This essay argues that Bill Konigsberg depicts the traumatic experience of being raped and the inner conflict of being a male rape survivor with harsh immediacy by implementing internal focalisation in his young adult novel The Music of What Happens (2019). Additionally, the essay argues that the novel is a useful teaching resource in the Swedish EFL classroom by discussing the pedagogical implementations. This essay conducts an analysis from a trauma theory perspective, allowing a closer scrutiny of how the protagonist is affected by trauma. Lastly, it is concluded that although broaching sexualized trauma in the EFL classroom can be triggering, the novel can in fact vicariously represent students who have undergone traumatic events and therefore validate their feelings.

This essay presents a literary analysis of the autobiography Educated (2018) by Tara Westover. The analysis examines to what extent Westover’s story conforms and subverts the genre conventions of the Bildungsroman and the autobiography. An overview of the genre constitutions is therefore provided. In addition, the essay focuses on the use of the autobiography in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. Besides creating an arena for critical discussion and reflection in the Swedish upper secondary school, the autobiography may also encourage students to share their own stories. The findings show that Educated both conforms to and subverts the Bildungsroman genre. It is concluded that Westover’s autobiography challenges traditional genre conventions and may serve as a valuable tool in the EFL classroom.

The thesis aims to mesh narrative theory with theory of empathy in a study of two novels by Graham Greene, A Gun for Sale (1936) and Brighton Rock (1938), where the use of narrative building blocks from the crime thriller genre and the empathy that the characters may evoke are analysed. The second aim is to discuss how to implement the rather complex works of Graham Greene in the EFL classroom. The key analytical devices for this essay are narratology and empathy, particularly difficult empathy. Narrative scaffolding helps students to discern recurring themes, character types and functions different in narratives, thus enabling them to transfer reading experiences to other texts as well. This thesis argues that Greene’s A Gun for Sale and Brighton Rock are useable in the EFL classroom, not despite, but because their great complexity, as discussions of difficult empathy in villainous characters and moral dilemmas will help develop fundamental values such as empathy and understanding of others, thus widening students’ understanding of both different kinds of literature and the world in which they live.

This essay is a discussion about how English teachers in the Swedish school system can use Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to encourage awareness and reflection in students regarding issues of class division and its impact on society. The essay provides examples of how the contemporary Swedish society and the society depicted in Pride and Prejudice share both similarities and differences in issues regarding class division. The reader response perspective has been applied to show how teachers may use the novel to emphasize students’ reflections and responses. This, in the hope of creating rewarding discussions in the classroom that are based on the curriculum for the Swedish upper secondary school’s content of democratic values and human rights. This essay will show that Pride and Prejudice is a suitable choice of literature to use as basis for generating awareness and reflection regarding the issues of the impact of class divisions on society in the EFL classroom.

The following essay analyzes Marvel blockbuster Black Panther with an intersectional lens, discussing relations of power, oppression and discrimination through the fictive society of Wakanda. The findings present similar factors of intersectionality to that of most western societies, with gender, sexuality, aptitude and tribal affiliations as the main factors of identity. The essay argues for the inclusion of culturally loaded films in the EFL classroom, with the intention of introducing students to intersectionality through a fictive society, in an effort to promote better understanding of relations of power, oppression and discrimination, whilst also including education on different types of language usage

This essay argues that while the main character in The Outsiders challenges the norms of toxic masculinity on a surface level, his decision to continue fighting for his gang, the greasers, actually reinforces the stereotypical view that violence is connected to masculinity. Furthermore, it is argued that studying The Outsiders in a Swedish EFL classroom can promote critical thinking and knowledge of issues connected to gender through using empathetic reading.  Empathetic reading is a way to read carefully to gain new perspectives in order to discuss and criticize the text. Even though the term toxic masculinity assumes a healthy/harmful binary, it is needed since the power dynamics that sustain gender inequality remain. Recent events in the Western world, such as the #Metoo movement and Trumpism, are just a couple of examples of how power dynamics are showing through gender discrimination and sexual harassment. However, gender can be a sensitive subject in lower secondary EFL classrooms, and by focusing on being empathetic towards how others express gender may lessen the pressure of speaking about gender subjectively.

This thesis argues that events in the postcolonial novel We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo can be viewed as traumatic based on three different aspects; witnessed trauma, transgenerational trauma and cultural trauma. In addition, the thesis provides pedagogical implications and analysis of the novel’s usefulness in the Swedish EFL classroom. What is argued in this essay is that cultural clashes, mourning of home country and lacking of expressive opportunities affect the protagonist’s identity formation. The protagonist’s experiences from and reflections on her home country versus her new one are the focal point of this essay; to prove that belonging to the diaspora is a traumatic, ongoing, event that affects the individual and collective identity process negatively, depicted in the novel. Lastly, the novel’s potential in the EFL classroom is claimed to contribute with insight, understanding and acceptance towards cultural “others” in the Swedish society.

This paper sets out to analyze The Reluctant Fundamentalist by a narratological application of positioning theory with the aim of highlighting the bias of the main character. The paper argues that using said novel in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in conjunction with positioning theory could result in an improved understanding of how language is used in different situations for different purposes, which in turn can teach students to critically assess narratives in any medium. This paper also suggests that The Reluctant Fundamentalist could be a beneficial novel to use with the aim of providing students with ethical knowledge and awareness. The findings show that there are several acts of positioning from the main character where his bias against Americans is evident. These instances often consist of the main character contrasting himself and his behavior with Americans where differences of ethical values are expressed. The paper argues that his bias was formed because of an identity crisis, which was constituted of a multitude of factors. Furthermore, the pedagogical implications section suggests some benefits of working with positioning theory and the novel in the EFL classroom, in addition it also discusses some problematic aspects that could be important to be aware of when working with said novel.

The essay attempts to analys the film Alien directed by Ridley Scott and released in 1979 to see if the film’s themes and iconography can be interpretedas metaphors forsexual violence and gender norms. investigates if the film can be used in a Swedish upper secondary EFL classroom as a basis for discussing the societal problems of sexual violence and oppressive gender norms. Methods for film analysis by Barker and Austin is applied along with the gender theories of Moi and Connell among others.

Circe (2018) by Madeline Miller is a retelling of The Odyssey from the perspective of the witch Circe. The novel challenges the previous portrayal of Circe as a vindictive seductress and provides insight into the narrative of a woman negotiating a man’s world, in which she is denied autonomy due to her gender. This essay focuses on how oppressive structures prevent the protagonist to psychologically develop towards their true potential in Circe. Jungian psychoanalytic theory of individuation and archetypes are applied to analyze the psychological process. In addition, the impact of hegemonic masculinity in Circe is examined as it stunts the protagonist’s progress in individuation. Furthermore, Circe can be a tool in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in upper secondary school to enable discussions on gender oppression and unjust social structures. A feminist reading of the individuation process in Circe can provide new insight into the effects of gender oppression as it concerns the psychological impact of unjust treatment.