This Man is Your Friend: Knowing "Us" and "Them" in Ethnic American Literature of the Pacific Theater

This dissertation examines representations of the Pacific theater in World War II in ethnic American literature, with a focus on its rendition of US and Japanese racism and imperialism in the mid-twentieth century. Reading a range of African, Asian, Jewish, Mexican, and Native American literary writings, I investigate their modifications of the American master narrative that the Second World War was "good" and "necessary," a war fought against fascism and for democracy, justice, and freedom. Instead of such a simplistic and reductive view, ethnic American writers envision the Pacific theater as a race war between whites and persons of color and as a conflict between two imperialist nations, the United States and Japan. Ethnic Americans' racial double consciousness functions to resist an oversimplification of the Pacific theater. In these ethnic writers' work, American characters from diverse backgrounds create friendships with those of Asian nationalities, including Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, and Japanese. These texts are necessary because ethnic Americans' experiences are underrepresented in the traditional WWII narrative of Western masculinity, originated by Ernest Hemingway and completed by President Truman and Douglas MacArthur. As opposed to the typical white American literary and cinematic treatment of the war as fought in the land of …
Date: May 2022
Creator: Matsuda, Takuya
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Google is my friend": An Exploration of Older Adult Media Literacy (open access)

"Google is my friend": An Exploration of Older Adult Media Literacy

The advancement and incorporation of media in daily life continue to grow exponentially as the median age of humanity continues to rise. While there are media literacy education programs targeted toward children and adolescents, older adults are often left out of these initiatives. Based on ethnographic research conducted at two senior centers in Denton, TX, this thesis explores the way older adults analyze and interact with media. Data collection methods include participant observation and semi-structured interviews with senior center members over the age of 65. The research findings highlight how older adults navigate an expanding information society and how they lean on their community for support. These findings laid the foundation for the creation of a media literacy educational seminar given at both senior centers.
Date: December 2023
Creator: Williams, Mikaela Anne
System: The UNT Digital Library
My Whine, Your Wine (open access)

My Whine, Your Wine

Grapes hold the flavors of the lands where they grow, and when you make wine from them, those flavors of the land come through. Tasting wine from a place you've been can bring you back to that place with aromas and notes indicative of that place. A bottle of wine changes every day, and how it will taste depends on the moment you choose to release it from the glass walls. I have a vested interest in wine, because it is a living thing. I am compelled to make wine because its characteristics are like personality traits. Although some of those characteristics are harsh at times, I appreciate them all. Each trait plays an important role in the balance, the overall personality. Like my own personality flaws, wine's harsh tones can smooth over time. My relationship with wine is constantly evolving, with every new varietal, vintage, batch and blend. Believe me, after some of the jobs I had before my first day at Su Vino, I cherish every moment of my winemaking career. My Whine, Your Wine is the story of how it all started.
Date: December 2011
Creator: Abbott, Shannon Marie
System: The UNT Digital Library
Companion to the Gods, Friend to the Empire: the Experiences and Education of the Emperor Julian and How It Influenced His Reign 361-363 AD (open access)

Companion to the Gods, Friend to the Empire: the Experiences and Education of the Emperor Julian and How It Influenced His Reign 361-363 AD

This thesis explores the life and reign of Julian the Apostate the man who ruled over the Roman Empire from A.D. 361-363. The study of Julian the Apostate’s reign has historically been eclipsed due to his clash with Christianity. After the murder of his family in 337 by his Christian cousin Constantius, Julian was sent into exile. These emotional experiences would impact his view of the Christian religion for the remainder of his life. Julian did have conflict with the Christians but his main goal in the end was the revival of ancient paganism and the restoration of the Empire back to her glory. The purpose of this study is to trace the education and experiences that Julian had undergone and the effects they it had on his reign. Julian was able to have both a Christian and pagan education that would have a lifelong influence on his reign. Julian’s career was a short but significant one. Julian restored the cities of the empire and made beneficial reforms to the legal, educational, political and religious institutions throughout the Empire. The pagan historians praised him for his public services to the empire while the Christians have focused on his apostasy and …
Date: August 2014
Creator: Lilly, Marshall
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Nothingness of Presence: Sound, Ritual, and Encounter in the Music of Into Your Hands (open access)

The Nothingness of Presence: Sound, Ritual, and Encounter in the Music of Into Your Hands

