This thesis aims to show how the differences in the way dialect is translated affects the characters in litarature. To do so, thee translations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be...Show moreThis thesis aims to show how the differences in the way dialect is translated affects the characters in litarature. To do so, thee translations of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be compared to the English source text: translations by A.J. van Dragt (1885), E.M. Cameron (1946) and E. Dabekaussen (2019). These three translations show a shift in translation strategy over time; moving from standardizing the language to translating into stereotypes to honest effort in emulating the source text dialect in the target language.Show less
This thesis discusses the murders and murderers in Edgar Allan Poe's “The Black Cat”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. It looks at their self-defenses and motivations for their...Show moreThis thesis discusses the murders and murderers in Edgar Allan Poe's “The Black Cat”, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado”. It looks at their self-defenses and motivations for their crimes with specific attention for their forensic oratory.Show less
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are both fictional novels that have influenced real-life political change. This thesis aims to argue that the authors of...Show moreHarriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are both fictional novels that have influenced real-life political change. This thesis aims to argue that the authors of these two works use specific rhetorical tactics in an attempt to incentivize their readers into action to combat their respective concerns: slavery and the implementation of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1851 in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and the inhumane work-and living conditions surrounding the meatpacking industry in Chicago in the early 1900s in The Jungle. By close reading, analyzing, and comparing the two works the mutual themes were determined as follows: slavery, children, animals, and religion. Additionally, the theme of motherhood will be applied to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, while the immigrant theme will be discussed with regards to The Jungle. Both novels argue their points with a combination of these sympathy- and empathy garnering themes, which are then strengthened by interjections of an omniscient narrator that serves as the mouthpiece for Stowe and Sinclair.Show less
In my BA thesis I analyze two novels, The House of Mirth by Wharton and The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman. I illustrate how the novels describe that women needed personal autonomy and how they wanted...Show moreIn my BA thesis I analyze two novels, The House of Mirth by Wharton and The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman. I illustrate how the novels describe that women needed personal autonomy and how they wanted to escape patriarchal oppression. In order to do so I distinguish two selves within the female protagonists, namely the rebellious self and the obedient self. The rebellious self wants to break free from patriarchal oppression and its gender roles, whereas the obedient self adheres to these societal standards. Whilst analyzing these two selves in the novels, a link will be established between these selves and gothic imagery in order to illustrate women's precarious position in the American Victorian era.Show less
As a response to America's mainstream trend towards conformism in the 1950s and 60s, several subcultures arose, among the first of which was the Beat movement. While this movement consisted mostly...Show moreAs a response to America's mainstream trend towards conformism in the 1950s and 60s, several subcultures arose, among the first of which was the Beat movement. While this movement consisted mostly of men, there were also female Beatniks. Because these female Beatniks faced marginalization and alienation from within the Beat movement, as well as in traditional society, I will argue that they became more socially aware and driven to rebellion against conformity than their male counterparts, which makes these women the true embodiments of the ideals and actions of the Beat generation. Since the scope of this thesis does will not allow for extensive research on a range of Beat women, this thesis will explore the lives and works of two important female Beatniks; Diane di Prima (1934) and Hettie Jones (1934). By examining Di Prima’s and Jones’ literary output, the rebellion and marginalization found in their literary works can be put into historical context based on the examination of (auto)biographical texts.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to uncover the performative instead of the descriptive nature of trauma in contemporary American texts: Wild and Into the Wild. It is widely accepted that larger traumas need a narrative to be worked through, yet these seemingly non-typical examples show that narratives need a certain level of trauma as well. In chapter one the contradictions within trauma narratives will be analyzed by outlining the existing research. Chapter two places Wild amongst these theories and analyses Strayed as a learned, critical trauma author and her novel as autobiographical and calling upon the traditions of trauma. Chapter three both compares Wild and Into the Wild, one being autobiographical and the other describing someone else’s trauma. The positions chosen by the authors provide them with the opportunity to both link the stories to larger societal wounds and it gives the author as well as the audience the chance to work through their own traumas.Show less
When Freud first began to publish his theories on the unconscious around the turn of the 20th century, this represented a revolution within the field of psychology. However, Freud was much indebted...Show moreWhen Freud first began to publish his theories on the unconscious around the turn of the 20th century, this represented a revolution within the field of psychology. However, Freud was much indebted to literature, in which the existence of the unconscious had been postulated for some time. This thesis follows the developing perception of the unconscious in 19th century literature as it corresponds to the development of the concept of the unconscious within psychology, from a source of fear and mystery associated with pathology, to an accepted element of the human psyche recognised within everyone. In addition, it examines how particular concepts within Freudian psychoanalysis can be identified in some of the literature preceding him. Thus, it shows how Freud's theories were anticipated by 19th century literature.Show less
