Vol. 9 URCW Journal 2021

I nnov a ti on J o u r na l o fCr e a t i v ea ndSc ho l a r l yWo r k s

Hi g hPo i ntUni v e r s i t y

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Volume 9, 2021

Innovation The Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works

www.highpoint.edu/urcw/hpu-journal/ journal.urcw@highpoint.edu Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works High Point University One University Parkway High Point, NC 27268

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Editor-in-Chief

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Dr. Joanne D. Altman, PhD Director, Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Professor of Psychology

Student Editors Alexa Addeo High Point University, ‘21 Strategic Communication

Hannah Nemanic High Point University, ‘22 Political Science

Nicole Prince High Point University, ‘22 Biology English Literature French Cover design by Laura Schramm ‘13 High Point University alumna, Laura Schramm, graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business after completing a nonprofit business major and graphic design minor. In the fall of 2012, Schramm won the journal cover design competition hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works. The artistic process began with brainstorming ideas in a sketch book and led to the final design of photographed lightbulbs—an image that symbolizes the tedious trial and error required to produce one brilliant idea across disciplines and the process of innovation at work. Today, Schramm continues her artistic pursuits as a graphic designer in North Carolina.

Copyright @ 2021 High Point University 2

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2021 Board of Reviewers Dr. Thomas Albritton Associate Dean of the Stout School of Education; Associate Professor of English Education

Dr. Nathan Hedman Interim Director of the Honors Scholar Program; Assistant Professor of English and Theatre

Dr. Amanda Allen Instructor of History

Dr. Michael Kennedy Instructor of History

Dr. Joanne Altman Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works; Professor of Psychology

Dr. Martin Kifer Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science; Director of the Survey Research Center

Dr. Matthew Carlson Associate Professor of English Dr. Deborah Danzis Associate Professor of Psychology

Dr. Cara Kozma Co-Director of the Community Writing Center; Assistant Director of the HPU Service Learning Program; Associate Professor of English

Dr. Denis Dépinoy Assistant Professor of French

Dr. Benoît Leclercq Assistant Professor of French

Dr. Sadie Leder Elder Associate Professor of Psychology

Dr. Virginia Leclercq Assistant Professor of English and French

Dr. Nahed Eltantawy Associate Dean of the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication; Associate Professor of Journalism

Dr. Kirsten Li-Barber Associate Professor of Psychology

Dr. Gerald Fox Associate Professor of Economics Dr. John Graeber Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Terrell Hayes Professor of Sociology

Dr. Stacy Lipowski Assistant Director of Honors Scholar Program; Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Patrick McConnell Associate Professor of Sport Communication Dr. John Mims Chair and Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication

Dr. Sarah Nielsen Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Melissa Richard Instructor of English Dr. Mark Setzler Director of International Relations; Professor of Political Science Dr. George (Larry) Simpson Professor of History (Retired) Dr. Peter Summers Associate Professor of Economics Dr. Heidi Summey Assistant Professor of Special Education Dr. John Turner Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Bryan Vescio Chair and Professor of English Dr. Beth Ann Way Visiting Professor of English Dr. Kimberly Wear Chair Institutional Review Board; Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Jessica Wiitala Assistant Professor of Event Management Dr. Alixandra Yanus Associate Professor of Political Science

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Letter from the Editor-in-Chief The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works (URCW) encourages and supports the establishment of collaborative partnerships between nurturing faculty mentors and enterprising students. Within these partnerships, critical inquiry, brainstorming, debate, and mutual discovery intertwine, leading over time to the production of finished work suitable for presentation, exhibition, and publication. This journal gives students the opportunity to follow their completed work all the way through the professional process to publication in a referred journal.

Thus, URCW is pleased to publish the ninth volume of Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works. In this issue, we include 11 submissions in a range of disciplines from students who have completed independent undergraduate creative or scholarly work. We hope this journal inspires many young scholars to consider publishing their undergraduate academic work before they graduate from college.

Joanne D. Altman, Ph.D. Director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Professor of Psychology Editor-in-Chief of Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works

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Table of Contents Northrop Frye’s Theory of Comedy and The Secret Garden Leslie Bosse

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The Relationship Between Preferred Learning Method, Stress, and Social Isolation: How Do College Students Want to Learn During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Jordan Bramhall

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Dialogism, Truth, and the Victorian Justice System in The Moonstone Alex Carrillo

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Jail, Julian Assange, and the Future of Watchdog Journalism Joseph Maronski

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Let’s Hip-Hop Our Way to the American Dream Avery Moon

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Parallelism Between Lyricism, American Values, and Socioeconomic Status Avery Moon

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Modes de langue et de culture françaises chez Anna Karénine Nicole Prince

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The Education and Misdiagnosis of English Language Learners Heather Simmons

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Cortical Abnormalities Observed in Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder Allison Tucker

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What Should be Valued in College Admissions: How Political Identity Influences Views Within the Affirmative Action Debate Victoria Tumilty

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The Search for Acceptance and Happiness: Reactions to Russian Social and Gender Stereotypes in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina Hailey Turner

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Northrop Frye’s Theory of Comedy and The Secret Garden Leslie Bosse Leslie Bosse (‘22), an English major with minors in Spanish and environmental studies, explores genre in her literary research. Her interest in generic structure began during her numerous English literature courses at High Point University. By engaging in research beyond the classroom, Leslie found her intellectual curiosity piqued, as she could investigate topics of her own personal interests on a deeper level. This passion for learning and research was fostered by her mentor, Dr. Matthew Carlson, who has always encouraged Leslie to pursue her goals and become a more curious lifelong learner.

Abstract Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden relies heavily on Romantic conceptions of nature and the connection that children, in particular, have to the natural world. Mary and Colin, the two main characters, work to regrow a secret garden that has been locked up for ten years, as both the garden and the children transition from a state of winter to spring. Interestingly, the story also seems to fit into Northrop Frye’s theory of comedy. Frye summarizes the overarching thematic characteristics of literary genres with a metaphor about the four seasons. In his theory, comedy is compared to spring because both comedic works and spring highlight a transition from reality to Romance, from a state of experience to innocence. Frye also explains that comedies experience a metamorphism through a green world, which he defines as a tool used in comedic works that brings them the “victory of summer over winter.” Another aspect of Frye’s comedy is a resolution centered around social reconciliation. While The Secret Garden may not fit every single characteristic that Frye proposes in his theory, it is, perhaps unintentionally, a prime example of this generic structure. This is shown through the text’s literal and metaphorical transition into springtime, its connections to the green world concept, and its ending that focuses on a familial and societal reunion. This essay aims to analyze the relationship between Frye’s comedy and The Secret Garden through these main ideas.

Keywords: northrop frye, the secret garden, children’s literature, comedy rances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden tells the story of two children, Mary and, later, Colin, learning to become better children through their experiences in nature. The story relies heavily on Romantic conceptions of nature and the connection that children, in particular, have to the natural world. Throughout the story, they work to regrow a secret garden that has been locked up for ten years. The garden itself is an essential piece of the story, highlighting Mary’s transformation as it turns from winter to spring, from dreary and dead, to bright and cheery. While the story rightfully fits into the category of Romantic literature, it also fits into Northrop Frye’s theory of comedy. The way that Frye defines the form and meaning of a comedy is structured and specific with a clear movement from what he describes as “experience”

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to “innocence.” While The Secret Garden may not fit every single characteristic that Frye proposes, it is, perhaps unintentionally, a prime example of this generic structure. This is shown through the text’s literal and metaphorical transition into springtime, its connections to the green world concept, as shown through the garden and Mary herself, and its ending that focuses on a familial and societal reunion. Viewing this story through the lens of Frye’s comedic structure provides evidence for interpretations that reach beyond the traditional, Romantic approach to the text.

It is impossible to deny the connection that children’s literature has to Romanticism.

Thacker and Webb explain that Romanticism’s “existence originally arose from a growing interest in childhood as ‘innocence’ and thus a revelation of the ‘true nature’ of self, rather than as a time to control the inborn sinfulness of mankind” (4). The Secret Garden is no exception.

Like most children’s literature, the novel focuses on the ideas of childhood innocence. For example, the story is filled with connections to nature and the freedom for children to play and explore. However, a more fitting description of the novel’s thematic arc can be explained by Northrop Frye’s theory of comedy.

Frye’s theory of myths explains the overarching thematic characteristics of literary genres, using a metaphor about the four seasons. Essentially, this theory summarizes literature into four main genres: romance, tragedy, irony (or satire), and comedy. Each of these genres is compared to one of the four seasons. Romance, for instance, is similar to summer. It is described as “the world of adventure,” or even of innocence (Tyson 209). In contrast, irony and satire are compared to winter, which he associated with the world of “experience, uncertainty, and failure” (209). Tragedy serves as autumn, with the story moving from a state of innocence to experience.

Comedy, on the other hand, is spring, where the story shifts from experience to innocence. Lois Tyson explains Frye’s conception of a comedy as “a movement from the real world to the ideal, from experience to innocence, from the mythos of winter to the mythos of summer, and therefore Frye calls comedy the mythos of spring” (10). Spring, as a season, is the transitional period between the cold of winter to the warmth of summer, which can represent the transitional period between experience and innocence.

In The Secret Garden, Burnett makes it clear that the novel moves through this seasonal transition. When Mary arrives at Misselthwaite Manor, she isn’t impressed by her natural surroundings. She doesn’t like the moor and the gardens have no flowers. As she roams the gardens, she meets Ben Weatherstaff, the reserved but kind gardener at the manor. He asks her a pivotal question, one that seems to initiate Mary’s transformation: “Springtime’s comin,” he said. “Cannot tha’ smell it?” Mary sniffed and thought she could.

“I smell something nice and fresh and damp,” she said. “That’s th’ good rich earth,” he answered, digging away. “It’s in a good humor makin’ ready to grow things. It’s glad when plantin’ time comes. It’s dull in th’ winter when it’s got nowt to do. (Burnett 38) In these first interactions with Ben Weatherstaff, Mary is unsure how to respond. Ben is clearly in touch with nature, and Mary is just beginning her experiences with the natural world. The meaning of springtime isn’t quite clear to her yet, but as springtime comes to life, so does she.

While the garden certainly shows the effects of the springtime transition, Mary herself experiences similar changes. Step by step, her experiences at Misselthwaite begin to turn her from “Mistress Mary, quite contrary” into a more innocent, happy, and energetic child. Her experiences in India kept her from the natural world, but at Misselthwaite, she is immersed in a natural world. After becoming interested in finding the secret garden, Mary starts to “feel that she was not sorry that she had come to Misselthwaite Manor. In India, she had always felt hot 7

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and too languid to care much about anything. The fact was that the fresh wind from the moor had begun to blow the cobwebs out of her young brain and to waken her up a little” (29). As the story progresses and the season of spring fully blossoms on Misselthwaite Manor, Mary becomes a truly lively child. She plays in the gardens, makes friends with Dickon, and starts to love the natural surroundings she wasn’t so sure about at the beginning of the novel. Burnett writes, “When her mind gradually filled itself with robins . . . with springtime and with secret gardens coming alive day by day . . . there was no room left for the disagreeable thoughts which affected her liver and her digestion and made her yellow and tired” (163). Not only does the seasonal change transform the gardens from the “experience” of winter to the “innocence” of spring, but it also transforms Mary from her disagreeable “experience” to a renewed child full of “innocence.”

She experiences the same springtime transformation that her physical surroundings do.

One key idea that Frye develops in his definition of a comedy is the concept of a green world. Frye defines the green world as a tool in comedies that “charges the comedies with a symbolism in which the comic resolution contains a suggestion of the old ritual pattern of the victory of summer over winter” (10). He also states that “the action of the comedy begins in a world represented as a normal world, moves into the green world, goes into a metamorphosis there in which the comic resolution is achieved, and returns to the normal world” (9-10). In The Secret Garden, the green world literally and figuratively could be seen in the garden. Obviously, the garden represents a victory of summer over winter, with the blooms of the flowers that Mary and Dickon set free in the secret garden. However, the green world concept works on another level in that it serves as the portal through which Mary leaves the normal world, enters the green world, and later returns to the normal world refreshed and revived. The garden prompts the transition of Mary’s perspective of the natural world. It initiates and facilitates her complete change in character. At first, Misselthwaite Manor is just another place that Mary is taken to, but through her time in the garden, she grows to love and appreciate Misselthwaite. She can then return to the normal world outside of the garden because the comedic resolution has been achieved. In this interpretation of the green world, the comedic resolution is that Mary becomes an agreeable child. Her agreeableness is defined by her shift from contrariness to acting like an acceptable English child. As Danielle Price puts it, While the young Mary cultivates a secret garden, her work in this maternal space disciplines her. In the Yorkshire mansion and on its grounds, Mary takes the first steps toward proper girlhood and womanhood. She will trade her sickliness for health, her yellow skin for white, her Indian nature for an English one. This metamorphosis is accompanied by—in fact, is inseparable from—the Indian-born Mary’s inculcation in English ways and values. (4) The green world can focus on a movement between the “uncivilized” to the “civilized,” and Price’s explanation applies this to The Secret Garden. Price even uses the same word to describe Mary’s development as Frye does to describe what the action of a comedy looks like with the green world structure: metamorphosis. Mary metamorphosizes from the difficult child from India that she is at the beginning of the novel into a happy, healthy, socially acceptable English child, especially for her class. She can connect with nature and become the innocent child she is expected to be, while still maintaining her role as a proper English girl. Playing in the garden is the action that springs Mary into this shift of character, which demonstrates the comedic green world structure. The garden itself facilitates her ability to go from experience to innocence, from winter to summer, from the period’s English perspective of uncivilized to civilized.

On another level, Mary herself acts as the green world in The Secret Garden. Roni Natov explains that “in the literature of childhood, the child actually can serve as the green world itself.

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In such an allegory, where childhood is the green world, the retreat from the worldly world is the child himself, the figure of escape, renewal, and possibility” (92). At the beginning of the novel, Mary must follow the process that the secret garden leads her through. However, the story doesn’t end once Mary’s transformation is complete. Rather, the story continues to show how Mary guides her cousin Colin from a state of experience to a state of innocence. When his character is first introduced, he seems to be in an even worse state of distress than Mary was at the beginning of the novel. Colin is struggling with the death of his mother, but also with his fateful illness and his father’s rejection of him. He feels unlovable and, therefore, lashes out at anyone and everything. The constant reminders of his potential early death by doctors and the servants at Misselthwaite Manor push him even further into his anxieties. However, his actions begin to change when he meets Mary. She comforts him, challenges him, and tells him stories that bring him to life. Little by little, Mary inspires Colin to want to live. As he starts to hear more about the secret garden, Mary eventually brings him outside, a place he had no interest in prior to her storytelling. In the garden, Colin begins to thrive. He learns to walk, starts to become kinder, and forgets the fate that he feared so much. At the end of the novel, Burnett writes, So long as Colin shut himself up in his room and thought only of his fears and weaknesses and his detestation of people who looked at him and reflected hourly on humps and early death, he was a hysterical, half-crazy little hypochondriac who knew nothing of the sunshine and the spring and also did not know that he could get well and could stand upon his feet if he tried to do it. (163) In this quotation, Colin’s transformation is connected to springtime. Since he initially is unable to understand the sunshine or spring, he cannot escape his unhealthy, debilitating fears. The spring symbolism runs deeply through every part of this novel, including the plot, the setting, Mary, and Colin, which brings the novel back to Frye’s basic analogy of springtime and comedy.

But the ties to Frye’s comedy run much deeper than the springtime comparison in that the green world is represented on many levels in this novel. The root of Colin’s problem was his mental state, and the guide who brings him from his original state of normal life into a new, revitalized state of normal life is Mary. Mary is Colin’s “retreat from the worldly world” and his “figure of escape, renewal, and possibility” (Natov 92). She brings him into a life that he never would have realized without her. It can even be argued that Colin’s transformation is truly what the novel revolves around, which furthers the idea that Mary acts as the green world in this novel.

Even though Mary’s metamorphosis into a new child is significant to the novel, Colin’s transformation is what brings the comedic resolution to the plot. In “The Argument of Comedy,” Frye states that “the essential comic resolution . . . is an individual release which is also a social reconciliation. The normal individual is freed from the bonds of a humorous society, and a normal society is freed from the bonds imposed on it by humorous individuals” (6). The end of The Secret Garden fits neatly into this model of a resolution. Mary takes Colin out of his humorous state by pulling him into the natural world. As Colin soaks up the “Magic” of the secret garden, he is freed from his mental anxieties that furthered his illness. Once he is freed from these bonds, he starts to become a more suitable master of the manor and reconciles with the people of Misselthwaite Manor who he mistreated. He is removed from his humorous state of living and moved into a free, innocent state. Misselthwaite Manor is also freed of Colin, who has prevented them from living happily with his tantrums and constant mental and emotional pain.

Once he becomes an acceptable child, the manor can function happily. As soon as Colin fits into the social status of a young master, the manor is freed from its humorous state of functioning to a revived, socially adequate manor. At the very end of the novel, 9

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When Mrs. Medlock looked she threw up her hands and gave a little shriek and every man and woman servant within hearing bolted across the servants’ hall and stood looking through the window with their eyes almost starting out of their heads. Across the lawn came the Master of Misselthwaite and he looked as many of them had never seen him. And by his side with his head up in the air and his eyes full of laughter walked as strongly and steadily as any boy in Yorkshire–Master Colin! (173) This final line focuses on Colin’s return to the manor as a child that is freed from his illness but also as a child that fits into his social status as a master of the manor. In this way, the resolution of The Secret Garden is, like Frye puts it, a social reconciliation.

Frye also defines the final scene of a comedy as one in which the characters are reunited in some way. He argues “In the last scene, when the dramatist usually tries to get all his characters on the stage at once, the audience witnesses the birth of a renewed sense of social integration. In comedy as in life the regular expression of this is a festival, whether a marriage, a dance, or a feast” (5). The end of The Secret Garden fits into this idea of a renewed sense of social integration. First, Archibald Craven, Colin’s father, returns to Misselthwaite Manor. Due to his son’s potential illness and the constant reminder of the death of his wife, Mr. Craven had fallen into a dark sadness that prevented him from forming a bond with his son. Suddenly, as he takes in the natural surroundings during his time in Austria, he “did not know that just that simple thought was slowly filling his mind—filling and filling it until other things were softly pushed aside. It was as if a sweet clear spring had begun to rise in a stagnant pool and had risen and risen until at last it swept the dark water away” (Burnett 165). He starts to realize that he wants to return to Misselthwaite Manor, to reunite with his son, and to unlock the secret garden. He returns gaily, searching for Colin. He returns with a renewed sense of life, much to the surprise of the rest of the manor. When Colin and his father are reunited, Mr. Craven is just as surprised

by Colin’s renewed sense of life. Their reunion starts a sort of festival-like celebration of all the characters at the manor. In the final scene, the servants gather to see Mr. Craven and Colin returning to the manor together, and all becomes whole and happy again.

The reunion also reestablishes the social structure of the manor more than Colin’s transformation alone does. For the bulk of the text, Burnett ignores, or even reverses, the class structures that would typically confine the characters. Dickon, a lower-class boy, befriends Colin and Mary, who are both part of the upper class. He even becomes a sort of mentor to them, teaching them how to be the natural, innocent children they turn into by the end of the novel.

With the return of Mr. Craven, the social structure of high-class and low-class characters is put back into place. On his way back to the manor, he passes the Sowerby family. Upon seeing them, “he awoke to the fact that they were a healthy likable lot. He smiled at their friendly grins and took a golden sovereign from his pocket and gave it to” the children (169). By giving the children a sovereign, Mr. Craven demonstrates his wealth and social class. The class structure with the Cravens as high-class and the Sowerbys as low-class has been reinstated, upon the arrival of the head of Misselthwaite Manor. Burnett writes the reestablishment of this social structure as a happy reunion. None of the characters are bothered by their social status or class.

They are all content with the return of Master Craven, the reestablishment of a complete social hierarchy, and the reunion of Misselthwaite Manor. This highlights Frye’s idea that a comedy “witnesses the birth of a renewed sense of social integration” (5).

Frye’s theories may or may not have been on Burnett’s mind as she wrote her novel, but either way, interesting interpretations of the text can be found from the meanings inherently associated with this generic structure. Understanding The Secret Garden as a comedy 10

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automatically implies that it, according to Frye, moves from a state of experience to innocence.

Thematically, then, the text associates several things with what innocence and experience are.

For example, Mary begins her journey in India as a part of British colonization, which, in following Frye’s theory, would be her “experienced” life. When she moves to England, she returns to her innocent state, yet she maintains the same higher class status that she had in India.

This reading could suggest that the text comments on the dangers of British imperialism. As Thacker and Webb put it, Burnett is “arguing an anti-imperialist position . . . by constructing the character and childhood experiences of Mary as negative projections against the idealised model of the Romantic child” (91). Mary then “has to shed the destructive imperious authority learned in the hierarchical power structures of India under British rule and learn to be both cooperative and independent” (94). These ideas are supported by viewing The Secret Garden as an example of Frye’s comedic structure that moves from a state of experience to a state of innocence.

Analyzing generic structures, like viewing The Secret Garden as a comedy, not only sheds light on the formal or aesthetic qualities of texts; it can also strengthen more historically and politically oriented interpretations.

The Secret Garden functions as a comedy, as defined by Northrop Frye, in many ways. Frye compares a comedy to springtime because it moves from a state of experience to innocence, and this idea is highlighted by springtime in The Secret Garden. The movement from winter to spring runs through the text, literally, in the setting and the plot, but also metaphorically in Mary, Colin, and Mr. Craven. Frye’s idea of the green world also operates on two levels in the text. First, the garden acts as the green world that brings Mary from a disagreeable child to an innocent, energetic, and healthy child. On a deeper level, Mary acts as the green world to bring Colin to the same childlike qualities. Finally, the novel ends with a reunion of Misselthwaite Manor that brings the social reconciliation that Frye describes as an essential aspect of a comic resolution.

According to Frye’s definition, The Secret Garden fits into the genre of comedy. Interpreting the text using this generic structure opens up thematic ideas that may be overlooked when it is read in other contexts.

Works Cited Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden. Edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, Norton Critical Edition, W. W. Norton, 2006.

Frye, Northrop. “The Argument of Comedy.” 1948. Northrop Frye’s Writings on Shakespeare and the Renaissance. Edited by Troni Grande and Garry Sherbert, University of Toronto Press, 2010, pp. 3-13.

Frye, Northrop. Northrop Frye’s Writings on the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Edited by Imre Salusinszky, University of Toronto Press, 2005.

Natov, Roni. The Poetics of Childhood. Routledge, 2014.

Price, Danielle E. “Cultivating Mary: The Victorian Secret Garden.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 26 no. 1, 2001, pp. 4-14. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/chq.0.1658.

Thacker, Deborah Cogan, and Jean Webb. Introducing Children’s Literature: From Romanticism to Postmodernism. Routledge, 2002.

Toth, Gyorgy. “The Children of the Empire: Anti-Imperialism in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden.” The AnaChronisT, 2003, vol. 9, pp. 117-47. Gale Academic OneFile, http://seas3.elte.hu/anachronist/2003Toth.pdf.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015.

EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203479698.

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The Relationship Between Preferred Learning Method, Stress, and Social Isolation: How Do College Students Want to Learn During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Jordan Bramhall Jordan Bramhall (‘21) was a senior double majoring in psychology and psychology/anthropology. After being sent home from her studies abroad at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan became increasingly interested in the effect of the pandemic within college student populations. She enjoys the thrill of analyzing data and understanding better ways to help students succeed academically, economically, and socially during difficult times. With the help of her mentor, Dr. Jana Spain, Jordan has discovered just how exciting and fulfilling research can be when you’re studying a topic you’re passionate about. Jordan is currently pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Psychology at Towson University.

Abstract This study aimed to examine the relationship between learning method preference and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as students’ feelings of social isolation. Participants completed an online survey that included a question about learning method preference during the pandemic. They also completed the COVID-19 Stress Measure, which measures stress levels associated with the COVID-19 crisis, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, which measures feelings of social isolation. Results of this study showed a negative correlation between a preference for face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and stress associated with COVID-19, and a positive correlation between a preference for online learning during the coronavirus pandemic and stress associated with COVID-19. A positive correlation was also observed between the COVID-19 Stress Measure and the selected items of the UCLA Loneliness Scale. No significant correlation was observed between preference of face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, nor between preference of online learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. This study suggests that there is not one learning method that will work for every college student during the coronavirus pandemic and that universities should offer flexible learning options to best serve the needs of their students.

Keywords: college students, learning method preference, face-to-face learning, online learning, covid-19, stress, social isolation he coronavirus disease, most commonly referred to as COVID-19, plunged the United States into a state of pandemic in March 2020. Businesses closed, students were learning from home, and the search for an effective vaccine continued without an end to the pandemic in sight (Lotfi et al., 2020). It was unknown if or when the world would be able to

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return to its old “normal”. The state of the world was constantly changing, and all of these changes were shown to be very difficult, especially for college students.

When the pandemic hit the U.S. in 2020, most college students were sent home to complete their spring semesters virtually. This caused mass amounts of economic, academic, and social stress on college students, but they had high hopes of returning to normalcy for the 2020 fall semester (Cao et al., 2020). While these students did not return to complete normalcy, some colleges reopened for the fall semester. Students either returned to campus for in-person learning or remained at home to participate in virtual learning. Some college students were given the option as to which method of learning they would prefer to engage in for the semester, while others were told by their universities which learning method they employed.

However, research is needed to figure out how college students actually want to learn during the pandemic and how this learning preference may be related to other factors associated with the coronavirus. This study attempts to answer the question: How does a college student’s preference for in-person learning versus virtual learning relate to their stress levels due to COVID-19 and their feelings of social isolation?

COVID-19 and Learning Preferences Students were able to complete their classes for the fall 2020 semester either by engaging in face-to-face learning in the classroom or via virtual learning from home. Most students prefer one learning mode over the other. Kemp & Grieve (2014) showed that students had an overall preference for face-to-face learning, rather than online learning, especially when academic discussion is involved. However, regardless of the difference in learning style, there was no difference in academic performance. Students also benefitted from a flexible class structure that included the implementation of technology, as well as synchronous and asynchronous components, in both learning methods. This is especially important for students during the coronavirus pandemic, as each student is different in what they need and what they are comfortable with during these uncertain times. Having this flexible class structure allowed for students to be engaged with peers, while still allowing for an individual student’s needs to be met. However, when forced to engage in an online learning environment, Hamutoglu et al.

(2020) found that students preferred their online class be structured most similarly to a face-toface class. Videos that captured the lecturer lecturing and educational videos regarding key concepts were preferred over discussion boards and PowerPoint slides with audio recordings.

While studies have shown greater preference for face-to-face learning, as opposed to virtual learning, there are some benefits that may sway a student to prefer the virtual learning method.

