Each of Walter Percy's three novels and many of his philosophical essays explore the alternatives to alienation chosen by modern man. These alternatives reflect Soren Kierkegaard's three stages of existence, and hence illustrate the influence Kierkegaard had on Percy's writings. The options chosen by the central characters in Percy's novels demonstrate their attempts to suppress alienation and avoid an everyday existence. Many of the options fail because they depend on momentary pleasure, fail to provide permanent solutions, or are rooted in the past and tradition. Consequently, each protagonist, along with several important secondary characters, seeks increasingly valid alternatives that will endure through time. This thesis examines the various options selected by Percy's major characters, their reasons for such selections and eventual rejections, as well as the gradual discovery of valid alternatives to alienation. The invalid, semi-valid, and valid options parallel Kierkegaard's aesthetic, ethical, and religious stages of existence and the precise interrelationship is the subject of this thesis. / Master of Arts

Many aspects of the Nazis’ methods of persuasion, especially the rhetoric and psychology of printed propaganda and the speeches of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels have been the subjects of intensive study. Oddly, the subject of technology applied as an instrument or supplement to propaganda, or the rhetorical contributions of technological devices, has very little representation in Nazi studies, despite the significance it played in their rise to power. This thesis attempts to fill that gap. Specifically, I will be treating lights and lighting, sound and music, the Nuremberg Party Rallies, radio, and cinema from a rhetorical perspective. The rhetorical framework I have constructed to analyze these elements relies on a synthesis of Richard Weaver’s Tyrannizing Image and Kenneth Burke’s Terministic Screen concepts. Burke provides an important connection to visual rhetoric while Weaver provides links to culture, myth, and history.The ultimate goal of this thesis is to show how the rhetorical theories of Kenneth Burke and Richard Weaver can be used to explain the Nazis’ persuasion tactics. Aristotle demanded that rhetors “know all available means of persuasion,” and obviously, technological devices have rhetorical value. To prove this, I have relied as much as possible on primary sources, especially the autobiographies of former Nazis and Hitler’s Mein Kampf, but the Hitler biographers (Joachim Fest, Robert Waite, and John Toland) have also proved their usefulness. While this thesis is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject, it at least sows the field with seeds of thought. I do not address either the printed propaganda of Nazism or the speeches of Hitler or Goebbels. I examine instead the rhetorical devices and methods used by the Nazis to reinforce these types of persuasion.

Even though parallels between the philosophy of Albert Camus and The Big Lebowski have been drawn repeatedly, a sustained enquiry into several possible dimensions of the matter is yet to have been conducted.This dissertation makes an attempt to conduct the aforementioned enquiry in some detail. In doing this, the study will try to analytically compare Camusian philosophy and Dudeism and bring out the similarities between them. This does not imply that there are no differences between the two; but the focus of this study is the similarities and not the differences. Dudeism, for the purpose of this study, will not be restricted to The Dude and the literature written on The Dude and Dudeism. It will also be expanded to accommodate certain other parts of the larger discourse of Ethan and Joel Coen’s filmography as well as a few other parts of The Big Lebowski itself. It is crucial, however, to “draw a line in the sand” (Walter, The Big Lebowski) at the very outset. In embarking on a comparative analysis between Camusian philosophy and Dudeism, this study does not intend to propose that one of them is influenced by the other and “what-have-you” ("The Editorial Preface" 12). Instead, it simply attempts to point out some of the discursive elements that they share with each other as well as with several of the sub-discourses they comprise of. The analysis in the dissertation that follows is split into three major chapters: 1. ‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m blathering about’: An analytical frame of reference. 2. ‘You can’t be worried about that shit, life goes on, man’: Life, Death and Absurdity in Camus and Dudeism. 3. ‘Somebody this square community won’t give a shit about’: Camus’ Absurd Man and Dudeism The first chapter, “‘Well, I’ll tell you what I’m blathering about’: An analytical frame of reference”, provides an analytical framework for the discussions that follow in the rest of the dissertation. It is further divided into three sections. The first section lays out a basic understanding of a few fundamental ideas of Dudeism for the readers. The second section discusses a few important aspects of the philosophy of Albert Camus. The third section briefly establishes the connections between Dudeism and the philosophy of Camus which are examined in greater detail later in the study. The second chapter, “‘You can’t be worried about that shit, life goes on, man’: Life, Death and Absurdity in Camus and Dudeism” looks at Camus’ takes on Life, Death and Absurdity while also pointing out the parallels they seem to strike with Dudeism. The chapter is further divided into four sections. The first section examines strands of Camusian thought, especially the Absurd in the other films of Ethan and Joel Coen before establishing a connection to The Big Lebowski. The second section explores the attitudes towards Death in Camusian philosophy and Dudeism. The third section compares the ideologies of Life in the works of Camus and Dudeism. The fourth and final section explores parallels between Camus’ novel The Stranger and The Stranger: the cowboy narrator of The Big Lebowski. The third chapter picks up on the Camusian trope of the Absurd Man and its relation to Happiness in both: the works of Camus as well as the discourses of Dudeism. It comprises of three sections. The first section explores the notion of Alienation in Camusian philosophy and Dudeism and looks at how it eventually leads to the trope of the Absurd Man in Camus. The second section explores Camus’ creation of the Absurd Man through the Cycle of the Absurd and looks at how it fits into Dudeism. The third and final section delves into a comparison of the Absurd Man’s quest for Happiness in Camus and Dudeism. / M.A. Honours with Research in English

