This page contains a selection of essays that I wrote while completing my Bachelor of Arts in English degree from Arizona State University. These essays show my growth as a writer and researcher during my undergraduate time at ASU.
Science and Shelley: A Physical Reading of Percy Shelley’s “The Sensitive Plant”
This essay was written for Dr. Mark Lussier’s course English 469: Science and Literature. Building upon my dual interests in science and English, I argue that Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “The Sensitive Plant” may be read as a poem of science. I consider the historical role of Newtonian determinism and anti-Newtonian Romantic sentiment, as well as a contemporary reading of Shelley’s work from the perspective of quantum physics. This essay shows my emergence as a scholar of both scientific and literary themes.
“Sympathy and Compassion”: Sociability, Science, and the Double in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
I wrote this essay for Dr. Dan Bivona’s course English 329: The Double. It considers the literary motif of “the double” within Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, analyzing the doppelgänger relationship between Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein. Specifically, I argue that Shelley uses character doubling to forge a dichotomy between “good” and “bad” science based upon 19th-century ideals of sociability and sympathy. This provides another example of my work in the intersection between science and literature, as well as my interest in Shelley’s work as an example of early science fiction.
The Body Dyspeptic: The Grotesque Body in John Kennedy Toole’s Novel A Confederacy of Dunces
This essay, written for Dr. Lawrence Ellis’ course English 337: Major American Novels, shows my first academic work with the topic of literary embodiment. In this essay, I analyze John Kennedy Toole’s novel A Confederacy of Dunces from the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the “grotesque body.” This was the first essay I wrote from a consciously theoretical lens, and it has implications for my disability studies work.
Meaningful Suffering: Christian Allegory, Cycles, and Divine Order in Shakespeare’s Romances Pericles and The Winter’s Tale
I wrote this essay for Dr. Jeffrey Timmons’ course English 421: Studies in Shakespeare. During my time as an undergraduate at ASU, I took four courses with Dr. Timmons, and I wrote this essay for the second Shakespeare course I took with him. In this essay, I argue that William Shakespeare uses a pattern of Christian cycles, a version of the “seasonal cycles” present in his romance plays, to understand and justify human pain and suffering. My work here hints at a connection to environmental themes and my interest in ecocriticism.
Kathleen Swain 