Online learning gives students the flexibility that in-person learning does not always allow.

Students can stay at home for their classes, as well as complete courses asynchronously from their classmates (Quesada-Pallarès et al., 2019).

COVID-19 and Stress COVID-19 has brought high levels of stress and uncertainty to people of all ages. Rettie and Daniels (2020) found that, during the early lockdown phase in the United Kingdom, the general public was increasingly struggling with the uncertainty due to the arising global health crisis.

However, after an analysis of the control variables in the study, the researchers found that specifically young women (college-aged) are the most likely to experience mental health difficulties due to the unpredictability of the pandemic.

Taylor et al. (2020) also examined the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the psychological well-being of individuals. They found that individuals had increased feelings of emotional distress and social disruption. Individuals in the study who scored high on the COVID 13

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Stress Scale indicated feelings of social isolation, but that they were actively trying to cope and deal with the feelings of distress they had surrounding the pandemic. However, many of these coping mechanisms were unhealthy. Participants were more likely to overeat or consume excessive amounts of alcohol or drugs, as opposed to seeking out professional help in coping with their COVID stress levels (Taylor et al., 2020).

Because so many individuals have been living in fear of contracting the virus and were worried about having their basic needs met, some researchers started to conceptualize a new mental health disorder called “Pandemic-Related Stress Disorder.” Individuals reported that COVID-19 stress is due to many contributing factors, including fear, increased media consumption, perception of increased risks, and loneliness. With an unknown end to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. mental health systems needed to find strategies and intervention methods to target these pandemic-related triggers that were causing so much distress (Sanderson et al., 2020).

COVID-19 and Social Isolation Loneliness has been defined as a combination of two distinct factors: emotional isolation and social isolation. Emotional isolation means that a person is lonely because they lack a single intense relationship, whereas social isolation is dissatisfaction because an individual lacks a social network of friends and acquaintances (Weiss, 1973). Most studies have examined loneliness, as a whole, while few have studied solely the social isolation aspect. Due to the social distancing regulations of COVID-19, more research is needed on the impact of social isolation.

Older adults and adolescents are the two age groups that most report feelings of loneliness.

Beam and Kim (2020) conducted a study that found feelings of loneliness stabilize or even decrease with age, despite past assumptions that older adults are the loneliest. This study supports the idea that adolescents are the loneliest age group and that more research is needed to learn how social isolation contributes to these feelings of loneliness.

Von Soest et al. (2020) also found that adolescents are the loneliest age group. They reported a general increase in loneliness during the adolescent and young adult years. The researchers suggested that this increase in loneliness was related to social transitions, like moving out of the parental house, where social relationships are being restructured and peer interaction increases in importance. If college students already have increased feelings of loneliness in general, then the social isolation caused by the current pandemic could add to these already strong feelings.

Best et al. (2020) conducted a study that primarily focused on the social isolation aspect of loneliness in Canada. Their study found that, even in the early stages of the pandemic, all forms of social isolation were associated with rising levels of distress related to the virus. This included extreme forms of social isolation, like quarantine, to lesser extreme forms, like social distancing.

This study also found that its subjects could still feel the psychological effects, including depression, emotional distress, and panic, that come with being in strict social isolation even after the strict isolation period ended. These feelings of social isolation may be present in students who are learning online and are away from their college campuses and friends.

College students have a preferred method of learning (Kemp & Grieve, 2014). However, their preferred method of learning may not be how they are learning due to COVID-19, or they may have a new preferred method of learning, given the severity of the global health crisis.

Depending on how a student wishes to learn during the pandemic, the learning method may impact one of the main factors of loneliness—social isolation.

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The purpose of this study was to examine how college students would prefer to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most students were not given a choice, nor were they asked for their opinion on what method of learning (face-to-face or online) they would prefer for the fall semester. This study aims to examine the relationship between learning method preference and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as students’ feelings of social isolation. This would give researchers and educators a glimpse into how best to teach and serve college students during these new times.

It was hypothesized that (H1) a person’s preference for virtual learning would be positively correlated with scores on the COVID Stress Measure and (H2) a person’s preference for face-toface learning would be negatively correlated with scores on the COVID Stress Measure. There may be a difference in preference levels for the two different learning methods in relation to student’s COVID-19 stress levels. It was also hypothesized that (H3) scores on the COVID Stress Measure would be positively correlated with the UCLA Loneliness Scale, (H4) a preference for virtual learning would be positively correlated with scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and that (H5) a preference for face-to-face learning would be negatively correlated with scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Method Participants There were 110 participants (Men = 28.20%, Women = 70.90%, Other = 0.90%) who volunteered for this study. Participants were mostly Caucasian (88%) undergraduate and graduate students who had a mean age of 20.55 with a standard deviation of 1.36. Participants were friends and acquaintances of the student researcher and were recruited through Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Materials A collection of questionnaires was utilized to collect data via Qualtrics Survey Software; however, no identifying information of the participants was collected.

Learning Method Preference The participants answered two questions regarding learning method preference. The learning method questions asked participants to rate the following two statements on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = Entirely Disagree, 7 = Entirely Agree): “I would prefer to learn via face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic” and “I would prefer to learn via online learning during the coronavirus pandemic.”

COVID-19 Stress Measure The COVID-19 Stress Measure (Ellis et al., 2020) contains eight items that are scored on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = Not at all, 4 = Very much) and measures stress associated with the initial COVID-19 crisis. Sample items include, “To what extent are you worried about how COVID-19 will impact your school year?” and “How likely is it that someone you know could become infected with the COVID-19 virus?”

UCLA Loneliness Scale The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1978) measures an individual’s subjective feelings of loneliness, as well as feelings of social isolation. It contains 20 items that are scored on a 4-point Likert scale (0 = I never feel this way, 3 = I often feel this way), and includes statements such as “I cannot tolerate being so alone” and “I feel isolated from others.”

Procedure Participants received a link to the Qualtrics survey via Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat.

Informed consent was received before the participants completed a series of questionnaires and 15

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demographic information, including gender, age, year in school, and race. At the end of the survey, the participants were provided with a debriefing statement that contained details about the purpose of the study, and the participants were given the opportunity to ask questions.

Results For data analysis, only 9 of the 20 statements in the UCLA Loneliness Scale were used to calculate the participants’ social isolation scores (see Appendix). The statements used in this variable were chosen by the researcher and were deemed statements that most reflected one’s feelings of social isolation. The chosen items had a Cronbach’s alpha level of 0.89, indicating a high level of internal consistency.

Pearson Product-Moment correlation coefficients were calculated for each hypothesized result. A positive correlation was observed between a preference for online learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the COVID-19 Stress Measure, r (107) = 0.21, p = 0.03. The higher the stress levels related to COVID-19, the greater the preference for learning online during the pandemic.

A negative correlation was observed between preference for face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the COVID-19 Stress Measure, r (107) = -0.24, p = 0.01. The lower the stress levels related to COVID-19, the greater the preference for learning face to face during the pandemic.

A positive correlation was also observed between the COVID-19 Stress Measure and the selected items of the UCLA Loneliness Scale, r (107) = 0.46, p < 0.001. The higher the level of stress related to COVID-19, the greater the feelings of social isolation.

A significant correlation was not observed between a preference of face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, r (110) = -0.07, p > 0.05, nor between a preference of online learning during the coronavirus pandemic and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, r (110) = 0.03, p > 0.05.

Discussion The current study aimed to examine the relationship between learning method preference, stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and feelings of social isolation in college students.

Data from this study supported three of the five hypotheses made by the researcher. A positive relationship was observed between a preference for online learning during the coronavirus and COVID-19 stress levels, meaning that students who would prefer to do online learning during the pandemic have higher stress levels related to COVID-19. The negative relationship observed between a preference for face-to-face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 stress suggests that students who would prefer face-to-face learning during this time are not experiencing high levels of stress due to COVID-19. The positive relationship found between COVID-19 stress levels and feelings of social isolation may be attributed to the idea that people who are experiencing high levels of COVID-19 related stress are more likely to adhere to the social distancing guidelines set in place for the virus. This would include quarantining at home and staying at least six feet away from other people, thus limiting their contact with friends and family.

There was no relationship observed between a preference for online or face-to face learning during the coronavirus pandemic and feelings of social isolation, A possible explanation for this may be because the current study did not ask which learning method the participant was actually engaging in this semester—only how much they would prefer to engage in the two different methods. Some students did not get a choice in how they learned, as many universities decided their students’ learning method for them. These students may have preferred to learn online but 16

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were told they had to take classes in-person, and therefore, not experiencing as much social isolation. Other students may have preferred to learn face to face, but their university choose to go completely online, and they experienced higher levels of social isolation. Examining the participants actual learning method for the semester, as opposed to their preference of learning method, may have produced different results.

Limitations There were a few limitations in the current study. COVID-19 has caused restrictions and regulations to be placed on research. At the time of this study, no in-person studies could be conducted, so the study had to be done entirely online. This also forced a convenience sample to be utilized for this study. An accurate representation of college students was not seen in the participant pool, as all participants were friends and acquaintances of the researcher. They were recruited through the researcher’s social media.

The majority of participants were Caucasian woman. While the current study did not hypothesize any results relating to gender and ethnicity specifically, this may have caused any differences among gender and ethnicity to not be prominent. This limitation leads well to future research. Future studies could examine the gender differences in schooling preferences and mental health effects during COVID-19.

Implications and Future Research The results of this study suggest that college students’ preferences for learning during the coronavirus pandemic is reflective of their stress levels due to COVID-19. If a student is not all that concerned about the virus, they are more likely to prefer face-to-face learning. However, if a student is worried about the effects of the virus, they are more likely to prefer online learning.

This shows that there is not one learning method that will work for every college student. Some students may feel more comfortable attending in-person classes than other students. Colleges and universities should offer flexible learning options in order to best serve the needs of their students. This could include allowing for strictly face-to-face learning, strictly online learning, and for a hybrid method that contains both learning methods.

Continuing research is needed on the effects of the coronavirus on college students. This includes research on their learning abilities, academic achievement, and mental health during these times as the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on college learning have not been discovered. It is unknown when or if the world will return to normalcy, so it is necessary to focus on helping college students succeed during these trying times.

References Beam, C. R., & Kim, A. J. (2020). Psychological sequelae of social isolation and loneliness might be a larger problem in young adults than older adults. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S58–S60. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000774.

Best, L. A., Law, M. A., Roach, S., & Wilbiks, J. M. P. (2020). The psychological impact of COVID-19 in Canada: Effects of social isolation during the initial response. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000254.

Cao, W., Fang, Z., Hou, G., Han, M., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Zheng, J. (2020). The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry research, 287, 112934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934.

Ellis, W. E., Dumas, T. M., & Forbes, L. M. (2020). COVID-19 Stress Measure. PsycTESTS. https://doi.org/10.1037/t77182-000.

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Hamutoglu, N. B., Gemikonakli, O., Duman, I., Kirksekiz, A., & Kiyici, M. (2020). Evaluating students experiences using a virtual learning environment: Satisfaction and preferences.

Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(1), 437-462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09705-z.

Kemp, N., & Grieve, R. (2014). Face-to-face or face-to-screen? Undergraduates’ opinions and test performance in classroom vs online learning. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01278.

Lotfi, M., Hamblin, M. R., & Rezaei, N. (2020). COVID-19: Transmission, prevention, and potential therapeutic opportunities. Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry, 508, 254–266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cca.2020.05.044.

Quesada-Pallarès, C., Sánchez-Martí, A., Ciraso-Calí, A., & Pineda-Herrero, P. (2019). Online vs classroom learning: Examining motivational and self-regulated learning strategies among vocational education and training students. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02795.

Rettie, H., & Daniels, J. (2020). Coping and tolerance of uncertainty: Predictors and mediators of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000710.supp.

Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Ferguson, M. L. (1978). Developing a measure of loneliness.

Journal of Personality Assessment, 42, 290-294. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4203_11.

Sanderson, W.C., Arunagiri, V., Funk, A.P., Ginsburg, K. L., Krychiw, J. W., Limowski, A. R., Olesnycky, O. S., & Stout, Z. (2020) The Nature and Treatment of Pandemic-Related Psychological Distress. J Contemp Psychotherapy, 50, 251-263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-020-09463-7.

Taylor, S., Landry, C. A., Paluszek, M. M., Fergus, T. A., McKay, D., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2020). Covid stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates. Depression and Anxiety; 37: 706-714. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23071. von Soest, T., Luhmann, M., & Gerstorf, D. (2020). The development of loneliness through adolescence and young adulthood: Its nature, correlates, and midlife outcomes.

Developmental Psychology, 56(10), 1919– 1934. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001102.

Weiss, R. S. (1973). Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation. The MIT Press.

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Dialogism, Truth, and the Victorian Justice System in The Moonstone Alex Carrillo Alex Carrillo (‘21) was a senior English literature major with a double minor in religion and creative writing. Alex was interested in investigating the novel genre’s relationship with the present through an examination of an early detective novel, The Moonstone. Alex finds undergraduate research fulfilling because he is able to make an original contribution to literary criticism. Alex’s mentor, Dr. Virginia Leclercq, pushed him to think critically and explore new ideas in the world of literature. Alex plans to enroll in a graduate program for Teaching English Speakers of Other Languages.

Abstract Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone is an inherently dialogic text as evidenced by the conflicting voices of its many narrators and its fragmented structure. Some scholars recognize this dialogism, while others claim that the narrators are subjugated to a thoroughly monological voice, but none point to the actual reason for the novel’s deliberately disjointed construction. I will argue that the novel is indeed dialogic and that these many voices, though often opposing one another, are an essential component in unraveling the text’s central mystery. This collaboration of perspectives comes to reflect the changing landscape of the Victorian justice system, with the introduction of a state police force and the increasingly dialogic process of a criminal trial. Collins, through the multifaceted nature of The Moonstone, created a text that mirrored the very systems of his day, thus reinforcing the novel’s place as a genre in constant contact with the present.

Keywords: english, literature, theory, collins, detective, novel, dialogism, dialogic

ilkie Collins’s The Moonstone is a story overflowing with instances of fragmentation, duality, and opposition. This divisiveness is embedded into the very form of the novel itself, with its multiple narrators. However, despite the differing motives and morals of the characters and the text’s inherently fragmented structure, Collins draws attention to the linkages between these viewpoints. It is the constant interaction between these clashing perspectives that ultimately reveals that which was sought after all along, the truth behind the disappearance of the coveted Indian diamond. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism in the novel, this essay will examine the many sides and functions of The Moonstone’s narrators to show how the process of dialogic thinking becomes a reliable method of reaching the truth, a method that mirrors the Victorian justice system itself.

In order to understand how dialogism operates in The Moonstone, one must first understand its place in the genre of the novel as a whole. To Bakhtin, the novel is able to maintain constant

W

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contact with the present due to its status as a developing genre. He posits that “only that which is developing can comprehend development as a process” (324). In other words, only the constantly evolving novel form can accurately depict and comment on contemporary reality, as both are in a constant state of growth and change. The novel as “dialogic” refers to a multitude of voices, all vying for significance as they continually interact with one another. He describes the language of the novel as “a system of languages that mutually and ideologically interanimate each other” with it being “impossible to describe and analyze it as a single unitary language” (333). Thus, in light of Bakhtin’s theory, it is impossible to confine The Moonstone’s narrators into any one point of view, but one can instead investigate how they interact with one another through a variety of narrative voices within this system of languages.

Frederic Jameson and Peter Brooks offer similar interpretations of the novel’s dialogic nature. Jameson understands the text as “the coexistence or tension between several generic modes” in which “the systematic interweaving…of the private and the public” takes place (410).

The Moonstone supports this view as the narrative takes the reader from the very public intervention of the police force, a process that sees the private actions of the family become public, to the private undertaking of the case by Franklin Blake and Gabriel Betteredge, a process in which public information informs private actions. Brooks, in his work, Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative, describes the novel as a “system of internal energies and tensions” informed by “the use and the understanding of… narrative signs” (12). The text supports this narrative structure when the evidence presented by one character, such as Sergeant Cuff, informs the response and actions of another, says Rachel Verinder, as they interact with one another motivated by their desire for the truth.

At an even closer level, dialogism is present not just between characters, but within individual characters as well. In The One Vs. The Many: Minor Characters and the Space of the Protagonist in the Novel, Alex Woloch describes the two destinies of every character in a novel as “his or her fate as an implied person within the plot or story-world itself and his or her fate as a potential narrative site of attention with a precarious, contingent and always dynamically developing space in the narrative discourse” (296). Characters, then, are understood as supposed real beings with their own motives and needs, who, at the same time, exist to perform a specific function within the structure of the narrative itself, a function that may or may not reinforce their place as an implied person. Thus, the novel as a genre is a space of interaction and reaction where many different voices operate within the unifying structure of the text itself. This holds especially true in The Moonstone.

The next step is to identify more precisely where the tension between conflicting narrative signs in the novel lies and how this contributes to creating a dialogic text. The answer, as I have prefaced, is twofold; it lies in the opposing desires between characters and the contradictory elements within characters. Let us examine the former first. Take, for instance, the interactions between Blake and Ms. Clack. Both have their own agenda they seek to enforce, their own image they want to preserve. Clack’s supposed “sacred regard for the truth” and her fear that Blake will “suppress what may not prove to be sufficiently flattering” of Rachel show her hypocritical assertion of moral superiority (Collins 256). She takes advantage of her structural significance, as a narrator, as a chance to reinforce her views as an implied person. Conversely, Blake asserts his authority as the compiler of these narratives to defend Rachel, as he inserts a note which ensures the reader that he “is happy enough at the present moment, not only to brave the smartest exercise of Miss Clack’s pen, but even to recognize its unquestionable value as an instrument for the exhibition of Miss Clack’s character” (257). Here, Blake exercises his power as a narrator not 20

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only to uphold a specific image of his beloved Rachel, but also by augmenting the very form of the text itself.

In a similar engagement between these two characters, direct discourse, in the form of letters, once again highlights their opposing desires as implied persons and results in altering some aspect of narrative form. Clack intends for her “copious Extracts from precious publications” to be included alongside her narrative in a final effort to showcase her false Christian values (304). Blake, in response, reminds her “that the proposed additions… are not necessary to the fulfilment of the purpose that he has in view,” thus omitting them from the story (304). By way of this correspondence, one sees how Clack’s function as a narrative device triumphs over her wants as an individual, for though she wished to include her additional texts in the story, this desire is not relevant to the central goal of reaching the truth and is, therefore excluded.

Now that tension between characters has been explicitly identified, one can examine tension within characters which, of course, is most clearly seen in Blake who shows us that even a single character can be dialogic. Betteredge best describes how Blake has many different sides to his character, all more or less jarring with each other, that he seemed to pass his life in a state of perpetual contradiction with himself. He could be a busy man, and a lazy man; cloudy in the head, and clear in the head; a model of determination, and a spectacle of helplessness, all together. He had his French side, and his German side, and his Italian side—the original English foundation showing through, every now and then, as much as to say, “Here I am, sorely transmogrified, as you see, but there’s something of me left at the bottom of him still.” (Collins 98-99) These four distinct cultural sides of Blake reveal his own innate dialogism, each clashing against one another, and Betteredge often points out to the reader the specific side that he displays at a given moment. Despite attempts in his own narration to downplay Betteredge’s observations, Blake continues to reinforce his many identities, often through his own words. In an article aptly titled “In Twenty Different Minds: The Many Sides of Franklin Blake,” Joshua Gooch observes how, upon finding his name on the damning paint-stained nightgown, Blake’s “graphical emphasis of ‘Myself’ and ‘Thief’ and the full capitalization of ‘MY OWN NAME’ lexically inscribes him as a plural and divided subject” (133). Betteredge’s description and Blake’s own narration depict the gentleman as someone virtually opposed to every aspect of himself, unaware and shocked upon discovering his own role in the theft of the diamond.

Thus, the paradox of the detective novel becomes the very paradox of Blake’s character.

D.A. Miller describes the contradictory nature of the detective genre as “based on the hypothesis that everything might count,” but when all is said and done, and the truth is revealed, relevant clues are separated “from the much larger number of irrelevant ones, which are now revealed to be as banal and trivial as we originally suspected they might not be” (153). In much the same way, readers of The Moonstone may be led to believe that Betteredge’s repeated comments on the many sides of Blake’s character indicate a hidden identity responsible for the crime, à la Jekyll and Hyde, but as it turns out, it was a side that the characters and reader alike were least aware of, if at all, that was responsible: a paranoid and unconscious state induced by Candy’s administration of opium.

Now that conflict and interaction have been established both between and within characters, the role of this dialogism begins to take shape. The many viewpoints, narrators, and experiences in the novel all contribute to one goal: the discovery of the truth. The truth of the Moonstone’s disappearance is the reason the text exists. Blake, as the organizing force behind the narrative, 21

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makes it explicitly clear that his fellow narrators should limit their accounts to only their own experience of relevant events. This subjugation of the narrative leads Miller to claim that The Moonstone “is thoroughly monologicalーalways speaking a mastervoice that corrects, overrides, subordinates, or sublates all other voices it allows to speak” (168). However, though the text is indeed constructed to serve a singular purpose by a master narrator, it is the dialogic processes that are so prominent and obvious to the reader that fulfill this purpose.

The mere structure of the novel itself, as found in its simplest form in the ‘Contents’ section, reflects the dialogic process that must take place in order to uncover the truth. The Second Period of the story, titled “The Discovery of the Truth,” contains seven different narrators in Ms. Clack, Mr. Bruff, Blake, Ezra Jennings, Sgt. Cuff, Mr. Candy, and Betteredge. Each holds his or her own prejudices and desires, but together, they form a section in which they unveil the truth. The epilogue presents a similar structure with “The Finding of the Diamond” as the subheading, which contains three statements from three different people: a subordinate of Sgt. Cuff, the captain of the Bewley Castle, and Mr. Murthwaite. These narrators are not only unique in their voices but also in the way they present their stories. Their various forms include letters, journal entries, statements to police, and deliberately constructed narratives. All of these are required to understand how exactly the diamond was found.

Though each narrator may have his or her own motive for revealing the guilty party, that motive is only realized one way: by uncovering the truth. Betteredge and Bruff seek the truth out of a sense of duty to the family. Cuff also returned to the case out of a sense of duty and, perhaps, as a final act in his legendary career, but his goal all along was to uncover this truth.

Jennings, aware of his imminent death, hoped to reunite two lovers as a way of recovering a love he had long lost. His experiment leads to the discovery of the truth behind the diamond’s initial disappearance at the hands of Blake.

One may be inclined, then, to designate this “mastervoice” as Blake’s, since his character is responsible for the compilation of narratives that make up the text. However, he also has a personal agenda to push in clearing his name of guilt and reconciling himself to Rachel, but this too can only be accomplished by finding out the truth of the crime. There is no one character responsible for the novel’s monologism; rather “Collins’s technique is a way to inscribe the effects of monologism in the text without ascribing them to the agency of an actual monologist,” the ultimate effect, in this case, being the revelation of the truth (Miller 169).

How then does Collins inscribe these effects? And what does he hope to accomplish by doing so? Collins seeks to capture the complexities of the social world by “multiplying distinctive characters while drawing attention to processes and paths that link them” (Levine 93).

Despite the opposing morals, class differences, and motives of the text’s characters, Collins emphasizes the process which links them the most: being in constant dialogue with one another in a quest for the truth.

The process of dialogue that unfolds throughout The Moonstone reflects in many ways the justice system of the Victorian era. Firstly, there was a much greater value placed on circumstantial evidence. Sir James Stephen, a 19th-century lawyer and judge, wrote that “a consideration of the degree to which circumstances corroborate each other, and of the intrinsic probability of the matter sworn to, is a far better test of truth than any oath can possibly be” (Welsh 60). We see this played out in the novel, particularly in the case of Rosanna Spearman.

Betteredge recounts how “the unfortunate girl had fallen under Sergeant Cuff’s suspicions, in spite of all [he] could do to prevent it” (Collins 176). Nearly every character, if not the reader as well, must have viewed Rosanna with some degree of suspicion simply due to her strange 22

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behavior and troubled past. In fact, had she not written the letter to Blake before her suicide, the case may have never been solved, leaving everyone to believe she was responsible for the theft, despite no existing concrete evidence to support that view.

The Moonstone also reflects the very new presence of an authoritative English police force, which introduces an essential voice for discovering the truth behind a crime. The story jumps from police intervention in the beginning, with Seegrave and Cuff’s initial investigation, to civilian action, with Blake’s fervent attempts to solve the case with the help of Betteredge and Jennings, and back to the police, with Cuff’s return and the closing of the case. Until the 1856 Police Act, which regulated and standardized police forces in England, it was the victim’s responsibility to report the crime and capture the culprit (Hay 48). Thus, The Moonstone, taking place in 1848, presents police power in both its old and new forms in England. The police initially undertake the case, but it is a citizen who does most of the detective work before the force finally returns to close it.

Lastly, many systems and laws benefited the wealthy and suppressed the poor, the ability to afford a lawyer being the most obvious. Reinforcing and maintaining class structure has historically been a central object of the justice system. The Moonstone reinforces the respective positions of Victorian social classes quite simply in how it treats the few lower-class characters in the story. Rosanna comes under great scrutiny from nearly everyone, which culminates in her suicide. Ms. Clack is completely insufferable and portrayed as a venomous, hypocritical evangelical. Ezra Jennings, a withered, dark-complexioned opium addict, “would die as he had lived, forgotten and unknown” (Collins 346). Limping Lucy Yolland remains spiteful and bitter towards Blake, and her only real purpose is to give him Rosanna’s letter. Even the housemaid Penelope, Betteredge’s daughter, finds herself all but ignored throughout the novel by everybody except her father. Clearly, the focus does not lie on such characters, much the same way that the justice system denied them significance. Edwin Chadwick, a notable Victorian social reformer “tended to equate the criminal offender with individuals in the lower reaches of the working class who [he] considered reluctant to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage” (Emsley 3). Thus, the similarities between Victorian justice systems and content and character in Collins’s novel highly suggest an intentional mirroring within his novel. His deliberate inclusion of these elements reflects the dialogic processes of the judicial system during his time.

The Moonstone ultimately presents its many narrators as subservient to something greater.

Despite the characters’ efforts, they are only able to contribute that which will bring them, and the reader, closer to the solving of the mystery. The natural interaction of voices between the text’s characters and structure reflects the inherent dialogism of the novel as a genre, as well as the evolving Victorian justice system, while also unraveling the mystery at the heart of the story.

In The Moonstone, Collins brings attention to this process of collaboration as a means of showing how a multitude of perspectives are a necessary component in the revelation of the truth.

Works Cited Bakhtin, Mikhail M. “From The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays.” The Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach, edited by Michael McKeon, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, pp. 321-354.

Brooks, Peter. Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative. Harvard University Press, 2003.

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Edited by Steve Farmer, Broadview Press, 1999.

