This thesis will show that Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy critically explore contemporary social concerns in modern-day America, such as the unfair...Show moreThis thesis will show that Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy critically explore contemporary social concerns in modern-day America, such as the unfair distribution of wealth, the potentially corruptive nature of power and the dual nature of identity. The trilogies also question the capability of both totalitarian and democratic political regimes to govern their people fairly. Both authors introduce their young-adult audience to such pressing socio-political topics by presenting them with two different prospective dystopian futures. Both the Hunger Games as well as the Divergent series present protagonists who are young adults themselves – making the storyline easier to relate to – and the novels critically explore socio-political themes specifically tailored for the young readership. Beyond these initial similarities, both trilogies exhibit a different vision regarding not only contemporary America, but its future development as well, giving relevance to their comparison. Whereas the Hunger Games series' social critique is mainly centered around governmental systems, the Divergent series focuses more on the controversy surrounding identity development, commenting on the precarious balance between a character’s free will to develop his or her own identity and an imposed identity constructed from various external social and economic forces.Show less
This BA thesis explores the nature of individual human agency in the second season of the television series The Wire. Drawing on Althusserian or Gramscian thought, involving the question of...Show moreThis BA thesis explores the nature of individual human agency in the second season of the television series The Wire. Drawing on Althusserian or Gramscian thought, involving the question of ideology and its limiting effects on human agency, I have argued that the nature of human agency in The Wire is problematic. The characters, especially in the second season, are bound by an ideological discourse. Chapter two has shown that the characters are involved in an ideological discourse of their own and that determines the extent of their individual agency. In addition, and in dialogue with the ideologies that bind the characters, there is the (creators of the) series’ own ideological response to this, both in terms of the plotting and on a more formal level (discussed in chapters three and four respectively).Show less
While the choice of accent in British popular music has been subject of debate for many years, there is still little known about the choice of accent in Dutch popular music. This thesis sets out to...Show moreWhile the choice of accent in British popular music has been subject of debate for many years, there is still little known about the choice of accent in Dutch popular music. This thesis sets out to describe the trend in the choice of accents among Dutch artists when singing in English and it sets out to examine how this choice correlates with the choice of topic and the stylistic choices. An analysis of one hundred songs by seventy-three Dutch artists revealed that the vast majority of the Dutch artists adopt a primarily American accent. The analysis also disclosed that there is not an obvious correlation between the choice of accent, the choice of topic and the stylistic choices in these songs. Previous research also did not really include the listener’s preference for an accent. Therefore, the second aim of this thesis is to examine whether listeners have a preference for one accent over the other and what their motivations are for this preference. A survey was conducted involving fifty-eight participants. The results of the survey showed that a large majority of the listeners preferred the British recording over the American recording. The motivations for the preference for the British recording are mostly based on the accent of the singer, the comprehensibility and the overall sound of the recording. In conclusion, this study offers support for the use of a British accent in Dutch popular music songs.Show less
Through the method of close-reading the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn this thesis complicates the notions put forth in Nina Baym's classic essay "Melodramas of Beset Manhood" (1981)...Show moreThrough the method of close-reading the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn this thesis complicates the notions put forth in Nina Baym's classic essay "Melodramas of Beset Manhood" (1981) regarding the role of gender in nineteenth-century American canonical literature.Show less
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Creature is introduced as a Romantic hero, with human emotions and needs and a grotesque appearance. The image of the Creature has since changed repeatedly...Show moreIn Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Creature is introduced as a Romantic hero, with human emotions and needs and a grotesque appearance. The image of the Creature has since changed repeatedly through mass-media adaptations of Shelley’s novel. For example, the current standard image of the Creature bears a strong resemblance to Boris Karloff’s Creature (Frankenstein, 1931) in appearance and personality. This thesis examines the form and function of “the Creature” in contemporary cinematic adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). By analysing the appearance, abilities and behaviour of the Creature in the original Frankenstein (1818) and in cinematic adaptations from various genres, it is shown how the representation of the Creature is influenced by internal and external genre cues of the adaptation in which he is featured. The genres that are explored are the horror genre and the action genre, represented by the movies Frankenstein: Day of the Beast (2011) and I, Frankenstein (2014), respectively.Show less
This thesis argues against a recent claim which states that English is a Scandinavian language which came about during and after the Viking settlement and reign in England.
