abstract: The purpose of this project is to analyze Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon (1817) and its inclusion of a character of color. This thesis discusses Austen's mixed-race heiress, Miss Lambe, in the context of two other pieces of fiction that feature mixed-race heroines--the anonymously published The Woman of Colour (1808) and Mary Ann Sullivan's Owen Castle (1816). Scholarship on Austen's awareness of the Abolitionist movement and her sympathy for its politics has previously been published. I advance our conversations on the subject by discussing Austen's Miss Lambe as a mixed-race heiress in the context of gender, race, and ethnicity in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century novels. My thesis considers literary and historical treatments of people of color and provides a trans-Atlantic approach to female characters identified as mixed race. Juxtaposing Sanditon, The Woman of Colour, and Owen Castle provides insight into how Austen was working within a set of established literary traditions, while creating ways to disrupt some of its problematic elements. This project looks at conventions of the mixed-race female characters in five ways. To begin, I discuss the mixed-race heroine and the compulsion to define her place of origin. Second, I consider the convention of describing mixed-race heiresses' rights to their inheritance. An analysis of the significance of naming mixed-race heiresses follows. I discuss literary conventions of the betrayal of mixed-race females. Lastly, I explore the common use of black maid figures in novels of this era to advance social critique against prejudice. Comparative analysis of Austen with other novels featuring mixed-race heroines in this era allows us to reach new understandings of Sanditon. Austen's unfinished last novel is shown to question the power of fortune, to undermine the orthodoxy of categorizing race and ethnicity, and to unsettle the hierarchy among characters of different races and ethnicities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis English 2017

<p> (Re)Calling Philomela: Cultural Perceptions, Community Incorporation, and Collective Memory in Shakespeare&rsquo;s Lucrece and Trussell&rsquo;s Helen William Shakespeare&rsquo;s <i>The Rape of Lucrece</i> (1594) and John Trussell&rsquo;s <i>Raptus I. Helenae. The First Rape of Faire Hellen</i> (1595) intersect through not only their difficult subjects, but also their sympathetic representations of two legendary victims. Both poems question early modern English views about violated women, particularly highlighting the influence of cultural perceptions, community incorporation, and collective memory on a victim&rsquo;s chances of survival. While Shakespeare&rsquo;s Lucrece reveals how Renaissance notions isolate assaulted women and drive them toward honor-focused suicide, Trussell&rsquo;s <i>Helen</i> shows how those ideas silence victims and force them into communally constructed secrecy. The degree to which Lucrece and Helen align with widespread anti-victim perceptions corresponds with the degree to which they self-destruct. Lucrece&rsquo;s full internalization appears through both her vehement reactions and her suicide. On the other hand, Helen&rsquo;s partial acceptance motivates less permanent &ndash; though still disturbing &ndash; responses, including deathly silence. Another significant factor in these victims&rsquo; struggles is (lack of) community incorporation. When Lucrece does not find companionship, even with the mythological character Philomela, she cannot see a way to simultaneously live and participate in her community. By contrast, when Helen finds support from maternal women around her, she can re-join society. Finally, critiques of collective memory&rsquo;s power arise in each poem. In Lucrece&rsquo;s Rome and Helen&rsquo;s Greece, women cannot live without their reputations, which depend upon physical chastity. Though the two works differ in the timeframe of the victim&rsquo;s focus &ndash; Lucrece thinking about her future <i> exemplum</i> and Helen about her present position &ndash; both texts reveal the negative results of a societal emphasis on public opinion: enabling rapists and stealing victims&rsquo; voices. Yet, in a culture where honor is everything, what other options are available besides death and silence? Neither Shakespeare nor Trussell offers an answer. <i>Lucrece</i> and <i>Helen</i> present the reader with stories of women in untenable positions, placed there by cultural conditions resembling those in early modern England. Such situations, the poems suggest, prevent vindication for violated women and create the need for someone to restore their voices, even if only through belated ventriloquism.</p><p>

The purpose of this study is to test the applicability of ancient texts to contemporary concerns. More specifically, it seeks to determine the relevance of Christianity's forefathers today. This thesis examines the rhetorical situation of Augustine's On Christian Doctrine and that of Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias to determine if the two bear similarities when tested by one framework of analysis, which is derived herein by an analysis of the concept of the modern rhetorical situation and of the classical concept of kairos. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2008. / April 16, 2008. / Jesus Among Other Gods, St. Augustine, Ravi Zacharias, kairos, On Christian Doctrine / Includes bibliographical references. / Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Professor Directing Thesis; Elaine Treharne, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member.