I begin this thesis with a discussion of Neil Gaiman’s career and my interaction with his first novel, Neverwhere. I define time in the novel as the succession and interrelatedness of events and divide this definition into two perceptions: immediacy and graduality. I apply the former to the novel’s separate worlds, which are called London Above and London Below. London Above, in the perception of Richard Mayhew, the main character, favors immediacy and rejects graduality. Though his perception is incomplete, the nature of London Above makes him unsuitable for life there. London Below, on the other hand, exhibits both perceptions. Graduality’s influence on the two worlds shows a departure from Western conceptions of time that makes London Above and London Below a symbiotic that cannot be unified. This symbiosis can be allegorized as the hermeneutical gap. After examining similar concepts in Gaiman’s Stardust and American Gods, I conclude that Gaiman’s writing states that the permanently separated hermeneutical gap allows humanity to reflect upon itself.

Until recent years, Chaucer's "Tale of Melibee" was scorned by most critics as a boring conglomeration of proverbs. As a result, little attempt has been made to understand the tale's content and the reason for its popularity in the Middle Ages. However, D. W. Robertson, in his reevaluation of the headlink between "Sir Thopas" and "Melibee" concludes that Chaucer intended ''Melibee" to contain all the sententious meaning which underlies the other tales. Presupposing that the tale may prove to be the keystone of The Canterbury Tales, this thesis purposes to explicate "Melibee" in its medieval context and to show its vital tie with the thematics of the other tales. The first chapter summarizes relevant Chaucer criticism on ''Melibee" and introduces the Robertsonian analysis of the headlink. Chapter two correlates the text with St. Augustine's commentary on the seven steps to wisdom found in De doctrina Christiana. In chapter three, the tales surrounding ''Melibee" in Fragment VII are explicated in light of their relationship to "Melibee" in the seven part schema. Special emphasis is given to the analysis of "The Shipman's Tale" since until this time there has been no "patristic" analysis of the story. The fourth chapter briefly draws the correlation between the seven steps to wisdom within ''Melibee" and the seven-part progression followed in the overall thematic structure of the Tales. Thus, the ''Melibee" is shown to be the key to discovering the rationale for Chaucer's ordering of the tales and also the key to understanding the intended theological "sentence" of each individual story. / M.A.

Herman Melville's Billy Budd is an allegorical novel which reiterates the story of Christ's redemption of man from Adam's original sin. To construct the allegory, Melville blended his plot with Biblical connotations and overtones of other religion-related sources, primarily Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Malville employed that characters to reaffirm God's universal law. He created the major figures in the allegorical method of dual characterization: Claggart, who represents Satan, is also a symbol of evil; Billy, a Christ figure, is also a symbol of innocence; Vere is both a representation of Pilate and a personification of obedience to human law. Billy is the Christ figure whose characteristics and actions stress his identity as the son of God and man. His ordained execution symbolizes the fulfillment of Christ's victory over Satan and the purgation of man's inherited sib. Claggart is the allegory's Satanic figure. Like the Biblical and Miltonic Satan, he suffers from rationality's enslavement by passion. This defect forces him to attempt to thwart Billy’s divine mission. Vere is the Pilate figure who condemns an innocent man to death. He is a faithful upholder of the king's law, and his allegiance requires him to order Billy's execution. The theme of atonement culminates inmediately after Claggart accuses Billy of inciting mutiny. Billy's fatal blow represents Christ's triumph over Satan. The religious allegory prevails through the execution, the counterpart of Christ's crucifixion, and Billy's symbolic ascension. / M.A.

