (Thesis director) / Amparano Garcia, Julie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2023-05
ContributorsThompson, Madison (Author) / Cisler, Sherry (Thesis director) / Amparano Garcia, Julie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
This thesis analyzes the relationship between the themes of madness and immorality in two plays from William Shakespeare (Hamlet and Othello) and three stories from Edgar Allan Poe (“The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Black Cat”). In the beginning, this thesis provides a brief overview of the history of madness, focusing on humanity’s longstanding association of mental illnesses with immorality. Afterward, an analysis of the aforementioned works reveals connections and differences in how the works portray the relationship between the two themes. Throughout the analysis, the thesis includes information regarding each author’s historical context (specifically in regard to social, cultural, and historical associations between madness and immorality) to explore the authors’ depictions of their mad characters. The plays Hamlet and Othello indicate that madness, on one hand, results from God’s bestowment of rightful punishment on those that pursue revenge against His prohibition of seeking revenge. The plays, although primarily Othello on this second point, also suggest that madness originates from the influence of diabolical sources that gain control over those that pursue immoral actions. On the other hand, Poe depicts the relationship between madness and immorality slightly differently. In the works of Poe, immorality and madness connect in that madness triggers immorality. In the end, this analysis reveals how these works, differing slightly in the details, nevertheless show humanity’s old, prevailing association between madness and immorality.
ContributorsAragon, Maya (Author) / Fazio, Marsha (Thesis director) / Hattenhauer, Darryl (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05