Browse Objects

In President's Report

Type of Resource

DigitalDocument

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

In the male-dominated literary canon, women characters repeatedly die to preserve patriarchal ideologies. While previous scholarship focuses on the meaning of male authors' use of dead female characters, my thesis analyzes dead women as imagined by recent female writers. Unlike their male counterparts, these women writers envision characters who explore the limits of feminine autonomy in prejudiced spaces. As Angela Carter writes, women "ha[ve] been groomed for the slaughterhouse," and each of the fictional women in this collective seeks to escape the patriarchal storylines that set them up for different, though inevitably violent, futures. Using close reading and trauma theory, I examine stories about a woman whose husband collects his dead wives' bodies, a woman whose body is held together by a ribbon around her neck, a woman who starves herself, and a woman who frames her husband for her murder. These stories inform the individual and collective traumas that women characters face in literature and readers unknowingly experience by default. By analyzing these women's respective successes and failures in breaking free from the longstanding confines of patriarchy, my thesis reveals the way that fictionalized violence against women's bodies not only enables misogynistic narratives, but allows for a real woman's death to be declared a suicide. Ultimately, the fictional women in this thesis are both victims of and challenges to a patriarchal status quo. Their position as foundational components of transhistorical literary texts speaks to their ubiquity. This thesis theorizes the ways in which their roles in their respective texts outline that the path to resistance is not so simple and, more importantly, challenges the foundations of their identity.

Type of Resource

VideoObject

Rights Statement

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

"Lies We Tell Our Fathers", a poetry collection and honors creative thesis written by Nick Soluri '20, explores topics of masculinity, boyhood, religion, and how the parenting of boys shapes them in complicated and perhaps toxic ways. Echoing the writings of Ocean Vuong, Kaveh Akbar, Anders Carlson-Wee, and others, the collection aims not to answer the question of how to remove toxic masculinity, but rather presents his own experience and problems with growing up as a boy in American culture. Nick will be giving a reading of selected poems from the collection, as well as discussing his craft and process.

Type of Resource

VideoObject

Rights Statement

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

Medicine is a collection of free verse poems addressing mental illness, specifically mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. In a world where mental illnesses are prevalent, especially in college students, my collection discusses and breaks down the historic stigma that overshadows it. These poems emphasize words, messages and details that cannot be restricted by format and structural limitations. This collection was influenced by well-renowned voices such as Eileen Myles, James Schuyler, and Robert Lowell, as well as contemporary poets Sabrina Benaim, Blythe Baird, and R.M. Drake. My motivation for this collection was to break through censored ways of talking about mental illnesses and create a platform for experiences and normalities that have not been accurately represented in literature in the past.

Type of Resource

VideoObject

Rights Statement

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

The Irish Free State's narrative of independence proclaimed "Bold, Fenian, Men." This study challenges this male-centered history by focusing on women involved in the early twentieth century anti-colonial struggle. I explore the lives of the Gifford sisters, Grace, an artistically-gifted political icon, and Sidney, a trans-Atlantic journalist and paramilitary organizer, relying on historical and literary analysis of unconventional texts including pension records, witness statements and political cartoons. The sisters' self-portrayals destabilize the traditional categories that characterize modern Irish nationalism: combatant versus noncombatant, revolutionary versus mother, and feminist versus nationalist. In turn, this challenge forces a rewriting of the Irish State's foundation, twentieth-century Irish feminism and a falsely monolithic Irish identity. My Steinmetz presentation will focus on the connections between Sidney's and Grace's feminist and nationalist activism and how their confrontations with the mid-century Irish state expose the inherent complexities between individual feminine identities and collective national identity.

