In this thesis I have argued that Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy forms a sandbox for Young Adults to consider and play around issues of social justice. I have linked the events in the books to...Show moreIn this thesis I have argued that Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy forms a sandbox for Young Adults to consider and play around issues of social justice. I have linked the events in the books to events in historical or contemporary societies and have done so by making use of Foucault's political theory of a control and disciplinary society.Show less
Despite the fact that the American accent is the most frequently heard variety of English in Dutch media, Gerritsen et al. (2016) concluded from a small-scale poll that the British accent is...Show moreDespite the fact that the American accent is the most frequently heard variety of English in Dutch media, Gerritsen et al. (2016) concluded from a small-scale poll that the British accent is considered to be the norm among Dutch people. In Dutch education this tendency is also visible as the British accent is used as the standard teaching accent (Edwards, 2016; Trudgill & Hannah, 2008). Since research shows that language attitudes are learnt and that educators play a role in the formation of those attitudes, it is important to stay up to date about the preferences and ideas of students (Lasagabaster & Huguet, 2007). The last time, however, that Dutch students were specifically asked about their attitudes towards different English accents was in 1998 by Van der Haagen. The results of the matched-guise test used in this study showed that the language attitudes from students of different levels of education can differ. Research conducted by Heining-Boyton and Heitema (2007) suggested that age can also influence language attitudes. With the help of an online questionnaire, the current study therefore tried to investigate how the attitudes towards different English accents compare between different groups of students. The results suggest that the asked groups of students had different attitudes towards English accents. These findings can help teachers meet the needs of specific groups of students by adapting teaching methods to the study results.Show less
This thesis discusses the representation of spinsters in mid-Victorian literary fiction, examining how different authors deviate from the negative view of these unmarried women and respond to the...Show moreThis thesis discusses the representation of spinsters in mid-Victorian literary fiction, examining how different authors deviate from the negative view of these unmarried women and respond to the contemporary debate on their ‘superfluity’. It analyses the representation of spinsterhood in three novels from the mid-Victorian period: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford (1853); Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853); and Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (1861). This thesis argues that these authors take spinsters out of their marginal space, and present them at the heart of their texts. Moreover, by granting spinsters a central position and considerable power, these mid-Victorian authors validate their existence, oppose their ‘superfluity’, and demonstrate that women can be unmarried and independent instead of relying on men.Show less
This thesis examines attitudes towards feminism and the New Woman movement in the 1890s and 1900s in relation to the representations of female criminal characters in the following works: Thomas...Show moreThis thesis examines attitudes towards feminism and the New Woman movement in the 1890s and 1900s in relation to the representations of female criminal characters in the following works: Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891); Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories; and Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent (1907). The thesis argues that the texts all contain a paradox considering the agency of criminal women. On the one hand, Hardy, Doyle and Conrad depict the criminal woman as a symbol of choice and agency. On the other hand, the texts also cast doubt on the idea that agency is possible for anyone when the criminological (often deterministic) explanations for the crime are taken into account.Show less
The author Agatha Christie wrote more than sixty detective novels between 1916 and 1973. Christie wrote her detective stories during a time in which English society also experienced the first and...Show moreThe author Agatha Christie wrote more than sixty detective novels between 1916 and 1973. Christie wrote her detective stories during a time in which English society also experienced the first and second wave of feminism. This thesis will investigate to what extent the first and second wave of feminism influenced Christie’s depiction of her well-known female detective Miss Marple and her views on women’s roles and identities in British society. This analysis will focus on the following three Miss Marple novels: The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), A Murder is Announced (1950), and Nemesis (1971). Eventually, this thesis will show that the feminist thought and activism key to the first and second wave of feminism have had a significant influence on Christie’s depiction of Miss Marple. Throughout these years, Christie has gradually increased Miss Marple’s agency, prominence and engagement with feminist thought expressed in her time. Even so, the exploration of feminist thought concerning same-sex relationships presents to be a boundary for Christie.Show less
This study explores the meaning of five game related words and whether there is semantic variation within the lexicon of the gaming community. Even though there are tens of thousands of video games...Show moreThis study explores the meaning of five game related words and whether there is semantic variation within the lexicon of the gaming community. Even though there are tens of thousands of video games on the market (Statista, 2022a) and around three billion gamers worldwide (Newzoo, 2021), little research has been done concerning gamers’ linguistics. This research includes an analysis based on a worldwide online survey about the meaning of five gaming terms. 379 respondents gave answers about their age, gender, country of origin and their most played games, as well as their description of five given gaming terms. The respondents were sorted into four categories, or Gamer Types, based on the game genre they play the most. The correlation between the Gamer Types and their descriptions of the five gaming words was analysed. The results of this research suggest that there is semantic variation within the gaming community. However, the results also imply there is no immediate correlation between the Gamer Types and their descriptions of the given gaming terms.Show less
Innovation of the sonnet and its development has opened up the form from a restrictive to an adaptable form that allows the sonnet to address different themes. The adaptability of the sonnet...Show moreInnovation of the sonnet and its development has opened up the form from a restrictive to an adaptable form that allows the sonnet to address different themes. The adaptability of the sonnet becomes evident in various ways. This degree of innovation allowed for the sonnet to develop from its origin as a love poem towards the religious sonnet, extending the topic of secular love, central to the Petrarchan sonnet, to include divine love and human-divine relationality. Following from that, the religious sonnet developed into the political sonnet. The political sonnet provided the foundation for women to set the stage with their contributions to the sonnet: women used the sonnet as a vehicle for private and political expression and thereby constructed the identity of the woman poet. Moreover, the adaptability of the sonnet becomes clear in the way in which individual poets innovate the sonnet in various ways. This thesis showcases examples in which poets reinvent the sonnet by means of innovative use of structural and formal conventions. Innovation of form and structure within the sonnet is analysed and contextualised by comparing sonnets by poets from the period between 1600 and 1800. The central question is how these poets innovate the use of the sonnet to respond to the events of their time, and how the successive innovation of the sonnet has caused the form to open up to address a wider range of topics.Show less
