Thesis (MA)- Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In fulfilment of the degree of Magister in Creative Writing: Afrikaans, a novel titled Sirkus (Circus) is presented in which the main character figures as an idiot. It is accompanied by a perspicacious formal essay which maintains the relationship between theory and novel. The essay titled "Die idioot: spieël en skadu" (The idiot: mirror and shadow) reflects on the problematics concerning the representation of the idiot in literary texts. The essay investigates the phenomenon of the idiot in literature according to well-known literary texts presenting idiots. What these texts have in common is that the narrator acts on behalf of a character who does not have the ability nor the will to narrate himself. The problematics is viewed from a thematic as well as writing technique niveaux, according to insights gleaned from literature, philosophy, narratology and psychology. The argument concludes by reflecting on the responsibility of the author and the ethics of creating an effigy of the idiot. The novel Sirkus, (Circus), focuses on an idiot character with webbed hands and feet, Siegfried Landman. It is an exposition of his journey to hell starting on a farm in the Karoo. It takes him through a grotesque urban landscape where he eventually ends up in a circus of freaks. The text starts with the death of Siegfried's father and is in the form of a quest narrative, a quest for the vague image of his uncle Fischer. The tale emanates predominantly from Siegfried's consciousness. During the course of the text he is accompanied by varioius travelling companions who each fmd a voice in the text. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING Ter vervulling van die graad van Magister in Kreatiewe Afrikaanse skryfkunde is 'n roman getiteld Sirkus voorgelê waarin die hoofkarakter 'n idiotefiguur is. Dit word vergesel met 'n verbandhoudende beskoulike werkstuk: "Die idioot: spieël en skadu", wat die vorm aanneem van 'n essay oar die problematiek rondom die representasie van die idioot in literêre tekste. In die werkstuk word die verskynsel van die idioot in die letterkunde ondersoek aan die hand van bekende literêre tekste waarin idiotefigure gerepresenteer word. Hierdie tekste het dit gemeen dat die verteller optree namens 'n karakter wat nie die vermoë óf die wil het om self te vertel nie. Die problematiek word beskou op tematiese sowel as skryftegniese vlakke aan die hand van insigte uit die letterkunde, filosofie, narratologie en sielkunde. Die argument sluit uiteindelik af met 'n besinning oor die skrywerlike verantwoordelikheid en 'n skrywerlike etiek ten opsigte van die uitbeelding van die idioot. Die roman Sirkus fokus op 'n idiote-karakter met gewebde hande en voete, Siegfried Landman. Dit is 'n uitbeelding van sy hellevaart wat begin op 'n plaas in die Karoo en hom voer deur 'n groteske stadslandskap voor hy uiteindelik opeindig in 'n sirkus van fratse. Die teks begin met die dood van Siegfried se vader en is in die vorm van 'n soektognarratief, 'n soektog na die vae beeld van sy oom Fischer. Die verhaal word grotendeels vanuit Siegfried se bewussyn vertel. Hy word deur die verloop van die teks vergesel deur verskeie reisgenote wat elk ook 'n eie stem in die teks verkry.

<p>From tendencies to reduce the Underground Railroad to the imperative "follow the north star" to the iconic images of Ruby Bridges' 1960 "step forward" on the stairs of William Frantz Elementary School, America prefers to picture freedom as an upwardly mobile development. This preoccupation with the subtractive and linear force of development makes it hard to hear the palpable steps of so many truant children marching in the Movement and renders illegible the nonlinear movements of minors in the Underground. Yet a black fugitive hugging a tree, a white boy walking alone in a field, or even pieces of a discarded raft floating downstream like remnants of child's play are constitutive gestures of the Underground's networks of care and escape. Responding to 19th-century Americanists and cultural studies scholars' important illumination of the child as central to national narratives of development and freedom, "Minor Moves" reads major literary narratives not for the child and development but for the fugitive trace of minor and growth.</p><p> </p><p>In four chapters, I trace the physical gestures of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Pearl, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy, Harriet Wilson's Frado, and Mark Twain's Huck against the historical backdrop of the Fugitive Slave Act and the passing of the first compulsory education bills that made truancy illegal. I ask how, within a discourse of independence that fails to imagine any serious movements in the minor, we might understand the depictions of moving children as interrupting a U.S. preoccupation with normative development and recognize in them the emergence of an alternative imaginary. To attend to the movement of the minor is to attend to what the discursive order of a development-centered imaginary deems inconsequential and what its grammar can render only as mistakes. Engaging the insights of performance studies, I regard what these narratives depict as childish missteps (Topsy's spins, Frado's climbing the roof) as dances that trouble the narrative's discursive order. At the same time, drawing upon the observations of black studies and literary theory, I take note of the pressure these "minor moves" put on the literal grammar of the text (Stowe's run-on sentences and Hawthorne's shaky subject-verb agreements). I regard these ungrammatical moves as poetic ruptures from which emerges an alternative and prior force of the imaginary at work in these narratives--a force I call "growth." </p><p>Reading these "minor moves" holds open the possibility of thinking about a generative association between blackness and childishness, one that neither supports racist ideas of biological inferiority nor mandates in the name of political uplift the subsequent repudiation of childishness. I argue that recognizing the fugitive force of growth indicated in the interplay between the conceptual and grammatical disjunctures of these minor moves opens a deeper understanding of agency and dependency that exceeds notions of arrested development and social death. For once we interrupt the desire to picture development (which is to say the desire to picture), dependency is no longer a state (of social death or arrested development) of what does not belong, but rather it is what Édouard Glissant might have called a "departure" (from "be[ing] a single being"). Topsy's hard-to-see pick-pocketing and Pearl's running amok with brown men in the market are not moves out of dependency but indeed social turns (a dance) by way of dependency. Dependent, moving and ungrammatical, the growth evidenced in these childish ruptures enables different stories about slavery, freedom, and childishness--ones that do not necessitate a repudiation of childishness in the name of freedom, but recognize in such minor moves a fugitive way out.</p> / Dissertation

