Imperialism displaced, imperialism inverted : the trope of the other world in Gulliver's travels and The chronicles of Narnia ; and, Infiltrating the canon : the recreation of the bildungsroman in Sandra Cisneros' The house on Mango Street
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- John Peter Somody (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Christopher Hodgkins
Abstract: "The purpose of the research was to assess the influence of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels on C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, with the primary concerns being Christian Humanism and British imperialism. The primary texts employed were very similar in the ways in which psychological maturity, physical size, and animal imagery were used to present a critique of the evils of empire and imperialism. The research is more concerned with the similarities between Swift and Lewis' respective texts than with the differences between those respective texts. The result of the research showed that while Lewis is less scathing in his critique of imperialism, he "inherits" from Jonathan Swift a sarcastic attitude towards imperialism for the purpose of personal gain. Lewis' text The Four Loves was used as a lens through which Gulliver's Travels and The Chronicles of Narnia can be read with regards to religious hypocrisy. The Biblical character Samson also proved essential as an archetypal Christ parallel to which Gulliver and Aslan can both be compared. The purpose of the research was to assess Cisneros' text from several different angles, with the primary concern being the way in which Cisneros draws on many different concepts, themes, and other texts as a Post-Modern, Mexican-American female author. Among the research's main concerns were the bildungsroman tradition, the notion of the self-made man (or self-made woman, in the case of the protagonist, Esperanza Cordero), and the use of the Biblical discourse, which is employed both implicitly and explicitly throughout Cisnero's text. Cisneros attempts and succeeds to weave these three threads together: Christ is the quintessential "self-made man," and the bildungsroman takes on a new meaning when notions of American dissatisfaction are taken into consideration. Esperanza's name literally means "Lamb of Hope," and this translation by itself acts as a kind of lens through which the text can be read. Cisnero's protagonist comes into her own power by learning from the mistakes as well as the successes of those who have come before her."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.
Imperialism displaced, imperialism inverted : the trope of the other world in Gulliver's travels and The chronicles of Narnia ; and, Infiltrating the canon : the recreation of the bildungsroman in Sandra Cisneros' The house on Mango Street
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Created on 5/1/2007
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Other
- Language: English
- Date: 2007
- Keywords
- influence, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, Christian, Humanism, British, imperialism, animal imagery
- Subjects
- Swift, Jonathan,--1667-1745.--Gulliver's travels
- Swift, Jonathan,--1667-1745.--Criticism and interpretation
- Lewis, C. S.--(Clive Staples), $d 1898-1963.--Chronicles of Narnia
- Lewis, C. S.--(Clive Staples), $d 1898-1963.--Criticism and interpretation
- Cisneros, Sandra.--House on Mango Street
- Bildungsromans