<p>Recent work in affect theory has addressed the category of what Sianne Ngai terms “ugly” feelings (Ngai 2007, Edelman 2004, Halberstam 2011) and the costs associated with the premium placed on so-called positive modes of thinking and feeling (Berlant 2011, Ahmed 2010, Love 2007), yet cynicism persists in many accounts as the feature of an undesirable political subjectivity. Likewise in popular and political discourse, cynicism is denounced as the mark of an ineffectual subject who chooses to opt out, rather than reach for supposedly obvious markers of (capitalist) achievement. This dissertation refuses these characterizations, instead considering cynicism as an affect bound up in neoliberal sociopolitical shifts. I argue that cynicism describes a feeling of living under structural conditions that curtail—in ways that are often effaced—the kinds of self-determining subjectivities that have been taken for granted as a feature of Western, liberal democracies and remain foundational to imagined modes of dissent. Exploring this situation in the context of three cultural frames—politics and governance, modes of labour in capitalist economies, and a structure of feeling premised on the pursuit of happiness—I examine cynical subjectivities in fiction, film, and American political discourse so as to 1) develop an inquiry into affect as situated between subject and structure; 2) acknowledge the commonality of a feeling of impasse and dominant cultural narratives that mask this frustration of agency; and 3) consider inertia and passivity as sensible orientations in a cultural moment in which the costs of momentum are becoming increasingly visible.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis argues that Edith Wharton’s assessment of American ways and their meaning in her post-war fiction has been widely misread. Its title derives from French Ways and Their Meaning (1919), which she wrote to educate her countrymen about French culture and society. Making sense of America was as great a challenge to Wharton. Much of her later fiction was for a long time dismissed by critics on the grounds that she had failed to ‘make sense’ of America. Wharton was troubled by American materialism and optimism, yet she believed in a culturally significant future for her nation. She advocated – and wrote – an American fiction that looked critically at society and acknowledged the nation’s ties to Europe. Sometimes her assessment of American ways is reductive, and presented in a tone that her critics, then and since, found off- putting and snobbish. But her skepticism about American modernity was penetrating and prophetic, and has not been given its due. In criticism over the last two decades, a case for the place of Wharton’s post-war fiction in canons of feminism and modernism has been persuasively made. The thesis responds to these positions, but makes its own argument that the post-war writing reflects broader shift in American identity and ideology. The thesis is broadly historicist in its strategy, opening with a discussionofthereputationofthesetextsandthatoftheauthormoregenerally. Afterthat entry-point, it is organized thematically, with four chapters covering topics that are seen as key components of American ideology in Wharton’s post-war writing. These include modernity, gender equality, the American Dream of social mobility, and American exceptionalism. The thesis concludes with an assessment of Wharton’s prognostications in the context of twenty-first century America.

This thesis focuses on the theme of the journey and the changes that occur in the socio-historical context of the Great Depression as well as in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The thesis is an expository piece on road literature, its features and how the chosen novel has earned its rightful place in the American oeuvre, specifically that of road literature. The thesis is separated into two major parts. The former part provides the reader with a socio- historical context of the Great Depression as well as a background on the historical patterns of the 'journey' in America and how these two aspects are interrelated in the context of this thesis. The latter part constitutes the analysis of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath by including the authorial relationship to the novel and the many aspects of the novel as studied through the scope of road literature. This part is further expanded by a close-up analysis of the changes in identity of characters in The Grapes of Wrath. The primary focus is on the notion of change and how it is connected to the notion of the road, including how the human being stands between these notions and is transformed in the process. Keywords: change, mobility, flight, escape, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, American Dream, hope, depression, 1930s, Great...

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar como os atentados de 11 de setembro de 2001 foram representados em uma série de histórias em quadrinhos (HQs) do Capitão América, escrita por John Ney Rieber e desenhada por John Cassaday, publicadas entre junho e dezembro de 2002, nos EUA. Essas HQs dialogam com diversos problemas que incomodavam a sociedade norte-americana no período pós-atentados como, por exemplo, os sentimentos de medo, insegurança, vingança e a recém-lançada Guerra ao Terror. Estes são discutidos e interpretados, partindo de dois pontos de vista diferentes, o do Capitão América e o dos terroristas, ou seja, as HQs procuraram expor as justificativas dos dois lados envolvidos. Elas expõem diversas críticas às ações bélicas dos Estados Unidos e também dos terroristas e têm um forte caráter pacifista. Além disso, divulgam uma mensagem de esperança pautada nas ideias do Sonho Americano, que deve ser entendido como uma força de união e mobilização nacional, visando à superação de todos os problemas causados pelos atentados de 11 de setembro / This study aims to analyze how the attacks of September 11, 2001 were represented in a series of Captain America comics, written by John Ney Rieber and drawn by John Cassaday, published between June and December 2002 in USA. These comics dialogue with various problems that bothered the American society in the post-attack period, for example, the feelings of fear, insecurity, revenge and the newly launched War on Terror. These are discussed and interpreted, from two different points of view, that of Captain America and the terrorists, in other words, the comics sought to expose the reasons on both sides involved. They expose several criticisms of the military actions of the United States and also the terrorists and have a strong pacifist character. Moreover, disseminate a message of hope ruled by ideas of the American Dream, which must be understood as a force for unity and national mobilization, aimed at overcoming all the problems caused by the September 11 attacks