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Emsley, Clive. “British History in Depth: Crime and the Victorians.” BBC, 17 Feb. 2011, www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/crime_01.shtml#five.

Gooch, Joshua. “Narrative Labor in Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone.” Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 21, no. 2, 2010, pp. 119-143., https://doi.org/10.1080/10436921003773835.

Hay, Douglas. “Crime and Justice in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century England.” Crime and Justice, vol. 2, 1980, pp. 45-84. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1147412.

Jameson, Frederic. “From The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act.” The Theory of the Novel: A Historical Approach, edited by Michael McKeon, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, pp. 400-413.

Levine, Caroline. “Victorian Realism.” The Cambridge Companion to the Victorian Novel, edited by Deirdre David, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012, pp.

84-106. Cambridge Companions to Literature.

Lonoff, Sue. “Multiple Narratives & Relative Truths: A Study of The Ring and the Book, The Woman in White, and The Moonstone.” Browning Institute Studies, vol. 10, 1982, pp. 143161. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25057725.

Miller, D. A. “From Roman Policier to Roman-Police: Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone.”

NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, vol. 13, no. 2, 1980, pp. 153-170. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1345307.

Ortiz-Robles, Mario, and Caroline Levine. Narrative Middles: Navigating the Nineteenth-Century British Novel. Ohio State University Press, 2011. Project Muse, muse.jhu.edu/books/9780814270714.

Welsh, Alexander. “The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Justice Stephen and Bishop Butler.”

Representations, no. 22, 1988, pp. 60-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2928411.

Woloch, Alex. The One vs. the Many: Minor Characters and the Space of the Protagonist in the Novel. Princeton University Press, 2003. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7srp4.

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Jail, Julian Assange, and the Future of Watchdog Journalism Joseph Maronski Joseph Maronski (‘23) is a journalism and political science dual degree student with a minor in Italian studies. Joseph became interested in the application of the First Amendment to current issues after taking Media Law and Ethics. Through his research, Joseph’s eyes have been opened to larger societal issues, and he has become intrigued by a variety of new topics. Dr. Dean Smith encouraged and guided Joseph through his research to ensure he reaches his goals. After graduation, Joseph hopes to work for a news network as a political analyst or be a press secretary in Washington, D.C.

Abstract As the world faces new challenges, journalists continue to play a vital role in exposing wrongdoing. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is being tried under the Espionage Act of 1917 by the United States. As Fox News reported on November 26, 2020, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and many others called for President Donald Trump to grant a full pardon to Assange, which fell on deaf ears. As Assange is prosecuted, journalists around the world wonder what the future will hold. Although the government claims that this is a national security concern, the First Amendment protects journalists, whistleblowers, and watchdogs around the world. The Supreme Court has weighed in on this before in numerous cases. In Bartnicki v. Vopper, the court stated that a third-party publisher, like WikiLeaks, can’t be punished for publishing illegally gained information, so long as they weren’t involved in the illegal activity. In New York Times v. United States, the court stated that claims of national security can’t be used whenever it is convenient but must be specific. All these cases show that Assange’s prosecution and conviction would be precedent setting and an attack on the First Amendment. This paper will examine the many issues presented by Assange v. United States, discuss the history of WikiLeaks and what led to this point, examine the defense avenues Assange can take, and discuss the implications of a conviction on our lives.

Keywords: journalism, journalism law, first amendment, freedom of the press, law, espionage act

J

ulian Assange, an award-winning and internationally known journalist, has been on the run from the United States government for more than eight years. From June 2012 to April 2019, Assange was forced to seek asylum inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, or he

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would be arrested and extradited to the United States to stand trial for espionage.1 While the United States pored over documents in an attempt to find a way to prosecute an Australian citizen living in Europe, Assange was arrested by British police and held in a maximum-security prison at the behest of the Trump administration. An open letter from more than 60 doctors said that he “could die in prison,” and the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, said Assange’s ordeal amounted to psychological torture.2 When a judge ruled in January 2020 that Assange’s mental state was too frail for extradition, the United States immediately said it would appeal the decision in its quest to bring Assange to America to stand trial and face 135 years in prison.3 As the world faces news challenges daily, journalists continue to play a vital role in exposing wrongdoing and holding governments accountable. Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and an Australian national, is the target of an indictment under the Espionage Act of 1917, an American law adopted during World War I. Calls for the government to cease its attempt to jail Assange included strong statements by then Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).4 However, as President Trump’s last day in office ticked away, no pardon was forthcoming, with some reports claiming that Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) threatened the President with a Senate conviction of impeachment.5 As Assange is prosecuted, journalists around the world worry that if he is tried and convicted, freedom of the press will be forever weakened. Although the government claims that this is a matter of national security, the First Amendment protects journalists, whistleblowers, and watchdogs, especially when they report on sensitive issues. This paper will examine Assange’s case within the broader context of watchdog journalism. It will briefly survey the history of watchdog journalism and its role in a healthy democracy and discuss Assange and WikiLeaks as a new kind of cyber-watchdog for the Internet Age. Next, the paper will focus on the government’s case against Assange and First Amendment arguments in his favor. The paper will conclude with some observations and recommendations for how this and similar cases should be viewed in the future.

1

How Julian Assange Became an Unwelcome Guest in Ecuador’s Embassy, The Guardian, May 15, 2018, at www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/15/julian-assange-ecuador-london-embassy-how-he-becameunwelcome-guest.

2 Agence France Presse, Julian Assange’s Health Is so Bad He ‘Could Die in Prison,’ Say 60 Doctors, The Guardian, Nov. 25, 2019, at www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/25/julian-assanges-health-is-so-bad-hecould-die-in-prison-say-60-doctors.

3 Jason Douglas, U.K. Judge Denies WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange’s Extradition to U.S., Citing Suicide Risk, The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 4, 2021, at www.wsj.com/articles/british-judge-rejects-u-s-requestto-extradite-wikileaks-julian-assange-11609758350.

4 Jack Durschlag, Tulsi Gabbard Urges Trump to Grant Clemency to Assange, Snowden, Nov. 27, 2020, at www.foxnews.com/politics/tulsi-gabbard-urges-trump-to-grant-clemency-to-assange-snowden.

5 Pooja Salvi, Did Mitch McConnell Stop Trump from Pardoning Assange? Senate Leader Told POTUS He Would Impeach Him, Say Reports, Meaww.com, Jan. 20, 2021, at meaww.com/did-mitch-mc-connell-threatendonald-trump-with-impeachment-if-he-pardons-julian-assange-clemency.

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The Purpose of Freedom of the Press Throughout America’s history, journalists have played a vital role in ensuring the accountability and transparency of governments from Congress to city hall.6 Journalists serve as a bridge between private citizens and their representatives, with a special duty to hold officials accountable for their actions.7 Ideally, they strive to remain true to the facts they gather and present all sides for their audience to dissect and form opinions.8 This is only possible due to protections they are granted by the First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court.

Thomas Jefferson once said if he had to choose between a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he would choose the latter. The founders recognized the press as a bulwark against government corruption. While whistleblowers9 keep their eyes peeled on the inside of government, watchdog journalists10 watch from the outside as dispassionate observers. Watchdog journalists are the eyes on the inside, keeping politicians honest and working. Although journalism has changed dramatically with the arrival of the Internet, the values that guide journalists have remained the same: “Speak truth and report it. Minimize harm.

Act independently. Be accountable and transparent11.” While many say political bias is a problem at news outlets, such as CNN and Fox News,12 new technologies have made watchdog reporting more sophisticated and more probing than at any time in history.13 It is important to note, however, that the source of information and level of research into its truthfulness are key for viewers. It has now become the responsibility of the consumer to not only ensure that news comes from truthful and verified sources but also ensure that quotes and data are not used in misleading ways, often the case in many biased newsrooms.

Watchdog Journalism: The Moral Compass of Society Ida Tarbell’s investigation of the Standard Oil Company and John D. Rockefeller led to the company’s government-ordered breakup.14 David Halberstam showed the American public the truth about the Vietnam War.15 Daniel Ellsberg showed the world the government’s lies about

6

Holding Power Accountable: The Press and the Public, American Press Institute, Dec. 18, 2019, at www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/holding-power-accountable-the-pressand-the-public.

7 SPJ Code ofq Ethics, Society for Professional Journalists, at www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.

8 Id. 9 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, 126 STAT 1466 (2012) at www.congress.gov/112/plaws/publ199/PLAW-112publ199.pdf.

10 Bob Giles & Murray Marder, Watchdog Journalism: An Instrument of Democracy, Nieman Reports, 2001, at www.niemanreports.org/articles/watchdog-journalism-an-instrument-of-democracy.

11 SPJ Code of Ethics supra note 7.

12 James Pasley, Fox News and CNN Are 2 of America’s Biggest News Sources - but They Couldn’t Be More Different. Here’s How They’ve Changed in the Past Decade, Business Insider, Dec. 31, 2019, at www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-cnn-change-evolution-2010-2019-11.

13 2020 Investigations and Impact, Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Jan. 27, 2021, at https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-01-27/2020-investigations-and-impact.

14 Fred Dews & Thomas Young, Ten Noteworthy Moments in U.S. Investigative Journalism, Brookings Institution, Mar. 16, 2017 at www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now//2014/10/20/ten-noteworthy-momentsin-u-s-investigative-journalism.

15 Id.

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the reasons for attacking Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.16 The Washington Post’s use of watchdog journalism played a key role in the uncovering of the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.17 In times of crisis, such as war, economic collapse, global pandemic, or distrust in the government, watchdog journalism helps the public to stay informed while holding public officials accountable. Consumers must continue to remain vigilant in ensuring that their own bias and psychological factors do not influence their interpretation of the news. This can be seen when individuals dismiss stories and facts that may prove contrary to their personal beliefs.

Dating at least to 1902, this form of journalism has played a vital role in pressuring governments to do what is right. When Ida Tarbell exposed the gross corruption within the Standard Oil Company, the Supreme Court found the company guilty under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Fast forward to 1971, watchdog journalism took a dramatic leap forward with the publication of the Pentagon Papers in the New York Times. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg became a household name, and Neil Sheehan became a widely respected journalist for his work on the reports made possible by Ellsberg’s leaked documents.18 The Nixon Administration tried to stop the publication of these papers and threatened the Times with prosecution under the Espionage Act of 1917.19 The Supreme Court, however, sided with the newspaper.20 WikiLeaks: Watchdog Journalism in Cyberspace As technologies evolve, so do the methods for gathering and disseminating vital information to the public. From the first radio news broadcast on November 2, 1920,21 to The Columbus Dispatch’s pioneering expansion to the Internet on July 1, 1980,22 new technology continues to help journalists probe more deeply and spread the news more widely. Founded in 2006,23 WikiLeaks says on its website, “Wikileaks will accept restricted or censored material of political, ethical, diplomatic or historical significance. We do not accept rumor, opinion, other kinds of first-hand accounts or material that is publicly available elsewhere.”24 WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization that seeks to allow people from across the world to stay informed and hold their governments accountable. The watchdog journalism practiced by WikiLeaks is a cyberextension of America’s free press tradition and serves democracies around the world.

16

Id. The Watergate Story — Timeline, The Wash. Post, Nov. 16, 2020, at www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/politics/special/watergate/timeline.html.

18 Jordan Moran, Nixon and the Pentagon Papers, Miller Center, Jan. 2, 2018, at www.millercenter.org/thepresidency/educational-resources/first-domino-nixon-and-the-pentagon-papers.

19 Id. 20 New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).

21 A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: KDKA Begins to Broadcast, PBS, at www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt20ra.html.

22 David Shedden et al., New Media Timeline, Poynter Institute, May 2, 2013, at www.poynter.org/archive/2004/new-media-timeline-1980.

23 Jonathan Zittrain, Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks, MIT Technology Review, Apr. 2, 2020 at www.technologyreview.com/2010/12/09/120156/everything-you-need-to-know-about-wikileaks.

24 What Is WikiLeaks?, WikiLeaks, at www.wikileaks.org/What-is-WikiLeaks.html.

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According to its website: “WikiLeaks specializes in the analysis and publication of large datasets of censored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying and corruption. It has so far published more than 10 million documents and associated analyses.”25 WikiLeaks’ unbiased presentation of documents—usually without commentary or interpretation—has led to international recognition for providing raw material that journalists can interpret and disseminate. From TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year award to the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, to six consecutive Nobel Peace Prize nominations,26 WikiLeaks has received and been nominated for some of the most prestigious awards in journalism. Among all these awards, one common theme emerges: recognition for watchdog journalism’s importance in holding officials accountable and its value in showcasing the need for a free press.

WikiLeaks gathers information and documents from sources around the world, analyzes these documents, and posts these analyses and documents to its website. This is in accordance with the American Press Institute’s definition of journalism as “the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.”27 Although some journalists at traditional news outlets claimed that Assange does not deserve protection under the First Amendment because he is not a “real” journalist,28 freedom of the press does not apply only to the traditional press core. The Supreme Court has said it is a fundamental personal right that belongs to each of us.29 Julian Assange: A Journalist Marked as Enemy of the People The Espionage Act of 1917 was designed to prevent government employees from sharing national security information that might put the country at risk. Written during World War I and amid the anti-Communist “Red Scare,” the government sought to protect secrets from enemies.

The Sedition Act of 1918 followed the Espionage Act, which would extend the penalties of the Espionage Act to private citizens as well. Congress repealed the latter law in 1920 over fears of the effects it could have on the First Amendment.

Therefore, Assange has been charged under the Espionage Act of 1917. The government’s case against him includes 18 charges: one count of Conspiracy to Access a Computer Without Authorization and Exceeding Authorized Access to Obtain Classified National Defense Information; one count of Conspiracy to Obtain and Disclose National Defense Information; one count of Conspiracy to Commit Computer Intrusions; two counts of Obtaining National Defense Information; four counts of Obtaining National Defense Information; and nine counts of Disclosure of National Defense Information.30 Assange has served as the editor-in-chief and the public face of WikiLeaks since at least 2007.31 In this role, Assange has worked with confidential sources from across the world to

25

Id. Id. 27 What Is Journalism? Definition and Meaning of the Craft, American Press Institute, July 18, 2017, at www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism.

28 Kathleen Parker, Julian Assange Is Not a Journalist, Associated Press, Apr. 17, 2019, at https://apnews.com/article/52f4a2f42dba4f6b9afe026e57d51e96.

29 Lovell v. City of Griffin, 303 U.S. 444 (1938) at 452 (saying “The liberty of the press is not confined to newspapers and periodicals”).

30 Id. at 1.

31 U.S. v. Julian Paul Assange, 1:18-cr-111 (E.D. Va. Mar. 6, 2018), at 1.

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gather classified information at the heart of WikiLeaks’ watchdog journalism.32 Most notably, Assange worked closely with Chelsea Manning, an Army intelligence analyst who served in Iraq.33 Manning and Assange communicated via Jabber, an encrypted online chat service,34 discussing the access Manning had and how Assange could help Manning gain even more access. Utilizing “The Most Wanted Leaks of 2009”35 document posted by WikiLeaks, Assange was able to guide Manning to the correct documents.

Between 2009 and 2010, Manning provided Assange with approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activity reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables.”36 These documents would shape not just the future of WikiLeaks, but also the future of Assange, Manning, and the world because they revealed widespread wrongdoing, including torture and other war crimes, in Iraq.

Pursuant to President Obama’s Executive Order No. 13526, most documents Manning shared with Assange were classified up to the “Secret” level.37 Manning had a “Top Secret” clearance,38 which enabled her to access the most sensitive documents and share them with Assange. After studying the possibility of indicting Assange, the Obama Justice Department decided not to pursue charges because of the precedent this would set and the constitutional challenges it would cause. A case against Assange would open the door to charges against other watchdog journalists who also report on sensitive documents, including reporters at the New York Times and Washington Post who won awards based on WikiLeaks’ disclosures.

However, when the Trump administration took office in 2016, the investigation moved forward. Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo once said, “We have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us.”39 After inadvertently revealing the Assange charges in an unrelated court filing, the Trump administration began the long process of petitioning Great Britain to extradite Assange to the United States. That process dragged on for nearly two years, during which time Assange was held in the highest security prison in England.40 On January 4, 2021, a London judge issued a 132-page ruling in which she denied the U.S. request for Assange’s extradition based on health and safety concerns: “Faced with the conditions of near total isolation without the protective factors which limited his risk at HMP Belmarsh, I am satisfied the procedures described by the U.S. will not prevent Mr. Assange from

32

Id. at 2.

Id. at 4.

34 Id. at 6.

35 Id. at 2.

36 Id. at 5-6.

37 Id. at 6.

38 Id. at 4.

39 Glenn Greenwald, As the Obama DOJ Concluded, Prosecution of Julian Assange for Publishing Documents Poses Grave Threats to Press Freedom, The Intercept, Nov. 16, 2018, at www.theintercept.com/2018/11/16/as-the-obama-doj-concluded-prosecution-of-julian-assange-for-publishingdocuments-poses-grave-threats-to-press-freedom.

40 Julian Assange to Stay in Prison on Absconding Fears, BBC News, Sep. 13, 2019, at www.bbc.com/news/uk49689167.

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finding a way to commit suicide, and for this reason, I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm.”41 However, she did not release Assange and, instead, said he would have to remain in jail while the United States appeals the decision.

Assange’s First Amendment Defenses Although Assange may be charged with 18 counts under the Espionage Act, the government’s case is not a sure thing. The government will have to overcome high hurdles set by the Supreme Court in landmark cases of long standing. However, all of Assange’s defenses turn on one person: Chelsea Manning.42 In July of 2013, Manning was convicted of 17 of the 22 charges that had been filed under the Espionage Act.43 Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for sharing classified documents with Assange.44 In January of 2017, President Obama commuted Manning’s sentence, and Manning was released on May 17, 2017.45 The key here is that Manning was a government employee and, therefore, subject to the Espionage Act. Assange is not an employee of the U.S. government and is not even an American citizen.

Applying the Espionage Act to a private person has never been done, which is largely why the Obama administration did not move forward with formal charges against Assange. Charging Assange under that Act undermines the First Amendment in the name of national security. It also would undermine long-standing precedents set by the Supreme Court. In New York Times v.

United States—aka the Pentagon Papers Case—the court ruled that although the Times published classified information, the newspaper could not be stopped because they themselves did not retrieve the information.46 Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Hugo Black said, “Now, for the first time in the 182 years since the founding of the Republic, the federal courts are asked to hold that the First Amendment does not mean what it says, but rather means that the Government can halt the publication of current news of vital importance to the people of this country.”47 Black went on to emphasize that the First Amendment always applies, not just when it is convenient for the government, and that Freedom of the Press plays a crucial role in a democratic society.

The logic of that decision was extended in the 2001 civil case of Bartnicki v. Vopper.48 when the Supreme Court ruled that even though Vopper, a radio host, most likely aired an illegally recorded phone call, he couldn’t be sued for airing it since he was not the one who recorded the call. The court made clear that “the First Amendment protects the disclosure of illegally intercepted communications by parties who did not participate in the illegal interception.”49 This

Kim Hjelmgaard, British Judge Denies US Extradition Request for WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, Citing Suicide Risk, USA Today, Jan. 4, 2021, at www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/01/04/uk-judgerejects-us-extradition-request-for-wikileaks-julian-assange-over-suicide-risk/6536678002.

42 Since leaving the military, Bradley Manning became Chelsea Manning.

43 The Chelsea Manning Case: A Timeline, American Civil Liberties Union, Sep. 17, 2019, at www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/employee-speech-and-whistleblowers/chelsea-manning-case-timeline.

44 Id. 45 Id. 46 New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971).

47 Id. at 402.

48 David Fokenflik, Q: Could U.S. Prosecute Reporters for Classified Scoops? A: Maybe, National Public Radio, Mar. 22, 2017, at www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/22/521009791/q-could-u-s-prosecutereporters-for-classified-scoops-a-maybe.

49 Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001).

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line applies directly to Assange’s situation. Manning has already been tried and convicted for “illegally intercepting communications” and documents. If Assange’s lawyers can prove he was not involved in obtaining the documents, only publishing them, then Bartnicki is dispositive.

Should that fail, Assange’s lawyers have another route: mens rea, which is Latin for “guilty mind.” In law, mens rea refers to criminal intent, and it is often the hardest thing for prosecutors to prove; and the Supreme Court makes it so. When charges were brought against two employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and eventually dropped, the Court stated that the prosecution must prove intent to harm the United States and its security.50 As a watchdog journalist, Assange has maintained that his intent was to publish information that would expose wrongdoing to the public. This does not hold consistent with the standard of intent to harm the country, as stated in the Espionage Act. Discussions and Conclusions Assange is in jail for doing what all good investigative journalists do: cultivate sources and coax sensitive information out of them to report on government malfeasance. Watchdog journalists around the world could see their work criminalized if Assange is convicted under these circumstances and the conviction is upheld by a court. As award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald has said, “It’s not just the right of a journalist, it’s the duty of a journalist to help their source not get caught. It’s called source protection.”51 Ben Winzer serves as the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s speech, privacy, and technology project. Along with many, he believes a conviction of Assange would be “unprecedented and unconstitutional and would open the door to criminal investigations of other news organizations.”52 As Americans, we must stand up for Julian Assange and watchdog journalists everywhere, for our democracy and freedoms will be forever weakened if we do not.

50

Gabe Rottman, Special Analysis of the May 2019 Superseding Indictment of Julian Assange, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Oct. 20, 2020, at www.rcfp.org/may-2019-assange-indictment-analysis.

51 Glenn Greenwald Calls Charges against Assange a Threat to Journalistic Freedoms,” The Hill, June 26, 2020, at thehill.com/hilltv/rising/504730-glenn-greenwald-calls-charges-against-julian-assange-a-threat-to-journalistic.

52 Emily Stewart, The Debate Over What Julian Assange’s Arrest Means for Freedom of the Press, Explained, Vox, Apr. 12, 2019, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/12/18308186/assange-arrest-freedom-of-press.

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Let’s Hip-Hop Our Way to the American Dream Avery Moon Avery Moon, a 2020 graduate of High Point University, currently serves as a HPU AmeriCorps VISTA. She was recently selected as a 2021-2022 Fulbright ETA recipient to Ukraine. Through her research on socioeconomic status and lyrical themes, Avery noticed many people of color can “achieve” the American Dream through their success in hip-hop culture and hip-hop music. She decided to combine these two topics of interest to trace the origins of hip-hop culture alongside the origins of the American Dream to see if, and where, any overlap exists. Dr. Terrell Hayes helped Avery grow into an inquisitive and perceptive person, which serves as a catalyst to conduct research. Avery finds the most fulfilling part of research is being able to break the bounds of existing knowledge. This is Avery’s second year published in Innovation.

Abstract By tracing the intricate origins of the American Dream, hip-hop music, and the prominence of each in the modern-day United States, this paper serves as a literature review to analyze how the rise of hip-hop culture has worked to achieve, critique, and redefine the American Dream. The hip-hop music genre found its origin in African American communities as a means of speaking out against the poverty and injustices that communities of color have experienced. Hip-hop has continued to rise in popularity, often appealing to younger Americans losing faith in the American Dream, as they are facing some of the biggest debt crises and wealth inequality gaps in the nation’s history. Parallel with many of the themes in hip-hop songs, this paper concludes that Americans need to reduce community violence, eliminate inequalities, and repair trust between the poor and the wealthy, African Americans and the police, and the public and the government, if they want to help restore faith in the American Dream.

Keywords: hip-hop, rap, american dream, socioeconomic inequality

he American Dream and hip-hop were both born out of social struggles and a desire for justice. The American Dream was born out of a desire to escape religious persecution, seek better opportunities, and avoid debt. The origins of hip-hop can be traced to the South Bronx, New York, as a way of protesting the daily misery of poverty, racism, and inequality experienced by African Americans and other people of color. Over time, their histories have become intertwined through government policies, a rise in hip-hop culture’s popularity, the depiction of African Americans in American culture, and its relation to their success in American society. This paper serves as a literature review tracing the intricate origins of the American Dream and hip-hop music to analyze how the rise of hip-hop culture has worked to achieve, critique, and redefine the American Dream.

The Origins of the American Dream When Christopher Columbus touched land in Hispaniola and other explorers followed his path to reach modern-day Florida and modern-day Massachusetts, the idea of the “New World,”

T

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filled with gold, riches, land, and opportunity, quickly spread across Europe (Lin and Zhu 2017).

Soon enough, hundreds and thousands of people were immigrating from Europe to the “New World” for “better opportunities” and to escape religious persecution and debt. As a result of religious persecution in England, Puritans and Protestants were the largest demographic immigrating to the “New World” for some time. They founded colonies in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and New York, with the desire to build the biblical “city upon a hill.” However, to achieve this ideal city, they developed the Protestant work ethic, which emphasizes frugality, individualism, respect for education, efficiency, and hard work to fulfill one’s worldly calling (Lin and Zhu 2017). Eventually, when the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, the phrase “all men are created equal” breathed new life into the Protestant work ethic by declaring that because all men are created equal, everyone has an equal chance of achieving their goals and fulfilling their life’s purpose as deemed by God. Over time, the ideals of the Protestant work ethic and the Declaration of Independence created the idea of a meritocratic society, which is one of the founding traits of what is now known as the American Dream (Cullen 2004). The goals of the American Dream, though they were not yet associated with the idea, include fortune, opportunity, equality, liberty, and achieving the “city upon a hill” ideology (Lin and Zhu 2017).

In 1931, two years after the Great Depression hit, many Americans had lost their jobs, homes, and hope for the future. In his book, The Epic of America, American writer and historian James Truslow Adams, coined the term “American Dream.” After the materialistic nature of the 1920s, Adams’s version of the American Dream focused on “a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (Cullen 2004). Adams’s emphasis on human “values for life,” “spiritual and intellectual life,” and “priceless heritage,” rather than on money and material success, improved people’s confidence in the future (Adams 1931). Adams’s ideas, which made mention of how the idea of the American Dream had “attracted tens of millions” to the United States since the 1800s, appealed to people around the world (Cullen 2004). Coining the American Dream for Americans and non-Americans alike created the idea of the “American Dream,” which only continued to solidify itself through globalization and the spread of American tourism, culture, and commodities.

Exclusion from the American Dream Despite the image of equality and freedom in the United States, the Constitution’s infamous phrase “all men are created equal” did not truly mean all men.53 Non-Americans or “other Americans whose status as citizens was still questionable or contested by the monocultural ideology of a white Anglo-Saxon America” were also left out of the American Dream during the twentieth century (Hornung 1999). This excluded group largely includes those who do not fit into the ideal American Dream set by the “Bible of America,” a set of works that founded American culture, such as “the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and the works of Emerson and Thoreau” (Hornung 1999).

African Americans were excluded from the idea of the American Dream since its inception, as their original relocation to the United States was not in search of better opportunities but rather

53

Women were excluded from Constitutional equality in addition to African and Native Americans.