Type of Resource

VideoObject

Rights Statement

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted the government to take drastic political action, such as the War on Terror, and inspired the American people to feel new cultural anxieties. Literature and popular culture also responded to 9/11 with attempts to make sense of such an unprecedented event. This thesis argues that superhero stories, both in comics and onscreen, are particularly well-suited to deconstruct and critique post-9/11 American society through their depictions of power and the question of how individuals with superpowers fit into society. Specifically, this thesis engages with Marvel Comics' Civil War (2006-07), its film adaptation Captain America: Civil War (2016), Dynamite Comics' The Boys (2006-12), and the first season of its television adaptation from Amazon (2019). Through examination of themes including accountability, corruption, and dominance, this thesis reveals how, in recent years, the tropes of the superhero genre have been portrayed in nuanced ways that do not allow for a simple binary between good and evil. As such, these stories reflect the difficulty Americans have faced in adjusting to the realities of post-9/11 America, as actions that were meant to provide security have proven increasingly fallible in the years since the terrorist attacks.

Type of Resource

VideoObject

Rights Statement

In Steinmetz Symposium

Abstract

What's the use of stories that aren't even true? My thesis explores this question by considering the imagination in mid-to-late 20th-century children's fiction and its role in the overall growth and development of children as they transition into adulthood. Through an examination of this cross-cultural interest in the imagination, I argue for a shared authorial belief that a child's imagination is precious and needs to be protected in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and Toni and Slade Morrison's The Big Box. Despite the half-century span across which these five books were published (1943-1999), the texts' authors all examine children's imagination through their creative protagonists. Through a textual and visual analysis, I argue that imagination simultaneously symbolizes children's freedom and their resistance to the confines of adulthood. Applying psychoanalytic and developmental psychology theory reveals that these authors investigate the development of children's identities through their young protagonists' imaginative and curious understanding of the Other. So the better question might be, what isn't?

Type of Resource

DigitalDocument

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

Nitrogen loading to coastal ecosystems is a growing concern. Elevated nitrogen can lead to hypoxic dead-zones, which in addition to negatively affecting the ecosystem, can lead to financial loss for marine fisheries and shellfish aquaculturists. Significant sources of coastal eutrophication include both sewage effluent and agricultural fertilizer. Nitrogen isotope signatures (δ¹⁵N) serve as a valuable resource for detecting nitrogen pollution in a given environment and can indicate pollution source, as wastewater is generally enriched in ¹⁵N, while inorganic fertilizer is depleted in ¹⁵N. Marine mollusks are reliable recorders of environmental nitrogen isotope signatures, as they are typically primary consumers feeding on phytoplankton, which incorporate N from dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN). Further, mollusks are locally common, have a global distribution, and generally withstand pollution. Mollusk tissues also integrate long time periods as opposed to point sampling water, providing time averaged δ¹⁵N values. In this project we aim to capitalize on the utility of several marine mollusk species to investigate pollution sources along the North Carolina coast in the Cape Lookout region. Specifically, we sampled the bivalve species <em>Mercenaria mercenaria, Chione cancellata, Argopectin irradians, Noetia ponderosa, Crassostrea virginica, Donax variabilis</em>, and <em>Atrina sp.</em>, and the gastropod species (whelks) <em>Busycon carica </em>and <em>Sinistrofulgur perversum </em>during the summer of 2018. We sampled mollusks from regions of high and low housing density to examine the potential of elevated nitrogen pollution rates due to runoff from leach fields implemented in septic tank systems. We also sampled <em>Mercenaria mercenaria </em>tissues over time, with samples sporadically ranging back to 2012 in order to analyze potential long-term trends in nitrogen loading in this region. Further, we measured shell length to assess a possible correlation between mollusk age and nitrogen isotope signature. Measured δ¹⁵N data indicate that creeks exhibit possible low-level wastewater pollution, as notable differences in nitrogen isotope signature exist between creeks and outer banks with outer banks exhibiting lower δ¹⁵N values. Lack of overall trend in δ¹⁵N values between 2012 and 2018 suggests that there has been no significant change in nitrogen loading in this region throughout recent time.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