Novels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Falling Man by Don DeLillo and The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid all engage with the individual and collective traumas...Show moreNovels Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Falling Man by Don DeLillo and The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid all engage with the individual and collective traumas of 9/11. They do so in different ways and from different perspectives, but each struggles with the desire for (or impossibility of) achieving narrative closure. My thesis will use Mieke Bal’s theory linking trauma to the impossibility of closure in order to analyze the novels’ strategies to address the trauma of 9/11. I will argue that the level of healing achieved is directly related to the degree of narrative closure each novel reaches. Oskar, the child protagonist of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (year), addresses the trauma of losing his father in the attacks by going on a quest and keeping a scrapbook in which he collects his memories of his father’s life and death. This process allows him (and the novel) to achieve closure. Falling Man (year) collects the fragments of the lives of direct and indirect New York victims of the attacks, and tries to reassemble them. Here, the trauma is addressed on a more collective level than in the case of ELaIC, sometimes successfully, in other cases less so. The Reluctant Fundamentalist (year) is a novel from the other side: its speaker and main character is a Pakistani activist, whose trauma consists of his rejection by American society after 9/11. Changez and the other characters function as metaphors for the national traumas incurred. These remain unresolved and the novel accordingly does not reach narrative closure. Together, these novels suggest that individual 9/11 traumas may be worked through successfully, but that there remains an unresolved collective or even global trauma.Show less
This thesis argues that the Wilberforce Museum assumes a similar role as William Wilberforce in the opposition of slavery in the representation of slavery and abolition and the opposition of...Show moreThis thesis argues that the Wilberforce Museum assumes a similar role as William Wilberforce in the opposition of slavery in the representation of slavery and abolition and the opposition of contemporary slavery.Show less
In “The Significance of the Frontier” Turner suggests that frontier experiences creates true – independent, individual, free – Americans, and points out that this is problematic once no actual...Show moreIn “The Significance of the Frontier” Turner suggests that frontier experiences creates true – independent, individual, free – Americans, and points out that this is problematic once no actual western frontier is left. This thesis explores how and where later great American novels have constructed new frontiers to overcome. The Sun Also Rises is a novel set in a time when the lack of a physical western frontier was just beginning to be felt. Its protagonists are among the first generations who did not have an actual American western frontier, and instead looked for a place outside America and went to find one in Europe after WWI. Their goal was to create a new identity for themselves and to build an unconventional life by distancing themselves from American society and culture. On the Road has a different take on the concept ‘frontier’ because by then it was psychological and normative rather than a physical boundary. Its main characters do physically go to the West but they do this to escape from the past and the older society with its restrictions. The experience of being on the road is what they look for as the tool to carve a new identity for themselves. Research question: What strategies do The Sun Also Rises and On the Road employ to define new frontiers since Turner’s original frontier experience can no longer be used to form authentic selves ? Thesis statement Although the frontier has changed since Turner, it has continued to exist in other forms and new forms of frontier struggle are at the heart of these novels using movement as a key strategy.Show less
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia set in the near future. Written during the second wave of feminism (1985) it describes a country in which a fanatic Christian regime, The Republic of Gilead, has...Show moreThe Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopia set in the near future. Written during the second wave of feminism (1985) it describes a country in which a fanatic Christian regime, The Republic of Gilead, has seized power and has assigned the last remaining fertile women to high-ranking men with the sole purpose to reproduce. These women, including protagonist Offred, are called Handmaids. Her narrative of her oppressed situation and her memories of times before Gilead give the reader a view of what life in this regime may be like. The style of her narration provides a good view of the effect the regime has on Offred’s actions and thoughts. How does this manifest itself exactly? How and why does the regime affect her? Sigmund Freud, the forefather of modern psychology, created a theoretical framework to understand the functioning of the mind that is still implicitly influential today (even if it is often explicitly disowned). His theory makes many conjectures on how suppressed material, such as thoughts and wishes, become unconscious, and if unconscious how they may be retrieved and understood. The analysis of conscious and unconscious faculties of the mind, and the mind’s tripartite structure (ego, id and superego), underlie Freud’s master theory on the human psyche: psychoanalysis. Much of Freud’s grand theory is laid down in his dream theory. He believed that dreams were “the royal road to the unconscious” (Storr, Freud: A Very Short Introduction). This method can help to further grasp Freud’s theories on the mind. Discarded as Freud’s theories may be in psychology today, they remain influential in literary studies. Freud’s theoretical framework illuminates clearly the psychological workings of the Gilead regime, as exemplified particularly in Offred’s case. This thesis tries to understand at a psychological level how Offred functions within her society, and how she reacts to it. Therefore, like Freud would analyse a patient, this thesis will analyse Offred and her surroundings. The aim is not to simply identify Freudian elements, such as anality, orality, denial etc, but to show how these underlie an understanding of Offred, and of the novel as a whole. An analysis such as this creates and understanding of Offred’s narration and narrative, making her tale more narratable. This thesis will therefore explore The Handmaid’s Tale in a Freudian context.Show less