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for forced slavery. After the Emancipation Proclamation was passed in 1863, African American slaves were free; yet those who were free had only been existing outside the sphere of slavery in the entirety of the United States for one or two years before the enactment of the Jim Crow laws as early as 1865. The Jim Crow laws denied African Americans the right to vote, the ability to hold jobs, and the opportunity to get an education (History Channel 2020). Any opportunities for education, jobs, and homeownership were segregated, as was access to public parks, bathrooms, and water fountains. From their fruition, the Jim Crow laws effectively prevented African Americans from attempting to achieve the American Dream.

Racial segregation policies extended into the 1940s through the 1960s, when African American families were “redlined,” or prohibited, from buying homes in white American suburbs, even if they qualified for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veteran Affairs (VA) mortgage (Gross 2017). If a family did manage to secure a home, the property values in the neighborhood would decrease and many white families in the area would move out. Under the reforms of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the U.S. government also established housing projects in inner cities, where many African Americans and immigrants lived, in an attempt to segregate minorities from the suburbs. However, these new housing projects were poorly built, rarely renovated, and quickly became dilapidated.

Upset with inequality and frustrated by poor treatment, African Americans rallied together, with Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X as frontliners, to found the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement made headways in fighting for justice and equality for African Americans. In 1957, the first Civil Rights Act was passed, granting African Americans the full right to vote without prevention from states and legislation (History Channel 2020). In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, signifying an inclusive American Dream based on the principles of equality and freedom for African Americans and whites (Rose 2019). Just a year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, which guaranteed equal employment, integration of public facilities, and limited the use of literacy tests on African Americans. (The tests were fully banned in 1965). Finally, in 1968, the Fair Housing Act was passed. This act prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, and religion. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was the last piece of equality-based legislation enacted during the Civil Rights Movement.

Yet, even after the victories of the Civil Rights Movement were achieved, the long-term effects of racial inequality and segregation are still being felt today. Poor quality housing from housing projects resulted in lower property taxes, which created many of the underfunded inner-city schools that still exist today. Dilapidated neighborhoods and poor schools result in children turning to the streets (Berliner 2006) and participating in drug-dealing and gang violence. This outcome is the opposite of the American Dream, and Black people turned to making socially conscious music about poverty, racial discrimination, and gang violence as a form of protest.

The Rise of Hip-Hop In 1979, the Sugar Hill Gang released “Rappers Delight,” which is commonly thought of as the first “hip-hop” song due to the song’s opening lyrics: “da hip da hop, da hippity da hip hip hop and you don’t stop.” However, hip-hop is thought to have started in the early 1970s as a fusion of “poetry and jazz” (Henderson 1996). Hip-hop is a combination of “the music, dance, and art of African American and Latino youth in the South Bronx in the early 1970s” (Hagedorn 2008). Clive Campbell, whose stage name was DJ Kool Herc, is often credited as the “father of hip-hop” because he started off as a graffiti artist before he was introduced to DJing, where he achieved popularity after inventing breakbeat DJing in the Bronx in the early 1970s (Hip-Hop 35

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History 2021). Hip-hop started on the streets as a way to protest the misery brewed by racism and poverty, making the Bronx a “symbol of the desolation and poverty of Blacks and Puerto Ricans in the United States” (Hagedorn 2008). Essentially, hip-hop was “founded as a counterculture for disadvantaged minorities” and serves to “place power in the hands of [the] powerless” and “challenge the status quo laid out by a white-dominated society” (Castro 2019).

Hip-hop emerged as a successful genre at the end of the Civil Rights Movement, which reflects the discontent that persisted in African American and other minority communities, even after the accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement.

The release and initial success of the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” and the 1980 release of “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, who refined and developed DJ Kool Herc’s breakbeat DJing techniques, did aid in developing a spectrum of themes and styles for the genre. It also established necessary traits for hip-hop songs, including but not limited to clever rhyming wordplay, storytelling, and messages about the daily social issues plaguing the African American community (Drew 2019). Because of these traits, hip-hop artists and rappers were, and still are, frequently viewed as “representatives” of their respective communities by rapping about and advocating for community issues and social injustices.

Hip-Hop’s Subculture Over time, hip-hop turned into a subculture within the Black community. The genre’s uniqueness revolves around the “six elements of hip-hop culture,” which include DJing, or disc jockeying, where someone takes records and scratches and mixes at least one song with another, MCing, or being a “master of ceremonies.” The remaining elements include breakdancing or “bboying,” which is hip-hop’s main dance form, graffiti art (also known as writing or tagging), theatre and literature, or being able to combine hip-hop elements in drama, poetry, and stories in order to rap, and having a knowledge of self, which includes knowing the moral, social, and spiritual principles that form the subculture (McCollum 2019). Additionally, some scholars consider adopting the local clothing style to be an essential element of hip-hop’s subculture, as hip-hop’s clothing style is very distinct (Drew 2019). Hip-hop is the first genre of its kind to focus on racial and socioeconomic injustice faced by Black and other minority communities.

Because of this, hip-hop expanded as a subculture in inner cities across the country.

As the genre gained traction in the United States, hip-hop artists took on the persona of political leaders or spokespersons as “representatives” of their community. Whether the artists ask for this responsibility or not, most rise up to the challenge and use their music and lyricism to advocate for the African American community. According to Henderson (1996), the transformation of the image of hip-hop from one of a “flyboy” image to one having a “larger requirement for the Black artist” is because they must produce their creativity and social activism “within the context of their people being oppressed.” Henderson (1996) continues and states, “What emerges from hip-hop should be a much different lyric and different music than that which germinates from the non-oppressed elements in this country, and because legitimate hiphop emerges from the Black cultural context and its conceptual and geographical landscape, and because this is almost completely foreign to European-Americans, then these White folks may not be able to produce legitimate hip-hop, to the extent that their cultural, caste, and class foci speaks to a different reality.” However, while the “White experience” is certainly a different lived reality than that of the “Black experience,” Henderson’s claim that White people cannot produce “legitimate hip-hop” has been proven false through the fame of White rappers, such as Eminem, Paul Wall, and Mac Miller (Mapedzahama and Kwansah-Aidoo 2017). Yet, that does not necessarily mean that White rappers are widely accepted.

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Over time, hip-hop culture has fostered a sense of Black identity and Black nationalism that continues to advise African American youth in how to perform masculinity and femininity. Men develop a sense of Black pride in hip-hop culture, but they are often subjected to the practices of toxic masculinity, violence, and expectations of being a criminal. Women, on the other hand, are subjected to sexual objectification, misogynistic ideas, and expectations of single motherhood.

However, Henderson (1996) points out “this glamorization of negative imaging is all the more telling in light of the fact that much of rap, especially so-called gangsta rap, increasingly plays to a White audience and is widely consumed by White youths who find little difficulty accepting the stereotypical criminality of Black youth and the degeneration of Black women.” Now more than ever, it is White people and industry conglomerates, such as Warner Music, who are controlling hip-hop culture, images, and Black nationalism in the eyes of the media and the country. Rather than fostering negative and violent images of Black nationalism and hip-hop culture, the focus of hip-hop should be on positive images that promote achievements in racial and socioeconomic equality, Black success, and Black capability.

Hip-Hop’s Challenges The “rewards” of the American Dream are reflected heavily in modern hip-hop music through its portrayal of consumerism and materialistic success. However, negative aspects of the American Dream manifest themselves in hip-hop music as well. For instance, the intersectionality of gender and race for Black women still largely excludes them from the American Dream. Hip-hop music is well-known for exploiting women of color by portraying them as sexual objects, depicting scenes of domestic violence and rape against women who do not submit to men, or degrading them in other misogynistic ways (Love 2011). Yet, many people fault this depiction to the women who “choose” to participate in hip-hop culture (Love 2011).

Interestingly enough, however, hip-hop is a male-dominated genre. It is difficult for female artists of any race to break into mainstream culture and achieve success because women are thought to be incapable of rapping, or women are preferred as “eye candy” for male artists.

Misogyny and racism, as consequences of toxic masculinity, prevent women, and especially Black women, from achieving success in hip-hop. Yet, this lack of success for Black women, even in a subsection of “their own culture” rather than the dominant culture, is simply a microcosm of the difficulties Black women face in achieving the American Dream in all areas of life.

Additionally, other problems of 240 years of development in the American Dream are often reflected in hip-hop music. While freedom and independence are strongly emphasized in American culture and politics, too many freedoms lead to gun violence, drug use, and gang wars politicians and the middle and upper classes complain about. In 1991, according to John M. Hagedorn (2008), “homicide rates in U.S. cities reached record highs as gangs competed for drug markets and for the chance to ‘get rich or die trying,’ striving to turn their daily nightmares into the American Dream.” Tupac’s “To Live and Die in LA” is a depiction of this reality of life on the streets as the War on Drugs and the War on Gangs exasperated urban poverty by leaving many communities dilapidated and incarcerated without fathers and sons. Inner-city gangs also developed because of hip-hop culture. In the early days of gangsta rap, the genre’s “East Coast” and “West Coast” styles “represented ganglike enemies” and caused “a feud that would cost hiphop some of its most talented stars, such as Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.” (Hagedorn 2008).

While these events were rare, the feud they created has lasted through to today. Modern hip-hop artists are still at constant risk for murder even after they have achieved fame. In 2018, XXXTentacion was shot dead in Florida at 20 years old on the same day Jimmy Wopo, a 2137

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year-old rapper from Pittsburgh, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting. Less than a year later, 33year-old American rapper Nipsey Hussle was assassinated outside of his clothing store over possible disputes of “snitching.” While modern gang violence is not directly related to hip-hop artists in the same way it was when “East Coast” and “West Coast” rap were rivals, the industry and culture of the genre still represent the violence that plagues the African American community.

The perception of the American Dream as only an achievement of having money, fortune, and material goods has led to massive income inequality between the rich, who now owns 196 times as much wealth as the bottom 90% of Americans, and the poor, who are suffering from more working hours and stagnant wages since the 1970s (Saez 2018; Economic Policy Institute 2018). A lack of confidence in institutions and the government is a consequence of federal policies and initiatives (such as the War on Drugs), a lack of action on alleviating inner-city poverty, and a lame-duck approach to the student debt crisis. Growing discontent with gun and gang violence, a lack of confidence in federal institutions, and consistent distrust in the police, especially during the Black Lives Matter movement, are manifesting themselves in hip-hop music through songs, such as “Baltimore” by Prince featuring Eryn Allen Kane (2015), “Hands Up” by Daye Jack featuring Killer Mike (2015), “FDT (Fuck Donald Trump)” by YG and Nipsey Hussle (2016), and “PTSD” by G Herbo, Juice WRLD, Lil Uzi Vert, and Chance the Rapper (2020). Hip-hop’s challenges and the modern realities of the American Dream are also encouraging new forms of hip-hop to develop.

Modern Prominence of Hip-Hop and Rap Hip-hop music has steadily taken over the Billboard charts in the United States within the last ten years, and other regions of the world have begun experimenting with their own native hip-hop forms. Since about 2015, however, the hip-hop industry has spiked. In 2016, a new form of hip-hop known as “mumble rap” began to take shape, with younger artists like Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi Vert, Future, and Migos gaining fame quickly. This trend was swiftly followed by the rise in “SoundCloud rappers,” because mumble rap artists have often initially achieved their fame through the online music publishing service called SoundCloud. However, a debate has arisen between what is now known as “lyrical rappers” (formerly “gangsta rap”), such as Tupac, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West, versus “mumble rappers.” The debate has now become a question of whether the quality of lyricism in mumble rap songs has decreased compared to the quality of lyricism in lyrical rap songs. Rather than rapping about social issues, Blackness, and injustice, many mumble rappers rap about cars, women, and their wealth and success. However, even rappers known for including themes about “what it means to be Black in a White supremacist, hyper-consumptive capitalistic society,” such as Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole, feed into the new dominant “American Dream” hip-hop culture by including “humblebrags” about their riches, successes, and capital after achieving widespread success (Henze and Hall 2018; Moon 2018).

Additionally, as hip-hop has seen high rates of success in recent years, the genre has had to appeal to the masses. The genre has become less political because of cultural assimilation and commercialization, and the need for widespread non-racial appeal has led to common themes of consumerism in popular rap songs. This is not to say that artists do not produce songs about political issues. As mentioned before, with the Black Lives Matter movement highlighting police violence and racial injustice, for example, several Black artists made songs about the movement, one of the most notable being Childish Gambino’s “This is America” released in 2018. However, Romario Castro (2019) states “as more of [hip-hop’s] fanbase becomes white, authenticity based 38

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on race diminishes, making hip-hop 'white-friendly’ and changing the genre in significant ways.”

Modern mumble rap has become the “successor” of the genre’s original gangsta rap and has made the transition from rapping mostly about social issues and the daily struggles of racial and socioeconomic inequalities towards rapping about monetary and materialistic success. In many ways, mumble rap has reflected the achievements of the American Dream that lyrical and gangsta rap spent nearly three decades working towards.

Concluding Statements on the Modern-Day American Dream Due to societal challenges such as the wealth inequality gap, inner-city poverty rates, and the burden of the student debt crisis, modern perceptions of what it means to “achieve the American Dream” are changing for all demographics. Foreign-born Hispanic/Latinx people in the United States are far more likely to believe in the American Dream than the general U.S. population (Lopez, Gonzalez-Barrera, and Krogstad 2018). However, native-born Americans are increasingly less likely to believe in the post-war American Dream than their older counterparts, which could be a result of rising wealth inequality and the lack of socioeconomic mobility, also known as “The Great Gatsby Curve” (Hipple 2018). According to a holistic accounting of Generation X’s“ balance sheets” from Erin Currier for Pew Charitable Trusts (2018), Generation X may be the first generation that does not do better than the one before it. Between 2007 and 2010, “Gen Xers” lost nearly half of their wealth at an average of $33,000 as a result of the Great Recession (Currier 2018). Having experienced several periods of economic growth and crashes throughout their lifetime, Gen Xers are “experiencing [their] own version of the American Dream,” characterized by resilience, self-reliance, and a pursuit of happiness rather than materialistic wealth (David, Gelfeld, and Rangel 2017).

Millennials are also experiencing a huge financial slump; the average income for a millennial is $35,592 per year. Millennial homeownership hit a record low in 2017, and the average millennial has about $29,800 in student loan debt, which is inhibiting with rising rent and housing costs, the expenses of getting married and having children, and trying to save for retirement (Hoffower 2020). Because of their inability to afford to live on their own, a majority of millennials and recent graduates indicate they have plans to move back in with their parents if they have not already. Unlike members of the baby boomer generation, and perhaps because the post-war version of the American Dream seems relatively unattainable, millennials are “reinventing” the American Dream. Rather than buying into “the vision of the (mortgaged) house with the white picket fence occupied by two married, college-educated, and gainfully employed adults with 2.5 children,” millennials are “challenging the dominant narrative by choosing to be single, childless, renting, not going to college, or serial job-hopping” (Samuel 2019). Millennials are also prioritizing individual happiness by volunteering at much higher rates than previous generations and by spending their money on experiences rather than commodities (Sinha 2016; Hoffower 2018).

According to research by Courtney Schwartz, Generation X and millennials have redefined the American Dream as “less materialized and more of an emotional and materialistic appeal,” where levels of “education and success indicate a higher correlation between materialistic approaches on the American Dream” (Schwartz 2018). Based on the quantitative research conducted in the study by Schwartz (2018), changes in American culture “indicated the want for more of an emotional American Dream, including freedom and independence,” rather than the materialistic image of a white picket fence and a big house. Perhaps these changes in perception of what the American Dream is, or could be, draws increasing numbers of listeners to the hiphop genre, which either exemplifies socioeconomic struggles that an increasing number of 39

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Americans are experiencing, or reflects the “achieved” American Dream by the artists who have climbed the ranks of socioeconomic mobility throughout their careers.

Investigating the inexplicably intertwined origins and histories of the American Dream and hip-hop music reveals just how deeply the inequalities and injustices against African Americans and people of color can influence modern culture. Reflecting on the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of other racial equity and social justice protests in 2020, it will be essential for all Americans to reduce community violence, eliminate inequalities, and repair trust between the poor and the wealthy, African Americans and the police, and the public and the government from this point forward to counteract the disbelief in the American Dream.

Additionally, with the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionally affecting African American and minority communities as a result of “chronic medical conditions,” “lower access to healthcare,” and “living and working conditions that predispose them to worse outcomes,” Americans will need to work on increasing health equity and promoting widespread vaccination in minority communities to make structural changes for marginalized groups (Tai et al. 2021).

Yet, as the idea of the American Dream transitions from a materialistic goal to an emotional goal, it is important to question and monitor how sustainable hip-hop culture, where artists often flaunt their riches and success after “achieving” the American Dream, will be in upcoming years.

Future research may want to consider what is drawing more listeners to the hip-hop genre, whether there might be a connection between younger Americans’ perceptions of the American Dream and their acceptance of hip-hop culture, and whether the messages communicated in hiphop songs resonate with younger Americans regardless of race.

Bibliography Adams, James Truslow. 1941. The Epic of America. New York, NY: Blue Ribbon Books.

AskHIPHOP LLC. 2021. “DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell).” Retrieved April 21, 2021 (https://history.hiphop/dj-kool-herc-clive-campbell).

Bibby, Leanne. 2017. “The Second Wave.” The History of British Women’s Writing, 19451975: 124-141.

Berliner, David C. 2006. “Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform.” New York, NY: Teachers College. Record 108(6): 949-995.

Castro, Romario. 2019. “Keepin ’It Real: Juxtaposing Hip-Hop Authenticity in the 1990s and the 2010s.” Princeton University Undergraduate Senior Theses 1924-2019: Sociology 1954-2019.

Cullen, Jim. 2004. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. London, England: Oxford University Press.

Currier, Erin. 2018. “How Generation X Could Change the American Dream.” The Pew Charitable Trusts: Trend Magazine.

David, Patty, Vicki Gelfeld, and Andreina Rangel. 2017. “Generation X and Its Evolving Experience with the American Dream.” Generations 41(3): 77-83(7).

Drew, Ashley. 2019. “Changes in Hip-Hop: A Look at ‘Mumble Rap’” Riverside, CA: University of California, Riverside.

Economic Policy Institute. 2018. “Worker Pay Has Not Kept Pace with Productivity Since the 1970s.” Inequality: Income Inequality in the United States.

Gross, Terry. 2017. “A ‘Forgotten History ’of How the U.S. Government Segregated America.” NPR. Hagedorn, John. 2008. A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture. “Street Wars: Hip-Hop and the Rise of Gangsta Culture.” MN: University of Minnesota Press.

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Henderson, Errol A. 1996. “Black Nationalism and Rap Music.” Journal of Black Studies 26(3): 308-339.

Hipple, Liz. 2018. “Inequality, mobility, and the American Dream.” Washington D.C.: Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

History Channel. 2020. “Black History: Civil Rights Movement.” Retrieved May 5, 2020.

History Channel. 2020. “Early 20th Century US: Jim Crow Laws.” Retrieved May 5, 2020.

History Channel. 2020. “Women’s Rights: Seneca Falls Convention.” Retrieved May 5, 2020.

Hoffower, Holly. 2020. “Meet the average American Millennial, who has an $8,000 net worth, is delaying life milestones because of student-loan debt.” Business Insider.

Hornung, Alfred. 1999. “The Un-American Dream.” Amerikastudien/American Studies 44(4): 545-553.

Henze, Adam D., and Ted Hall. 2018. “Dying of Thirst: Kendrick Lamar and the Call for a “New School” Hip-Hop Pedagogy.” The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education: 265-283.

Lin, Fengxiang, and Kui Zhu 2017. “On the Cultural Differences between American Dream and China Dream.” World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 3(1):8-14.

Lopez, Mark Hugo, Ana Gonzalez-Barerra, and Jens Manuel Krogstad. 2018. “Latinos are more likely to believe in the American dream, but most say it is hard to achieve.”

Washington D.C.: Pew Research Center.

Love, Bettina L. 2011. “Where Are the White Girls?: A Qualitative Analysis of How Six African American Girls Made Meaning of Their Sexuality, Race and Gender through the Lens of Rap.” Counterpoints 392(1): 122-135.

Mapedzahama, Virginia and Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo. 2017. “Blackness as Burden? The Lived Experience of Black Africans in Australia.” Sage Open: Racial Injustice 7(3): https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017720483.

McCollum, Sean. 2019. “Hip-Hop: A Culture of Vision and Voice.” Washington, D.C.: The Kennedy Center. Retrieved April 21, 2021. (https://www.kennedy-center.org/ education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives/ media/hip-hop/hip-hop-a-culture-of-vision-and-voice).

Moon, Avery. 2018. “Parallelism Between Lyricism, Values, and Socioeconomic Status.”

Submitted for publication. Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works.

Rose, Justin. 2019. The Drum Major Instinct: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Theory of Political Service. Atlanta, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.

Saez, Emmanuel. 2018. “Richest 0.1% Take in 196 Times as Much as Bottom 90%.

Inequality: Income Inequality in the United States.

Samuel, Lawrence R. 2019. “Are Millennials Reinventing the American Dream?” New York, NY: Psychology Today.

Schwartz, Courtney. 2018. “The American Dream May Be More Than a White Fence and a House.” San Bernandino, CA: California State University, San Bernardino.

Sinha, Jill W. 2016. “Millennials and Social Capital: Explorations in Re-inventing the American Dream.” Social Capital and Community Well-Being: 13-31.

Tai, Don Bambino Geno, Shah, Aditya, Doubeni, Chyke A, Sia, Irene G, and Mark L Lieland.

2021. “The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the United States.” Clinical Infection Diseases 74(4): 703-706.

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Parallelism Between Lyricism, American Values, and Socioeconomic Status Avery Moon Avery Moon, a 2020 graduate of High Point University, currently serves as a HPU AmeriCorps VISTA. She was recently selected as a 2021-2022 Fulbright ETA recipient to Ukraine.

Avery grew curious as to whether a change in lyrical themes could be attributed to an “identity change” pre- and post-success while taking Dr. John Turner’s “Music and Identity” class. She decided to cross-compare the lyrics of two songs from four artists before and after they achieved success to determine whether their lyrical themes and values changed after they had become famous.

Dr. Turner’s faith in Avery and her research gave her the courage to pursue research in other classes, including a senior thesis and a comparative economics paper, both of which were published in last year’s edition of Innovation: Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works.

Abstract This paper seeks to track change over time to determine whether a rap/hip-hop artist’s values and lyrical themes change as they achieve higher levels of success and enhanced socioeconomic status. Using a limited version of the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software, a sampling of songs produced by Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna were analyzed for “I” words, social words, positive and negative emotions, cognitive processes, analytic summary variables, clout, authenticity, and emotional tone. Findings reveal that some artists shift the focus of their lyrical themes as they achieve greater career success, while others maintain a focus on themes that sell.

Keywords: hip-hop, rap, american values, lyricism, socioeconomic status, lyrical analysis, lyrical themes

M

any modern rap and hip-hop artists often write and release songs with only a few common themes: drugs, girls, alcohol, money, and partying. However, it was not always this way. Rap and hip-hop artists from the 1990s explored themes of economic hardship, gang-related struggles, and racial inequalities. This paper seeks to track change over time to determine whether a rap/hip-hop artist’s values and lyrical themes change as they achieve higher levels of success and socioeconomic status through lyrical analysis of four rap/hip-hop artists before and after they had achieved significant levels of success.

“Success” is a rather subjective term but will be defined in this paper as “significant if the artist has achieved more than one song in the ‘Top 10 Hits’ section of the year-end chart, Billboard ‘Hot 100’ chart.” Billboard rankings are based on sales, radio airplay success, 42

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downloads, and internet exposure. Evaluating two artists from the genres of rap and hip-hop reveals that each of the artists selected have had many songs on Billboard’s “Hot 100.” Kendrick Lamar has had 46 songs on the Hot 100, eight of them being top-10 hits and two of them topping the chart as number-one hits. J. Cole follows Lamar as the second artist selected for the rap/hiphop genre, with 39 charted songs and four top-ten hits. Nicki Minaj is the first artist with 99 charted songs, 17 of them reaching within the hits. Rihanna has 61 songs on the Hot 100, 31 of them being top-ten hits and a whopping 14 chart-toppers as number-one hits.

Literature Review The United States was the breeding ground for rap music with its low-income minority inner cities rampant with “poverty, police brutality, drug abuse, educational inequality, high dropout rates, and violence,”54 and yet, its population often overlooks its responsibility in the foundation and production of the genre. Inequalities in U.S. social and economic systems have traditionally targeted minorities, such as people of color and/or people of low socioeconomic status. This leads to an increase in crime and violence, therefore, transforming an entire community. Many early rappers, and most famously Tupac Shakur, wrote about consistent “unequal opportunity” creating “hopelessness, distrust, and early death” in his community.55 Shakur, an urban young black man who was murdered, went on to become a victim of the violence and distrust he rapped about. While America’s role in urban violence has sparked a new revolution in music through the development of the rap/hip-hop genres, the debate over whether rap music is appealing to people because of the representation of “one’s reality,” or the allure of a “foreign lifestyle,”56 remains prominent. Regardless of its appeal, however, rap and hip-hop have had immense influence over the economic, political, and social sectors.57 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports that American sales of rap music were $1.8 billion in the year 2000.58 The rap and hip-hop genres—and their penchant for violent themes—have taken the music industry by storm. According to Jeanita W. Richardson and Kim A. Scott’s article on rap music and America’s culture of violence, the theme of violence in rap music is simply an extension of the violent themes presented in other forms of media, such as movies and video games.59 Constant exposure to violence from various media outlets causes the normalization of violence, resulting in violence as a starting point for what “sells” to the audience. However, according to Mtume ya Salaam’s research, themes that began to “sell” changed when “profit-oriented major labels” entered the rap scene.60 Approaching the genres with a “business first” attitude, rather than content and quality first, is seen to be the “single biggest threat” to rap music as an art form.61 Corporations altered the focus of rap and hip-hop’s lyrical themes, which originally consisted of the struggles of inequality and poverty, to “sexually

Jeanita W. Richardson, Kim. A Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of Violence in Context. 2002. p. 175.