Since his tales of telekinetic teenagers, small-town vampires, and cursed hotels hit shelves in the 1970s and 80s, Stephen King has become a household name in both post-modern horror fiction and pop culture. King’s horror stems from social anxiety or fears that appeal on a cultural and communal level. His massive readership is a testament to his ability to bring the suppressed to light and is best represented in his short story collections such as <em>Skeleton Crew </em>and <em>Everything’s Eventual</em>. King’s short stories particularly attract me because they explore a range of ages, settings, lifestyles, and genders, yet converge on a central theme of social anxiety, from the widespread, Cold-War-era fears of Communism and nuclear attacks to death’s inevitability. I strive to achieve similar effects in my short story collection, however, while King’s horror is based on general social anxiety, my horror focuses on specific, individual fears. “Jedidiah’s Rites” highlights the fear of the unknown and the afterlife in the context of Catholicism. Fear of the unfamiliar is a central theme in “The Boogeyman.” Fear of primeval instinct and superstition takes center stage in “Big Bayou.” “Jasmine Burning” addresses fear of change, while “The Cairns” exemplifies fear of loneliness and insecurity. Misery may love company, but fear does not. In focusing on individual as opposed to societal fears, I am transposing what King does on a more individualistic and personal level.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century, the gothic novel developed in a way that reflected Victorian anxieties concerning human sexuality. Commonly referred to as the fin de siècle, this period was a time when England was rapidly progressing technologically, scientifically, and socially. Authors of gothic fiction began to express societal and cultural anxieties concerning these developments—as well as the very future of England—by, using tropes, such as supernatural subjects, monstrous characters, and frightening plots. For example, the controversial role of homosexuality in British society began to make its way into gothic novels. Authors including Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Robert Louis Stevenson—some of whom struggled with their own sexual orientations—endeavored to create a voice for the ostracized homosexual in fiction. These literary representations of same-sex desire contributed to the awareness of and the perpetuation of stereotypes for gay men. The modern stereotype of the “homosexual” gained notoriety as representations of same-sex relationships emerged and as psychological discussions attempted to explain the causes and treatments for such an ostensible “abnormality” during the period. This controversial topic concerning human sexuality was challenged by Christian values that created engrained social attitudes about sexuality and morality. Homosexuality became a heightened issue of contention during this period when Oscar Wilde published his homoerotic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and was subsequently arrested for his own homosexuality, which was outlawed at the time in England. In Chapter One, I show how Wilde packs his text with encrypted homoerotic themes that reflect his personal identity, mock societal prejudices about human sexuality, and warn against blind submission to socially accepted values. Through gender and sexuality studies and queer readings of Wilde’s work, I reveal that Dorian Gray emerges as a groundbreaking text that defies social norms and supports emerging psychological studies of human sexual orientation, such as Havelock Ellis’s Sexual Inversion (1897). In Chapter Two, I use Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) to explain how the supernatural elements of the gothic were a mechanism for demonizing the homosexual and characterizing gays as “other” in a society that rejects and punishes queerness. By evaluating Stoker’s own ambiguous sexuality alongside his generally homophobic novel, I show how Eve Kosofksy Sedgwick’s idea of “homosexual panic” helps to explain the driving force in suppressing the emerging homosexual during the age. In this way, Stoker’s homophobic novel is both a personal way of denying his own sexuality and his means of encrypting themes of sexual difference. Finally, in Chapter Three, I reveal how The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) synthesizes the decadent homosexual stereotype and the monstrous homosexual stereotype portrayed in Dorian Gray and Dracula as a way of exposing Victorian anxieties about sexuality and the dangers of acting on one’s inner desires, temptations, and pleasures. Sedgwick is again an important voice in this chapter as her idea of “homosocial desire” furthermore becomes paramount in characterizing the homosexual and homosocial themes in Jekyll and Hyde. In this way, the final chapter of this thesis harkens to the homosexual stereotypes discussed in previous chapters to show how stereotypes have persisted and become a defining trope of Victorian gothic horror.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

