Earticle

Kang, Oksun. “Women’s Writing and Their Cultural Subjection.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 1-16. Women writers’ writing on the fringe of society has historically signaled their entering into the public world of letters. When considering those days of radical zeitgeist, women’s writing created a new set of cultural values that unified the meaning of social, political, and economical meanings beyond literature. So, the issue of women’s subjection needs to focus on the social problems in relation to the integrated cultural effect. This paper examines the problem of women’s subordination in connection with the zeitgeist of the 1790’s, covering philosophical texts. My focus is the developing process of the women’s resistant writing based on the feminine education of Mary Wollstonecraft and the national spirit of Helen Maria Williams. Women’s writing in the 1790’s was an attempt to open the possibilities of cultural change by recognizing women’s public roles and resisting the social norm of women's inferiority. (Dongseo University)

“Why Lovers’ Vows in Mansfield Park?” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 17-35. The plan for Lovers’ Vows, along with series of events related to it, is of profound significance in Mansfield Park. Firstly, it foreshadows more serious and acute struggles and crises impending by making Sir Thomas’s return such a dramatic one. It also reveals the true nature of the relationship between the patriarchal, authoritative father and the oppressed children in earnest. Thirdly, this episode implies the changes in modes and ideas of love and marriage, and even the change of female images outside Mansfield Park. Most importantly, it creates changes in the dynamics of relationships among characters, which consequently give Fanny a crucial chance to enter into the center of the life of Mansfield Park and to be a real heroine of the work. While many critics grant that Fanny’s moral virtue is tested and proved through this event of private theatricals and her superior moral strength ultimately restores and maintains the value of Mansfield Park, this paper reinterprets and reevaluates Fanny’s morality through the whole episode of Lovers’ Vows. Then it proves that rather than moral virtue, this episode emphasizes Fanny's intellectual, judgemental growth. It also contends that Lovers’ Vows is chosen intentionally to show Austen’s views of female identity and feminist conceptions; it portrays Fanny eventually defying the stereotypical heroines of conduct books and de-constructing Agtha’s passive attitude towards herself and submissive way of life. (Ulsan University)

“Family, Neighbour, and Sympathetic Love in Neighbour Rosicky.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 37-54. In Neighbor Rosicky, Willa Cather portrays the meaning of family, neighbour, and sympathetic love of Anton Rosicky who has lived close to the land in the country. He faces his own impending death after Dr. Burleigh tells him he has a bad heart. Anton Rosicky, however, is never frustrated, but reflect on the important events that have marked his life. He is not afraid of dying, he faces it with courage. Cather strikingly illustrates the connection between life and death through the images of the graveyard which occurs twice in Neighbor Rosicky. This particular graveyard is not a place where life ends, but where it is completed beautifully. Throughout his life Rosicky was an optimist who truly cared for his family and the neighbours around him. Indeed, at the end of the story Dr. Burleigh observes, after Rosicky’s death, that “Rosicky’s life seemed to him complete and beautiful.” It can be said that though Rosicky has a bad heart, he has one of the best hearts a human being can have. (PaiChai University)

“Hemingway’s ‘The End of Something’: the Meaning of Majorie’s end in the Postcolonial view.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 55-69. This paper is to examine the meaning of Majorie’s end of love in Hemingway’s “The End of Something,” which is a love affair of Nick and Marjorie by the postcolonial view. Carlos Baker said Nick bluntly concludes his serious love affair with her through a previous agreement with his friend Bill. Before the end of the love affair, Nick rows Marjorie past a landscape romantically associated with their love. Then rejecting her gentle and affectionate reminders, he tells her, “It isn’t fun any more.” Yet when she leaves after hearing the end of their love from him, he feels neither joy nor release, only that “everything was gone to hell inside of me.” Consequently, we can understand the Indian in this work is a rise in positional situation than the previous work such as “Indian Camp.” (Jeonju University)

“North American Indians’ Cultures and Gary Snyder’s Viewpoint of Region and Animals.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 71-91. The goal of this paper is to examine how Gary Snyder searches for ecological dwelling on Turtle Island, a new name for the North American continent in order to protect nature against environment pollution and ecological disruption. Since 1969 when he returned to California, he has pursued ways to live ecologically on some foothill on Sierra Nevada while researching on aboriginals of several continents, including American Indian cultures and their ways of life. He tries to appreciate the North American continent, not from whiteman’s viewpoint, but from the viewpoint of nature history and American Indians’ point of view. He recognizes that most American Indians thought highly of the place, region where they lived, and of Mother Nature in which they gained food, and of the mutual relationship between human beings and animals in the wilderness and region. He, therefore, insists that modern American culture and its life style must consider old-aged American Indian cultures with ecological wisdom and develop ecological ways of life in the region and mutual relationship with animals in order to dwell on this Turtle Island from one generation to another. (Changwon University)