55 Richardson, Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny 2002, p. 176.

56 Richardson, Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny 2002, p. 176.

57 Richardson, Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny 2002, p. 176.

58 Richardson, Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny 2002, p. 177.

59 Richardson, Scott, Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny 2002, p. 177-178.

60 Mtume ya Salaam, The Aesthetics of Rap 1995, p. 304.

61 Mtume ya Salaam, The Aesthetics of Rap 1995, p. 304.

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and violently explicit” themes and crafted an environment where a rapper’s main focus is “money, not music.”62 In a society where a lifestyle of sex and violence sell, rapping about sex, violence, and money became the fastest way for major business-driven labels to make a profit.63 A study conducted by Peter Christenson, Silvia de Haan-Rietdijk, Donald F. Roberts, and Tom F.M. ter Bogt investigated 19 thematic trends in 1,040 songs from the U.S. top-40 songs from the years 1960 through 2010.64 A few of the thematic trends include relationships/love, sex/sexual desire, good times/partying, alcohol/drugs, wealth/status, social/political issues, race/ethnicity, and death. Relationships and love as trends have shown no significant changes, remaining relatively static since the 1960s. However, there was a significant increase in songs referencing alcohol/drugs with an increase from 8.5% in the 1990s to 22.5% in the 2000s, wealth/status from 11% to 23.8%, sex/sexual desire from 34% to 41.7%, and good times/partying from 10% to 18.8%.65 There has also been an increase in the theme of race/ethnicity from 5.5% in the 1990s to 11.7% in the 2000s. Since the 1990s, there has been a decrease in themes of death, violence, social/political issues, and interpersonal hate/hostility, themes that were more present in rap and hip-hop songs of the 1990s. This supports the hypothesis that artists may change their lyrical themes as they achieve higher levels of success and socioeconomic status, or possibly supports the “what sells” business model of major labels in the industry.66 However, this analysis does include the content of other popular genres of music, such as pop and rock music, which could be skewing the changes in content over time. To complement this study and to address this issue, a thematic lyrical analysis of popular Billboard songs during tough, widespread social and economic conditions was conducted.

An analysis of #1 Billboard songs from the years 1955 to 2003, across changing conditions of social and economic threats, was conducted by Terry F. Pettijohn II and Donald F. Sacco Jr. at Coastal Carolina University and Miami University gives us insight into what some Americans value in their music during difficult and changing times. They used the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Analysis (LIWC) software to analyze the complete lyrics for each song, as well as the General Hard Times Measure (GHTM) to measure social and economic threats in the U.S. over time.67 The “results of the LIWC analyses were correlated with the GHTM,” and they were able to track trends between the two measures of analysis to draw conclusions.68 From their study, they concluded that when social and economic times are “difficult and threatening,” songs with more “words per sentence” and “more future references” were popular.69 Lyrics also trended towards using more personal pronouns and financial- and money-issue words, talked of friendship and “social affiliation,” had more “sports references,” and were considered to be

62

Mtume ya Salaam, The Aesthetics of Rap 1995, p. 304.

Mtume ya Salaam, The Aesthetics of Rap 1995, p. 304.

64 Peter G. Christenson, What has America been singing about? Trends in themes in the U.S. top40 songs: 1960-2010 2018, p. 1.

65 Christenson, What has America been singing about? 2018, p. 7.

66 Christenson, What has America been singing about? 2018, p. 14.

67 Terry F. Pettijohn, Donald F. Sacco Jr., The Language of Lyrics: An Analysis of Popular Billboard Songs Across Conditions of Social and Economic Threat 2011, pp. 302, 303.

68 Pettijohn, Sacco, The Language of Lyrics 2011, p. 304.

69 Pettijohn, Sacco, The Language of Lyrics 2011, p. 304.

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“more romantic.”70 People tend to seek out more meaningful and comforting lyrics during times of distress, offering us insight into what people might like in their music when there is not a high level of social and economic threat.

Data and Methods Rap and hip-hop are the selected genres in this study for two reasons. Firstly, rap and hiphop artists are more likely to be from a lower socioeconomic status than artists in other genres.

This means that their lyrics, early in the writing and producing processes, are more likely to be about economic hardship, poverty, drugs, gang-related crime, and racial inequality. This is often attributed to influences from “old-school rappers.” However, many modern rap and hip-hop artists rap almost exclusively about money, drugs, exploiting women, and alcohol.71 This paper intends to investigate whether the artists who begin rapping about social issues eventually transform into the rappers who rap almost exclusively about having money and the benefits (and pitfalls) that come with increased popularity and wealth. This also raises the question of whether these rappers “sell-out” to popular culture and pop music in the transformation and development of their lyricism over the course of their music careers.

Secondly, rap and hip-hop artists are less likely to buy their songs from songwriters than are pop artists. Because pop music is produced to appeal to the masses, many of the songs are bought from professional songwriters to ensure that they are relatable to a wide audience and to remove any personal scandals from the artist’s image. Rap and hip-hop artists, on the other hand, approach songwriting with the intent of making it “unapologetically direct and personal”72 to attract fans who may be struggling with similar issues. Rap and hip-hop have also been combined into one encompassing genre for this paper because many of rap’s and hip-hop’s elements, basic principles, and artists overlap each other. Therefore, rap and hip-hop have been selected as the two genres because of their lyrical themes, their unlikelihood to “sell-out” to popular culture/pop music, and their improbability of buying songs from songwriters when compared to other genres.

Each of the four artists has been selected for a few common reasons. Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna have been selected as the four artists for this study because each artist generally “started from the bottom,” which is a phrase, made popular by Drake, that artists use in the rap/hip-hop scene to indicate they have achieved success against all odds.73 Making sure that each of the artists “started from the bottom” at a lower socioeconomic status levels the playing field in terms of what their song content may be about. This promotes relatability across the artists’ music. Each artist also must have been active for at least 10 years with increasing recognition and must have achieved significant success, as defined above, on Billboard’s U.S. charts. Billboard’s “Hot 100” is used for all artists in this paper for consistency, though each artist has achieved varying levels of “success” on the chart. For a general baseline, the artist must have at least two songs charted within the top-10 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 to be considered “significantly successful” in this paper.

70

Pettijohn, Sacco, The Language of Lyrics 2011, p. 304.

71

Minh Berger, Lyrical and Mumble Rap: The Clash of Two Generations, October 6, 2018.

Mtume ya Salaam, The Aesthetics of Rap 1995, p. 305.

73 Drake, “Started from the Bottom Lyrics,” Genius, 2013.

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Lyrical analyses conducted on each of the artists’ songs were performed in three ways: the testing of word frequency in each song to see which terms appear the most through the use of word clouds, the evaluation and analysis of lyrical meanings, word-play, and word ambiguity to decipher each song’s deeper meaning through lyrical annotations, and a word analysis through a limited version of the LIWC software. LIWC analyzes words for traditional variables, such as the frequency of personal pronouns, social words, positive and negative emotions, and cognitive processes, as well as summary variables, like analytical thinking, clout (social status, confidence, or leadership), authenticity, and emotional tone, to output the percentage of analyzed words that fit each variable. For the purposes of this study, the variables that will be included are the frequency of personal pronouns, negative emotions, cognitive processes, analytics words, and clout. Kacewicz et al. (2013) states that “people with higher status consistently used fewer firstperson singular pronouns.” Because of this, higher LIWC scores for the use of “I” words will be correlated with lower social status. Similarly, higher LIWC scores for clout will be correlated with a greater amount of influence, power, and/or popularity. According to the 2021 study conducted by Sarah Seraj, Kate Blackburn, and James W. Pennebaker, “analytic thinking was positively correlated…with markers of socioeconomic status,” and “higher scores in analytic thinking…is also associated with more formal, impersonal language.” Therefore, higher scores of analytic words in the LIWC analysis will be correlated with higher socioeconomic status and more formal, impersonal language. Finally, in a study conducted by Newman et al. in 2003, people who lie tend to show “lower cognitive complexity…and used more negative emotion words.” Thus, lower levels of cognitive processes and higher levels of negative emotion words in the LIWC analysis findings will be correlated with less sincerity and truth. All songs will be categorized and analyzed in LIWC as “personal writing.”

Artist Biographies Born and raised in the infamous Compton, California, Kendrick Lamar grew up around “precarious street activity.”74 Rather than letting it harm his personal development, Lamar interpreted the violence and gang activity around him as influences and muses for his music.

Lamar was a good student in school and spent much of his time writing stories, poems, and lyrics. Though his family was “directly touched” by the street violence surrounding them, Lamar remained “thoughtful and soft-spoken,” took up the stage name K-Dot, and began performing as a rapper.75 He released his first mixtape at age 16, eventually landing him a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment in California. He built up his reputation by collaborating with other upcoming West Coast rappers and began using his current stage name in 2010. Lamar’s first fulllength independent album, titled Section.80, gained him more recognition and led to his mentorship with “one of hip-hop’s most respected and influential producers,” Dr. Dre.76 Dr. Dre signed Lamar to his independent record label, Aftermath Entertainment, and Lamar’s career began to skyrocket.

J. Cole, on the other hand, is an East Coast rapper. Born in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in trailer parks, J. Cole’s family suffered many hardships through abuse and drugs, crumbled marriages, and the loss of homes. However, J. Cole remained

74

Biography.com Editors, Kendrick Lamar Biography, New York., April 2, 2014.

Editors, Kendrick Lamar Biography, 2014.

76 Editors, Kendrick Lamar Biography, 2014.

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passionate about music and taught himself about rapping and production. As a teenager, he took up many part-time jobs while he fine-tuned his production skills and moved to New York to attend St. John’s University after graduating high school. He graduated magna cum laude in 2007, the same year he released his debut mixtape titled The Come Up.77 In 2009, he released his second mixtape, The Warm Up, and tried to give it to Jay Z after waiting outside his studio for three hours. Jay Z rudely rejected the disc, but when one of J. Cole’s tracks from the mixtape, “Lights Please,” caught the attention of other music producers, it was played for Jay Z, and he was impressed with what he heard.78 Suddenly, J. Cole was signed to Roc Nation, Jay Z’s entertainment and record label. Subsequent album releases gained increasingly positive critic recognition and approval, eventually guiding J. Cole into achieving multiple top-charting albums. Recently, on top of continuing to release new music, J. Cole has founded his own record label dedicated to “releasing music by up-and-coming artists.”79 For pop artists, Nicki Minaj is not your average pop idol. Popularly known as the “Queen of Rap,” Minaj freely crosses between the genres of rap/hip-hop and pop music, establishing her identity and her presence in mainstream music. She was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Queens, New York, at the age of five. Her father was a severe drug addict and often exhibited violent behaviors, even setting fire to the family’s home in an attempt to kill Minaj’s mom. However, her life struggles did not inhibit her life—they fueled it. Starting at the age of 12, Minaj began writing rap songs and attended LaGuardia High School of Music and Art for acting. She began taking up background singing for local New York City rappers and continued writing her own material. She was discovered by the CEO of the label Dirty Money, who found Minaj’s Myspace page and signed her to his label.80 This label deal led Minaj to Lil’ Wayne, and he collaborated with her on several mixtapes before she became the first female to be signed to Lil’ Wayne’s label, Young Money, in 2009. Soon thereafter, Minaj’s albums caught wind and gained exponential popularity. She grew involved with multiple projects outside of her music as well, including being a judge on American Idol, voice acting and acting in movies, and participating in ads and endorsements for companies. Despite her activity in other forms of entertainment, her albums continue to top the charts.

Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, was born in Barbados. Similar to Minaj, Rihanna’s father struggled with alcohol and crack cocaine addiction, and her parents often suffered marital problems. She also endured “crippling headaches” for years during her childhood, which could be a result of the stress and conditions of her childhood.81 While she did not actively pursue music in her younger years, Rihanna did form a girl group at the age of 15 with two classmates to escape her troubles at home. They scored an audition with Evan Rodgers, a music producer from the United States, who was captivated by Rihanna’s talent. Within the year, Rihanna moved to Connecticut with Rodgers and his wife to work on a demo album.82 Rodgers secured her an audition with Def Jam Records in 2005, where Jay Z was the new president. After her audition,

77

Biography.com Editors, J. Cole Biography, New York., May 25, 2017.

Editors, J. Cole Biography, 2017.

79 Editors, J. Cole Biography, 2017.

80 Biography.com Editors, Nicki Minaj Biography, New York., April 2, 2014.

81 Biography.com Editors, Rihanna Biography, New York., April 1, 2014.

82 Editors, Rihanna Biography, 2014.

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Jay Z was so impressed that he signed her on the spot. Eight months later, she released her first single, “Pon de Replay,” that climbed to #2 on the Billboard singles chart. Since then, Rihanna has released a total of eight studio albums, two compilation albums, two remix albums, and 71 singles, all while making the transformation from a “cute teen pop princess” to a “superstar and sex symbol.”83 She has also dabbled in film, doing voice overs and acting, playing roles in movies, such as Ocean’s 8, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and Battleship, as well as a role in season five of Bates Motel. Recently, Rihanna has also released her successful line of women’s lingerie, labeled “Savage X Fenty.” Despite some controversial situations in her personal life and her partaking in other areas of entertainment, Rihanna’s musical success has won her eight Grammy Awards and made her the top-selling digital artist of all time.84 Prior to song selection, an evaluation of each artist’s discography took place to determine which albums were critical albums before the artist’s success and which modern, post-success album is the most representative. For Lamar, his first full-length solo debut album, Section.80, was selected rather than any of his earlier mixtapes, (which tend toward heavy sampling and appearances from other rappers). His most recent album, DAMN., was selected based on its success in terms of the number of sales (1,300,000 worldwide and 1,002,000 in the U.S.) and three Platinum certifications. J. Cole’s early album was selected because it was also his first fulllength solo debut album, and J. Cole’s post-success album was selected based on the same criteria of highest number of sales (1,240,000 in the U.S.) and three Platinum certifications.

Choosing their post-success albums based on the album’s number of sales, reflects Lamar and J. Cole’s widespread influence in the rap/hip-hop genres. Minaj and Rihanna’s albums were selected in the same manner. Minaj’s first album, Pink Friday, released in 2010, was her first full-length solo debut album, with 1,980,000 sales in the U.S., 3,800,000 sales worldwide, and three Platinum certifications. As Minaj’s albums have been steadily declining in sales, her second album, Queen (2018), was selected not because of its popularity, like Lamar and J. Cole’s post-success albums, but because of its most current release date. Because Minaj’s best-selling album is also her first debut album, her most recent album is being used for this analysis, as she has already achieved significant success and is dubbed the “Queen of Rap.” Rihanna’s first album, Music in the Sun (2005), like the other three artists, was her first full-length solo debut album. It has achieved single Platinum status, despite it being her debut album. The comparative album selected for Rihanna was her 2010 release, Loud, with about 8,000,000 worldwide sales and about 10 different Gold and Platinum certifications with varying ranks and recertifications (e.g., 7x Platinum in the United Kingdom).

To keep things consistent, songs were picked based on their rankings in the Billboard “Hot 100.” For Lamar and J. Cole, their earlier songs pre-date their inductions onto the Billboard chart. Lamar’s song “HiiiPoWeR” was released as the lead single and appears on his album Section.80 (2011), for which Metacritic was used to obtain a music critic’s album review that determined “HiiiPoWeR” to possibly be the most important song on the album in terms of lyricism, presentation, and overall musical concepts.85 An identical process was performed to obtain J. Cole’s “Who Dat,” dropped as a single prior to the release of his first full-length studio

83

Editors, Rihanna Biography, 2014.

84

Roc Nation Editors, Rihanna, New York, 2018.

Mike Baber, RapReview of the Week: Kendrick Lamar: Section.80. July 19, 2011.

85

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album Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011).86 “Who Dat” also achieved a Billboard Hot 100 peak at #93 in 2010. Lamar and J. Cole’s later singles, “HUMBLE.” and “No Role Modelz,” respectively, were selected based on their rankings. “HUMBLE.,” from Lamar’s 2017 album DAMN., peaked at #1 on the Hot 100 on May 6, 2017, as one of two of Lamar’s #1 hits on the chart. J. Cole’s “No Role Modelz,” from his 2014 album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, peaked at #36 on the chart on January 2, 2016. While not ranking nearly as high on the chart as Lamar’s single, “No Role Modelz” is J. Cole’s most streamed song on Spotify, a popular international digital music service, with 535,606,504 streams per month. “No Role Modelz” is chosen based on popularity because of the song’s widespread influence in the rap/hip-hop genre.

Nicki Minaj and Rihanna’s songs were chosen similarly, though each of their songs had charted, and the use of Metacritic was not necessary. “Moment 4 Life” was Minaj’s charting song from her debut album, peaking at #13 on March 19, 2011. On her 2018 album, Queen, her song “Chun-Li’” peaked at #10 on April 28, 2018. Rihanna’s debut single, “Pon de Replay,” from her first album peaked at #2 on July 30, 2005. Her chart-topping single “Only Girl (In the World)” from her 2010 album, Loud, reached #1 on the Hot 100 on December 4, 2010.

Findings An analysis of Kendrick Lamar’s “pre-success” song, “HiiiPoWeR,” reveals that his early music focuses heavily on themes of social justice. Lamar incorporates phrases such as “slave ship” and “my issue [poverty, violence, inequality, revolution, etc.] isn’t televised” to advocate for social equality and periodically references Black civil rights and nationalist leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Huey Newton, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton, and Marcus Garvey. Lamar covers topics from slavery, the faults of the system, and the Crack Era in Black communities to the Illuminati and government conspiracy killings. Word cloud analysis for frequency shows that some of Lamar’s most repeated words are “slave,” “Black,” “resist,” and “revolutionary.” Based on the word cloud analysis, Lamar’s pre-success lyrical themes address social issues, such as slavery and Black oppression.

Contrastingly, Lamar’s song “HUMBLE.” talks a lot about Lamar “be[ing] the greatest” and being able to buy “the world with my paystub.” He mentions “syrup sandwiches and crime allowances” as brief references to his pre-fame life, but the rest of the song focuses on sexual themes and telling his competition to “be humble” and “sit down” because they “do not amaze [him].” Yet, he mentions his distaste for the media’s portrayal of women, an increasingly important social issue. The corresponding word cloud analysis determined that the most popular words included money-based words such as “parmesan,” slang for money, “allowances,” “paystub,” and “Mercedes.” These words reference the money and name-brand cars Lamar now has access to because of his fame, indicating a transition from talking about social issues and justice for people of color to talking about his fame and domination of the rap/hip-hop industry.

The LIWC analysis for Lamar’s songs in Table 1 (see Appendix) reveals about the same social status in terms of his use of “I” pronouns across both songs. This may indicate that Lamar feels like he is on the same level as he was before he achieved fame. Additionally, his moderately high negative emotions and high cognitive processes prior to fame indicate sincerity and truth in his words.

86

Jesal ‘Jay Soul’ Padania, J. Cole: Cole World: The Sideline Story: Roc Nation. September 27, 2011.

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However, there is a big increase in the use of negative emotion words and a huge decrease in cognitive processes in his song “HUMBLE.,” after he achieved fame, which may imply ingenuity and dishonesty about his life of fame and riches. Prior to fame, Lamar had a moderately high analytic and clout score, which could reveal that he was part of a higher socioeconomic status and had a bit of social influence. But after he achieved fame, his analytic score went up quickly, as did his socioeconomic status and impersonal tone, while his clout score dropped drastically, indicating he may have lost his social influence and power. This decrease may reflect a loss of influential leadership and a disconnect with his audience, who are not living the same rich lifestyle as Lamar does. Overall, Lamar’s lyrical themes changed quite a bit after he achieved fame and ascended to a higher socioeconomic status.

J. Cole’s lyrical analysis for his song “Who Dat?” returned several interesting results.

Themes in the song include sex and fame, with only minor references to his life prior to any fame and recognition. Phrases such as “I got that flame,” “heating up like May weather,” and “anything you can do I can do better” reflect Cole’s confidence in his newfound fame but do little to address social issues. He states things like “I been through hell conditions/wishing for air conditioning” and “the cloth from which we came, me and them is not the same,” but the latter may imply that he grew up in different or harsher conditions than his rivals, or it can be interpreted to mean that he has more grit than other rappers. Word cloud analysis shows the most frequent words to be “flame,” “Cole,” “world,” “chain,” and “want.” These words tend to refer to himself, with lyrical themes addressing that he’ll achieve fame, which shows he was rapping about success and fame before he achieved it.

Lyrical analysis for “No Role Modelz’” by J. Cole also shows interesting trends. With themes of corruption in Hollywood and the downsides of fame and money, J. Cole reflects on how life in Hollywood isn’t as glamorous as he imagined it to be before his fame. This theme leads him to include phrases such as “no role models to speak of’,” regarding his childhood and talking about “a better [him] before [he] was a B-list celebrity callin’ bitches ‘bitches’ so heavily,” where he discusses his heightened disrespect for women as a result of indulging in fame and fortune. He also references social inequalities and issues, such as the police coming fast in “white neighborhoods” and his dissatisfaction with “out-of-touch-with-reality” shallow women in Hollywood. Word cloud analysis reveals the most frequent words to be “fool,” “shallow,” “save,” “shame,” “reality,” and “regret.” Many of these words are associated with difficult situations, which may indicate that J. Cole is rapping about social issues and his struggles after he achieved fame, rather than before. The LIWC analysis in Table 2 (see Appendix) reveals that across both songs, J. Cole’s use of “I” words kept him in about the same socioeconomic status, and his consistency of negative emotions means he was likely generally being sincere in both songs. His cognitive processes increased more after he achieved success, which shows he is more truthful in his lyrics about how his life is now. Both his analytic and clout scores decreased between the pre-success song and the post-success song, which could indicate that although he’s achieved the fame he wanted, he does not feel as though he is in a higher place with more influence than he was before; which could be due to his dissatisfaction with the pitfalls of fame. Over time, J. Cole remained very consistent with his sincerity before and after he achieved fame, although his lyrical themes have addressed more socially conscious issues after he became famous.

Analysis of Nicki Minaj’s early song “Moment 4 Life” reveals a combination of selfconfidence and success and hope for the future of her career. She uses sentences, such as “I am no longer trying to survive [in the face of oppression]” and “this night reminds me of everything 50

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they [the system of oppression] deprived me of,” to describe how she is finally achieving success as a rapper. She credits her record label company, Young Money, for helping to “raise” her, but states that she is “still hood” and that “Hollywood couldn’t change [her].” Word cloud analysis lists her most frequent words as “moment,” “alive,” “wish,” “believe,” and “survive.” These words can indicate that she’s working hard to achieve her dream of fame and success and survive in an otherwise male-dominated industry.

“Chun-Li” by Minaj focuses largely on her achieved fame. Minaj frequently mentions her “Burberry trench,” “quarter milli [car] off the lot,” “Bentley tints,” and “Fendi prints,” pointing to her status and financial gains. Minaj also cites various powerful women in fictional games, such as Lara Croft from the game Tomb Raider and Storm from X-Men. She frequently bashes her critics and states that she’s “in the top shit, box seats” to avoid drama and gossip. The major themes of this song are Minaj’s fame, her wealth, and the rejection of her critics. Word cloud analysis shows that Minaj’s most frequent words are designers, such as “Fendi,” “Bentley,” “Benz,” and “Burberry,” as well as “lifestyle,” “tints,” “prints,” and “bad.” All these words reflect famous brands and a wealthy lifestyle, with “tints” referencing sunglasses and “prints” referencing expensive animal fur clothing. It is clear from the word cloud analysis that she is rapping solely about her fame, success, and wealth in this song. According to the LIWC analysis in Table 3 (see Appendix), before and after Nicki Minaj achieved fame, she still uses personal pronouns as if she has a lower status in the world. This could be attributed to her presence as a Black female, which is one of the most highly discriminated against demographics in the United States, and/or because she is a Black female working to achieve fame in a male-dominated industry that continuously degrades and sexualizes Black women. Additionally, while her negative emotions go up in “Chun-Li,” her cognitive processes go down, which could indicate that she’s lying or being insincere about the benefits of her fame and fortune. Finally, prior to fame, her analytic and clout scores were low, but they increased after she achieved fame. This may indicate that despite her status in the world, she now belongs to a higher socioeconomic status and feels as though she’s achieved some power and influence through her popularity.

Compared to her pre-fame lyrical themes, however, Minaj no longer appears to be humble in the face of Hollywood.

The lyrical analysis for Rihanna’s “Pon De Replay” returned little to no results for the ambiguity of terms and/or varying themes. The major theme of lifestyle/sociality overlooks the entire song, and the lyrics focus on dancing “‘til the moon becomes the sun.” Originally written as a club song, Rihanna does a great job at delivering the pop- and club-vibe the song was intended for. However, it leaves little for analysis, as is sometimes found with popular songs.

Word cloud analysis determined the most frequent words to be “come,” “DJ,” “dancefloor,” “replay,” “music,” and “everybody,” which reflects exactly what the song is intended to be about: dancing and music.

For Rihanna’s song “Only Girl (In the World),” the focus of female dominance, love, and sex take over. Asking her partner to “love [her] like [she’s] a hot ride” before stating she wants to “make [them] beg for it” reveals a strong tendency towards a theme that sells—sex. Word cloud analysis places “want,” “girl,” “world,” “love,” “feel,” “ride,” and “command” as some of the most frequently mentioned words, which can indicate female agency and power. While it is undeniable that Third-Wave Feminism has offered female rap/hip-hop artists the ability to take

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agency over their sexuality and female identity,87 sex is, and always has been, something that attracts an audience. The only difference is the target audience of this new agency: women, instead of the traditional target audience, men.88 It is also very plausible that modern female rappers, such as Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, are indebted to artists like Minaj and Rihanna, amongst others, for the progress they made in the rap/hip-hop industry in earlier years.

According to the LIWC analysis in Table 4 for both of Rihanna’s songs (see Appendix), Rihanna’s use of personal pronouns prior to fame was low, which, in a normal song, could indicate that she was of a lower socioeconomic status. However, because this song is almost exclusively about encouraging people to dance to the DJ’s music, it makes sense why her use of personal pronouns would be lower than average. Similarly, across both songs, her use of negative emotions is almost non-existent. Interestingly, though, after she achieved fame, her use of personal pronouns increased along with her cognitive processes. This could signify that she genuinely feels she has a lower status, especially as she’s advocating for sexual agency as a woman in the song “Only Girl (In the World).” Finally, prior to her fame, Rihanna’s analytic and clout levels were higher, which would usually mean she has more power and influence and is part of a higher socioeconomic status. This could be attributed to Rihanna’s role of encouraging people to dance at an expensive club in the song “Pon de Replay.” However, the decrease in analytical words and clout after fame could be a result of “Only Girl (In the World)” being a little more personal and open about her desires. Altogether, though, Rihanna didn’t have much change in her variables and therefore, her lyrical themes, pre- and post-success.

Conclusion The analysis of Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole reveals some interesting trends in terms of social issues. Lamar’s lyrics across the two songs display a trend from widely discussing and advocating against social issues to rapping about his own fame and escape from those same issues. J. Cole, on the other hand, began rapping about his fame and growing fortune before he began rapping about his dissatisfaction with the realities of Hollywood and a life of wealth and fame. This is not to say that rap/hip-hop music with socially conscious lyrical themes is better than rap/hip-hop music with more surface-level and materialistic lyrical themes; this paper is simply working to trace the change over time between lyrical themes as rap/hip-hop artists achieve fame and success.

