While many critics note the numerous musical allusions in Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, and Maxine Hong Kingston's Tripmaster Monkey, this thesis examines the appropriation of jazz in particular to these three American texts. . . .

To become part of any literary tradition is to call upon the classics while inventing new and individual ideas and concepts. In my writing I strive to find a balance between the old and the new . I have been heavily influenced by authors in the litera . . .

My thesis will focus on three of O'Brien's Vietnam War novels: The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato, and In the Lake of the Woods. I will show how O'Brien develops these stories in terms of individual, social, cultural, and historical aspects . . .

This thesis explores the moral evolution of Joseph Conrad's protagonist, Marlow, in Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Marlow appears uniquely in literature as the omnipotence of cloistered Victorian moral ideals began to fade and just as the shattering . . .

Women today are taught to believe that mothering is instinctual and that when they have children they are supposed to love taking care of them. This notion perplexes many women who give birth without immediately feeling kinship with their baby. Some, . . .

Two Trees explores writing from a post-modern, post-sturcturalist perspective and experiments with form. Some of the works include elements of conventional poetry and fiction. Other poems combine the two genres of writing to create a poetic-fiction th . . .

A teenage girl grows up in the early nineteen eighties. Her parents are divorced, she rarely sees her father, and she doesn't get along with her stepfather. She moves to a new town and makes friends with popular kids. She meets an older boy and has a . . .

As a writer I have positioned myself within the framework of lesbian writing. The term 'lesbian writing', however, is varied and constantly in a state of definition. Yet, both in spite of, and because of this, I must construct a framework of lesbian w . . .

The plays of Lanford Wilson have interested scholars, critics and playgoers for more than three decades . Among other things, critics have focused on Wilson's use of language. Some assert that Wilson's evocative language has captured the voice of the . . .

This thesis suggests that Bertolt Brecht's play, Round Heads and Pointed Heads, has been underserved both critically and theatrically. Although it evolved from a previous attempt Brecht made to adapt Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure, there has b . . .

This thesis explores the manifestation of closed and open consciousness in conventional rhetoric of persuasion and the rhetoric of the rhizome. The rational mode of the Western discursive tradition has determined a pragmatic mode of consciousness, whi . . .

This thesis contains the first seven chapters of a novel in progress. The novel is set in the present. The protagonist and narrator is an engineer working at an aerospace company in the San Fernando Valley. The narrator is a remarkable figure in that . . .

This thesis is concerned with analyzing the characters of Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, and Professor Severus Snape from the sensational children's book series, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling through the perspective of literary and critical theory. Alth . . .

This thesis brings together three shorter plays, "Reverse Intimidation," "Collectors," and "Chandra," each of which I've been working for some time. Each play explores the courage and the fragility of women. "Reverse Intimidation" is based on personal . . .

A comedienne clasping a manly-man hand to her face-that's the sight gag splashed across the cover of Tina Fey's bestselling memoir Bossypants, a joke and title with centuries' worth of setup. A subversion of expectations is reflected in the cover desi . . .

In this grant I will be addressing the need for an expansion of Feleti Barstow Public Library of Pago Pago, American Samoa. This Library is the only library on the island and houses many of the island's cultural and historical artifacts. I am requesti . . .

Late in Jane Austen’s "Emma," a peculiar scene of harrowing adventure disrupts an otherwise realistic novel. On an early morning walk, Harriet Smith takes a wrong turn into the woods outside the posh village of Highbury. A “gang” of young “gypsies,” p . . .

Establishing and maintaining a professional teacher blog enables teachers to publish, reflect, share, collaborate, and enrich their professional presence. While publishing has long been the standard for university professors, secondary teachers do not . . .

This paper is an investigation of the widows found in Jane Austen’s Lady Susan and Sanditon, two unpublished works during her lifetime. The paper presents a careful close read of both Lady Susan and Lady Denham and their methods of manipulation in ord . . .

The creative portion of this thesis is The Girl Who Loved Gable, a psychological detective novel. Set in Los Angeles in the present, the novel is a first person narrative. The central character is Leda Swann, a 30 year old female detective who is assi . . .