“Sylvia Plath’s Unfinished Mourning: A Study of “Daddy” and Other Poems.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 93-109. Sylvia Plath’s poetry, says Ted Hughes, “tells just one story: her Oedipal love for her father, her complex relationship with her mother, the attempt at suicide, the shock therapy.” Whether one agrees with Hughes or not, it seems fairly certain that Plath never got over her father’s death and was never able to complete mourning. In consequence, she had to live with the ghost of her father. She even confessed: "I felt “temptation to dig him up. To prove he existed and really was dead.” This paper scrutinizes Plath’s “Daddy” and some confessional poems and tries to illuminate that unfinished mourning is at the bottom of all her work. (Chonbuk National University)

“The Enjoyment of Influence: Aspects of Ngugi’s Adoption of Kim Jiha’s Writing Strategies.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 111-129. The purpose of this paper is to examine aspects of Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s adoption of Kim Jiha’s writing strategies. It is clear that critics of literature have dealt with the influence of one writer upon other writers for a long time. It was Harold Bloom who said the phrase, the anxiety of influence, to identify his view that “influence consists in a direct ‘borrowing,’ or ‘assimilation’ of the works of the predecessors.” In the 1970s, Kim Jiha was well known for his works and some of them were translated into several languages. When Ngugi read Kim Jiha’s works, Ngugi saw “how effectively he had exploited the oral forms and images to confront the South Korean neo-colonial realities.” He adopted Kim Jiha’s features into his works, so it is not difficult to find them in his works. This influence, between Kim Jiha and Ngugi, is not properly defined by the word anxiety. Rather Ngugi enjoyed it, therefore, we can call this the enjoyment of the influence. (Wonkwang University)

“Ecofeminism of The Wanderground realized in the film, Avatar.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 131-150. This paper aims to search the similarities between the aspects of ecofeminism in the SF film, Avatar, and those already suggested in Gearhart’s feminist novel, The Wanderground. The story of Avatar includes the conflicts between the Earthians and Na’vi people on the planet Pandora. The Earth is devastated from wars and violence, derived from men’s desire and power struggle. On the other hand, Na’vi people enjoy a peaceful life under Home-tree, communing with the nature and respecting Goddess Eiwa. Also in The Wanderground, Hill women flee from the men’s violence in ‘the City,’ and then lead a lesbian community in the mountain. They live in a harmony with the nature, communicating telepathically, not only with each other but also with plants and animals. They get the power and abilities breathing in the Earth Mother. Regardless of the genres and time intervals, both Avatar and The Wanderground reveal the elements of ecofeminism through an utopian community flourishing with women’s affection and union. In conclusion, Avatar successfully embodies a wonderground of ecofeminism that Gearhart pursued in her feminist novel thirty years ago. (Jeonju University)

“Andersen’s ‘The Snow Queen’; The Creativity of Fairy Tale from the Dynamic View of Mythic Conflict and Reconciliation.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 151-170. Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” presents different themes and contents in the multiple levels which appear to be contradictory each other. However, as the fairy tale develops its own story lines, these conflicting tensions are reconciliated into an harmonious insight by Andersen’ creativity. These opposite and incompatible themes - christian myth and pagan norse myth, the Eden garden and the Paradise Lost, nature and industrial city, the good and the evil, purity and corruption, life and death, children’s innocence and adult’s experience, religious love and scientific rationalism, etc. - are all made into a well integrated story. In “The Snow Queen”, the true and unselfish love with the God’s Grace turns to be a self-affirming insight of life, that is, the eternal wisdom of life. This indicates a kind of religious vision - a unified vision of our mysterious life, meanwhile human beings are suffering in awful oppositions and contradictions. (Hannam University)

“Revising the Fairy Tale of The Three Little Pigs.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 171-185. This paper aims to find the differences such as its newly added contents, narrative structures, and general characteristics between the various versions of The Three Little Pigs. It also tries to observe the elements of parody in The Three Little Pigs and The Wolf and The Seven Little Kids. Joseph Jacobs collected The Three Little Pigs in English Fairy Tales in 1890. This fairy tale is one of the best known among children worldwide. There are many different versions. For example, there is The True Story of The 3 Little Pigs written by Jon Scieszka; The Three Little Pigs written by Roald Dahl: The Three Little Wolves and The Bad Pig written by Eugene Trivizas: The Wolf and The Seven Little Kids written by the Brothers Grimm; The Three Little Pigs written by Joseph Jacobs, as well as The Three Little Pigs written by Andrew Lang. Jacobs’ work is characterized vulgarism in the mouths of common people and presented as a traditional story. Lang’s one is characterized as a lesson for children. Scieszka’s one is an interesting story written from the perspective of the wolf. Trivizas’ fairy tale provides various interesting themes to readers. Through these we see the differences, the commonalities, the subversion and new possibilities for an interpretation of the traditional English fairy tale. (Hannam University)

