2013 Spring English Senior Honors Theses (MU)
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The items in this collection are the 2013 spring semester senior honors theses. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item Comic relief(University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013) McCormick, KatieThis original play focuses on the character of Jaime who goes on a journey of self-discovery as she pursues her dream of being a standup comedian.Item Broadening the scope: female authors are for more than the 'F-word'(University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013) Sobelman, Stacey L.Though contemporary fiction has evolved significantly alongside the social and political revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there remains the tendency to return to the stigmatized classifications of literature in the past, especially in regards to contemporary female authors. Is a story feminist simply because it has been written by a woman, about a woman, and for a female audience? This used to be the definition of feminist literature, but in the twenty-first century, this broad definition becomes a scarlet letter that can trivialize the work of female authors. Evolution is therefore necessary to a full understanding of these works. I will examine the work and words of my contemporaries to address the stigmas associated with the work of a female author. Through an analysis of my own collection, I hope to prove that there must be more involved in a critique of an author's work than her gender.Item These little towns: land, family, and individuality in the Midwest(University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013) Zawicki, MonicaI am interested in how current Midwestern writers are continuing to develop the Midwest's literary history, and how they relate to Midwestern artists working in different mediums, but with similar goals. These works stand on their own, but by focusing on how they represent land and the influences of that land, we can see the way the region influences literature. I use regionalism as a lens so I can look at the commonalities among the Midwest region. I examine contemporary Midwestern literature in terms of land, family, and individuality. I also look at the ways these themes exist in contemporary poetry, art, and music.Item Under skin: a critical essay of gender and the travel narrative(University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013) Heidorn, EmmaThere is a line between fact and parable, and the greatest writers of travel have unabashedly and purposefully ignored it in search of the subtle poetry just beneath the surface. This collection of non-fiction essays is about travel. More completely, it is about finding solace in the unknown, and offers that quintessential search through the eyes of a female. It explores the cadence amidst words, the melody of heading elsewhere and the subtle nuances of venturing into strange places. It grapples with what it means to feel nostalgia for things never experienced and to desire that untamed something that lies just below the surface. It offers a woman's perspective on the art of wandering into the unknown.Item Terrorism and spectacle in White noise and Mao II(University of Missouri, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013) Clark, Samuel E.This essay analyzes Don DeLillo's White Noise and Mao II in order to demonstrate a progression of his view of the role of the critic in postmodern society. In White Noise, DeLillo conveys his view of the postmodern condition as one that is characterized by simulation and inundated with advertising and media spectacle. He shows how this condition affects the way those within it perceive themselves and the world around them. Then, in Mao II, he shifts his focus to terrorism and a novelist's response to it. Over the course of these novels, he comes to the conclusion that terrorists have replaced novelists as social commentators and instruments of social change - a phenomenon that is possible only in a society mediated by spectacle. Terrorists, to DeLillo, are the only ones who stand out among the “endless streaming images.” Everything else is absorbed and neutralized. Some critics read this in DeLillo's fiction and conclude that culture mediated by spectacle is positive and progressive. This essay, though, argues that DeLillo's depicts this phenomenon as regressive, because it fosters a growing distaste for human subjectivity, which leads to a homogenized population and a general loss of critical thinking ability.
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