Surveillance in Nineteen Eighty-Four : The Dismantling of Privacy in Oceania

The purpose of this essay is to analyze how certain elements of panopticism manage to dismantle the notion of privacy in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. By reading the text through a lens of panopticism, a theory introduced by Jeremy Bentham, I give examples on how the surveillance methods used by the Party share similarities with the system of surveillance within a Panoptic prison, but also in what ways that they differ. In the end, it is obvious that the society of Oceania cannot be considered to be a complete Panopticon, although several elements of panopticism are present within the text and that they dismantle the aspect of privacy in the novel. 

"If I Could Think of Somewhere to Go" : Alienation in S.E. Hinton's Rumble Fish

This essay focuses on the alienation experienced by Rusty-James in S.E. Hinton’s Rumble Fish (1975). It more specifically centers on the causes of his alienation and how the alienation is illustrated in the novel. The analysis shows that the alienation Rusty-James experiences is caused partly by socioeconomic factors; for example his lack of hope for the future is closely connected to the fact that he belongs to a low socioeconomic class. In addition, there are also psychological factors, for example a childhood trauma. The alienation and its causes are mainly illustrated through the symbolism of the featured Siamese fighting fish and how Rusty-James’ relationships are depicted.  

The Uncanny Thing : Paranoia and Claustrophobia in The Thing and “Who Goes There?”

This essay examines the themes of paranoia and claustrophobia as elements of horror in John Campbell’s novella “Who Goes There?” (1938) and John Carpenter’s film-adaptation of said novella, called The Thing (1982). The novella and the film utilize the lack of trust and reliability in between the characters as elements of fear as well as supernatural elements in the form of a monster. This essay focuses on the different parts of the story running through both versions, mainly the setting, the characters and the monster, to show how the themes of paranoia and claustrophobia are used throughout these as elements of fear and horror. With the help of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, as well as other sources, this essay argues that while the monster plays an important role throughout the story, the threats created by the paranoia and claustrophobia are equal to the monster itself.

El aprendizaje distribuido como estrategia didáctica en la enseñanza del vocabulario de ELE : Un acercamiento a su uso en el salón escolar sueco

Aprender nuevas palabras en un idioma extranjero, es decir, el léxico necesario que fundamenta la posibilidad del desarrollo de las destrezas comunicativas, constituye uno de los problemas más complejos en el proceso tanto de enseñanza como de aprendizaje del español como lengua extranjera. En relación con el aprendizaje del vocabulario identificamos un posible problema; el riesgo de que el número de palabras aprendidas se olvide aumenta después de la prueba o los ejercicios. Si nuestros alumnos no pueden ampliar su vocabulario su competencia comunicativa tampoco va a desarrollar.Para poder entender por qué ocurre el problema y cómo se podría encontrar otros recursos didácticos que contribuyan a un cambio en el proceso, investigamos un fenómeno conocido por la psicología de la educación como el efecto de la memoria espaciada - un fenómeno cognitivo que se benéfica de las repeticiones, pero siempre distribuidas en el tiempo. Estrategias de enseñanza que utilizan dicho efecto se refiere como aprendizaje distribuido.Mediante un pequeño estudio analizamos el efecto de la memoria espaciada (ME) como método alternativa. De este estudio podemos inferir que existe un efecto de memoria espaciada tangible en el aprendizaje de los alumnos que estudiaron según un modelo distribuido, es decir con repeticiones.Pudimos constatar un resultado positivo en este pequeño estudio piloto. Los alumnos lograron recordar en la examinación el 85% de las palabras ejercitadas en la clase un mes después. Este resultado abre nuevas perspectivas de estudio e indica que puede haber alternativas didácticas en la enseñanza del vocabulario de ELE en el salón escolar sueco.

The fact of metafiction in nineteenth-century children's literature : Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Wonder Book and Elizabeth Stoddard's Lolly Dinks's Doings

This article examines two American books for children: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1851) and Elizabeth Stoddard’s Lolly Dinks’s Doings (1874). In both books, fairy tales or myths are framed by a contemporary American setting in which the stories is told. It is in these realistic frames with an adult storyteller and child listeners that metafictional features are found. The article shows that Hawthorne and Stoddard use a variety of metafictional elements. So, although metafiction has been regarded as a postmodernist development in children’s literature, there are in fact instances of metafiction in nineteenth-century American children’s literature.

The Bereaved Post-9/11 Orphan Boy : Representing (and Relativizing) Crisis and Healing, Tradition and Invention

This article compares the sorrowing child in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) and Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), which break traditional novelistic frames through their use of visual material. Through their employment of the orphan figure and their inventive, experimental formal aspects, both Foer’s and Selznick’s novels work as interventions in the debate about the role of fiction after 9/11. Steering clear of a never-ending state of orphanhood, or a return to the nuclear family ideal of the 1950s, they offer different solutions to the family crisis triggered by the loss of a father in a burning building, and, by extension, to the national crisis triggered by 9/11. The bond between father and son that the novels portray represents an affective masculinity that is in line with the emotional narrative work that the two orphan boys perform in the plot and for the readers, which is similar to that of orphan girls in earlier American fiction. In addition to fulfilling the time-honored function of the orphan healing the adult world in a crisis-laden present, Foer’s Oskar and Selznick’s Hugo are post-9/11 “inventions” that highlight the uses of invention in a post-9/11 world.

"A passionate adaptation of a classic novel" : Jane Eyre: From a politically charged novel, to a passionate love story

The novel Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, is very appreciated and famous. It has been adapted several times into different media, such as films, musicals and theatres. In this essay I will compare the novel with Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film adaption from 2011. I will compare the characters Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester and examine how they are portrayed, and I will also discuss the difference between Mr. Brocklehurst in the novel and in the film. I argue that the characters and some of the situations are adjusted to fit a modern audience. I also argue that the film is a romanticized, de-politicized version of the novel. Many of Jane’s reflections upon life, love, class, gender and so on are less developed in the film and the film is more of a love story than a story about a young woman’s life in the Victorian era.