With Nicki Minaj being liminal between the genres of rap/hip-hop and pop music, she combines structural and thematic elements of both genres in her lyrics. Her trends in song themes support the thesis of a change in lyricism as a result of a change in socioeconomic status, with her first song talking about her goals and stating that she will remain humble before her second song talks largely about designer brands and her overarching success as the “Queen of Rap.” While this could be a case of Lamar, J. Cole, and Minaj simply rapping about “what they know” and their “new normal,” this does not change the fact that the lyrical themes in their songs changed over time and may influence a genre-wide shift from songs addressing socioeconomic

Valerie Chepp, “Black Feminism and Third-Wave Women’s Rap: A Content Analysis, 1996– 2003,” Popular Music and Society 38, 5, 2014, pp. 545-564.

88 Maddy Coy, Josephine Wakeling, and Maria Garner, “Selling sex sells: Representations of prostitution and the sex industry in sexualised popular culture as symbolic violence,” Women’s Studies International Forum 34, 5, 2011, pp. 441-448.

87

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and racial inequalities toward songs talking about fame, wealth, and sex. Rihanna, on the other hand, sang in the two selected songs solely about what sells: sex, love, dominance, and partying.

Rihanna, unlike the other three artists in this comparative analysis, also did not contribute to writing either of her songs. This could be a large part of the reason why Rihanna’s songs lack any depth and reference to social issues.

Rap/hip-hop music’s origins in inner-city, poor, Black communities spawn a lot of original content about personal and systematic issues. The change in values and themes as a result of fame could, in part, be due to the corporate aspect of music labels; they only want to produce what they know will sell, and that includes similar themes to pop music (sex, love, drugs, partying, etc.). However, because rappers are largely still in charge of writing their own songs, the theory of corporate influence could also be refuted.

The limitations of this study and its analysis include a limited version of the LIWC software that omits several highly beneficial categories for this study. The non-limited version of the LIWC software also includes categories, such as biological processes (body, health/illness, sexuality), core drives and needs (achievement, power, reward focus), and personal concerns (work, leisure, home, money, religion, death), all of which could help analyze lyrical themes and dissect songs on a deeper level. Having the ability to do this would give us greater insight into the depths of the change in lyrical themes or insight into whether there was any actual change.

Additionally, the LIWC and word clouds also do not account for local words, slang, and word ambiguity that could help explain the significance of certain lines or phrases in each song. This study would also be more valid if the song sample size was larger than two songs per artist, as it is not representative of an artist’s entire discography. Using more artists to provide a more widespread reach within the rap/hip-hop genres could offer insight into whether the changes in lyrical themes over time is an industry-wide change. Additionally, it may be worthwhile for future study to analyze whether there is change over time after artists sign with big-industry music labels, and future analysis could potentially evaluate the lyrical themes between “oldschool rappers” and modern-day “mumble rappers.” Regardless, this baseline research leaves plenty of doors open for further research on whether a rap/hip-hop artist’s values and lyrical themes change as they achieve higher levels of success and socioeconomic status and how that might affect the industry and its audience as a whole.

Bibliography Baber, Mike. “RapReview of the Week: Kendrick Lamar: Section.80.” RapReviews. July 19, 2011. (November 23, 2018).

Berger, Minh. “Lyrical and Mumble Rap: The Clash of Two Generations,” Bull and Bear McGill: Arts & Culture. October 6, 2018.

Billboard. “Kendrick Lamar Chart History: Hot 100.” Billboard. 2018. (November 10, 2018).

Billboard. “J. Cole Chart History: Hot 100.” Billboard. 2018. (November 10, 2018).

Billboard. “Nicki Minaj Chart History: Hot 100.” Billboard. 2018. (November 10, 2018).

Billboard. “Rihanna Chart History: Hot 100.” Billboard. 2018. (November 10, 2018).

Boi, Big, Sleepy Brown, Anthony Parrino, Andre 3000, J. Cole. “Who Dat Lyrics.” Genius.

2010. (November 17, 2018).

Brooks, Alisha, Carl Sturken, Evan Rogers, Vada Nobles. “Pon de Replay Lyrics.” Genius.

2005. (November 17, 2018).

Chepp, Valerie. “Black Feminism and Third-Wave Women’s Rap: A Content Analysis, 1996– 2003.” Popular Music and Society 38, 5, (2014), pp. 545-564.

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Christenson, Peter G., Silvia de Haan-Rietdjik, Donald F Roberts, Tom F.M. ter Bogt. “What has America been singing about? Trends in themes in the U.S. top-40 songs: 1960-2010.”

Psychology of Music (2018). pp. 1-19.

Cole, J. “No Role Modelz Lyrics.” Genius. 2014. (November 17, 2018).

Coy, Maddy, Josephine Wakeling, Maria Garner. “Selling sex sells: Representations of prostitution and the sex industry in sexualised popular culture as symbolic violence.”

Women’s Studies International Forum 34, 5, (2011). pp. 441-448.

Drake, “Started from the Bottom Lyrics.” Genius. 2013.

Editors, Biography.com. “J. Cole Biography.” A&E Television Networks, Biography.com.

May 25, 2017. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Biography.com. “Kendrick Lamar Biography.” A&E Television Networks, Biography.com. April 2, 2014. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Biography.com. “Nicki Minaj Biography.” A&E Television Networks, Biography.com.

April 2, 2014. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Biography.com. “Rihanna Biography.” A&E Television Networks, Biography.com.

April 1, 2014. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Metacritic. “Cole World: The Sideline Story by J. Cole.” Metacritic. 2011. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Metacritic. “Section.80 by Kendrick Lamar.” Metacritic. 2011. (November 23, 2018).

Editors, Roc Nation. “Rihanna.” Roc Nation. 2018. (November 23, 2018).

Kacewicz, Ewa, et al. “Pronoun Use Reflects Standings in Social Hierarchies,” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 2013.

Lamar, Kendrick, J. Cole. “HiiiPoWeR Lyrics.” Genius. 2011. (November 17, 2018).

Newman, Matthew L., et al. “Lying Words: Predicting Deception from Linguistic Styles,” Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2003.

Nicole, Crystal, Sandy Vee, StarGate. “Only Girl (In the World) Lyrics.” Genius. 2010.

(November 17, 2018).

Padania, Jesal ‘Jay Soul’. “J. Cole: Cole World: The Sideline Story: Roc Nation.” RapReviews.

September 27, 2011. (November 17, 2018).

Pettijohn, Terry F., Sacco Donald F. Jr. “The Language of Lyrics: An Analysis of Popular Billboard Songs Across Conditions of Social and Economic Threat.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 28 (2009). pp. 297-311.

Plu$$, Mike WiLL Made-It, Kendrick Lamar. “HUMBLE. Lyrics.” Genius. 2017. (November 17, 2018).

Reid, J. (Chevi Music), Nicki Minaj. “Chun-Li Lyrics.” Genius. 2018. (November 17, 2018.)

Richardson, Jeanita W., Kim A. Scott. “Rap Music and Its Violent Progeny: America’s Culture of Violence in Context.” Journal of Negro Education 71, 3 (2002). pp. 175-192.

Salaam, Mtume ya. “The Aesthetics of Rap.” African American Review 29, 2 (1995). pp. 303315.

Savage, Mark. “Steaming is music’s biggest money-maker.” BBC News. April 24, 2018.

(November 23, 2018).

Seraj, Sarah, Kate Blackburn, James W. Pennebaker. “Language left behind on social media exposes the emotional and cognitive costs of a romantic breakup,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, 7, 2021.

T-Minus, Nikhil Seetharam, Drake, Nicki Minaj. “Moment 4 Life Lyrics.” Genius. 2010.

(November 17, 2018).

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Discography Cole, J. Who Dat. Roc Nation, Columbia. 1, 2010, digital download.

Cole, J. 2014 Forest Hills Drive. ByStorm Entertainment, Columbia Records, Dreamville Records, Roc Nation. 9, 2014, studio album.

Lamar, Kendrick. Section.80. Top Dawg Entertainment. 1, 2011, digital download.

Lamar, Kendrick. DAMN. Aftermath, Interscope, Top Dawg Entertainment. 8, 2017, digital download.

Minaj, Nicki. Pink Friday. Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, Universal Motown. 7, 2010, studio album.

Minaj, Nicki. Queen. Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records. 10, 2018, studio album.

Rihanna. Music of the Sun. Def Jam Recordings, SRP Records. 1, 2005, studio album.

Rihanna. Loud. Def Jam Recordings, SRP Records. 5, 2010, studio album.

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Appendix Table 1: Kendrick Lamar

LIWC Categories

Averages

HiiiPoWeR

HUMBLE.

"I"-Words (I, me, my)

8.7

5.8

5.5

Negative Emotions

2.12

4.8

7.2

Cognitive Processes

12.52

10.1

2.7

Analytic

44.88

65.5

93

Clout

37.02

63.9

21.1

Summary Variables

Table 2: J. Cole

LIWC Categories

Averages

Who Dat?

No Role Modelz

"I"-Words (I, me, my)

8.7

7.6

6.7

Negative Emotions

2.12

4.9

4.8

Cognitive Processes

12.52

8.6

10.9

Analytic

44.88

16.8

10.4

Clout

37.02

69.3

41.5

Summary Variables

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Table 3: Nicki Minaj

LIWC Categories

Averages

Moment 4 Life

Chun-Li

"I"-Words (I, me, my)

8.7

10.8

10.4

Negative Emotions

2.12

2.1

4.6

Cognitive Processes

12.52

11.6

5.1

Analytic

44.88

20.4

62.3

Clout

37.02

21.5

36.2

Summary Variables

Table 4: Rihanna

LIWC Categories

Averages

Pon de Replay

Only Girl (In the World)

"I"-Words (I, me, my)

8.7

3

10.6

Negative Emotions

2.12

0.5

0.3

Cognitive Processes

12.52

7.2

12.8

Analytic

44.88

79.7

48.8

Clout

37.02

91.2

87.2

Summary Variables

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Modes de langue et de culture française chez Anna Karénine Nicole Prince Nicole Prince (‘22), a senior biology, English, and French major, noticed interdisciplinary connections and importances between culture, language, literature, and society in a course titled World Literatures. The focus of the course was 18th- and 19th-century Russian literature and society, which were saturated with French influences. Before taking the course, Nicole did not realize the historic significance of French culture and language in Russia.

The most fulfilling part of doing this research was applying her multicultural interests in language and literature, connecting with more than one of her majors, and building interdepartmental relationships. Although it was an English course, she decided to submit two drafts, one in English and the other in French, for practice. Dr. Virginia Leclercq encouraged Nicole to challenge herself and to submit what is Innovation’s first French manuscript. Dr. Leclercq is a motivational force inside and outside the classroom for Nicole, and her guidance remains invaluable and deeply appreciated. After graduating from High Point University, Nicole plans to pursue a career in publishing.

Abstract In the eighteenth century, Peter the Great revolutionized Russia with his progressive and rigid views of modernization and Europeanization. While his quest to transform and reform Russia into a desirable imitation of Europe was accepted and exciting to some, it was the opposite for many; Leo Tolstoy was one of those in opposition. French culture and its language were particularly successful in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia because of their practicality and idealization. They permeated Russian culture in an irreversible way, twisting the very nature of Russian identity. The purpose of this paper is to observe the influence of French culture, especially the French language, on Russian society, specifically through an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century social lens. Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is a vehicle for this exploration, with its French themes of adultery, betrayal, and figurative disguise. In his novel, Tolstoy demonstrates that these themes influenced social forms among many aristocratic characters and their complicated relationships. Moreover, the “Russianness” of these characters and their dynamics is challenged by their “Frenchness.” This relentless vacillation between cultural French domination and the hope of a preserved Russian culture confronts some of the most important of the “Accursed Questions” of Russian society: what did it mean to be Russian, how should men and women behave, and how should society be constructed?

Keywords: russia, french, language, anna karenina, tolstoy, culture, society, relationships, identity, eighteenth century, nineteenth century

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ans la Russie des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, la langue française était une forme sociale déterminante, particulièrement pour l’aristocratie, mais n’était pas une langue officielle ou nationale. « French was a noble vernacular, a vehicular language, and a literary language » (Rjéoutski 105). Le Français a compliqué certaines des questions de la société russe, y compris ce que signifiait être Russe, les influences européennes sur la Russie, comment les hommes et les femmes devaient se comporter, et la nature de la société. Anna Karénine de Leo Tolstoï explore l’influence de la culture français et de sa langue sur la société russe, avec des thèmes français de l’adultère, de la trahison, et du déguisement figuratif. Les identités russes avaient une certaine dépendance à la culture française, particulièrement à la langue française. Le Français était pour « social relations, education, and artistic expression » et le Russe pour communiquer avec les serfs ou les classes sociales inférieures, « in administrative organs, and for commerce » (105). Bien que la culture française ait envahi la culture russe traditionnelle de beaucoup de façons, y compris sa mode, son architecture, sa philosophie, sa moralité, et son art, la langue française était peut-être l’influence culturelle la plus parasite sur la vie historique russe (193, 209). Dans Anna Karénine, cette « francité » historique et sociale se connecte à de nombreux personnages aristocratiques — masculins et féminins —, entre en conflit avec leur « russiannité, » et illustre comment la langue et la culture françaises affectent les relations entre leurs identités et leurs rôles dans le roman et dans la société. Pour ces personnages, les luttes entre la domination culturelle français et la préservation culturelle russe deviennent les questions d’identité ultimes.

Avant d’examiner Anna Karénine, il est important d’étudier l’emploi historique de la langue française dans la Russie des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles. Pierre le Grand a commencé d’européanisation de la Russie, « reinventing himself and his aristocracy in the European mould » (Figes 43). Au XVIIIe siècle, l’aristocratie mettaient en scène leurs vies comme sur scène, et la réforme des mœurs de Pierre le Grand a compris les codes vestimentaires, les langues étrangères, et « conscious imitation of the West » (43). Il a rejeté et interdit les traditions Moscovites comme la barbe. « The aristocracy was to learn to speak French, to converse politely, and to dance the minuet » (43). Ces nouvelles mœurs sociales étaient pour les hommes et les femmes, et elles concernaient principalement les convenances. Les nouvelles mœurs ont redéfini l’identité Russe. Pierre le Grand exigeait la performance de ces mœurs en dehors de la « russiannité » naturelle de l’aristocratie. « The point was not to become a European, but rather act as one … ‘The point was not to be but to appear’ » (44).

Le Français a réussi en Russie parce que “there were practical considerations (French was Europe’s main diplomatic language…); French culture was predominant all over Europe; …

French was considered a precise, balanced, and clear language and thus deemed the ideal instrument for communication.” (Rjéoutski 228) En effet, les membres de l’aristocratie devaient toujours conserver leur identité russe mais avec les idéaux et les comportements occidentaux, y compris la langue française. Leur succès en société dépendait de ces apparences et ces comportements. Ces Russes européanisés avaient des couches d’identités séparées, « …one level was conscious of acting out life according to prescribed European conventions; yet on another plane his inner life was swayed by Russian customs and sensibilities » (Figes 44).

Le Français comme langue parlée n’était pas le seul défi pour la Russie. Il y avait aussi le défi de développer une littérature nationale et une langue littéraire. Contrairement aux français et aux anglais, les écrivains russes ne pouvaient pas écrire comme ils parlaient à cause des différences entre les formes écrite et parlée de la langue russe.

D

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The written language of the eighteenth century was a clumsy combination of archaic Church Slavonic, a bureaucratic jargon known as Chancery, and Latinisms imported by the Poles.

There was no set grammar or orthography, and no clear definition of many abstract words.

(50) La gamme linguistique s’étirait du Français parlé récemment devenu populaire grâce à la haute société au langage simple des paysans russes, ce qui mettait en question la « vraie » langue de la société russe et quelle langue devait être utilisée pour la création d’une langue littéraire. En ce qui concernait le vocabulaire des pensées et des sentiments, « most of them [have] to do with the private world of the individual, » il n’y avait pas de mots russes, y compris les mots comme « ’gesture,’ ‘sympathy,’ ‘privacy,’ ‘impulsion,’ and ‘imagination,’ » donc le Français était utilisé (50). La langue française était utilisée par beaucoup d’écrivains russes pour exprimer certaines pensées et sentiments et pour caractériser les sujets et personnages de leurs romans, particulièrement pour les classes sociales supérieures. Plus tard, au XIXe siècle, des écrivains, y compris Alexandre Pouchkine, essayaient d’échapper à la domination de la langue française « by inventing Russian words, [but] they [still] needed to explain these [new words] to their salon audience » avec leurs équivalences françaises (51). Essentiellement, l’influence de la langue française était inévitable.

Au début du XIXe siècle et avec l’invasion de la Russie par Napoléon 1er en 1812, la résistance aux influences françaises est devenue plus importante, particulièrement dans la littérature. Mais l’aristocratie était encore saturée de culture et de langue françaises. Dans War and Peace de Tolstoï, par exemple, le Comte Rostopchín parle de la domination de la culture dans la société russe : « The French are our Gods: Paris is our Kingdom of Heaven » (Livre 8, Chapitre 3, par. 44). Il y avait un désir de revenir à la langue maternelle russe, de migrer de la « francité » et d’adhérer à la « russiannité, » mais il y avait un vrai problème pour les gens qui avaient grandi en parlant français et en pensant en français, surtout l’aristocratie (Figes 102).

Plus tard, il serait dangereux de parler français dans les salons et dans les rues, particulièrement à Saint-Pétersbourg, le centre de l’européanisation en Russie. Ironiquement, « it was agreed to ban the use of French and impose a forfeit on those who made a slip. The only trouble was that no one knew the Russian word for ‘forfeit’ – there was none – so people had to call out ‘forfaiture’ » (102). Par ailleurs, la langue française affectait le développement d’une langue maternelle en Russie et empêchait le développement d’une « vraie » identité russe, alors même que la nation essayait de dévier du Français.

Tolstoï était un des écrivains à incorporer des voix anti-françaises dans son œuvre pour illustrer « French as the language of deceit and Russian as the language of sincerity » (104).

Dans War and Peace, ses personnages déclament des phrases françaises, « as if [they] were props that could evoke Russian life in the early nineteenth-century world » (Offord 549). C’était également une représentation de la condamnation par Tolstoï de la société et de la culture aristocratiques, « whose artificiality, contrivance, and falsity are illustrated by the habit of French-speaking » (549). Couplant ces modes avec l’identité bifurquée des Russes, War and Peace montre une société russe divisée parce que la coutume de parler français était un « key element of the behavioural code of a gilded European aristocracy that has become separated from the native peasant mass » dans une lutte pour se libérer de la francophonie en Russie (550). Ces médiations sur le comportement social et le bilinguisme noble sont omniprésents dans Anna Karénine, ce qui met l’emphase sur les thèmes du roman et les conflits à l’intérieur de et entre les personnages.

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Le Français se manifeste chez beaucoup de personnages de Anna Karénine de Tolstoï, y compris Oblonsky, Anna, Dolly, Kitty, Levin et Vronsky. C’est la représentation de ces personnages et de leurs corrélations qui illustrent comment leur « francité » influence leur « russiannité. » Quelques exemples généraux comprennent des membres de la haute société qui utilisent des appellations françaises et des surnoms, comme « l’enfant terrible » et « ma chère » (Tolstoï 121, 328). Les expressions françaises abondent dans le roman, des descriptions de la couleur des vêtements, comme « diable rose, » aux conversations à propos des événements sociaux aristocratiques, comme le bal de Moscou (72, 122). Cela inclut du bavardage général sur les autres dans les cercles sociaux partagés. Par exemple, un propriétaire terrien parlant de Levin dit : « ’I am very fond of him, and we are great friends, … Mais pardon, il est un petit peu toque!’ » (573). Dans une autre scène, Anna, parlant de La Princesse « Betsy » Tverskáya dit : « ’Au fond, c’est la femme la plus dépravée qui existe’ » (577). Ce bavardage montre la nécessité qu’a la classe sociale supérieure de blâmer les informations et opinions de la société inférieure.

En outre, le Français est également utilisé dans le roman pour donner des conseils sociaux aux autres, y compris quand la mère de Kitty, La Princesse Shcherbátskaya, dit à Kitty : « Il ne faut jamais rien outrer, » (205). Une quantité innombrable de phrases françaises jonchent le roman et soulignent l’illustration de Tolstoï du bilinguisme russe parmi les nobles et dans certains contextes sociaux.

Le roman commence par une introduction à la maison des Oblonsky et la découverte par Dolly d’une liaison amoureuse entre son mari, Oblonsky, et leur gouvernante française (1).

Commencer le roman avec une représentation négative et adultère des français prépare le reste du roman à d’autres représentations du même type. Tolstoï lisait régulièrement de la prose française, et il s’inspirait de l’adultère comme thème français « in the European style, » produisant un roman « philosophico-moral » et « [setting] the relationship among Karenin, Anna, and Vronsky into dialogue with the ideas of a range of French novels » (Meyer 152). La gamme des romans français qui l’inspiraient incluait des œuvres de Rousseau, Flaubert, Dumas, et d’autres. Tolstoï juxtapose la relation adultère la plus importante du roman entre Vronsky et Anna avec le mariage positif et réussi de Kitty et Levin, ce qui crée un contraste et une contradiction entre les modèles français qui étaient source d’inspiration pour Tolstoï et la pureté, la tradition, et les coutumes bibliques du mariage russe.

La littérature Européenne du XIXe siècle généralement représentait l’adultère comme un genre ayant des conventions comme « adulteresses [that] go mad or, more often, die—by disease, in childbirth, or by murder—while adulterous men perish on the battlefield, in a train crash, in exile, and a child often serves as a source of grace » (152). Tolstoï est fidèle à cette interprétation du genre adultère, parce qu’Anna souffre un déclin et meurt ; la différence étant la nature de sa mort : un suicide par train. Une autre différence des conventions françaises employées par Tolstoï est que les hommes adultères ne meurent pas. Vronsky ne réussit pas son suicide, mais il se peut qu’une partie de lui meure quand Anna meurt. L’enfant qu’ils partagent est une autre différence du genre de l’adultère français parce qu’elle n’est pas une source de grâce ; leur fille, Annie, est tout simplement là, ignorée, et demeure plutôt problématique. Ainsi, Tolstoï, peu compatissant envers Anna à cause de son adhésion aux rôles traditionnels des femmes (épouses et mères), tout comme Levin, utilise Anna Karénine comme réponse à d’autres textes français, y compris ceux de Rousseau, « by creating in Anna a complex, sympathetic adulteress with a moral sense, whose values are made explicit through the parallel story of Levin » (154).

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L’intrigue de Levin n’est pas directement attachée au genre français de l’adultère, mais Levin démontre son dégoût et son mécontentement pour la langue française, y compris la langue française. C’est la voix anti-française de Tolstoï dans le roman. Levin parle parfois français, par exemple quand il invite Oblonsky à son bureau (Tolstoï 153). Il fronce les sourcils quand il doit utiliser la langue parce qu’ils sont en présence d’autres personnes de la haute société ; il connaît les coutumes linguistiques de la situation et de l’environnement. La formalité invite l’utilisation du français, ce qui se comprend par de nombreux personnages du roman. Néanmoins, la désapprobation de Levin de la culture française est évidente, même dans les yeux des autres personnages, comme Oblonsky, par sa présentation au début du roman. Oblonsky voit Levin et remarque son nouveau costume fabriqué par un tailleur français. « ’Didn’t you tell me you would never again put on Western European clothes?’ [Oblonsky] asked…Levin suddenly blushed » (17). Ce n’est pas la seule fois où la mode ou les vêtements français sont liés à Levin et son irritation pour la langue française et les gens qui la mettent en pratique. Levin et Oblonsky rencontrent une serveuse française quand ils visitent un restaurant, et Levin trouve tout insultant chez elle, particulièrement son apparence. « Levin did not take any vodka, simply because that Frenchwoman—made up, as it seemed to him, of false hair, powder, and toilet vinegar—was offensive to him. He moved away from her as from some dirty place » (30). Il se souvient d’elle plus tard, l’appelant « a fallen woman … with her curls out » et « an abomination » (38). Cette description grossière se lie avec l’image négative de la maîtresse d’Oblonsky, la gouvernante française. Pour Levin, il semble que « francité, » particulièrement dans l’apparence et la langue, n’est ni attirant, ni bénéfique. Ironiquement, Oblonsky, un personnage qui aime le mode de vie européen à Saint-Pétersbourg et qui a une liaison avec une Française, défie un serveur dans ce même restaurant. Il représente également une voix anti-française quand il s’obstine à commander de la nourriture et des boissons en russe plutôt qu’en français. Le serveur continue de le corriger en répétant sa commande en français (31). Pendant un moment, la « russiannité » d’Oblonsky et de Levin dépasse la « francité » de la haute société dans laquelle ils vivent.

En outre, Levin ne comprend pas la routine obligatoire des femmes de la haute société, comme les Scherbatskaya, « to speak French and English on alternate days » ou de recevoir des cours particuliers par des « masters of French literature, music, drawing, and dancing » (20). Il considère que ces coutumes pour la famille, particulièrement les femmes, sont « wrapped in some mystic poetic veil » qu’il ne comprend pas ou n’accepte pas du tout (19). Pendant les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, les femmes utilisaient le Français plus souvent que les hommes en raison de leur environnement social (Rjéoutski 105). Pour les femmes nobles russes, la compréhension et la pratique des langues étrangères étaient nécessaires pour leur éducation et pour leur réussite en société (104). Comme les femmes Scherbatskaya l’illustrent, les femmes nobles russes apprenaient beaucoup de langues, y compris le Français, le Russe, l’Allemand, l’Anglais, le Latin, et l’Italien, dès le plus jeune âge à l’école et de leurs mères et/ou gouvernantes pour des objets différents, particulièrement les voyages, puisque quelques-unes « spent much of their childhood abroad » (104). Une des femmes Scherbatskaya, Dolly, poursuit ce type d’éducation avec son enfant, lui apprenant la langue française et lui lisant la littérature française. De la perspective d’Anna, Dolly est décrite comme une « grande dame » grâce à sa personnalité et à son dévouement à ses enfants et à sa famille. Ce n’est pas simplement un autre exemple de l’incorporation de la culture française dans leur culture maternelle par la haute société, mais plutôt l’un des nombreux exemples où Tolstoï utilise des phrases françaises à la place de la langue russe. Comme le contexte historique du développement et de l’emploi des langues française et russe l’indique, les équivalences françaises pour les descriptions ou expressions 62

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russes sont partout dans le roman, mais « grande dame » est un exemple. Un autre exemple de la substitution pour le vocabulaire français est expliqué par Tolstoï quand Vronsky parle en privé avec Anna sur sa véranda. « ’Forgive me for coming, but I could not let the day pass without seeing you,’ he continued in French. In Russian, the word you sounded cold and it was dangerous to say thou, so he always spoke French to her » (Tolstoï 170). Puisqu’ interagir avec Anna en russe aurait été trop formel pour leur relation, Vronsky doit choisir entre le Russe — une langue impersonnelle — et le Français — une langue très intime. Dans les deux langues, il existe une façon formelle et une façon moins formelle de s’adresser à l’autre, cependant la différence entre vy en Russe et vous en Français est plus grande. En Français, le pronom vous est à la fois poli et personnel. Puisque la relation entre Vronsky et Anna est confuse, parler français avec elle était le meilleur choix linguistique.