“Developing a Guidebook for Teaching English in English.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 187-201. Since the English education of South Korea nowadays raised the issue of Teaching English in English (TEE) back in 2008, there has been widespread reaction from in and out of the educational community. Critics argue that the current population of Korean English teachers is either unwilling or unable to carry out such a measure. Proponents say that teacher and student “discomfort” with English and the overall difficulty of the suggested plan are not reasons to dismiss or delay reform on such an important issue. Regardless of the debate, it seems clear that South Korean students, parents, businesses, and government leaders are all looking to improve the acquisition of English language skills in a country whose economic survival is tied so closely to Western culture and consumer trends. It is even more of a priority in light of documented deficiencies in speaking and listening skills as evidenced on South Korean TOEFL scores over the past few years. A thorough study of what TEE could actually bring to the Korean classroom seems necessary to clear up misconceptions and bring to a close the endless debates that only waste time, resources, and educational opportunity for the current and future generations of students. (Kongju National University)

“An analysis on Subtitling Translation in Comedy Films.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 203-220. This study focuses on analyzing the humorous elements in subtitling translation through the target texts of two English-Korean comedy films, Big Momma’s House 2(2006) and Fun with Dick & Jane(2005). Humors can be categorized into three elements such as language, culture, and visual contents in terms of subtitling translation of two comedy films. The element of language refers to pun, wordplay, some gags, and so on. Cultural element is necessary for translators to reconstruct the target text by substitutions, adaptation, or transposition. Lastly, visual content elements like gestures, fighting, facial expressions, and characters' behaviors send humorous messages directly to audiences. In subtitling translation which causes temporal and spatial constraints, we can confirm that humorous elements happened at language, culture, and visual content categories. But this study defines its position that through many materials of comedy films, we need to observe them for universal phenomena. (Hongik University).

“An Exploratory Study of Korean English Learners’ Identities.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 221-241. More and more attention has been drawn to the relationships between second language learning and identity since the late 1990s. With this background, this study examined 1) how English learners’ identities were constructed and negotiated in Korea and 2) what unique characteristics they displayed in terms of their learning, social and global communities. Four college students participated in the study and the data were collected from the participants’ diaries and interviews. The findings of the study clearly showed that the English learners’ identities were affected by the social discourse, their own experiences and emotions related to the target language learning. The findings suggest that English teachers in Korea should expand their attention beyond English language skills to understand learners’ current identities and their learning processes, and that they should try to incorporate in class different activities which can help learners build identity in a positive way. (Kunsan University)

“Studies on Taking a Job at an English institute and Founding an English Institute of English Department Students.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 243-266. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the situation of a private English institute, to compare the curricula of three English departments at industrial universities and investigate the possibility of English department graduates opening English institutes. It is revealed that 1) the curriculum of J English department is not appropriate for that of an industrial university since it is not planned to teach industry-centered subjects, 2) the subjects such as English conversation, English reading, TOEIC class, English writing, and English grammar are helpful in their teaching; however, some subjects such as tourism related class, computers and English literature are not 3) few English instructors are satisfied with their work at institutes, but the higher English ability they have, the more satisfied they are at work and the more hopeful they are about founding an institute in the future. This paper proposes that a curriculum of English department of industrial university should be changed in order to meet the needs of prospective English institute teacher. (Jinju National University)

“A Study on English Article Learning through Grammar Awareness-raising for High School Students.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 267-287. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the acquisition of English articles through grammar awareness-raising affects high school students' English ability. The subjects were 60 high school students, who were divided into two groups, and again into two levels. Article instruction using grammar awareness-raising techniques were given for 5 weeks. The major findings from this research are as follows: 1) The experimental group achieved significantly higher scores in their post test than the control group; 2) The lower-level students showed significantly better results than the ones in the control group; 3) In the qualitative analysis of article use, the experimental group used articles more correctly than the control group; 4) the experimental group, particularly in lower level, significantly improved after learning article usage in context-sensitive discourse with authentic materials. (Sacheon Girls’ High Schol․Sunchon University)

“An Investigation in Variables of English Speaking Anxiety Levels of ESL Learners in America.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 36.4(2010): 289-308. This study is to investigate variables in English speaking anxiety levels of ESL learners in America. A total of 205 students, aged 12 to more than 40, answered a questionnaire based on 40 selected items from Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, Horwitz & et. al. (1986) and Foreign Language Learning Motivation Scale, Young (1990). The results are as follows: First, ESL learners’ English language speaking anxiety level is lower than the median (M=2.79), and second, there are no significant differences in English language speaking anxiety levels based on gender and living location. Third, there are significant differences between the age of 12-18 learners’ speaking anxiety levels and other age groups [F(1, 203) = 13.73, p < .001]. Finally, there are significant differences between learning efficacy and English language speaking anxiety levels in ESL learners (β = -.38, t = -5.86, p < .001). Thess results suggest that teachers consider learners’ features to reduce their foreign language speaking anxiety. (Kyungnam University)