This dissertation analyzes Life’s early coverage of the Cold War (1945-1954) in order to explicate this publication’s creation and reinforcement of prescriptive attitudes about this ideological engagement through photographically illustrated news. By uncovering Life’s editorial approach this project proposes a new diagnostic for evaluating documentary images by re-configuring Hayden White’s incisive theory of emplotment—the process of engendering historical narratives with meaning— through semiotic models proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Roland Barthes, thereby offering a useful tool for future scholars to re-examine modern media’s transition towards prizing visual immediacy over critical engagement. Life’s editors’ link narrative devices and rhetoric with photographs to make these images appear as first-hand experience and function as objective conclusions. Life characterizes the Cold War as an epic moral struggle between the US and USSR, and its 1943 special issue on Russia acts as the comedic prologue to this narrative by distinguishing these ideologically disparate wartime allies. After post-war agreements fail, this congenial atmosphere swiftly transitions into another battle between democracy and tyranny, defined through literary conventions. Life employs synecdoche and allegory to encode photographs of individuals as icons of valorous populations (Americans and Eastern Europeans) and to symbolize concepts (democracy and charity). Metonymy and irony transform photographs into direct signs of Communism and visual evidence of its degeneracy. Life’s comic presentation of Marshal Josip Tito contrasts with its satiric coverage of Senator Joseph McCarthy to direct readers’ attention towards the best and worst possible courses of action regarding the Communist menace, at home and abroad.

abstract: My job in this thesis is to explore a supposedly dragon-filled area of philosophy, tropology. By 'tropology,' I only mean the study of figurative speech, or, more particularly, metaphors. It seems clear to most people that metaphors have meaning. But this fact flies in the face of several different theories of meaning. Such as, the meaning of a metaphor can't be properly conveyed by Possible Worlds Semantics or Truth-Conditional Semantics. Tropology is also an area of philosophy with very few commonly accepted theories. It is not like the study of reference, where there are two theories, each having a large following. The the various theories in tropology are so radically different, with each having relatively few followers, that the it is widely unexplored in philosophy. Some theories claim that metaphors is the exact same as another use of speech (namely, similes). Another claims that metaphors lack “meaning.” And a third claims that metaphors do 'mean' but getting at that meaning requires some special mental operations. By the end of this thesis, you will not only have my map of tropology, my theory of metaphors, but also some experimental philosophy about them to help put to rest some theories. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Philosophy 2016

The evolution and diversification of Young Adult literature (YA) in the last two decades have brought about significant changes, particularly in the representation of LGBT characters. Tropes have always been a staple in literature, but their use in YA has taken on a unique significance when it comes to LGBT representation. These tropes have developed in parallel with the political landscape of the USA and the rise of LGBT rights. In this context, the analysis of three popular YA series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Mortal Instruments, and The Raven Cycle, and their respective sequels and spin-offs, becomes crucial. By examining the use of tropes and the treatment of LGBT characters in these series, we can better understand the changes that have occurred over time and the commonalities and differences among them. Moreover, this analysis will also shed light on aspects outside the novels that have contributed to these developments. While similar patterns emerge in all three series, each one handles LGBT topics differently, depending on the time of publication. Finally, we will also explore the current state of publishing and the role that communities play in shaping these popular series. By examining these issues, we can gain a better understanding of the role that literature plays in shaping our perceptions of LGBT individuals and the broader social context in which these works are produced.