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<p>During the past century, historical-critical scholarship on the reign of Solomon (I Kings 1-11) has advanced the argument that the narrative is a heterogeneous mix of material, originating from diverse socio-historical settings. Reasonably enough, critical research on the Solomon narrative has concentrated on a number of compositional or redactional questions. The result of this research, however, is that the narrative itself is no longer read as a unit or as containing a coherent message. The purpose of this thesis is to try to recover the meaning of the narrative through a holistic reading of I Kings 1-11. In particular, the thesis explores the "narrative tension," or "literary inconsistencies" in the text's portrayal of Solomon. The main problem facing the interpreter is to account for the fact that Solomon is both Israel's ideal and its apostate king. The thesis argues that this narrative tension can be explained through a holistic reading of the text, without recourse to an historical-critical analysis. The holistic approach reveals the structural unity of the text; the two dream theophanies to Solomon (3:4-15; 9:1-10) act as fulcrums which balance the narrative in two sections, one pro-Solomon, the other anti-Solomon. The unifying theme of both sections, it is argued, is Solomon's relationship with Torah and Wisdom. The development of that relationship lends a thematic tension to the narrative as well. By explicating these structural and thematic elements, the thesis demonstrates that the narrative tension in the Solomonic material is purposefully contrived. The investigation as a whole reveals that the narrative has a unit and an integrity of its own, from which a coherent message emerges.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

My dissertation explores how people are persuaded by narratives. The first essay is a review of the literature over the past decade where I develop and then apply an overarching framework to synthesize the empirical work that examine antecedents and consequences of narrative persuasion as well as moderators and mediators that are involved in this process. In the second essay, I adopt a structural equations approach to examine the process through which consumers are persuaded by online consumer reviews, a common form of consumer narrative. A review that reads like a narrative (story) is likely to evoke transportation into that review, which affects persuasion-related outcomes. Across three studies, I explore how variables identified in essay 1 and important to the persuasion-related literature affect this process. In the third essay, I adopt an experimental approach to further explore the process of reflection, which is introduced in essay one. I demonstrate that this process is distinct from transportation, and that mediates the relationship between transportation and persuasion-related outcomes. / Ph. D.

This thesis is a narrative inquiry of laughter in a University Lab School preschool classroom that describes the many situations in which children laugh as well as laughter's importance for the children, for me, and for all of us as a whole within the context of our classroom. To date, there is a paucity of research on children's laughter, especially in young children. The majority of research that has been conducted has been quantitative in nature, with few attempts to comprehensively describe the many situations in which laughter occurs. For my study, I felt it crucial to look at, document, and describe preschoolers' laughter, taking into consideration the many facets of their school day including free play, story time, playground time, and snack time. My sample included all of my 14 preschoolers, who ranged in age from 3 years to 4 years, 4 months at the outset of the study. I also deemed it important to look at what these laughter-producing situations meant to me and the children in my classroom, including what deeper worth laughter for all of us, how we used it in the classroom, and how it helped me to grow both personally and professionally through my research. / Master of Science

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.