Four Vietnams: Conflicting Versions of the Indochina Conflict from Cold War to the Global War on Terror argues that there is no single historical consensus among Americans on the Vietnam War. There are, instead, four different "Vietnams" in American popular and literary culture: an early Cold War version of Vietnam as an Asian "domino" susceptible of collapsing to Communism and thereby causing its neighbors to collapse successively; a 1960s and early 1970s version of the American enterprise in Vietnam as an imperialist war, an "immoral and criminal" attempt to suppress an indigenous people's will to political and economic independence; a late 1970s version of the war as a "tragedy without villains" for which nobody could really be held morally accountable; and finally, a version of the war as a "noble cause," an altruistic, benevolent attempt to save the Vietnamese people from the horrors of Communism. Four Vietnams attempts to demonstrate that each of these four "versions" take shape at successive stages in American culture during the second half of the twentieth century as responses to particular historical conditions and circumstances, and I also argue that each of the four interpretive schemas is grounded in a particular ideology, be it Eisenhower-era anticommunist liberalism, the leftist critique of imperialism and capitalism, post-Vietnam Carter liberalism, or post-Vietnam Reagan conservatism. The dissertation also examines the relationships between a series of texts (novels, films, nonfiction books, popular songs) in which the Vietnam War or some aspect of the war is a central feature and the formation of these "versions" and the reigning discourse on the war. Lastly, I attempt to show how discourse on the Global War on Terrorism often reads American involvement in the Middle East today through the same interpretive schemes that have been applied to Vietnam and how Vietnam is often invoked in radically different ways by warring ideological camps in the current debate as an analogy to the current military and political situation both abroad and within the United States itself. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2005. / April 28, 2005. / Vietnam War, Indochina Conflict, Global War on Terrrior / Includes bibliographical references. / William T. Lhamon, Jr., Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Jumonville, Outside Committee Member; Dennis Moore, Committee Member; Joseph R. McElrath, Jr., Committee Member.

Twentieth-century Americans share a patriarchal, capitalist history with 17th century Elizabethans, one that informs the society reflected in the Verona of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This thesis shows how Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation demonstrates the play's relevance particularly well. Characters display an awareness of the cultural constraints of class and gender as they contend with battling drives to pursue personal desire and to remain safely within their community by performing their given roles. This thesis shows how René Girard's theory of the sacrificial crisis is at work, which provides a view of the impact of violence in relation to rituals designed to preserve social order. The feud is a source of dangerous contagious violence, and while the characters work to come to terms with their conflicting individual loyalties and desires, they fall victim to the consequences of this violence because of their reluctance to examine their implicit participation in the systems and institutions that support it. Only through the sacrifice of a scapegoat, Juliet, do they begin to achieve peace and purge the community of the violence. The play functions as a cautionary tale, in that it demonstrates the consequences of pursuing personal passion instead of fulfilling the roles dictated by society and family. Subversion of the system is punishable by violence, so the play seems to warn against it. However, the play's themes of haste and literacy suggest a more compelling cautionary tale warning against the system itself; the entire community suffers tremendous loss as a result of its rigid support of the system. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2004. / March 18, 2004. / Sacrifice, Festivity, Marriage, Gende / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel Vitkus, Professor Directing Thesis; Barry Faulk, Committee Member; Karen Laughlin, Committee Member.

This dissertation explores questions about how writing about life, loss, and experience leads to growth in students as both writers and thinkers. Through a qualitative teacher research study, Hodges Hamilton examines how a writing pedagogy focused on the interface between writing and psychology influences students' growth as writers, critical thinkers, and active participants in their communities. As a result of this study, Hodges Hamilton proposes a writing and healing pedagogical framework which seeks to bridge the divide between pedagogical approaches that separate personal and academic writing. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2005. / April 28, 2005. / Writing And Psychology, Writing And Healing, First-Year Writing, Composition Pedagogy / Includes bibliographical references. / Wendy Bishop, Professor Directing Dissertation; Deborah Coxwell Teague, Professor Directing Dissertation; Nicholas Mazza, Outside Committee Member; Lad Tobin, Outside Committee Member; Bruce Bickley, Committee Member; Anne Rowe, Committee Member.

This study, using poetry by Carolyn Rodgers, Sarah Webster Fabio, Sonia Sanchez, Sharon Bourke, Ntozake Shange and Jayne Cortez, examines the manifestations of Afrocentric spirituality in women's writing during the Black Arts Movement. Until recently, there has been a paucity of scholarship on the movement. When studying the BAM, critics have heretofore concentrated on sexism, homophobia, nationalism, and racism as its most prominent aspects. However, BAM writers also have a marked concern with spirituality from an African epistemological standpoint, which brings new possibilities for critical analysis to the forefront. Theorists such as Larry Neal furthermore termed the movement as a spiritual sister to the Black Power Movement. This project contributes to the burgeoning conversation on BAM women's poetry by evaluating the ways in which they deem spirituality as essential for agency as women and as black citizens. I identify three major themes in which women's spirituality serves as a prerequisite for or an enabler of black liberation and revolution. Chapter One explains how Carolyn Rodgers, in her books Songs of a Blackbird and How I Got Ovah, creates personas that initially reject Christianity as a Eurocentric religious construction, but subsequently acknowledge the Afrocentric spirituality of the black church and ascribe to it a revolutionary blackness. Chapter Two demonstrates, through Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf and Sonia Sanchez's I've Been a Woman, that women must first give birth to themselves spiritually before they can successfully accomplish the birth of the black nation. Chapter Three examines five poems by Carolyn Rodgers, Jayne Cortez, Sonia Sanchez, Sarah Webster Fabio, and Sharon Bourke, arguing that black women poets activate nommo, the power of words to influence action, when they write jazz poetry; as cultural and spiritual leaders in their own rights, they serve as a type of co-priestess to the black community when they recognize the jazz artist as a spiritual priest. Conclusively, I determine that there is indeed space for the recognition of the intended spiritual goals and accomplishments of the Black Arts Movement, and especially of marginalized black women's poetry. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2007. / June 25, 2007. / Black Arts Movement, Women's Poetry, Spirituality, Afrocentricity / Includes bibliographical references. / Jerrilyn McGregory, Professor Directing Thesis; Maxine Montgomery, Committee Member; Dennis Moore, Committee Member.

