This thesis is an exercise in creative writing exploring the first-person relationships between six main characters. With half born before the apocalypse and half born after, each bring to the table new perspectives on the purpose of life. Questions of religion, government, and free will are brought to the fore. In the end, there is no right answer to any of these questions. Readers will only discover more about themselves in finding which character they relate to most, or dislike the most. This will show readers what their own opinions on such issues are. The significance will be that readers will understand more about themselves, and how they see and value life itself.

Tony Tanner's book City of Words analyzes American literature from 1950-1970; in the chapter entitled "Everything Running Down" the theme of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, is explored and revealed to be a common motif within many works of American literature. Tanner's analysis does not specifically address the presence of entropy within the genre of the American road narrative; when considering his analysis presented in "Everything Running Down" with Kris Lackey's analysis of American road narratives presented in his book RoadFrames, the presence of entropy and how it is applied within the American road narrative becomes apparent. Although Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Cormac McCarthy's The Road were published over sixty years apart from one another and are seemingly disparate texts, these two texts reveal the thematic use of entropy which connects them in an ongoing dialogue within the genre of the American road narrative.

Ten years after the outbreak of an aggressive, fast-acting virus that kills then reanimates those infected, the world has become a bleak, hostile place. Water and food are scarce, valuable commodities, and survivors cluster together for safety in isolated enclaves where life is cheap and debauchery is king. In the middle of this grim hell-on-earth, Huxley, a young boy, lives with his idealistic father. When the father is killed, Huxley falls in with Bracken, a rugged gun-forhire, a desperado in every sense of the word. Against his instincts, Bracken is compelled to deliver Huxley to safety, all the while being pursued by a ruthless warlord of the wasteland. Through their association, Bracken discovers that he still has the capacity for feeling, emotion, and empathy, something he thought long dead.

Though a new player in town, Amy isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. When she discovers a ruthless sadist named Angel is operating in her new home, Amy makes it her goal to stop Angel. Though Amy quickly finds her sense of justice is putting her at odds with her own survival when Angel takes her own interest in Amy.

From what wells did the apocalyptic writers draw? What motivated them to write such bizarre and fantastic stories about the future end of history and battles between the forces of good and the forces of evil? The Book of Daniel is considered the first and only apocalypse of the Hebrew Bible, and it was the primary inspiration for much of the Book of Revelation, Apocalypse of John in the Christian New Testament. But well before Daniel, apocalyptic passages appeared in Jewish literature. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 came also the discovery of the oldest Jewish apocalypse, written in ancient Aramaic, and well-known in both ancient Judaism and early Christianity: a collection of books known as 1 Enoch. It was in these texts, especially the first and oldest one, the Book of Watchers, that apocalyptic imagery, including the Son of Man figure, first appeared in Jewish writing. Though scholars note developments from the Hebrew Prophets, particularly the Latter ones, a significant evolution took place. The question is why and when? My thesis is that the earliest Jewish apocalyptic writing, the Book of Watchers, 1 Enoch 1-36, was written as a result of Babylonian elements. With the help of scholars specializing in Jewish apocalyptic origins, I hope to show hoe the roots of this fascinating aspect of religion, which captivates and often frightens twenty-first century humans, took hold twenty-five hundred years ago in Mesopotamia.

The tragedy and aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks are reflected in American apocalyptic horror films that have been produced since 2001. Because the attacks have occurred only within the past ten years, not much research has been conducted on the effects the attacks have had on the narrative and technological aspects of apocalyptic horror. A survey of American apocalyptic horror will include a brief synopsis of the films, commentary on dominant visual allusions to the 9/11 attacks, and discussion of how the attacks have thematically influenced the genre. The resulting study shows that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, have shaped American apocalyptic horror cinema as shown through imagery, characters, and thematic focus of the genre.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Transcendence and transformation have been established as key motifs in apocalypses. The transformation of a seer during a heavenly journey is found commonly in such esoteric apocalypses as I Enoch. No heavenly journey occurs in the works treated here. Rather, symbolic women figures--"ladies" in the classical sense--who are associated with God's City or tower, undergo transformation at key points in the action. The surface structures of Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse and The Shepherd of Hermas are traced, and the crucial transformation episode or episodes are located within each structure. Transformation of figures representing God's people suggests the significance of identity within the apocalyptic perspective. Apocalypses allow the world to be viewed from the future or from the heavens (J. J. Collins' "temporal" and "spatial" axes); the genre also invites the reader to change identity (the "identical" axis), and so become someone in tune with divine mystery and revelation.

Werkstuk voorgelê in die vierde studiejaar vir die graad Theologiae Baccalaureus in die Fakulteit Teologie aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys / Assignment (ThB)--PU for CHE, 1983

Werkstuk voorgelê in die vierde studiejaar vir die graad Theologiae Baccalaureus in die Fakulteit Teologie aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys / Assignment (ThB)--PU for CHE, 1983