Sketches of Life is a collection of six short stories that explore the role of death within the narrative. The collection starts with Ein deutsches Marchen, a dialogue between Tobias Leeger and myself. As the conversation of Marchen unfolds, Tobias tells a story that questions the relationship between death and human nature. The next four works of the collection all actively explore the questions raised by Tobias through their unique explorations of death: To The Monastery investigates a young hermit’s detrimental relationship with society, The Iroquois League examines the narrator’s elusive relationship with his spirituality, Auspicious Tigers tells the tragic tale of a tiger hunt gone wrong, and The Kaiserkeller follows the adventures of four reckless musician in Hamburg’s infamous red-light district. The collection’s final piece, An American Ending, continues the conversation started in En deutsches Marchen through reexamine the implications of Tobias’ story: ultimately, the reader leaves Sketches of Life with a more felt understanding of death’s role within the narrative.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

This thesis explores, through poetry, a transition from an old idealist world to our modern realist world, plagued by violence and lost innocence. The work begins with portraits of Logroño, Spain, highlighting the sharp contrast between an older generation who grew up under Franco’s fascist dictatorship, and contemporary Spanish youth. Both generations strive to reach common ground, and though they encounter religious intolerance, youth sexuality and the devaluation of tradition, they ultimately overcome their differences to create a unique and modern Spanish identity. Using poems about travel and transient relationships to mediate a change in tone, the focus shifts to the Southwestern United States and Latin America, former colonies of the Spanish empire. Finally free from the oppression of colonialism, the Western Hemisphere struggles to establish its place in the world, unveiling its frailty and imperfection in the process. Spanish flaws, however, pale in comparison to the stark realities of Latin American life, seeming to belong to an older, more idyllic time. The final section focuses on the border towns between the United States and Mexico, particularly lawless and volatile areas where violence is continually on the rise. The poems address the impact of drug trafficking, women’s rights, immigration policy and the quality of life in border towns. The goal, therefore, is to capture the dual qualities of this no-man’s-land, the beauty of the natural landscape and folklore, contrasted sharply with ethnocentrism, bloodshed and overt violence.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

This thesis explores the reflective relationships that inspire transformation in the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Critics tend to reify the fairy tale, its characters, and its evolution, maintaining that the fairy tale is formulaic and its characters archetypal. These arguments suggest that the fairy tale only imitates what has come before and deny the fairy tale the possibility of dynamic meaning. I argue instead that Beauty and the Beast is a magic mirror that reflects its reader?s psyche, resulting both in the tale?s changing meaning and a transformed reader. The reflective relationship between Beauty and Beast, which enables physical transformation and emotional growth, emblematizes this reader-tale bond. My analysis of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, the French tales of Mmes de Beaumont and de Villeneuve, the Brothers Grimm folklore, and Disney?s animated film describes how and why these variants change. New variants are products of the past tales, contemporary problems, and the reader?s perception. The reflective relationship between Beauty and Beast extends to the symbiotic exchange between the reader and the tale, the author and his creation, and the society and its critique. By understanding these relationships, we embrace this tale?s meaning as dynamic instead of dated.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

This thesis explores the different ways in which music and culture interacted during the Vietnam War era. During the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, the nation was changing politically, as well as socially. A rising counter-culture found its voice in society, allowing musicians, artists and young activists, all of whom had traditionally been overlooked as marginal figures, to become powerful influences. Rock and Roll music was one of the largest driving forces of this revolution because it spoke on behalf of a nation of dissatisfied youths that had lost hope and faith in their government. Through looking at four of the most influential bands of this period, Buffalo Springfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and the Doors and analyzing their lyrics, I point out how their motivations and words touched the nation and left a lasting impression. While some of their music was politically inspired and created to incite change, some of their music was used solely as a vehicle of self-promotion—propelling these musicians into the public eye and making them famous. I explore the effects that different motivations had on audiences and why the roots of these intentions were so important.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