The ritual music written for the Compline service of the Liturgy of the Hours, Into Your Hands, is analyzed using an ontological and phenomenological approach, which seeks to answer how such sound/musical phenomena wed to the specific ritual dynamics of Compline in their own right can create a potential for encounter with the Divine. The Jewish philosopher Martin Buber’s understanding of encounter is used to show that the sound/musical phenomena in itself bears similarities with the nature of the Judeo/Christian God, and such a nature is revealed to be both irreducibly non-conceptual as well as an entity that establishes the ontological actuality of one’s being. Studies in the beginnings of humanity at large as well as the beginnings of the individual fetus reveal that an integrated expression of music and ritual can be said to have formed the impetus of such ontological beginnings through encounter. Therefore, one of the first sounds heard in the womb - that of water (or amniotic fluid) - constitutes what may be an archetypal sound of encounter. The phenomenological effects of such an archetype are analyzed in the music of Into Your Hands through topics such as the loss of aural perspective, immersion, dynamic swells, …
Date: May 2015
Creator: Evans, Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploration of Teachers' Adoption of the Bring Your Own Technology Program (open access)

An Exploration of Teachers' Adoption of the Bring Your Own Technology Program

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' concerns, use, and actual practices in their adoption of the bring your own technology (BYOT) initiative. Twelve secondary teachers in a private school setting participated in this study. The participants represented all content areas including reading, math, science, and electives. The private school was in its third year of implementing BYOT. This case study incorporated multiple methods to collect data to gain a better understanding of teachers' adoption of an innovation, BYOT. The concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was used as a theoretical framework. All three CBAM tools provided data: the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), levels of use interview protocol (LoUIP), and the innovation configuration (IC) map. Twelve of the participants completed the SoCQ across three different points in time. Six of the twelve teachers participated in three one-on-one interviews, including the LoUIP. Additionally, six teachers were observed in their classrooms during instruction. After triangulating all pieces of data, the majority of teachers had highest concerns related to self. Teachers were concerned about their ability to implement the innovation and managing BYOT in their classroom. Four of the six teachers had a level of use (LoU) at mechanical, and two teachers …
Date: August 2013
Creator: Cardoza, Yanet
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dickens in the Context of Victorian Culture: an Interpretation of Three of Dickens's Novels from the Viewpoint of Darwinian Nature (open access)

Dickens in the Context of Victorian Culture: an Interpretation of Three of Dickens's Novels from the Viewpoint of Darwinian Nature

The worlds of Dickens's novels and of Darwin's science reveal striking similarity in spite of their involvement in different areas. The similarity comes from the fact that they shared the ethos of Victorian society: laissez-faire capitalism. In The Origin of Species, which was published on 1859, Charles Darwin theorizes that nature has evolved through the rules of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and the struggle for existence. Although his conclusion comes from the scientific evidence that was acquired from his five-year voyage, it is clear that Dawinian nature is reflected in cruel Victorian capitalism. Three novels of Charles Dickens which were published around 1859, Bleak House, Hard Times, and Our Mutual Friend, share Darwinian aspects in their fictional worlds. In Bleak House, the central image, the Court of Chancery as the background of the novel, resembles Darwinian nature which is anti-Platonic in essence. The characters in Hard Times are divided into two groups: the winners and the losers in the arena of survival. The winners survive in Coketown, and the losers disappear from the city. The rules controlling the fates of Coketown people are the same as the rules of Darwinian nature. Our Mutual Friend can be interpreted as …
Date: August 1996
Creator: Moon, Sangwha
System: The UNT Digital Library

Your Blues Ain't Like Mine: Voices from the Other Side of the Color Line

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This dissertation examines intra-racial colorism in works by writers who began their careers during the Harlem Renaissance, but whose writings span almost a century. In these writings, colorism; which can be defined as a bias directed toward an individual that is based on skin tone, is portrayed an intra-racial practice that results from the internalization of racist ideals. The practice relies on a hierarchy that most often privileges those closest to the color line. However, these depictions also show that the preponderance of skin tones can sometimes determine who is targeted. For the purposes of this study it is called reverse colorism when the bias is directed by individuals darker in skin tone toward those who are lighter. Consequently, the careful descriptions of the shades and hues of black characters becomes more than aesthetics and can be seen as a coded reference to experiential differences. While Alain Locke hailed the start of the Harlem Renaissance to signal the rise of The New Negro, the writings featured by female writers in this dissertation advance a less optimistic reality for women, who had to contend with both inter- and intra-racial bias because of their skin tone. Colorism is identified as a particularly …
Date: December 2019
Creator: Edwards, Cheri Paris
System: The UNT Digital Library

Who are You Going to Believe: Me or Your Lying Eyes? Three Essays on Gaslighting in Organizations

In this dissertation, I theorize on how gaslighting manifests in managerial and organizational settings. I discuss the process of gaslighting and how the use of various manipulation tactics manifests between people in organizations over time. I take three distinctive approaches to study this complex phenomenon. First, using a rich case study, I develop new theory to explain how one notorious child molester was able to sustain a career for decades while assaulting hundreds of children and young women. In doing so, I introduce the concept of gaslighting which previously has only been rigorously applied to intimate interpersonal relationships in domestic (e.g., at home) settings. In essay 2, I expand on the individual level theory developed in essay 1 to develop a more generalized theory of gaslighting in organizations. I situate gaslighting within a nomological net of related constructs and illustrate how gaslighting is a unique construct with different antecedents and consequences that occurs in organizations more often than it should. In my final essay, I build on one of the propositions developed in essay 2 and empirically test what antecedents are likely to influence whether or not a firm is accused of gaslighting on Twitter. Through doing so, I find …
Date: May 2023
Creator: Kincaid, Paula A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
“Wolf Man” (open access)