The purpose of this thesis is to establish the fact that a single protagonist exists in James Joyce's Dubliners, that Joyce masks the enduring Dubliner-consciousness under the guises of various protagonists, and that this consciousness develops and matures within the many lives Joyce traces in his book. Indeed, many critics have examined Dubliners and have presented a great deal of evidence that points to structural unities in the book by exploring Joyce's use of allegory, allusion, foreshadowing, imagery, and symbol. But none has stated, nor does any appear ready to find, a single protagonist in Dubliners. Consequently, the ultimate conclusion of a successful study in this area would be that Joyce's first major work tends to be a novel rather than a short-story collection. My major point of departure is the Joyce letters, to establish unequivocally Joyce's intent and purpose in writing Dubliners. I furnish additional external evidence pertinent to the publication history of the book, as well as biographical elements that directly influenced the writing and publication of Dubliners, from Ellmann's biography of Joyce. But an important examination of this nature cannot ignore the internal evidence the book itself affords, Consequently, I deal with Joyce's arrangement of each Dubliners segment, categorize groups of these segments under the four phases of Dublin-life Joyce structured his work around, identify and trace the developing protagonist through the life-to-death pattern Joyce set for him, and delineate units of Dubliners as transitions between the stages of a Dubliner's life. This process demonstrates that Joyce set the Dubliner on a circular road of life and that the Dubliner follows such a circular path because of his circular and moribund mental process. This book, then, concerns structural unities in Dubliners. It offers at once a critical reading of Joyce's work and an attempt to uncover those traits of specific characters, as they comprise what can be termed a Dubliner-consciousness. Chapter I is an introduction and deals with the overall design and publication history of Dubliners; Chapter II offers a discussion of Childhood as the first major unit of the book; Chapter III, a consideration of Joyce's notions of Adolescence; Chapter IV, a study of Maturity; and Chapter V, a reading of the Dubliner's Public Life. Chapter VI is a consideration of ''The Dead" in particular as an epilogue to Joyce's volume and a reconsideration of Dubliners in general as, as it were, "A Book of the Dead." / Master of Arts