This dissertation offers an analysis of the image of loss in modern American drama at three levels: the loss of physical space, loss of psychological space, and loss of moral space. The playwrights and plays examined are Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie (1945), Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949), Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother (1983), and Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive (1998). This study is the first scholarly work to discuss the theme of loss with these specific playwrights and works. This dissertation argues that loss is a central trope in twentieth-century American drama. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how the image of loss is modified and transformed in each playwright's work leading these images to reveal an emotional truth that transcends the plight of particular individuals or families and casting a universal appeal to a diverse audience. Chapters examine specific themes related to the theme of loss. As part of the critical methodology, the live spectacle of performance has been acknowledged. This study analyzes how Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel modify and transform the image of loss by focusing on the myth of the American dream, illusion versus reality, empowerment, and the complexity of human relationships. Although these plays are meant first and foremost to be appreciated as theater, that is to say "live performance," this study deals with these plays as drama, that is, as written texts. The audience observing the "live" spectacle and the reader of the text are both challenged to define their "own space." Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel, modify and transform the image of loss to reveal a common humanity that is not only a force in their work, but also a strong presence in the works of American dramatists as diverse as Eugene O'Neill and Adrienne Kennedy. From domestic drama to the drama of social and political criticism, Williams, Miller, Norman, and Vogel along with a medley of American playwrights, have taken the genre of American drama from backseat status (secondary to the novel and poem) into the forefront of recognized American literature.

This work analyses the American family in context of society and its demands. It focuses on the cannonical works of the Modern American drama, namely plays of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard and David Mamet. The playwrights are analysed in two distinctive groups according to similar themes they share. Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller depict the family under increasing pressure from the outside as well from the inside. The unit disintegrates, members of the family escape and thus the unit loses its funtions. The pressure is imposed by the tenets of the American mythology that governs the society, which, in turn, influences the family. The common theme of the first group of playwrights is the feeling of loss. This comprises of two dimensions - spatial and tempoval. The second group of playwrights share the same theme of loss with its spatial and temporal implications. They are characteristic by their distinctive use of language that depicts the prevalent sense of doom, apocalypse, futility and sterility. The search for identity is also implied by the restlessness of characters. The detrimental effect of harsh business environment on the family is explored with regards to masculinity. The work shows the family in the context of the 1950s, an era when the family was elevated to...

This thesis examines the connection between Dominican history, the influence of American material culture, and the mythic American Dream as catalysts for migration. The two U.S. occupations and American propaganda through media had a great effect on the deceptive perception of an American life as an effortless method for attaining wealth. Let it Rain Coffee by Angie Cruz, will focus on the character, Esperanza Colon, and her obsession with the lavish lifestyle she views on the television show, Dallas. Material objects, as argued by Daniel Miller in his book, Stuff, work in subtle yet significant ways and determine our function, identification, and experience in society. If the ideal purpose of material culture is to presuppose our roles as individuals, one can conclude that the novel showcases the issues of a subordinate class struggling to attain the material goods that represent economic wealth while maintaining a sense of self-identification and self-agency.

The thesis deals with critical views of the post-war American society as found in three literary works: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The thesis's aim is to introduce briefly the post-war society and then, on basis of text analysis, to provide criticism expressed by each book mentioned above. Divided into four main parts, it describes the post-war situation in the United States (political, social and cultural) and thereafter it focuses on the books itself. It provides a short biographical summary of each author's life but it mainly targets the criticism the book contains. The post-war period was significant because of the change it brought. The society of the 1950s was characterized by many "booms" that contributed to its development. The main features of this period were consumerism and materialism; these were also the principal things subjected to criticism. The question the thesis wants to answer is whether this criticism was justified or not. This objective is realized in the conclusion. Based on all facts provided by the thesis, the answer is that the criticism was justified; however, it is not so easy and it is necessary to read the whole thesis to understand all reasons that led to this conclusion and to think over...

I conducted this study to examine Hmong American college students' perspectives on sense of belongingness and their idea on the American Dream. The college experience can serve as a precursor to improving the social and economic situation of the Hmong students when aligned with the personal desire to gain upward mobility and motivation to circumvent social and academic inconsistencies. The methodology of the study was designed for one-on-one phenomenological informal interviews with Hmong American college upper-classmen using a two-part interview protocol to elicit demographic and experiential information. Moustakas' approach to the analysis of data provided guidelines to review individual transcripts and to group, remove, cluster, and thematize lived experiences. The findings of this study indicated that Hmong college students: (a) enrolled out of obedience to the parents, especially their fathers, regardless of the educational level of the parents and (b) thrived when authority figures on campus reached out to help their humble situation. . . it not only made them belong to the campus family but it strengthened their self-esteem.

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