My academic work at SVSU largely consisted of literary analyses, sociological research, and Spanish essays. Below I have included descriptions of a few samples of my work, along with a link to each of these papers. These range in length and topic to provide a more thorough understanding of my writing ability.
My Honors Thesis, written in the Winter semester of 2010 as a component of the SVSU Honors Program, is an extensive research project examining how people write their life stories as they approach death. It combines literary and sociological approaches, and begins with a review of the field of narrative identity before moving into an analysis of specific end-of-life stories.
Honors Thesis Final
The next paper, titled "When Words Fail: Unconventional Forms of Expression after Traumatic Experiences in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," was written in the Winter 2011 semester. For this essay, I examined Jonathan Safran Foer's 2006 novel through a postmodern lens, analyzing how language fails in the wake of tragedy, and how new forms of communication are created to fill the void.
English 434 Expression and Tragedy Paper
My third academic essay sample is from my Spanish 491 class, and was written in the Winter 2011 semester. The paper, titled "La Sexualidad en la España de los Años Ochenta en Pepi, Luci, Bom y Otras Chicas del Montón y La Ley del Deseo," examines changing attitudes towards sexuality as portrayed in films after the death of Francisco Franco in Spain.
Spanish 491 Film Essay