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When English as a second language (L2) is learnt via classroom instruction, the extent to which learners become proficient depends, in part, on the education system in place and, more specifically, on the methods of instruction. This study set out to compare the efficacy of two focus-on-form methods of L2 instruction, namely enhanced input and traditional teacher-centred instruction, in teaching one typically problematic aspect of English grammar for L2 learners, namely the use of the passive form. The participants comprised two groups of grade 11 Afrikaans-speaking learners in a secondary, Afrikaans-English parallel medium school in the southern region of Gauteng, South Africa. One day before the onset of instruction on the English passive, all potential participants completed a pre-test to assess their existing knowledge of the English passive, in order to allow the members of one group to be paired with the members of the other group. Eight pairs could be found; a total of 16 learners thus participated in the study. Both groups then received 14 lessons (7 hours in total) on the English passive: The Enhanced group received (written) input enhancement in groups, whereas the Traditional group as a whole did copying exercises and received explanations on the formation of the passive structure. Participants wrote a post-test immediately after the end of the instruction period and a delayed post-test nine weeks later. The results of the immediate and delayed post-tests did not indicate a significant difference between the two groups; neither did the learners’ scores improve significantly from the pre-test to the post-tests. Reasons for this lack of improvement are suggested. Classroom observation indicated that learners in the Enhanced group enthusiastically participated in the activities, whereas the Traditional group appeared to be bored after a few lessons. The study also set out to ascertain whether different methods of assessment on the English passive lead to different test marks. It seemed that assessment tasks requiring little writing (such as multiple choice questions) result in higher marks than tasks requiring learners to formulate answers on their own. Although this was a small-scale study, the results suggest that under better circumstances (e.g., more time for instruction and a larger group of participants) it might be useful to conduct similar types of studies to test the effects of enhanced input and/or assessment methods when South African schools change from Outcomes Based Education to the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement system in 2012. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Wanneer Engels as tweede taal (T2) deur middel van die klaskameronderrig aangeleer word, hang die vaardigheid wat die leerder verwerf gedeeltelik af van die opvoedkundige sisteem waarbinne T2- onderrig geskied en, meer spesifiek, van die metodes van onderrig wat gebruik word. Die doel van hierdie studie was om die effektiwiteit van twee fokus-op-vorm-metodes van T2-onderrig met mekaar te vergelyk, naamlik verrykte toevoer en tradisionele onderwysergesentreerde onderrig, in die onderrig van een tipies problematiese aspek van die Engelse grammatika, naamlik die gebruik van die passiefvorm. Die deelnemers het bestaan uit twee groepe Afrikaanssprekende graad 11- leerders in ‘n sekondêre, Afrikaans-Engels parallel-medium skool in Suid-Gauteng. Alle deelnemers het een dag voor die aanvang van die onderrig oor Engelse passiefvorme ‘n voortoets afgelê sodat hul bestaande kennis aangaande sulke vorme gemeet kon word. Op grond van hul toetsresultate is die lede van die een groep daarna met die lede van die ander groepe afgepaar. Agt pare is geïdentifiseer; in totaal was daar dus 16 deelnemers. Beide groepe het 14 klasse (7 ure in totaal) se onderrig oor die Engelse passiefkonstruksie ontvang: Die Verrykte groep het geskrewe toevoer in groepsverband ontvang, terwyl die Tradisionele groep verduidelikings oor die vorming van die passief asook afskryf-oefeninge ontvang het. Deelnemers het onmiddellik ná die 14 klasse ‘n na-toets geskryf en nege weke ná instruksie ‘n uitgestelde na-toets. Die resultate van die onmiddellike en uitgestelde na-toets het nie beduidende verskille tussen die groepe aangedui nie. Die leerders se uitslae het ook nie beduidende verskille tussen die onmiddellike- en uitgestelde na-toets getoon nie. Redes vir die gebrek aan meetbare vordering word aangevoer. Klaskamer-observasie het egter getoon dat leerders wat die verrykte toevoer ontvang het, meer entoesiasties aan klaskameraktiwiteite deelgeneem het teenoor die groep wat tradisioneel onderrig is en verveeld voorgekom het. Die studie het ook gepoog om te bepaal of verskillende assesseringsmetodes vir Engelse passiewe lei tot verskillende toetsuitslae. Dit het voorgekom asof assesseringstake wat minimale skryfwerk vereis het (bv. veelvuldige keuse-vrae) tot beter resultate gelei het as die vrae wat van leerders verwag het om self antwoorde te formuleer. Alhoewel die studie van beperkte omvang was, is daar aanduidings dat dit – onder meer geskikte toestande (bv. meer tyd vir instruksie en groter deelnemergroepe) – nuttig sal wees om soortgelyke studies oor verrykte toevoer en/of verskillende assesseringsmetodes uit te voer, veral wanneer Suid-Afrikaanse skole in 2012 van Uitkomsgebaseerde Onderrig na die Assessment Policy Statement-sisteem toe verander.

Název: Anglicko-český a česko-anglický slovník odborných výrazů ze snowboardingu Cile práce: Vymezení jednotlivých oblastí ve snowboardingu v české a anglické verzi a vytvoření česko-anglického a anglicko-českého hesláře odborných výrazů v oblasti snowboardingu. Metoda: Excerpcí z odborné literatury, časopisů a internetu byla shromážděna a utříděna data, která byla následně abecedně seřazena, hnízdována a heslová záhlaví tučně zvýrazněna. Součástí práce je též vymezení jednotlivých oblastí snowboardingu a jejich stručná charakteristika v české a anglické verzi. Výsledky: Vytvoření anglicko-českého a česko-anglického slovníku odborných výrazů v oblasti snowboardingu. Klíčová slova: snowboarding, komparace, hesla, slovnfk, sníh 2

Thesis (doctoral)--Turku, 1980. / Summary in English.