D.H. Lawrence was an author, a philosopher, an Englishman, an invalid, and a man. Why then, does he write novels that center around female sexuality and its development? Through critical readings of The Rainbow, Women in Love, in conjunction with Lawrence’s biography, I explore the role of women’s sexuality and the nature of relationships in the works of D.H. Lawrence. Living in an era that did not acknowledge individual sexuality, especially for women, Lawrence was often censored for his discussion of sexual relationships both within a marriage and without. By employing Lawrence’s biography as well as critical commentary, I discuss how Lawrence’s sexuality and his strained relationships with women are expressly communicated in his work. Much of Lawrence’s fiction contains explicit autobiographical references dependent on the period in which the work was written. The Rainbow and Women in Love are no exception, and ask the same questions which Lawrence was asking in his own life circa 1914. Both novels address issues such as the struggle for power in a relationship, sexual desire and development, as well as the ability to achieve a higher emotional consciousness. By better understanding the author and his intentions, I believe that the reader is able to better understand the novels themselves.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

In her science fiction, Ursula Le Guin breaks down rigid walls comprised of specific roles for sexes and genders. By undermining this binary system, she also challenges Hélène Cixous’s theory of écriture feminine. The thesis is divided into two parts: a comparison of the philosophies of Le Guin and Cixous as seen through their nonfiction, which leads into a reading of Le Guin’s science fiction through a Cixouvian lens. I use The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness and two collections of short stories, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea and The Birthday of the Other World and Other Stories. LeGuin deconstructs the dichotomies of the masculine/feminine, aggressive/passive and artificial/natural that all emerge with patriarchal societies. LeGuin’s fiction, however, is able to dispute the idea of a woman subject that Cixous champions. I examine Le Guin’s fiction to determine whether she actually achieves the goal that Cixous invites women to do. During the analysis, I show how Le Guin goes beyond Cixous’s goals, to create fiction that transcends the idea of feminine writing as Cixous defines it.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

In the Twentieth Century the concept of the American Dream has helped create the identity of the United States. The American Dream, defined as “a better, richer, and happier life,” is a social construct, which also contributes to one’s identity. I trace capitalism and changing values as forces that threaten and remake this ideal. By looking at a play and film, written by and populated by men, I examine the effects of these threatening forces on the goals of the characters. As I analyze middle class aspirations in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1949) and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987), I demonstrate how the definition of the Dream has transformed since its original state and has been sculpted by society in different decades of the Twentieth Century. I also argue how these two critiques of American culture portray the masculine role as society expects it to be fulfilled and how such expectations are linked to the objectives of the American Dream in the respective time period.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

In this thesis, I illuminate how mainstream American press has strayed from the freedom guaranteed it in the First Amendment. I map the road that has led to increasingly tighter government control of the press, primarily because this is the most easily quantified influence. Secondarily, I also reveal how capitalist economics and self-censorship contribute to the press’ less-than-ideal reporting. In tracing this trend, I compare mainstream press publications during periods of foreign conflict, beginning with the Vietnam War and ending with Iraq. Because foreign conflicts exaggerate the tensions between the media and the government as well as the public’s reliance upon both, my close readings of press reports readily reveal the influences constantly at work on journalists. My analysis of news stories focuses heavily on the New York Times’ front page content. I supplement my interpretations of those articles with sources from both media scholars and historians. While I conclude several things—such as that “objectivity” is unobtainable and that the press bears a greater responsibility to the people than it does to the government—I mainly hope to contribute to and inspire conversations concerning the difficulties facing mainstream press so that we might discover how to steer it back toward its originally intended path.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