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

<p>Register clashes are a linguistic phenomenon that occurs in both real and fictional interaction. This study, based on the theory of register as developed by Halliday, examines the functions of register clashes in the television drama series <em>Gilmore Girls</em>. It was hypothesized that the function of register clashes is to create humor, to characterize some characters on the show as sophisticated and witty and some others as lacking in communicative competence, or what is popularly referred to as <em>geeky</em> or <em>nerdy</em>, as well as to characterize the show. A total of 1,306 cases of register clashes were identified, of which 761 cases (58.3 percent) were clear cases and 545 cases (41.7 percent) were somewhat more doubtful. Nearly all cases of register clashes found were considered to have been used to create humor. Eight out of the ten most productive characters with respect to the utterance of register clashes were found to be characterized as witty; the other two characters produced register clashes in a way that characterized them as geeky. Each of the six episodes examined in this study was found to contain many instances of register clashes, regardless of the fact that each was written by a different author. The results thus suggest that the function of register clashes in <em>Gilmore Girls</em> is indeed to create humor, to characterize the characters, and to characterize the show.</p>

The purpose of this study has been to determine prevalent images of Native American female protagonists in Children's Literature from 1928-88, and to note trends in images during the past 60 years. A content analysis of 60 picture books and chapter books has been completed and presented in a descriptive and interpretative format. The most prevalent image of Native American female protagonists in children's literature is a traditional one. This image is consistent throughout the literature from 1928-88, and appears to be represented by both Native American and non-Native American authors and illustrators. Traditional-transitional images appeared between 1957 and 1967, while contemporary images first appeared in the 1970s. In general, the Native American female protagonists in this population of books are presented as strong and positive characters expressing a wide range of emotions. They are named, identified by tribe, and depicted as having multiple skills and interests. They are active and most often appear in rural and outdoor settings within the context of the extended family. Many protagonists are of Southwestern heritage, often depicted as Navajo or Pueblo girls of ages 4-13. Although female protagonists in this population of books are generally characterized as strong and positive, there are still too few books representing strong female Native American images in the whole of children's literature. This research confirms previous findings that Native American male protagonists outnumber female protagonists approximately 10 to 1. Native American authors and illustrators have created approximately one-third of the books in this population. There are 19 Native American authors and 21 Native American illustrators. The earliest books were published by large press; Native press has increased publication since 1975. This research confirms the need for more books featuring Native American female protagonists; more books depicting protagonists from diverse tribal backgrounds, in contemporary settings, urban environments and literate contexts; more books building on the oral tradition and legends of the Southwestern tribes; more involvement of Native American authors, illustrators and publishers in children's literature; and more mentoring of Native American developing authors.

Many types of literary criticism have been used successfully in the analysis of literature for oral interpretation. Feminist criticism looks at literature from a female perspective and explores the effects of society's beliefs about the nature, place, and function of women as revealed in literary plots and characters. The hypothesis of this dissertation is that feminist criticism will prove to be of value for interpreters in the analysis stage of preparation. An original method of analysis, based on the tenets of feminist criticism, was developed by this author and applied to women in the four major plays of Lillian Hellman. The methodology focusses on character analysis, featuring inquiry into the character's role, values, self image, finances, attitudes toward sex, and measure of power. To judge the value of the methodology, critics' opinions of the women were surveyed and compared. This comparison revealed the method's power to generate fresh, innovative insights into the characters and to disclose new interpretations of the plays themselves. The method focussed attention onto the societal forces of sexual conditioning which restrict women and cause them to adopt stereotypical roles and patterns of behavior. The study concluded that feminist analysis is a viable critical approach for interpreters and that the methodology of this dissertation, being defined, consistent, and reliable, was capable of producing valuable and useful results.