“Wolf Man”

This creative nonfiction dissertation is a memoir that probes the complex life and death of the author’s father, who became addicted in his late forties to crack cocaine. While the primary concerns are the reasons and ways in which the father changed from a family man into a drug addict, the memoir is also concerned with themes of family life, childhood, and grief. After his father’s death, the author moves to Las Vegas and experiences similar addiction issues, which he then explores to help shed light on his father’s problems. To enrich the investigation, the author draws from eclectic sources, including news articles, literature, mythology, sociology, religion, music, TV, interviews, and inherited objects from his father. In dissecting the life of his father, the author simultaneously examines broader issues surrounding modern fatherhood, such as cultural expectations, as well as the problems of emptiness, isolation, and spiritual deficiency.
Date: August 2015
Creator: Flanagan, Ryan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hauntology Man (open access)

Hauntology Man

Hauntology Man, a 48-minute documentary, follows former UNT Professor, Dr. Shaun Treat, as he leads a walking ghost tour of downtown Denton, Texas. As the expedition moves from storefront to storefront, each stop elicits a new tale. But, as Dr. Treat points out, the uncertainties of history are the real ghosts. That is, rather than simply presenting a "haunted history" of Denton, it's more accurate to say this movie's center resides at the precipice of a "haunting history." Not all ghost stories need spectres. Sometimes not knowing is ghost enough.
Date: May 2018
Creator: Wright, Adam Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Man of Law's Tale and its Analogues (open access)

The Man of Law's Tale and its Analogues

This thesis examines Chaucer's "The Man of Law's Tale" from the "Canterbury Tales," and includes a comparison of the narrative treatment of Chaucer's, Gower's and Trivet's tales of Constance.
Date: 1953
Creator: Gardner, Eva Delores
System: The UNT Digital Library

Stories and "Burning Man"

Stories and a novel.
Date: July 2023
Creator: Ray, T. Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of Thomas Mann's "Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as Told by a Friend" upon Alfred Schnittke's Compositional Style as seen through His "Fuga for Solo Violin" (1953) (open access)

The Influence of Thomas Mann's "Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as Told by a Friend" upon Alfred Schnittke's Compositional Style as seen through His "Fuga for Solo Violin" (1953)

Alfred Schnittke was a prolific and nuanced musical figure of the twentieth-century, contributing significantly to the fields of musical philosophy and composition. One of his most researched contributions, that bridges both disciplines, is his definition and implementation of the compositional technique, polystylism. His 1971 essay, "Polystylistic Tendencies in Modern Music," served as the first serious discussion of the term, providing a narrower definition, differentiating it from other techniques, and discussing its importance in the oeuvre of twentieth-century artists. Schnittke is also known for his fervent desire to overcome the gap between Ernstmusik (serious music) and Unterhaltung (music for entertainment). This lifelong pursuit, combined with polystylism, lead him to create an eclectic catalogue that championed the ideas it was pioneering. However, there is little research done on the 1947 literary work that served as a creative catalyst to all these ideas: Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus: The Life of German Composer Adrian Leverkühn as told by a Friend. In contrast to other telling's of the Faust legend, Mann's version features a composer-protagonist, Adrian Leverkühn, who sells his soul for twenty-four years of creative musical-genius. During this time, Leverkühn composes numerous successful works, even developing a new system of musical composition. Mann's telling …
Date: August 2022
Creator: McKamie, Mark Alexander
System: The UNT Digital Library
Filial Therapy with Immigrant Chinese Parents in Canada (open access)

Filial Therapy with Immigrant Chinese Parents in Canada

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of filial therapy training in: (a) increasing immigrant Chinese parents' empathic behavior with their children; (b) increasing immigrant Chinese parents' acceptance level toward their children; (c) reducing immigrant Chinese parents' stress related to parenting; (d) reducing immigrant Chinese parents' perceived number of problem behaviors in their children; and (e) enhancing the self concept of the Chinese children of immigrant Chinese parents.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Yuen, Tommy Chi-man
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sam Rayburn: Trials of a Party Man (open access)