This thesis explores the importance of emotions, connections, and relationships in the medical field using three memoirs written by physicians. Many might argue, considering the state of the current healthcare system, that doctors are too focused on treating the physical bodies of their patients. Danielle Ofri’s Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue, Emily R. Transue’s On Call: A Doctor’s Days and Nights in Residency, and Audrey Young’s What Patients Taught Me: A Medical Student’s Journey, however, all challenge this stereotypical model as detached, impersonal, and highly focused on treatment of the physical body. Instead, these women doctors present a more attached, empathetic approach. They profess that the science of medicine is inseparable from the emotions of practicing medicine and the relationships established with patients. Ofri, Transue, and Young bring human emotions to the forefront, thereby revealing that loss of emotion when treating and caring for patients may result in losing sight of patients’ and even one’s own human nature. In order to further explore the means by which these doctor-authors discuss emotions in medicine, I examine multiple emotive aspects of the doctor-patient relationship and other manifested emotions related more specifically to the doctors themselves. Through each, we see that emotions are not only present in the medical profession but that they are a vital part of its successful practice. Overall, we are reminded that doctors are human beings and that providing medical care is a human act.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

The Bildungsroman, or "novel of education," has remained popular since Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. I examine this novel, as well as Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, and Walter Moers's Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures, focusing specifically on the relationships between the three male protagonists and the women that they encounter throughout their lives. Using the theories of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, literary critic René Girard, and feminist philosopher Judith Butler, I draw parallels between and contribute to the scholarly conversation of all three works (or in the case of Moers's recent fantasy, Rumo, begin the critical conversation). All three protagonists mirror the women that they encounter, creating visions of ideal selves that they strive to become. The characters' progress and relationships, though different, all exemplify Lacan's Mirror Stage theory, as well as the theories of desire in Girard and Butler; the latter two theories take Lacan's ideas further and contribute to my comparison of characteristics in these three coming of age novels. I argue that, no matter the length of their journey or the final results of their relationships, successfully completing the Mirror Stage leads the protagonists to become their ideal selves

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

In this thesis, I take two complex works, Judith Butler's <em>Gender Trouble</em> and Jane Austen's <em>Mansfield Park</em>, and read them together to gain a deeper understanding of both. My cutting-edge psychoanalytic approach to understanding Jane Austen provides a profound insight into the impact of socially-constructed expectations on performances of femininity. Butler's work exposes interesting insights into the psychology and feminine identity of both Fanny Price and Mary Crawford while Austen's work exposes limits in Butler's theory of gender performativity. Although Butler claims that gender is a body's constant performance, I add that there is a relationship between gender performance and the external forces that dictate its terms. Consequently, despite Mary being the more charming character in Austen's novel, she struggles to maintain a stable sense of identity due to her over-eager adaptability to new environments and directions. On the contrary, Fanny, the heroine critics love to hate, has the more successful performance of femininity and is rewarded with marriage by the novel's conclusion. Fanny is Austen's true heroine as a result of her constancy in her identity performance despite issues of class and alternative directions. My analysis of Austen expands the parameters of Butler's theory to illustrate the ability women have to reject attempts to change their feminine identity, allowing them to preserve distinct senses of self.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

Judith Butler's <em>Gender Trouble </em>proposed the groundbreaking theory of gender as a constant performance: a series of cues observed, internalized, and repeated over time. Her argument benefits society's desire to deconstruct gender, and her ideas apply to a vast array of texts and periods. In fact, whereas Butler's text was published in 1990, over a hundred years earlier Wilkie Collins already toyed with gender performance in his formative novel, <em>The Woman in White </em>(1860). In this thesis, I examine <em>The Woman in White </em>through a Butlerian lens, illuminating how Collins began critiquing the concept of performative gender, especially with regard to women's fashion. I compare Collins's experimentation with gender to that of Sarah Waters, a modern Welsh novelist writing Victorian-era historical fictions<em>. </em>In comparing the two authors, I demonstrate how Waters, in the post-Butler era, more overtly and controversially illustrates gender performance, critiquing the hierarchy it presents with a heavier hand in her novels <em>Fingersmith </em>(2002) and <em>Tipping the Velvet </em>(1998). To finish my examination of different instances of gender performance, I analyze two Tana French mysteries, <em>In the Woods </em>(2007)<em> </em>and <em>The Likeness </em>(2008)<em>. </em>French sets her novels in the present, and as a result, the Buterlian manifestations prove more subtle, yet just as prevalent. In <em>The Likeness, </em>French presents characters who are aware of their performances, yet these instances of consciousness within performance still prove detrimental, as characters end up falling apart when attempting to separate themselves from their performances. Ultimately, this thesis moves across chronological periods: Collins defines gender norms in somewhat reactionary terms, ascribing to Marian her own awareness of social limitations specific to gender and sex. Waters, by proxy, emphasizes the way in which performances of gender reveal its fluidity. Finally, French demonstrates the lack of gender identity or "true self" at all without performative attributes. All of the authors and texts reveal the inherent and dangerous power of gender regulations within performance.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

