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Academic Highlights
Human Identity in The Matrix and Cloud Atlas
This piece pays homage to my love for science fiction. Through my learning under Doctor Graeme Wilson, I was able to begin the journey of mastering its generic themes and being a scholar of the stories that take us through the stars.
My piece here compares and contrasts how The Matrix (2003) and Cloud Atlas (2012), both by the Wachowski sisters, are complementary treatises on human identity. One showing how our collective coding is all connected. The other showing how our collective coding advances toward the stars. it is up to us as a society whether we will succeed.
This work is a favourite of my qualitative researching of genre.
Magical Realism as a Response to Trauma
In my WWII in Literature class, I was first introduced to Magical Realism. The genre of Magical Realism blends the real and unreal into a narrative where the magical unreal is not looked as otherworldly, but a part of the natural reality. My qualitative research looked at how Crabwalk and Tin Drum by Günter Grass, as well as Red Sorghum by Mo Yan, represent how the magical elements of the genre are triggered as a response to a traumatic event in the character's life mirroring responses in real life, showing how the genre of magical realism can be more real than fantasy. Studying for this work helped improve upon my standards and aptitude in qualitative research.
Shakespeare and the Marginalized
Writing about one of the most influential writers of the English language was one of the highlights of my graduate career. I explained how Shakespeare's brief generic disruptions in The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice may have inspired progressive change in the centuries following their first premieres. The Merchant of Venice, a comedy briefly becomes a tragedy during Shylock's lament, giving the audience a small look into the plights of the Jewish people. The Tempest, also a comedy, also took time to veer away from comedy to tragedy to bring to light the discrimination against indigenous peoples. Writing this work helped in my skills of comparing and contrasting, as well as applying historical contexts to modern interpretations.
Churchill and His Qualifications for the Nobel
In my WWII In Literature class, I was tasked to explain why Winston Churchill deserved his Nobel Prize for Literature. Writing this piece tested my understanding of historical critique, and even the morality and fortitude of the monumental man that had changed the entire course of western society through his own sense of rhetoric.
Churchill is far from perfect, but I argued that his speeches, their construction, and his scrutiny of language showed that despite his flaws that contradict our post-modern sensibilities, he deserved the prize in the decade following WWII.
Democracy and Death: Quantitative Research
Even though English is usually more focused on qualitative research, quantitative research still has an important place. When I join my doctoral program, I hope to attempt implementation of quantitative research into the effects of language on mental health paired with medication. One current example of such interdisciplinary research is Peter Torres' research of modality in The role of modals in policies: The US opioid crisis as a case study (2021). To show my aptitude and growth in quantitative research, I am including this research project from my undergraduate Political Science program done with Jacob Bateman. In this study, we researched on whether a country's governmental system has an impact on the country's response to natural disasters.
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