Même la mode française du mariage, « of parents deciding a daughter’s fate, » est critiquée et dénoncée dans Anna Karénine par ce qu’elle représente du contexte social et familial de Kitty (41). Les coutumes anglaises et russes du mariage, « giving a girl perfect freedom » et « employing a professional matchmaker, » respectivement, étaient rejetées, et les trois approches étaient « obsolete customs » (41). Bien que cet extrait n’isole pas la culture française de la culture russe, pesant l’une sur l’autre, il montre que les deux ont leurs problèmes, même dans une société qui utilise l’une plus que l’autre. Dans son mariage à Karénin, Anna voit qu’il est égoïste et que sa seule motivation est l’ascension sociale et la richesse. Tandis qu’Oblonsky se libère avec insouciance à Saint-Pétersbourg, Karénin prospère au gouvernement ; cependant, les deux personnages sont influencés par l’endroit qui représente la Russie aristocratique et métropolitaine « governed by a social code which Tolstoy finds superficial, hypocritical, and unauthentic » (Offord 553). Tolstoï utilise le Français pour souligner l’insincérité non seulement dans les observations de Levin sur les mœurs et les valeurs de la vie sociale aristocratique mais aussi dans le mariage de Karénin et d’Anna.

Au début de la fin de leur relation, Karénin utilise le Français pour discuter des affaires (extra)conjugales et sexuelles avec formalité. Un de ces moments est quand il observe la réaction d’Anna à l’accident de Vronsky pendant le steeple-chase à Saint-Pétersbourg. Convaincu de l’infidélité d’Anna avec Vronsky, et voulant empêcher plus de honte publique, Karénin essaie de persuader Anna, en Français, de quitter la scène : « ‘Karenin approached Anna and politely offered her his arm. ‘Come, if you like,’ he said in French; but Anna listened to what the General was saying and did not notice her husband » (Tolstoï 192). Lorsqu’ils quittent le steeple-chase, Karenin utilise encore le Français : « ‘I must tell you that you behaved improperly to-day’ » (193). Quand il réagit à la confession d’infidélité d’Anna, Karénin lui écrit en Français, employant le même usage pronominal de vous contre vy, comme discuté avec Vronsky et Anna.

Bien que vous évite la froideur de vy, le ton français de Karénin est extrêmement formel et bureaucratique (258). Historiquement, le Français était utilisé pour écrire des lettres comme une autre règle des convenances sociales.

French closing epistolary formulas were used even if the letter was in Russian, or in courtship, where ‘French was the proper language for writing to a lady’ or a fiancée. Russian was used for more intimate correspondents such as a wife or friends. In fact, writing in French rather than Russian to a friend would be taken as ‘a sign of coldness towards the addressee.’ (Cohen 132) Il est également important de considérer une autre lettre dans le roman qui emploie ces mêmes conventions : la lettre française de La Comtesse Lydia Ivanovna à Anna. Elle refuse à Anna la permission de voir son fils, Serëzha (Tolstoï 471). Ces conventions épistolaires, le choix de 63

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Karénin de ne pas s’adresser à Anna par son nom, et son utilisation du Français au lieu du Russe, renforcent l’importance de la langue et de la dynamique sociale dans la société russe d’Anna Karénine.

Il nous semble qu’une des utilisations les plus percutantes de la langue française dans le roman est sa connexion au « small, dreadful, » paysan francophone avec une « rough beard » et un sac. La première et la dernière apparition du paysan se produisent avant les accidents de train, dont le dernier est le suicide d’Anna (55, 695). Le paysan francophone apparaît dans les rêves presque identiques qui servent à avertir Anna et Vronsky (324, 329, 680). Tandis que Vronsky a seulement compris que le paysan « was say[ing] strange words in French, » Anna a entendu, « Il faut le battre, le fer : le broyer, le pétrir… » (324, 329). De nombreux symboles et métaphores se répètent dans ce « linkage, » y compris le fer, le train, et le sac et chacun se connecte aux façades, la fausseté des apparences et convictions sociales et personnelles, le péché d’Anna, et son destin tragique imminent. Ils rajoutent collectivement à l’importance du paysan parlant français. D’après Gary Browning : Sydney Schultze views the improbable French-speaking peasant as a ‘hideous misfit, an impossible combination, as a married woman who is willing to abandon her family, and finally her very life on the tracks, which themselves are a hideous abomination imposed on the old natural, simple life of Russia.’ (525) De ce point de vue, le paysan symbolise « Anna and Russia’s familial and societal descent into moral degradation » et souligne la représentation par Tolstoï des thèmes français de l’insincérité (525). D’autres interprétations du paysan francophone et d’autres symboles lui sont associés ; pourtant, il faut noter que le paysan peut représenter les nobles francophones les plus importants dans la vie d’Anna : Karénin et Vronsky. L’illustration intentionnelle de Tolstoï de la « francité » indésirable et artificielle de l’aristocratie montre que l’apparence et les manières de Karénin et de Vronsky les transforment en paysans peu honorables dans l’esprit d’Anna (529).

Dans les contextes historiques et sociaux de l’influence de la culture française, particulièrement de la langue française, sur la société russe, Tolstoï démontre et critique efficacement les formes et l’emploi sociaux de la langue et des coutumes françaises par la représentation de nombreux personnages aristocratiques et leurs relations dans Anna Karénine.

Leur « francité » défie leur « russiannité » et les « questions maudites » de la société russe par la connexion aux thèmes français — de la tromperie, de la trahison, de l’adultère, de la fausseté, et de l’insincérité. Œuvres cités Browning, Gary. “Peasant Dreams in Anna Karenina.” The Slavic and East European Journal, vol. 44, no. 4, 2000, pp. 525–536. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3086282. 3 Déc. 2020.

Cohen, Michèle. Review of French and Russian in Imperial Russia, Vol. 1, ‘Language Use among the Russian Elite’; Vol. 2, ‘Language Attitudes and Identity’,” édité par Derek Offord, Vladislav Rjéoutski, et Gesine Argent. Language & History, vol. 59, no. 2, 2016, pp. 131–134. DOI, doi-org.libproxy.highpoint.edu/10.1080/17597536.2016.1177336. 3 Déc. 2020.

Figes, Orlando. Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, New York: Picador, 2003.

Meyer, Priscilla. How the Russians Read the French: Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy. U of Wisconsin P, 2010. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=303227&site=ehostlive.

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Offord, Derek et al. French and Russian in Imperial Russia, Vol. 1: “Language Use among the Russian Elite.” Edinburgh UP, 2015. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1140022&site=ehost-live.

---. The French Language in Russia: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Literary History.

Amsterdam UP, 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1930687&site=ehostlive.

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Edited by George Gibian. Translated by Aylmer and Louise Maude, 2nd ed., New York: Norton, 1995.

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Project Gutenberg, 21 Jan. 2019, www.gutenberg.org/files/2600/2600-h/2600-h.htm.

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The Education and Misdiagnosis of English Language Learners Heather Simmons Heather Simmons (‘21) was an elementary education major with a minor in special education. Heather became interested in this topic starting her senior year of high school when she worked as an intern at a school. During her internship, a Spanish-speaking student joined the class, but the school had no plans in place to communicate with or educate the student. Since then, Heather has become increasingly interested in the English Language Learner (ELL) topic. Dr. Sarah Vess has been a wonderful mentor to Heather. Dr. Vess inspired Heather to seek dual licensure in special education and further her advocacy for the special education community. Heather is continuing her education at High Point University to receive a Master’s in Education with a literacy concentration.

Abstract English Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest-growing student populations in the United States, yet they are entering into an education system that doesn’t fully understand their challenges. With the influx of students entering the U.S. varying on every front, from language to life experiences, a one-size-fits-all approach will not be enough. This mindset may lead to a multitude of problems for the ELL, including improper education and a misdiagnosis. The goal of this paper is to inform on current practices regarding the education of ELLs through a comprehensive study, as well as serve an advocating role for the population. The problem of ELLs being misdiagnosed with a disability is a multifaceted problem with no agreed-upon direct cause. Possible causes relate to the preparation of teachers to understand ELL learning needs, cultural biases in the curriculum, or personal biases, all of which are dangerous to decisions being made about the student. This paper discusses many of the possible causes leading to this misidentification and suggests possible solutions to these problems.

Keywords: ells, misdiagnosis, disability

espite apparent bias in the Trump administration, the population of immigrants continues to grow, making our country more diverse than ever. Despite this growth, the way immigrants are viewed in society has not changed. Immigrants are still referred to as a small minority who should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. However, immigrants and their U.S.-born children are now approximately 90 million people, or 28% of the overall U.S. population (Batalova, 2020). “Nationally, the percentage of ELs [English Learners] enrolled in U.S. schools rose by 1.5 percentage points between SY [School Year] 2000–01 and SY 2016– 17” (United States Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition [USDE

D

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OELA], 2020). As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) grows, educators need to have a serious conversation about the proper ways to educate the children of our diverse communities.

Even though the population of immigrants and conversations about best practices in education are increasing, we have not seen a lot of concrete action. If we keep the mindset that our community of immigrants is small and insignificant, we will not be as motivated to seek action. However, this is a dangerous ideology. Children of immigrant families are the fastestgrowing population in the U.S. In 2015, two-thirds of ELL students (67%) were in grades K-5, while just one-third (33%) were in grades 6-12 (Pew Research Center, 2018). These data show that these students cannot wait for quality education. If a decrease is reported in the number of ELLs enrolled in school, it can be concluded that the school system is not doing enough to support them, and the students are falling behind. ELLs have been experiencing a disservice, receiving lackluster educational services and being misdiagnosed with disabilities. This misidentification can lead to improper supports in the classroom and accommodations on testing.

Many of these issues stem from a lack of support for this population and negative attitudes towards them. Bias limits the solutions to these problems with not enough effort being put forth to solve them.

Difficulties finding solutions have been documented at the state level, and states such as North Carolina, my state of educator experience, have been unable to find a solution. As an educator in North Carolina, I learned about this problem after observing the influx of Hispanic immigrants. “North Carolina’s Hispanic population is nearing 1 million, with 997,000 residents in 2018” (Tippett, 2019). The students of this community, as well as all immigrant communities, deserve an appropriate education. Suggestions have been made, and disproved, about how best to educate these students. Assessments have been designed, and deemed invalid, about how to test these students. Accommodations have been proposed, and denied, about how to help these students within the classroom. Considering that these students comprise such a vast portion of the population, it is shocking that the academic conversation is not around how best to serve these students. Not just the conversation but a spark for real change.

It should be noted that this paper is written from a general educator-centered perspective.

The process of referral, either for special education or ELL services, begins and ends with the classroom teacher. It is the teachers’ job to first identify the problem and collect data regarding the problem area. Teachers become part of the diagnostic team that helps to determine a proper identification. Then, this information is brought back to the classroom and used to inform instruction. If any of these areas are skewed from misinformation or discrimination, then the whole process is invalid. To ensure that this process is done correctly, I looked to the country’s guidelines on how to educate ELLs. Federal Law On the federal level, some attempts have been made to have immigrant children at the forefront of the equitable education discussion. When it comes to mandates about education, the federal government is hesitant to give a strict “one-size-fits-all” approach. Freedom is given to the states to interpret federal guidelines in whatever way that would best serve their students.

Additionally, if states do not know how to achieve this goal, especially with ELLs, this idea of states’ rights does not achieve the goal at hand. With all the resources and access to data about best practices the federal government has, the states could benefit from federal guidance in these areas. We should be lifting our states to a higher standard, rather than suggesting they should produce highly successful students, one way or another, without much support.

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The idea of raising the standards for immigrant children was first seen with the passing of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), ratified in 2001, as an attempt to teach immigrant children. The passage of NCLB heightened accountability by mandating the inclusion of these students in high-stakes state and national assessments and by requiring states to provide equal education opportunities for these students (Abedi, 2006, 2014). Though this goal can be agreed upon by all educators, the law does not say how to complete this task. Immigrant students are to be tested with their English-speaking peers, but no prerequisite educational standards are set forth.

NCLB made schools accountable for academic progress, in the interest of reducing performance gaps, simply by saying that this should be their goal and that funds would be allocated to reach their goals of higher-quality education. In reality, this proposition only deepened the performance gap, as the tests themselves weren’t racially or culturally appropriate.

“NCLB has not helped the nation and states significantly narrow the achievement gap. The racial and socioeconomic achievement gap in the NAEP [the National Assessment of Educational Progress] reading and math achievement persists after NCLB” (Lee, 2006, p.11). Teachers, who lacked necessary training, were forced to teach to these non-responsive tests because they had no other options. These educators are leaving students with a surface-level understanding, if that, of pertinent information.

The shortcoming in federal law and court rulings is the absence of specific and concrete guidelines, suggesting end goals do not do enough to bring about real change (Khong & Saito, 2014). Federal laws such as No Child Left Behind allow states to make their own decisions about the ways to educate students. However, when school personnel are not educated on best practices, administrators do not know how to achieve the predetermined goals laid out for them by the federal legislature. Substantial autonomy is given to states and districts in implementing policy, creating a risk of a gap between the intent of federal policy and actual classroom practice.

If districts do not know what they should be doing, they are forced to decide what they think will work, without having much data on best practices to support their actions. Khong and Saito (2014) reported on a finding from James Crawford, in which he observed the U.S.’s language policy. Crawford is an advocate for ELLs and founder of the Institute for Language and Education Policy. He observed that the United States has never adopted a comprehensive language policy built on the linguistic strengths of language-minority students. The decisions about how to best serve this student population are not being made because we are only focusing on the weaknesses, rather than the strengths, of these students. American school systems are not looking at the data and making informed decisions about their students. Due to the lack of a commonly accepted and operational definition of the terms ELL or LEP (Limited English Proficiency), as well as validity issues in the criteria used for such classifications, large discrepancies have been reported in the ELL classification practices across the nation (Abedi, 2006). NCLB exacerbates this issue, as it continues to fail at providing a working definition for educators to turn to for clarification.

The first step in helping children of immigrants is to identify them as being English Language Learners (ELLs) and our school systems are not able to consistently do that. There is also a lack of consensus in the field on who an ELL actually is (Abedi, 2014). A lack of common and consistent criteria to identify ELLs has been observed as varying greatly across states, districts, and schools. When NCLB gave states the freedom to decide how to educate ELL students, certain states made that decision on their own without consulting other states on the best way to do so. Most individual states did not allocate enough funding to truly assist these students. These large-scale decisions lead to problems of inclusion of ELL students in the 68

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national and state assessments, which goes against the main purpose of the NCLB legislation.

With this variation, research has shown that these tests are inaccurate, inappropriate, and invalid.

“These assessments are generally invalid because they were not developed for use with ELLs, or because they are being used for a purpose other than for which they were designed” (Lazarín, 2006, p.9).

As No Child Left Behind evolved into the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, passed in 2015) many of the principles of high-stakes testing and state autonomy remained. One of the main differences with testing was that the results of the tests were going to be taken into consideration when it came to funding and how to continue with each student’s course of study.

The funds that were allocated with NCLB remained with ESSA, along with the guidelines that states could use funding however they deemed fit to benefit their students. However, more federal and state dollars need to be allocated toward translating or adapting assessments and conducting studies to establish the reliability and validity of widely used screening and assessment tools in the most prevalent languages (at a minimum; Hardin et al., 2007). Giving states a lump sum of money, without any direction, causes the funds to be used as a bandage on a problem with no long-term solution.

When the push on the federal level has been to standardize education, one is left to wonder why the standardization does not extend to the education of ELLs. Finding that there was little to no guidance when it came to how to teach these students was quite surprising. If there is no guidance at the federal level then the states are, unconsciously or not, creating a divide in the levels of services their students receive. The federal government needs to come up with baseline standards for how these students are to be educated, and states can add on from there. This lack of federal guidance can also lead to personal biases getting in the way of how school administrators decide to prepare these students and those who are assigned to educate them.

Teacher Preparation One of the first concrete steps we can take in creating a solution to the problems of not knowing how to properly educate ELLs is to prepare teachers for the job at hand. NCLB “does little to address the most formidable obstacles to their [ELLs] achievement: resource inequities, critical shortages of teachers trained to serve ELLs, inadequate instructional materials, substandard school facilities, and poorly designed instructional programs” (Crawford, 2004, p.

2). ESSA does not list the most basic requirements for teacher training. All of the guidance that is provided can be encapsulated by “dictat[ing] specific qualifications for teachers of ELLs; this is a matter that is determined by States” (81 FR 86076; D-3). Pre-service teacher programs are formed around the licensure requirements set by the states, yet there is no federal mandate for how teachers should be prepared to teach ELLs. If there is such a large ELL population, why are teachers not required to learn how to teach them? Diversity training is often provided in undergraduate courses; the issue of teaching a child English is hardly paid any attention. Outside of the pre-service educator setting, experienced teachers are also challenged to accommodate the diverse needs of ELLs. The majority of teachers are not well prepared to effectively provide for the educational needs of these second-language learners. In-service teachers felt that their preservice programs were an insufficient theoretical framework, as well as providing insufficient experiences to support their readiness in this area (Rodriguez et al., 2010).

This lack of preparation raises serious questions about the quality of instruction and the inadequacy of teachers’ understanding about how to handle second-language acquisition (SLA).

The unique needs and issues of students from different backgrounds, as well as the adjustment of coursework for ELLs, must be understood. Walker, Shafer, and Liams (2004) found that 87% of 69

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422 mainstream K-12 classroom teachers did not receive any training in ELL education. Not all ELL teachers are certified in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) or similar certifications, or their certification is temporary. To change the lack of formal training, the studies that have already been conducted must be examined, conclusions must be drawn, and decisions must be implemented.

One example of a successful approach to professional development for teachers who had a high number of ELLs in their class found that at the conclusion of the course, teachers felt that their content knowledge improved and were more hopeful about the educational success of their culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students (Rodriguez et al., 2010). Teachers were taught practical skills to use within their classrooms to supplement a loss of pre-service training.

Through the methods of direct instruction and continued exposure to a set of techniques being taught, in-service teachers gained skills to best serve their student population. The teachers who participated in this professional development course were more interested in strategies that could build from their existing techniques, as opposed to something completely new. This is an important finding because it suggests that these professionals were not simply interested in synthetic strategies that they could not see being implemented naturally within their classrooms (Rodriguez et al., 2010).

The need for professional development may be avoided if more educational time is spent with pre-service teachers. It is important to note that any changes made in the way we educate ELL students will inevitably divide teachers. For pre-service teachers, more attention needs to be paid to classes that explicitly focus on how to teach ELL students within a general education setting. An English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) license, or something similar, may have to be required to prepare pre-service teachers most reasonably for the job. Focusing on preparing pre-service teachers will limit the need for professional development seminars for inservice professionals.

For in-service teachers, the preparation methods may appear a little differently. An emphasis should be placed on explicit professional development sessions that are geared towards this specific student population. Teachers should work with one another to find what works with real students in an uncontrolled environment. It should be noted that, with this idea in mind, many districts have taken the “sharing ideas” notion as the only way of preparing their teachers. ESSA encourages professional development by stating, “In order to promote positive educational outcomes for ELLs, preparation and professional development for teachers of ELLs and school leaders should improve instruction, increase teachers’ and school leaders’ ability to implement effective curricula for ELLs, increase students’ English language proficiency and improve students’ academic achievement” (81 FR 86076; D-4). However, this often takes the form of sending teachers to conferences to learn whatever they can in two- to three-day sessions.

Clearly, there is a demand for more professional development to prepare administrators, teachers, and teacher assistants for meeting the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children and families. More bilingual professionals would greatly enhance communication for children in the classroom and families during the referral, evaluation, and placement processes. It may even be beneficial to require language classes for pre-service and in-service teachers. In addition to teacher training, there is a large need in schools for interpreter training. This will not only help those working daily with these students but also help family members to obtain more precise information, which would likely increase their participation throughout the process.

There is also a need for professional training to understand the purpose and appropriate uses of screening, assessment, and language proficiency instruments (Hardin et al., 2007). A lack of 70

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experience and training in this area is one of the reasons why ELLs are inappropriately placed in special education.

Although a strong teacher preparation program would be a good start to solving this problem, it will not be sufficient if we stop there. The education of ELL students can be an extremely challenging and daunting task, given the students’ strict timeline. Preparing teachers, whether before they enter the field or after, will at least give them a baseline knowledge of how these students learn. As no student learns the same, this cannot be comprehensive knowledge, but it can give teachers more skills to ensure that they are responsive to their students’ challenges in understanding information. Preparation courses will help, but, overall, the obstacles teachers confront are social, institutional, and personal in nature (Khong & Saito, 2014). To start tackling these issues, teacher educators need to be taking the lead in providing effective instruction regarding these critical issues faced by ELL teachers (Rodriguez et al., 2010).

In every case of job preparation, one can assume that they will be prepared for the job they are getting, but this may not be the case with ELL educators. Due to the lack of ELL preparation classes offered in most undergraduate programs, teachers are not prepared for the future diversity of their classrooms. The preparation must start in undergraduate programs to fully alleviate this problem. However, if this does not happen, more professional development regarding ELLs and how to handle their diverse life situations needs to be offered to in-service teachers. If classes like these don’t exist to educate and curb prejudices, then teachers may fall victim to bias regarding a population of their students.

Teacher Attitudes Toward ELL Students As the rhetoric around immigrants becomes more negative and violent in America, it is no wonder that many teachers are implicitly providing their ELL students with a lower quality education than that of their English-speaking counterparts. Khong and Saito (2014) note that “a large number of ELLs are immigrants or children of immigrants, and are disadvantaged in terms of their educational attainment, economic situation, and social security, compared to the native U.S. population” (p. 212). This is an issue that is far too big for a teacher to fix, but their role can make things better for the student’s educational growth. “These societal concerns have transformed into a popular belief that newcomers do not wish to learn English and they waste the investment the country makes in their education...To a large extent, these problems manifest an underlying ideology of Americanisation” (Khong & Saito, 2014, p. 212).

The problem of Americanization arises when teachers do not consider the cultural differences of their students in terms of how to teach them when they educate students of English in areas such as U.S. history, government, and culture. Americanization also seems to exist in ELL teachers because “when teachers hold negative attitudes towards ELLs, this deeply affects the way teachers choose to behave toward their students” (Mellom et al, 2018, p. 99). Some educators may view second-language learners from a deficit perspective and that they cannot be held to the same standard as their other students (Rodriguez et al., 2010). ELLs are exposed to much simpler English due to a fear of their not understanding. Many teachers also believe that ELLs are not considered capable of going on to higher education. When teachers’ low expectations for ELLs’ academic ability are passed on to the students themselves, their ownership of these messages becomes a negative, self-fulfilling prophecy.

Teachers need to take the cultural and linguistic differences into account but not use these as a source of discrimination. Typically, the general education system does not respond to these disparities; both students get the same material. A student who does not speak English will receive the same books, with the same language structures and patterns, as a student who has 71

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spoken English their whole lives. “Unfortunately, in some settings scholars have documented that monolingual white teachers who work with linguistically diverse students in their classrooms often do develop deficit-based beliefs about those students, their communities and their abilities” (Mellom et al., 2018, p. 99).

Bilingual and ELL teachers are great resources for general education teachers; they are, however, not treated as equals. There is a lack of communication between ELL and regular education teachers; mainstream classroom colleagues tend to deny this responsibility and assume it is solely the work of ELL teachers. This not my responsibility mindset may inappropriately send students to special education services as well. Mueller et al. found in a national study that “the majority of the respondents (63%) were underprepared for working with ELLs” (2006, p.

249), causing them to feel marginalized. Paradoxically, teachers with the highest number of ELLs receive the least support from their schools.

Teachers of students in high school also face the responsibility of preparing students for a life outside of school. Due to the looming high-stakes end goal of releasing students into the real world, educators may become frustrated with the slow academic progress of their students with limited language abilities. Gersten (1999) found that teaching ELLs is so challenging that even initially confident teachers may begin to feel disappointed in themselves for not being able to support students effectively.

Teachers are not receiving support from their administrators, as negative attitudes from administrators toward ELLs may lead to unwelcoming attitudes among the staff. Most school systems lack the needed resources and appropriate curriculum to truly support their students, leaving teachers to feel isolated and confused about the purpose of instruction. The teacher now must act as a mediator in helping new citizens to integrate into U.S. society, as schools have become institutions to educate students who do not necessarily share a common background to live as equal citizens with one another (Khong & Saito, 2014, p. 221).

On a large scale, social, economic, political, and educational policies must be improved at national and state levels, and local communities need to develop better understandings of ELLs and their families if we are going to treat these students with the respect they deserve (Khong & Saito, 2014). Personal prejudice does not have a place in the classroom, and educator bias should not prevent ELLs from having a quality education.

As a starting point to ameliorate concerns with teacher preparation, more emphasis needs to be placed on how to educate ELL students. This will start a more accepting perception of the students before pre-service teachers even enter the classroom. Then, administrators need to put their perception of immigrant children aside to create a welcoming and diverse school community. They need to encourage the support of ELL teachers and the collaboration between the ELL and general education teachers. The general education teachers need to see their students as assets to the classroom and school community and treat them as such. Teachers need to take the time to learn about their students’ cultures and educate themselves on any differences that may affect how they learn or view teachers. However, for teachers to fully accept their students, they need to accept the challenges and existing struggles to move forward.

Though teachers can be active agents for positive social change, there comes a point when their opinions about their students cannot come into the classroom. When teachers have conscious or unconscious biases towards their students, it will affect their instruction. If you have no interest in these students being in the country, then you are not interested in their success.

Teacher preparation programs can help to educate professionals on how to curb their biases, but

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the true example needs to come from the top. Administrators must set a positive example and fight hard for their ELL students to lessen their classroom challenges.

Challenges within the Classroom It is no surprise that students who do not speak English cannot learn instantly in English, yet we are expecting them to. With some support, students are placed into general education classes with their English-speaking peers and expected to pick up the language, while learning the curriculum, and then are forced to participate in high-stakes testing. The main issues that teachers face are low achievement and literacy of ELLs. The level of academic achievement for ELLs has lagged significantly below that of their language-majority peers (Rodriguez et al., 2010). When ELLs were assessed next to their English-speaking peers, “only 29% of ELLs scored at or above the basic level in reading for eighth graders, compared to 75% of non-ELLs” (Khong & Saito, 2014, p. 217). Among the linguistic features that appeared to contribute to the differences in achievement between ELLs and their peers were low-frequency vocabulary, conditional clauses, and passive-voice verb constructions (Abedi, 2006). All the linguistic features present in academic text will enter students’ working vocabulary, only with extensive practice in real-world English.