This thesis examines the status of whether in Generative Grammar. There is no consensus in the existing literature on the syntactic status of whether. Some linguists (Haegeman, 2006; Huddleston ...Show moreThis thesis examines the status of whether in Generative Grammar. There is no consensus in the existing literature on the syntactic status of whether. Some linguists (Haegeman, 2006; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002; Van Gelderen, 2013; among others) argue that whether is a complementiser, on a par with that and if. The example in (1) illustrates this position: (1) I don’t know whether/if I’ll go to the party. Other linguists (Newson et al, 2006; Radford, 1997, 2004, 2009; among others) have posited that whether is a wh-phrase, on a par with who and when. The example in (2) illustrates this position: (2) I don’t know whether/when I’ll go to the party. In this thesis, I aim to find out which of these positions is to be preferred: is whether a complementiser or a wh-phrase? I will attempt to answer this question through synchronic and diachronic research, using data from the existing literature. I will analyse the present-day syntactic behaviour of whether, its historical development and its morphology and critically evaluate the evidence for the two positions as presented in the existing literature.Show less
Anxieties about writing and privacy are often at the heart of Edith Wharton’s fiction. In the two works discussed in this thesis, Wharton’s early novels The Touchstone (1900) and The House of Mirth...Show moreAnxieties about writing and privacy are often at the heart of Edith Wharton’s fiction. In the two works discussed in this thesis, Wharton’s early novels The Touchstone (1900) and The House of Mirth (1905), private letters written by women acting outside the domestic sphere, a woman writer and an adulterous wife, play a central role. Wharton uses these letters to explore the boundaries between the private and public spheres and to ask questions about the position of woman writers at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, whether they can function in the public realm and make themselves heard, or are destined to remain in the private sphere and be silent. The principal female characters in The Touchstone and The House of Mirth are, in a sense, both “authors” who are unable to break free from the limitations of their lives. In spite of their moral superiority, they remain subordinate to men who misread their writing, with disastrous consequences. Although Wharton criticises the male-dominated society of early twentieth-century America, she suggests that woman writers had better stayed within their domestic confinement, and, as a consequence, that private letters by women had better be burnt than published.Show less
This thesis offers an analysis of the socio-cultural implications of Germanic heroic verse. Specifically, the line of reasoning is explored that Germanic heroic poetry was an artistic...Show moreThis thesis offers an analysis of the socio-cultural implications of Germanic heroic verse. Specifically, the line of reasoning is explored that Germanic heroic poetry was an artistic crystallization of a people's need for cultural and private commemoration.Show less
It has been said to write what you know and literature has made use of this fact in no uncertain terms. Especially the film industry, and within that the romantic comedy genre, tell stories of...Show moreIt has been said to write what you know and literature has made use of this fact in no uncertain terms. Especially the film industry, and within that the romantic comedy genre, tell stories of everyday lives. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, they have a fight, they make up, they get together or get married and we laugh, or die of embarrassment at the impossible situations they get themselves into. These are scenes we all know too well. Romantic comedies have been a part of not only our modern culture but they also date back to at least the early modern English periods where Shakespeare entertained the masses. In our modern film culture, romantic comedies seem to be all the rage. Hollywood is popping out one after the other and they seem to have great success all over the world. Due to the fact that romantic comedies make use of a great amount of stereotyping (Neale & Krutnik, 1990), they make interesting cases for gender specific sociolinguist analysis. And that is what I intend to research: Language and gender in dialogue between head male and head female characters in romantic comedies. And also due to the developments that have occurred during the feminist and post feminist periods, I will compare some language features from 1960’s romantic comedies to the early 2000’s. The research will be based on a theoretical background in gender-specific sociolinguistics given by Lakoff (1995), Spender (1989), and Meyerhoff (2006). I will also consult film theoretic literature on romantic comedies given by Neale and Krutnik (1990) and Thompson and Bordwell (2010) to place my research in context. The research data will consist of evidence and examples from fifteen 1960’s romantic comedies, and fifteen of their early 2000’s counterparts.Show less
This thesis gives an analysis of Sinclair lewis’s Character George Babbitt in his novel Babbitt. The analysis shows that Babbitt is unsatisfied with his life. This is because Babbitt is, unlike...Show moreThis thesis gives an analysis of Sinclair lewis’s Character George Babbitt in his novel Babbitt. The analysis shows that Babbitt is unsatisfied with his life. This is because Babbitt is, unlike Benjamin Franklin, not a self-made man. Franklin set an example of how to live your honourable. Ralph Waldo Emerson created with his essay Self Reliance a view that stated that man should be nonconforming to society. Emerson believed that conforming to society and neglecting personal dreams would lead to an unhappy life. Therefore, this thesis states that Babbitt is also unsatisfied because of his conformism to the materialistic American society of the 1920s.Show less