"The King of Love" is a creative dissertation. It is a novel focusing on the struggles of the African-American community to bridge gulfs and divides within itself. The location and setting of the story are in the present day and revolve heavily around the historical black community of Tallahassee, Florida known as Frenchtown. In the tradition of Randolph Fisher's "Walls of Jericho", the novel is primarily steeped in the genre of the detective mystery and offers elements of satire throughout its narrative. As with Walter Moseley's highly influential Easy Rawlins detective series, issues of class, race, culture and heritage are at the forefront of the story. This lead to the employment of the first person point of view, which best captured the humor, flavor and idiosyncrasies of the Frenchtown inhabitants as well as its supporting characters. / A Dissertation submitted to the English Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / . / May 6, 2004. / Tallahassee, C.K. Steele, Frenchtown / Includes bibliographical references. / Virgil Suarez, Professor Directing Dissertation; Maricarmen Martinez, Outside Committee Member; Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Darryl Dickson-Carr, Committee Member.

My thesis project, titled Crumbling Masculinities: Adaptations, Filtration, and the Crisis of Masculinity, addresses the construction of masculinity through what I label "filtration." By building on the work of gender scholars like Michael Kimmel, Judith Butler, and Eve Sedgwick, this thesis seeks to show that society teaches individuals to play gender roles by filtering either feminine or masculine traits accordingly. For example: in general, men are no less emotional than women, but society teaches that masculinity links emotion with weakness, so masculine figures filter emotion to create masculinity. The thesis opens with a discussion of David Mamet's original stage version of Glengarry Glen Ross and his subsequent adaptation of the piece to film. This chapter establishes that gender in religious representations, particularly traditional modes of masculinity, is in a period of flux following postmodernity. The following chapter uses a discussion of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief and Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of the nonfiction work to film in Adaptation to show that masculinity is constantly creating itself through the process of filtration. The final chapter in the thesis uses the discussion of filtration to show that socially constructed gender and biological sex are becoming disconnected, yet the masculine/feminine binary still exists and privileges masculinity. In conclusion, Crumbling Masculinities argues that gender is currently in a period of transition, and as such, the thesis attempts through an analysis of the adaptation process to explain the potential of this crisis to shape gender. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2006. / July 31, 2006. / Adaptations, Masculinity, Filtration / Includes bibliographical references. / Dennis Moore, Professor Directing Thesis; Leigh Edwards, Committee Member; John Fenstermaker, Committee Member.

In this collection of short stories, I have attempted to capture truth in unexpected places. For instance, a recent amputee resents her limitations until a brush with her past and the needs of another drives her to act and she discovers her ability. "Crutches" reveals a character developed from within. Dawn's frustrations, stubbornness, and humor illustrate her fully lived past and approach to her future. In "Noel", a waitress treats herself on her birthday which makes her recall her past and envision her future and the life that she can lead on her own. Evie's transformation shows the lifelong discoveries of a woman and the breaking point, which ultimately propels her on. "Winning Hands" captures a career woman who visits an elderly relative seeking support and validation and instead finds the miseries of Dementia and the frustration of lost time and opportunities. Crystal not only faces her aunt's limitations, but her own in the inability to communicate with her aunt. In "Trophies", a restaurant manager returns home to find her ailing stepfather, a lost inheritance, and her estranged brother, but rediscovers their connection in the catch of her life. Stephanie's problems with her past are overshadowed by her concerns and suspicions about her inheritance. However, she confronts her fears and reconnects with her brother and reconciles her past. Finally, "What Lasts" portrays the struggle of a sister to provide for herself during the Great Depression and the result of her secrecy and deception. This historical story illustrates the timeless concern of self-preservation and the story of Agnes' deception to achieve her dreams. Ultimately, in this collection I have tried to create lasting characters, characters who invite the reader in and develop a true connection. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2003. / May 1, 2003. / Short Stories / Includes bibliographical references. / , ; , ; , .