While literary critics acknowledge the amoral and criminal behavior of Thomas Ripley, the antihero in Patricia Highsmith’s Ripliad series, many critics fail to recognize Highsmith’s parables in connection to ethical responsibility to the Other and guilt because of falling into complete despair. By examining Ripley’s character through an ethical lens, I contend that Ripley’s inability to connect with others disallows him from engaging in moral behavior that would establish basic responsibility for others. This results in a repetitive cycle of criminality that leads to inner turmoil and a sickness of the spirit. This thesis analyzes the parables in Highsmith’s novels by applying Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics in relation with Soren Kierkegaard’s conception of human existence. Ripley lives a lonely existence because he is unaware of his ethical dilemma, covets wealth at all costs, and fails to recognize that his division from society is at the root of his infinite despair. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

In an intersectional feminist analysis of Dexter in both the novels by Jeff Lindsay as well as the Showtime television series, this dissertation will explore the challenging but compelling nature of the serial killer as a pop culture icon, and address themes of gender and sexuality as well as class, ethnicity and regions as they are portrayed in the series. Dexter Morgan, on the Showtime series and in the novels, both exposes popular culture’s problematic identification with the serial killer and solidifies it by being a socially palatable anti-hero. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

(in English): This work will consist in an analysis of the antiheroes in modern French literature, especially in "Roman Noir". Before treating the topic of antiheroes in mystery fiction we will describe the history of this type of protagonists in world literatures, from the classic literature to the modern one. To be able to understand the problematics of antiheroes in Roman Noir, we will also describe the history of French mystery fiction. Regarding the analysis of antiheroes in this sub- genre of crime fiction, we will start with the character of Maigret. Although the novels of G. Simenon are not real Romans Noirs, we consider them as a "passage" of the detective novel - in the traditional sense - to the Roman Noir. Furthermore, in this work, we will analyze characters of real Romans Noirs; first, the crude and surprising behavior of Nestor Burma, a famous character of Léo Malet, then the mediocrity of protagonists of the novels Morgue pleine and Le Petit Bleu de la côte ouest of Jean-Patrick Manchette, and finally, Fabio Montale, an atypical investigator from a novel series of the late twentieth century written by Jean-Claude Izzo.

The thesis propounded below is based upon a presumption that one of the significant means of socialization is mass media. It represents a source of information since an early age of a child, constitute the models of a socially acceptable behaviour and depict the values and norms that are applicable to the society. In continuation to the ambiguous character of socialization, on one hand allowing an individual to integrate fully into the society, on the other hand, however, producing the present inequalities, the author enquires into the way how villains are portrayed in television cartoons, that is, those who violate these commonly accepted norms. In the theoretical part of the thesis the author builds predominantly on the sociological reflections of the character of the modern society, the character of socialization and social norms. In the chapters dealing with the socialization potential of media she employs primarily the modelling theory that stems from the more universal social learning theory. In the empirical part the author, using qualitative research, tries to describe how villains are portrayed in television cartoons and besides other statements, she proves that their world has a strictly dichotomic and exclude character. One of the outcomes of the thesis is a typology of villains who can...