In this paper, I aim to assess the translation quality of Tommy Wieringa’s Joe Speedboot using House’s translation quality model. In translation, the choices a translator makes affect the reader’s...Show moreIn this paper, I aim to assess the translation quality of Tommy Wieringa’s Joe Speedboot using House’s translation quality model. In translation, the choices a translator makes affect the reader’s response. House’s model for translation quality assessment tests these choices and makes a distinction between an overt and covert translation. An overt translation is ST oriented; cultural specific elements are retained in the TT and it is not directed at the TT readers, whereas a covert translation enjoys the status of an original in the target culture. The model focuses on the lexical, syntactic and textual means used to construct the register of a text. The application of House’s TQA model to Wieringa’s Joe Speedboot will show whether it is covert, overt or an interplay of both.Show less
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) suggests that true Christian spirituality and virtue was threatened by eighteenth-century capitalism. In his novel, Defoe illustrates how religious piety was...Show moreDaniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) suggests that true Christian spirituality and virtue was threatened by eighteenth-century capitalism. In his novel, Defoe illustrates how religious piety was rendered difficult in the eighteenth century, an era in which many people participated in overseas trade because of the rise of proto-capitalism (Semmel 30). Crusoe has less difficulty being a devout Christian when living on the uninhabited island than he does before he is shipwrecked and after he goes back to society after twenty eight years of living in isolation. Crusoe’s lifestyle on the desolate island is in stark contrast to his lifestyle on the European mainland. On the latter, the European bourgeois capitalist culture motivates Crusoe to become wealthy and lures him into the trading business overseas. Yet on the desolate island, where Crusoe is the sole survivor of a shipwreck, he thanks God and repents the previous mistakes he has made. The absence of social and economic distractions gives him an opportunity to become more familiarized with Christianity. As Crusoe is isolated from society on the desolate island, he initially feels desperation and fear, which makes him turn to the Bible. It is because of what he reads in the Bible and his isolation from society that Crusoe reflects on his previous lifestyle and appreciates his new connection with God. However, by the end of the novel, the reader might wonder whether Crusoe has been able to keep the resolutions which he has made on the island. He is unable to maintain his religious piety when he leaves the island, as the capitalist society tempts him to become a private trader again. Indeed, by contrasting life on the mainland in a blooming market economy to life in isolation on an island, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe suggests that capitalism and a society obsessed with materialism made conversion to true Christianity difficult, or even impossible. As regards the influence and historical context of Robinson Crusoe, I will approach the novel from a New Historicist perspective and explain that it is a product of its time. Below, I will first show that the novel reflects contemporary ideas of true Christianity and conversion. After placing the novel in a historical context, I will contrast Crusoe’s lifestyle on the mainland amidst society with life in isolation on the island to analyze Crusoe’s religious experience and his psychological change to see how the capitalist society affects him and renders him unable to maintain religious piety. I will do this in three separate chapters. In this paper, I will limit my research to The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, as a focus on the whole Crusoe trilogy would be more appropriate in a master thesis.Show less
This thesis will examine the question of how to translate culture specific concepts in the Dutch and American translation of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary when the goal is to maintain the...Show moreThis thesis will examine the question of how to translate culture specific concepts in the Dutch and American translation of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary when the goal is to maintain the original effect of the novel. One of the main decisions a translator will have to make is whether or not to preserve the British character of the novel to make it more authentic or to adapt the novel to other cultures in order to make sure that people in other countries can also identify with Bridget. Whereas Venuti claims that it is a translator’s duty to stay faithful to the source text and thus apply the strategy of foreignization, I will argue in this thesis that a domesticizing translation strategy is preferred when translating Bridget Jones’s Diary; in order to maintain the effect from the original novel, the translators need to translate the British culture specific concepts into American and Dutch culture specific concepts. This thesis will use several translation theories to link culture specific concepts to the struggle of translators to maintain the original effect of the novel.Show less
This thesis examines the persuasive differences between U.S. President Barack Obama’s war speech on ISIL (2014) and former President George W. Bush’s war speech on Iraq (2003). Obama and Bush Jr....Show moreThis thesis examines the persuasive differences between U.S. President Barack Obama’s war speech on ISIL (2014) and former President George W. Bush’s war speech on Iraq (2003). Obama and Bush Jr. both made use of various language strategies to influence the audience’s perception of their speech. Because Obama needed to gain much more public approval in 2014 than Bush Jr. did in 2003, it is expected that Obama’s speech contains much more persuasive strategies than Bush Jr.’s speech. The stylistic and linguistic analysis in this thesis, however, show that this is not the case. Obama does not make more use of persuasive strategies than Bush Jr. does, but focuses on different strategies instead.Show less
