Heterosexual romance and marriage are institutionalized ideals in our society, set forth, in part, through the portrayal of stereotyped gender roles in fairy tales, such as Cinderella, and by the mainstream media. This thesis explores the cultural messages aimed at women, which impose the necessity of altering oneself to achieve marriage, and offers feminist viewpoints. Using the form of the personal essay, I discuss the ideals of Cinderella, Prince Charming, marriage, and Happily Ever After as unrealistic, though still prevalent, given the popularity of books like The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right, and Princess Diana as Cinderella icon. Essays on my own experience of marriage and divorce supplement the cultural issues, juxtaposing the personal and political toward a new paradigm for relationships.

This study suggests that tragedy sees human action as synonymous with language and that it uses a method similar to that of a hermeneutic phenomenology to portray man as experiencing spirituality in a confrontation with expression. This confrontation takes the form of a pattern that leads to a revelation that all human action springs from the spirit. Word as action is thus placed into a spiritual context, containing in itself the key to the divine significance of the human experience. As a cultural manifestation, this pattern exists not only in literary tragedy, but also in the Hebrew Scriptures as narratives and poetry. This study examines this tragic pattern in Genesis, the Book of Job, Oedipus, and King Lear.

Documentation of social impacts resulting from the construction of Lake Ray Roberts is to be incorporated into a two year post-impoundment study. Research objectives are to: 1) locate current residences of landowners and previous landowners who were displaced; 2) determine social impacts resulting from construction of Lake Ray Roberts; 3) document degree of satisfaction with current living conditions; 4) document landowners' degree of satisfaction associated with COE negotiations; 5) document landowners' observations. Landowners were identified by telephone and sent a mail-back questionnaire. Respondents were generally happy with current residences and communities. While courtesy and sufficient information were provided by the COE, respondents would have preferred for property settlements to be more consistent and timely.

The fundamental dichotomy between savage and civilized man is examined within the archetypal Western myth of American culture. The roots of the dichotomy are explored through images produced between 1888 and 1909 by artists Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. Four John Ford films are then used as a basis for the "dichotomous archetype" approach to understanding Western myth in film. Next, twenty-nine "historical" and "contemporary" Western movies are discussed chronologically, from The Virginian (1929) to Dances with Wolves (1990), in terms of the savage/civilized schema as it is personified by the roles of archetypal characters. The conclusion proposes a potential resolution of the savage/civilized conflict through an ecumenical mythology that recognizes a universal reverence for nature.

Modest Musorgsky is considered a composer of masterful vocal, symphonic, and piano works. His songs and song cycles distinguish themselves as evocative of the broad spectrum of Russian experience. However, Musorgsky's early songs have not received as much attention as his larger works, such as Boris Godunov or Pictures at an Exhibition. Musorgsky's early songs, from 1857-1867, show the composer's affinity for lyrical expression, be it brightly melodious, impassioned, or within a comical or satirical vein. He portrays Russian life through a mixture of different genres such as the Russian romance, the ballad, the operatic aria, and also vaudeville. This study focuses on Musorgsky's choice of texts, his penning of several of them, and the way he incorporates them within each song.

This screenplay dramatizes the controversial career of German film maker Leni Riefenstahl during ten years of her association with the Nazi Party. Beginning with the premiere of her first film in 1932, this account chronicles her rise as a film director of such films as Triumph of the Will and Olympia to her arrest after World War II on charges that she had been a Nazi sympathizer. Besides delineating the character and talents of Leni Riefenstahl, this screenplay addresses the difficult question of the relationship between politics and art.

Some men are born to greatness, others to great tragedy. This novel is a fictional account of one of those men: the notorious Texas outlaw, Sam Bass. Set in the Old West of the 1870s, the story primarily concerns itself with events in the train robber's life from the time he owned and raced the Denton Mare to the now famous shoot-out in Round Rock, Texas. It is a story of crime and betrayal told through the eyes of Bass and one of his close confederates, Jim Murphy.

The Life of Ben and Other Poems consists of two sections. The first, The Life of Ben, is a series of seventeen poems about the life of a first-generation American and his family's immigration. The second section, Other Poems, includes twenty-one poems on a variety of themes.

The purpose and scope of this paper is to discuss the emergence of the individual in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in light of the societal changes occurring at the time, and to establish the fact that this beginning of individualism can be seen particularly in the arts of the time. The evidence presented gives rise to the supposition that the society of the eleventh and twelfth centuries can be defined as humanistic, given that humanism implies a concern with and a concentration upon life on earth as opposed to life in heaven.

We create fictions--personal and literary--to cope with fear, and it is our choice whether or not these inventions affirm life. This collection presents many ways of "making excuses for the universe," both from a personal standpoint and also by using the voices and visions of created characters. The collection contains a section of family poems and three sets of character poems: Beverly and Nanci, Strange Mary, and Blue Donna. Following each section are two related poems for transition or amplification. The poems show a progressive change in writing techniques, especially experimentation with sound, as well as pursuing the central theme that perception is a desirable goal, well worth the price.

A fifty page manuscript of poetry and a critical introduction detailing the poet's aesthetics. Using the idea of the double-image and eroticism, the poet places her work in the category of the surreal. She describes the process of writing poetry born of fragmentary elements as a feminist emergence of agency. The manuscript is composed of four sections, each an element in the inevitable breakdown of a love relationship: meeting, love-making, birth of a child, death. Quotes from various authors of anthropological and fictional texts begin each section to reinforce thematic structure in a process of unveiling the agency of the narrator. The poems are organized as a series, beginning and ending with sequence poems.

This thesis includes an original science-fiction novella entitled "The Hunted" and accompanying commentary which illustrates how anthropological fiction can use characterization, setting, and conflict to build effective inter-subjective models.

The study of terrorism has been both broad in scope and varied in approach. Little work has been done, however, on the territorial aspects of terrorist groups. Most terrorist groups are revolutionary to one degree or another, seeking the control of a piece of territory; but for the supportive population of a terrorist group, how important is the issue of territory? Are the intangible qualities of territory more salient to a given population than other factors? Are territorially based terrorist groups more durable than their ideologically or religiously motivated cohorts? This paper aims to propose the validity of the territorial argument for the study of political terrorism.

In the late 1960's the academic field of Women's Studies was created to give women a more equal education and a more accurate reflection of their history and impact on society. At the University of North Texas the effort to implement Women's Studies was not begun seriously until the late 1980's. This paper covers the effort to establish Women's Studies at UNT. My thesis is that this has been a grassroots effort led by professors and students who succeeded not only in establishing Women's Studies but also in changing the face and feeling of the University, creating a more positive environment for women. The bulk of the paper is made up of narrative selections drawn from oral history interviews with key individuals.