Sam Rayburn: Trials of a Party Man

Several books have been written about Sam Rayburn, but thus far there has been no attempt to analyze Rayburn's rise to power. No one has delved sufficiently into his political philosophy, his motivations, and his personal convictions regarding the pivotal events of the turbulent 1930s. This dissertation endeavors to fill that void by tracing the course of events which led Sam Rayburn to the speakership of the United States House of Representatives. It records his triumphs, his shortcomings, the concessions he made, and the people he served in order to achieve his life's ambition. The scope of this study ranges from Rayburn's first expression of interest in the speakership to his elevation to that position in 1940. Brief coverage is given to his three terms in the Texas Legislature, beginning in 1906, and his election to Congress in 1912. A more extensive analysis is made of his early congressional association with John Nance Garner and its pivotal influence on his career. A brief analysis is offered of Rayburn's political and legislative activities prior to the election of 1932. The primary emphasis of this study, however, revolves around Rayburn's activities during the years 1932-1940-- the first two terms of President Franklin …
Date: May 1979
Creator: Daniel, Edward O.
System: The UNT Digital Library
No Fairy Godmothers: Essays on Life, Love, and Feminism (open access)

No Fairy Godmothers: Essays on Life, Love, and Feminism

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.
Date: August 1998
Creator: Behnken, Julie A. (Julie Ann)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Isolation and Caritas: Polar Themes in Melville's The Confidence-Man (open access)

Isolation and Caritas: Polar Themes in Melville's The Confidence-Man

The thesis examines isolation and caritas, or charity, in The Confidence-Man as polar themes which express, respectively, withdrawal from and suspicion of the human community and integration within and appreciation for that community. Isolation is considered a negative theme; caritas, an affirmative theme.
Date: December 1971
Creator: Hollen, Norman V.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Man-Nature Dialogue in the Poetry of Robert Frost (open access)

The Man-Nature Dialogue in the Poetry of Robert Frost

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Robert Frost's use in his poetry of ambivalent views of nature, of varieties of human character, and of interrelationships between man and nature.
Date: August 1965
Creator: Luke, Edith Jackson
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Common-Man Theme in the Plays of Miller and Wilder (open access)

The Common-Man Theme in the Plays of Miller and Wilder

This study emphasizes the private and public struggles of the common man as portrayed in two representative plays by Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman and The Price, and two by Thornton Wilder, Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. These plays demonstrate man's struggle because of failures in responsibility toward self and family and because of his inability to fully appreciate life. Miller concentrates on the pathetic part of Man's nature, caused by a breakdown in human communication. Wilder, however, focuses on the resilient part which allows man to overcome natural disasters and moral transgressions. The timelessness of man's conflict explains the motivations of symbolic character types in these plays and reveals a marked applicability to all average citizens in American society.
Date: May 1977
Creator: Hastings, Robert M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Falsity in Man: Tennessee Williams' Vision of Tragedy (open access)

Falsity in Man: Tennessee Williams' Vision of Tragedy

It is the purpose of this paper to examine the major plays of Tennessee Williams in an effort to formulate the key concepts which appear in the work of a modern successful dramatist who is sensitive to the tragedy of man and to discover Williams' beliefs in regard to man, his need, and the tragedy that results if he does not find the fulfillment of his nature.
Date: 1956
Creator: Kindle, Betty Brewer
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dominant Themes in the Novels of Ernest Hemingway (open access)

Dominant Themes in the Novels of Ernest Hemingway

This thesis proposes to show that Hemingway's novels reveal a change of attitude which culminates in an increased faith in the ultimate goodness and dignity of man.
Date: January 1961
Creator: Davis, James Bert
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Path to Paradox: The Effects of the Falls in Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Conrad's "Lord Jim" (open access)

The Path to Paradox: The Effects of the Falls in Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Conrad's "Lord Jim"

This study arranges symptoms of polarity into a causal sequence# beginning with the origin of contrarieties and ending with the ultimate effect. The origin is considered as the fall of man, denoting both a mythic concept and a specific act of betrayal. This study argues that a sense of separateness precedes the fall or act of separation; the act of separation produces various kinds of fragmentation; and the fragments are reunited through paradox. Therefore, a causal relationship exists between the "fall" motif and the concept of paradox.
Date: May 1987
Creator: Mathews, Alice McWhirter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Luther the Augustinian: Augustine, Pelagianism and Luther's Philosophy of Man (open access)

Luther the Augustinian: Augustine, Pelagianism and Luther's Philosophy of Man

Augustine has had a large influence on the development of western theology, and nowhere is this more obvious that in Martin Luther's understanding of God, humankind and grace. Yet at the same time there are also significant differences in the two churchmen's thought. Sometimes these differences are subtle, such as their views of the state; other times they are not so subtle, such as their positions on free will or their praise of philosophy and its usefulness in sounding the depth of Christianity. In order to best explain these varying views, one must look at Augustine's and Luther's diverging opinions of man's nature where one will see that the dissimilarities are best understood in light of Luther's pessimistic view of humanity.
Date: August 1991
Creator: McGinnis, Jon D. (Jon David)
System: The UNT Digital Library