American students are now more than ever being encouraged to study abroad. Study abroad has been praised for increasing students' cultural sensitivity, and promoting personal, professional, and intellectual development. In the spring of 2011, I personally had the chance to participant in, analyze, and reflect upon what the American students' study abroad experience is all about. After three months during the summer in India, as a participant observer in a language intensive program, and three months during the fall in Australia, as a participant observer in Union College's Partners in Global Education, I have a unique personal and cultural understanding of what happens to American students when they study abroad. Here the focus is on the concept of cultural immersion as it relates to American students while they are studying abroad. Cultural immersion, an expressed ideal of the majority of study abroad programs, is a multifaceted concept. A common misconception is that students can go abroad and effortlessly "get immersed" into the host culture. This attitude is detrimental to a successful immersion process. However, there are many options, whether through a homestay, participation in an organization, a peer tutor or as an individual observer, for students to actively begin and propagate their immersion into a host culture. Using interviews with my co-participants, participant observation, and my own experiences, I researched how, if at all, American students immerse into the host culture. I gained insight into how students prepared for studying abroad, what they expected to gain from their international experiences, what they did in their free time while abroad and with whom, and what it means to be living in a homestay while abroad.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 prompted the government to take drastic political action, such as the War on Terror, and inspired the American people to feel new cultural anxieties. Literature and popular culture also responded to 9/11 with attempts to make sense of such an unprecedented event. This thesis argues that superhero stories, both in comics and onscreen, are particularly well-suited to deconstruct and critique post-9/11 American society through their depictions of power and the question of how individuals with superpowers fit into society. Specifically, this thesis engages with Marvel Comics' <em>Civil War</em> (2006-07), its film adaptation <em>Captain America: Civil War</em> (2016), Dynamite Comics' <em>The Boys</em> (2006-12), and the first season of its television adaptation from Amazon (2019). Through examination of themes including accountability, corruption and dominance, this thesis reveals how, in recent years, the tropes of the superhero genre have been portrayed in nuanced ways that do not allow for a simple binary between good and evil. As such, these stories reflect the difficulty Americans have faced in adjusting to the realities of post-9/11 America, as actions that were meant to provide security have proven increasingly fallible in the years since the terrorist attacks.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement

In Honors Theses

Abstract

This thesis explores the works of Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe, a group of writers most often defined as the "New Journalists" for their untraditional blending of fictional techniques with reportage. I refer primarily to three texts: Mailer's The Armies of the Night, Didion's The White Album, and Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and then go on to analyze the authors' later careers through a study of their more recent essays and essay collections. I examine the ways in which these three authors break conventions of traditional journalism, most notably through their rejection of ethical boundaries, the varying level of "truth" or authenticity in their works, and their use of blurred genre. Through close readings of my three primary texts, I reveal how each author counters traditional journalism through a focus on the self. I conceptualize each writer's focus through the lens of different disciplines: Didion as philosopher, Mailer as memoirist, and Wolfe as social psychologist. These distinctive authorial roles provide a background for a discussion of each writer's later New Journalistic works. I locate their writing in the context of both the New Journalism movement, characterized by the 1960s and 1970s, as well as in later decades, thereby asserting that the movement is characterized by authorial presence rather than by time period. In this way, I reveal that the New Journalism movement did not conclude, but rather, has persisted through the later careers of each author.

Type of Resource

Thesis

Rights Statement