Differences in social, cognitive, and academic language usages may also contribute to students’ struggles within the classroom, in terms of speaking and reading (Hardin et al., 2007).

Students may learn conversational English quicker than content-specific vocabulary, which they are not exposed to as often. Scarcella (2003) makes note that “the growing literature on teaching English in the content areas…has often focused on techniques, rather than on the acquisition of academic English” (p. 3). In this quote, she is saying that the teaching theory of today only focuses on skills that the students will use once they have mastered the language rather than learning the language itself. The curriculum is based around content knowledge, which is being directly taught, such as reasoning and critical thinking. This area is lacking in the education of ELLs (Rodriguez et al., 2010). This deficit in testable skills may lead to a lower IQ determination and thus an incorrect identification.

ELLs are performing even lower than students in special education, indicating they must need even higher interventions (Abedi, 2014). As these students are not proficient in reading or writing, there is an indistinct line between ELL students at the lower levels of English proficiency and students with learning disabilities (Abedi, 2006). Understanding the home language and English proficiency of children is a crucial step in distinguishing language and learning differences (Hardin et al., 2007). The use of bilingual assessors is recommended as the most accurate way to identify if a struggle is caused by a linguistic or cognitive deficit. Without knowledge of both language and development, this distinction is incredibly difficult to make.

Interpreters can be used, but bilingual assessors are better.

Abedi (2006) noted that the performance gap virtually disappeared in math computation, where language demands of the test items were minimal. Findings such as these make the source of language a clear form of struggle, rather than students’ intellect. Teachers must be trained to seek out these discrepancies to best educate their students. Despite this and many other tasks needed to create a functional environment for their students, ELL teachers are lacking the support they need.

Improved teaching and learning strategies alone may not be sufficient to modify the ultimate academic and professional outcomes for many second-language learners (Rodriguez et al., 2010).

Some strategies that have been effective for English-speaking students can also work for ELLs, but it is important to remember that the ways these two student populations learn are not the 73

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same (Khong & Saito, 2014). Harden et al. (2007) found that a bicultural and bilingual education is the most effective approach; including meaningful aspects of their culture and language in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals could help support this process. This approach suggests that bilingual teachers be included within classrooms. The roles effective bilingual teachers and teacher assistants assumed to help ELLs were “assisting children during classroom interactions; supporting parents during meetings, conferences, and home visits; offering one-onone tutoring; translating written documents; and providing professional development for other staff.” Responses to the same question for parents included “interacting with parents during meetings, conferences, and home visits; translating written documents related to parent communication; and providing professional development for other staff” (pp. 49-51). Many teachers who have access to bilingual teaching material say that is their best resource (Khong & Saito, 2014).

Hardin et al. (2007) also noted that “the skills required to be cognitively and academically proficient in English may take as long as five to eight years to develop” (p. 40). Even after the initial adjustment period, children may continue to learn at a slower pace, due to language differences or unfamiliar teaching styles, sometimes resulting in referrals to special services.

Adjustment problems may affect a student’s ability to learn and may manifest while assimilating into the dominant culture. Some studies have claimed that it would take five to six years of instruction for ELLs to overcome the language demands of mathematical word problems on standardized tests (Khong & Saito, 2014).

With the time needed and the time allotted so negatively proportional, it is crucial for general education teachers to educate themselves on the misconceptions that surround teaching ELL students. One common misconception was that ELLs should be able to acquire English quickly. However, ELLs need five to seven years before they can attain the academic literacy necessary to succeed in mainstream classrooms. The second common misconception is that ELLs should avoid using their native language to acquire English. In fact, the student’s use of their first language (L1) can facilitate second-language (L2) learning. The third misconception is the notion that exposure and interaction will result in English-language learning, but the mere exposure to English does not result in interaction or learning. Another erroneous belief is that all ELLs learn English in the same way and at the same rate, but it is impossible to generalize the same learning formula for all language-minority students or learners in general. Following that misconception is the idea that the younger the child, the greater the ability to acquire English.

Though young learners may acquire better pronunciation in some cases, under controlled conditions, adults can perform better. A final misconception is that children have acquired a second language once they can speak it; contrary to this idea, achieving the ability to communicate orally is not the same as acquiring academic literacy, which is critical for the growth and success of ELLs at school and in their future lives. ELL is not just good teaching.

When looking at solutions to this problem, it is wise to look to schools that have piloted some form of a solution and study their results. Some states have tried different approaches to the education of ELL students with varying levels of success. States, such as California, have passed laws severely restricting the use of ELL’s primary languages in classroom instruction.

Instead, the state would provide a transitional program of structured English immersion; however, this proposition failed. In Florida, research was done that pointed out the inappropriateness of the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) for many ELLs. These tests primarily measure proficiency in academic English, rather than content knowledge, to which ELLs can be greatly disadvantaged. This same set of studies saw that ELLs performed 74

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well in special classes devoted exclusively to them. Be that as it may, they did warn that when ELL students are separated from their peers, “they lost the opportunity to experience an enriching and challenging curriculum, thus decreasing the likelihood of them entering higher education and, eventually, higher-paying jobs” (Khong & Saito, 2014, p. 218). Rodriguez et al.

(2010) suggested that an integrated approach to ELL is best for this type of learner, as well as those with different learning styles, a benefit for all students, especially students with disabilities (SWD).

A lesson about ELL instruction could be taken from Japan, a country with high educational success rates. Sato (2012) reports on a Japanese school in which foreign and native students collaborate in every lesson to discuss what they do not understand, while the teachers regularly observe lessons and reflect on children’s wellbeing and learning. They do this to support each child, regardless of whether they are a newcomer or native.

As we should be striving for this model within the classroom, it will require a significant conscious effort on the teacher’s part. Since schooling in America is not exploratory in nature, it will be the job of the general education teacher to take the given curriculum and present it to their students in this way. This is no small task to change many pre-existing teaching theories.

This is where more culturally responsive teacher preparation and professional development comes into play. If general education teachers know the best way to present the information to their students while they are learning the language and working with bilingual professionals, they will have the highest rates of success. Despite all these beneficial factors, if the students are participating in culturally unresponsive or inappropriate testing, they risk the possibility of being misdiagnosed as a student with a disability and receiving inappropriate schooling and accommodations.

Teachers need to pay attention to the true nature of the students’ classroom challenges and see where changes can be made. Depending on the students’ levels of language proficiency, challenges can come from any number of criteria. It is the teachers’ job to find out the reason behind the struggle and do their best to alleviate that. Whether it be pre-teaching or providing support during a lesson, teachers need to work with these students as they would a student with a disability. The difference may be that the ELL student is struggling due to something languagerelated, rather than cognitive. It is the teachers’ and administrators’ jobs to find an appropriate assessment to provide this information.

Issues with Assessment In a typical general education setting, when a child is falling behind their peers, it is the job and responsibility of the general education teacher to take the necessary steps towards special education. This process starts with the teachers looking within and making sure the cause of struggle is not due to inappropriate instruction or a lack of support. If this is not the case, and the general educator has done all in their power to support the student, they must contact outside services. This usually manifests itself in a form of assessment, based on the areas of suspected disability. As this may seem to be the logical course of action for any student who is struggling within one’s classroom, extra scrutiny needs to be placed on these tests that were intended to detect a disability, not assess an ELL. For ELL students, assessments suffer from the impact of linguistic and cultural biases as sources of construct irrelevant variance. Students who have not yet reached the level of English proficiency required for these tests struggle from the mere act of reading the question. To provide a fair assessment and accountability for all, these nuisance variables impacting the reliability and validity of assessments for ELLs, SWD (students with a disability), and ELLWD 75

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(English language learners with disabilities) must be carefully identified, and their effects on the assessment for these students must be controlled (Abedi, 2014). The combination of language factors with content knowledge has raised concerns about the validity and authenticity of the available high-stakes assessment and accountability systems for ELLs, particularly those at the lower level of English proficiency (Abedi, 2006).

This trend underscores the importance of language on the assessment of ELL students and shows how the complex linguistic structure of the assessment may create a substantial gap between ELLs and native speakers of English. Standardized achievement tests tend to assess language proficiency, rather than content-area knowledge. This is an issue, as these tests are used in some states as the basis for special education referral. Some of the language demands in these tests are based on the norms of American culture, also unknown to ELLs. In addition to these linguistic features, ELLs also struggle with the test format, fatigue, and frustration factors due to test length, and overcrowding of pages, which influence their assessment outcomes. The higher the level of language demands of assessments, the larger the performance gap between ELL and non-ELL students. ELL students struggle with linguistically complex test items, regardless of the items’ content difficulty (Abedi, 2006, 2014).

Decisions need to be made, regarding the assessment of ELLs in test selection, test administration, and test interpretation/use. The teachers often do not have a say over what testing method is used; rather, they rely on their administrators to choose reliable tests. One of the main priorities an administrator should have when looking for assessments for ELL learners is the validity of the test, with respect to the desired audience. Assessments that are developed and field-tested for the mainstream student population may not provide valid outcomes for these students. There is a substantial gap in reliability and validity (Abedi, 2006, 2014). Although there are validity concerns in the classification systems for both ELLs and SWDs, the validity concerns for ELLs stem from linguistic complexities within the tests that are not relevant to what is being assessed. Abedi (2014) references an example: “If a test measuring math content knowledge (the focal construct) has a complex linguistic structure, or it is influenced by cultural biases, then the linguistic complexity and cultural factors, which are irrelevant to the focal construct, may affect the validity of the interpretation of the test results” (p. 16).

In a study reported by Abedi (2014), the effects of NCLB on the average reading scores of a particular school were compared. NCLB was designed to include all students in high-stakes testing that produced reliable and useful data, yet the success of that is debated. This study found that though NCLB improved test results for the reference group and students with a disability, ELLs were still being left behind. That being said, NCLB does not give specifics to certain assessment types that schools need to use, which may cause results to become invalid if a student changes schools. Due to this variability, there is an overrepresentation of ELL students in special education programs in some states. In the same study, Abedi noted that “26.5% of ELLs in Massachusetts, 25.3% in South Dakota, and 20.1% in New Mexico were placed in a special education program. This was compared to less than 1% of ELLs in Colorado, Maryland, and North Carolina who were placed in similar programs” (p. 5).

Instructional and assessment materials for these students should also be free of any systematic biases, such as linguistic and cultural biases. The unnecessary linguistic complexity of assessment has a large impact on this group of students, since they are learning the language as they are learning the content (Abedi, 2014). It is difficult to discern between linguistic and cultural differences and specific disabilities. Mayra Hayes, EL Director Guilford County Schools (NC), made note that even though schools in her county don’t use bilingual assessors, they do 76

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offer End-of-Grade (EOG) tests in the students’ native languages. This also helps to distinguish between cognitive and language difficulties. “Language classification (in English or Spanish), based on these tests, may add more uncertainty to the classification of ELLs than clarity of assignment or readiness for all-English academic instruction” (Solórzano, 2008, p. 293). When students receive such low scores on these improper assessments, the data point to a learning disability. This incorrect identification can lead to inappropriate services.

These misconceptions play a significant role in the misdiagnosis of learning difficulties and inappropriate placement of ELLs in special education programs, limiting their opportunities to keep up with their peers and enrich their learning experiences (Khong & Saito, 2014; Abedi, 2014). ELL students at the lower level of the English-proficiency spectrum with no disabilities may be misclassified as a student with a learning disability, due to their limited proficiency in English. Abedi (2014) notes that “literature shows ELL students with lower levels of proficiency in their native language (L1) and English (L2) have the highest rate of identification in the special education categories” (p. 5). In a study conducted on SWD, 68.1% were ELLs; assessment results were unfair, invalid, and ineffective (Abedi, 2014).

Based on the data above, it is no surprise that ELL students are disproportionately classified as students with learning disabilities (Abedi, 2014). ELL students with lower English language proficiency getting placed into the learning/reading disability category of eligibility are more common, based on how students become categorized in one of these areas (Abedi, 2006). This area of eligibility is often determined by an IQ test, which presents the same language complexity as other high-stakes testing. These complexities make the tests more about the students’ language skills, rather than their IQ. Though the identification determination for ELLs is usually Learning Disability (LD), it should be speech and language impairment (Abedi, 2006, 2014). This different identification offers a different variety of services and supports. These types of services are individually designed per student. This includes a transition plan to a school that educates a majority of native English speakers and meetings with a counselor. A speech and language impairment has more to do with the student’s ability to produce the new sounds of English, rather than cognitive impairment.

On the other hand, there is also the classification of English Language Learner With a Disability (ELLWD). This is not to be confused with an area of eligibility that a student is placed into once they are determined as needing support. ELLWD students would be classified into an area of eligibility, as well as being classified as an ELL. Classification and accommodation for these students require a more complex design than those for either ELLs or SWD. Proper identification of these students is a challenge if their disability is masked by their limited English proficiency or vice versa. This is another area where a bilingual assessor would be of assistance.

Improper identification may lead to inappropriate instruction, assessment, and accommodation for these students. This can be said for either ELLs or SWD, but the risk is increased with this intersectional classification. Linguistic and cultural biases may affect the validity of assessment for ELLWD students, as well as their other language-learning peers (Abedi, 2014). In the case of students who should be placed in special education, the issues of appropriate assessment remain, in addition to the struggles an ELL’s family goes through during the special education process.

Hardin et al. (2007) reported that common problems related to parent involvement in the referral, evaluation, and placement process include “insufficient methods for 1) determining cultural and linguistic differences that contribute to or inhibit communication between parents and professionals, 2) gathering information from families using culturally sensitive processes, 3) communicating assessment results and placement options with families within a culturally 77

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responsive framework, and 4) developing and maintaining culturally appropriate methods of communication with families after a child begins receiving special services’’ (p. 40). These shortcomings must be kept in mind when assessing the child, in addition to what comes after the student is determined to be an ELLWD. Studies that have looked at assessments given to ELL learners have concluded that ELLs have difficulty with linguistically complex test items and that reducing the linguistic complexity of these test items narrows the performance gap between ELL and non-ELL students in contentbased areas, such as math and science. Some of the possible language modifications for assessments include shorter problem statements, unfamiliar words that are not essential to the concept being tested (idioms or words that cannot be understood literally), and long phrases in questions. Other suggestions include removing complex sentences, logical connectors, conditional/adverbial clauses, and long noun phrases. Other variables that are not related to content include relative clauses, prepositional phrases, abstract (vs. concrete) presentation of problems, and passive voice and negation, all of which should be removed from assessments.

These features slow down students, make misinterpretation more likely, and add to students’ cognitive load, thus interfering with other tasks (Abedi, 2006). If ELL students are unable to understand the linguistic components of test questions, both in structure and vocabulary, the test scores do not accurately reflect the students’ abilities. Some schools have requested that the assessments be given in the students’ home languages, but that does not reflect the language of instruction. This may also raise problems of validity (Khong & Saito, 2014). Based upon test scores, students can qualify for special education services. Due to the factors listed above, students are scoring low on assessments because of aspects that are not related to their cognitive or academic abilities. If we cannot eliminate these factors, students will receive an improper identification, which will start the process of developing an education plan based on faulty data.

There is much debate about how best to assess students’ knowledge, but it appears that language proficiency should be the top priority. Since “most features of academic English depend upon the development of the basic English proficiency that is required to participate in everyday situations,” we should start here as teachers (Scarcella, 2003, p.27). There is a high probability that students do not have a cognitive deficit but rather a language deficit. There is no consistent approach for determining language proficiency, so that is the very first place to look for improvement. A systematic approach to determining language proficiency in both the home language and English should include observations in multiple settings, specific checklists, observation data, and criteria to determine when a child is ready to be screened or assessed in English. Assessment of language proficiency should rely on instruments designed for that purpose, not those designed to assess cognitive or other areas of development (Hardin et al., 2007). Using assessments for a purpose other than what they are intended is also a violation of another pillar of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Appropriate Evaluation.

Improvements to the federal legislature push us to improve our methods of evaluation to ensure that we are testing the right area and eliminating any unconscious bias. IDEA includes provisions of nondiscriminatory evaluation and procedural safeguards for family participation as well. The selection of instruments needs to be appropriate to the children’s cultural and linguistic characteristics, which would further protect the students’ right to an appropriate evaluation. If, and when, this happens, ELL students will be able to be placed in the correct environment that is suitable for their needs, equipped with well-prepared and accepting teachers.

However, more inclusive policies for testing may not necessarily lead to more academic progress for subgroups of students who are at risk of education failure, unless more attention is 78

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focused on the identification of these students. Classification issues may cause problems in curriculum, assessment, and accommodation for these students, as well as learning opportunities (Abedi, 2006, 2014). While it may take time for the tests to be rid of cultural biases, teachers and administrators can turn to certain accommodations to lessen the gap.

The biggest problem that school personnel needs to be wary of is the validity of the chosen assessment. Is this assessment actually testing what we need it to? What type of information are we going to get out of this test? How will this information inform classroom practices? Deep dives into the tests must be done. For the test to be truly valid, all cultural and language barriers should be removed. For this to be accomplished, a system may need to be created, depending on where the student is from as well as their language proficiency. However, this is quite the big task, as the standardized tests we have now are not free of discrimination. Before this can be fully implemented, teachers can spend their efforts crafting accommodations to help provide accurate test results.

Testing Accommodations The strategy of test accommodations for ELL students originates in testing students with disabilities. Because of this, many forms of accommodations used for ELL students were created for SWD and may not be appropriate for ELL students. Accommodations that are not effective in making assessments more accessible for these students may have a negative impact on their assessment outcomes (Abedi, 2014). Abedi (2006) reports that “research on the assessment and accommodation of ELL students questions the fairness of assessments that are used for these students, particularly those assessments that are developed and normed for mainstream native English speakers” (p. 99). Accommodations that alter the construct being assessed may also impact the validity of assessments for these students. Abedi (2014) cited a study conducted that evaluated 72 accommodations used for ELL students and found that only 15% were relevant and directly addressed the language needs of ELL students.

Abedi (2014) suggested accommodations, such as linguistically modified tests, customized English and bilingual dictionaries or native language or bilingual test booklets and computerbased testing. Abedi (2006) observes that math, reading, and writing tests were modified by a hierarchical progression of difficulty, unjustified arrangement of sentences, vertical arrangement of bubbles, placement of passages in shaded boxes, examples set off from test items, and arrows and stop signs in the corner of pages to indicate continuing and ending pages. These modifications had a positive effect on the ELLs’ outcomes. ELL students scored highest when a customized dictionary was provided for only non-content words that appeared on the test. Abedi also suggested linguistically modified English versions of the test; standard National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) items with glossary only, extra time only, and glossary plus extra time. Linguistic modification of test items was the only accommodation that significantly reduced the performance gap between ELL and non-ELL students. Clarifying the language of the assessment will be helpful for ELLs as well as SWD. Eliminating these content-independent variables will allow testers to get a more valid picture of what students know and can do.

Adding testing accommodations can help to bridge the validity gap that is present in assessments today. Assessors need to take a deep look into what is being assessed and how they can support the student to provide functional data. For example, when assessing rote computation, there is no need to have a word problem about a football field for a kid whose home country doesn’t have football. Focusing on the intended outcome of the assessment and removing the existing barriers will help create a test that fuels an equitable education.

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Conclusion This paper outlines how the American school system, particularly its testing system, fails ELLs. Immigrants have been entering our country since the days of Ellis Island in 1892, and we still ignore their learning differences and expect them to assimilate into our society and language.

These students are coming to a foreign land, often after having been displaced, and jump right into a new language. This isn’t to say that we should not be holding these students to a high academic standard, as with our native speakers, but we need to do better in figuring out the ways ELLs learn and use this information to properly supply funding for needed services. ELLs appear to be diagnosed with disabilities too often, when another one of the many factors listed above may be to blame for an apparent disparity. In 2018, there were 700,000 ELL students identified as having a disability (Bialik et al., 2018), 18% of the population. As this statistic is comparable to that of native English speakers, the number who have been misdiagnosed with a disability is unknown. Schools need to look inward at the possibility of misdiagnosis and work harder to ensure that all their students are receiving an appropriate education.

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Mellom, P. J., Straubhaar, R., Balderas, C., Ariail, M., & Portes, P. R. (2018). “They come with nothing:” How professional development in a culturally responsive pedagogy shapes teacher attitudes towards Latino/a English language learners. Teaching and Teacher Education, 71, 98-107.

Mueller, T. G., Singer, G. H., & Carranza, F. D. (2006). A national survey of the educational planning and language instruction practices for students with moderate to severe disabilities who are English language learners. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 31(3), 242-254.

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Rodriguez, D., Manner, J., & Darcy, S. (2010). Evolution of teacher perceptions regarding effective instruction for English language learners. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 9(2), 130-144.

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Solórzano, R. W. (2008). High stakes testing: Issues, implications, and remedies for English language learners. Review of educational research, 78(2), 260-329.

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Cortical Abnormalities Observed in Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder Allison Tucker Allison Tucker (‘22) is a neuroscience major with a minor in psychology. She became interested in bipolar disorder and depression when she noticed how the media covered the topics. The neuroanatomical and some neurochemical differences were often left out. Allison’s mentor, Dr. Kelly Curtis, guided her through the writing process by providing more clarity and impact to her writing. Allison received acceptance into the National Institute of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program (NIH UGSP), a program where 15 students are selected nationally to participate in a 10-week summer laboratory experience and a full year of employment at the NIH. She plans to complete the program after graduating and then enroll in a PhD program in either neuroscience or biomedical science with a neuroscience focus.

Abstract Significant advancements in neuroimaging techniques over the past decade have allowed researchers to identify the structural and functional brain abnormalities in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). MDD and BD have become more clinically prevalent in recent years, and with an increase in diagnoses, comes an increase in observed neuropsychological symptoms associated with mood disorders. Impaired cognitive functioning, memory, and psychomotor abilities are some of the most observed neurological sequalae. These symptoms are thought to derive from cortical anatomical abnormalities including volume reduction and impaired neurogenesis in multiple key structures including the hippocampus and frontal gyrus. Evaluating these mechanisms of altered neuroplasticity illustrates the relationship between both the disorder and the altered anatomy, as well as the relationship between persistent MDD and BD and the extent of cortical abnormality. As the general understanding of the mechanisms behind cognitive impairment improves, so does the prospective outlook on effective drug development. Here, I review the findings on the subject and their implications in expanding the understanding of mood disorder pathology and prospects in drug development.

Keywords: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, neuroplasticity, hippocampus, anatomy

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hrough advancements in neuroimaging techniques, abnormalities in cortical brain structure and function have been identified in major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). Altered mechanisms of neuroplasticity may be a significant cause of these anatomical abnormalities. By investigating these mechanisms, the new knowledge uncovered may facilitate the development of effective treatments for these mood disorders. Such treatments may involve therapeutic and pharmacological methods of increasing the volume of

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hippocampal regions that shrink as a result of many mood disorders. This may be done through the stimulation of specific neural circuits and promoting efficient brain glucose metabolism.

Prevalence and incidence rates of MDD and BD reflect the large-scale impact of these disorders within the global population. In a study evaluating global diseases and injuries from 1990 to 2017, incident cases of MDD rose from 172 million in 1990 to 258 million in 2017 (James et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2020). There has also been an increase from 3.06 million incidents of diagnosed BD (both BD-I and BD-II) in 1990 to 4.53 million in 2017 (He et al., 2020; James et al., 2018). The drastic increase in MDD and BD diagnosis has also been followed by increased observations of neuropsychological impairments on cognitive functioning, memory, and psychomotor abilities (Marvel & Paradiso, 2004).

Cortical anatomical abnormalities have been observed in those with MDD and BD and are often associated with the memory and cognition impairments seen in patients (Hibar et al., 2018; Perini et al., 2019). Historically, the term “pseudodementia” was termed to describe these symptoms in depression; however, work on better evaluating and understanding these symptoms remained stagnant until the 1990s when these symptoms were better classified and their associated mechanisms studied. Since then, data on these symptoms in both MDD and BD have vastly increased (Perini et al., 2019). For both MDD and BD patients, psychomotor difficulties (e.g., impaired connection between mental and muscle function) and impaired memory (notably, declarative memory and visual memory) have been observed. MDD patients specifically report a myriad of cognitive complaints that include difficulty with learning and memory, which produce worse performance of tests of immediate memory than individuals without MDD (Baune et al., 2010; Lam, Kennedy, McLntyre, & Khullar, 2014). The source of these impairments has been hypothesized to involve the abnormal functioning of the hippocampus (a critical structure of memory) and the disruption of connections in the somatosensory and motor cortices in the frontal gyrus that are essential for initiating and executing movement (Perini et al., 2019; Sanches, Bauer, Galvez, Zunta-Soares, & Soares, 2015). These impairments have also been attributed to the recurrence of depressive episodes, prolonging MDD pathogenesis in particular (Perini et al., 2019). In a study evaluating BD patients, the performance on verbal functioning and psychomotor tests was often correlated with the clinical outcomes of those patients, and poor performance often indicated more severe and prolonged symptoms and a greater rate of remission (Gruber, Rosso, & Yurgelun-Todd, 2008). To best understand the mechanisms behind these neuropsychological impairments, the volume reduction and impaired neurogenesis of these structures is an area of interest critical to outlining the pathogenesis of mood disorders.

The hippocampus has been the focal point of research into the mechanisms behind memory disturbances. The hippocampus is highly plastic and is identified as a key brain region dedicated to continual neurogenesis throughout life to aid in learning and memory processes (Cao et al., 2017; Eichenbaum, 2000). Neuroplasticity is a comprehensive term referring to changes of neural networks and is often a continual dynamic process; synaptic plasticity involves perpetual changes of neurotransmission. A majority of research on abnormal neurological traits in mood disorders is focused on neuroplastic aberrations, which include electrochemical dysfunction that can lead to altered synaptic plasticity (Hayley & Litteljohn, 2013; Zarate et al., 2010).

Decreased hippocampal volume is a strong indicator of MDD, BD, and the associated clinical neuropsychological symptoms. In a study of hippocampal subfield volumes using neuroimaging of healthy participants, participants with MDD, and participants with BD, it was revealed that hippocampal volume was significantly reduced in participants with both MDD and BD, when compared to healthy controls. However, the reduction in volume was more severe in 83

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participants with BD than in those with MDD, and participants with BD-I had more severe reduction than those with BD-II (Cao et al., 2017). Multiple factors have been hypothesized as contributors to reduced hippocampal volume, including impaired neurogenesis of pyramidal neurons and increased glucocorticoid levels.

Pyramidal neurons of the CA1 region of the hippocampus are key excitatory neurons that are essential to the continual formation and rearrangement of neurons upon stimulation, a process central to learning. When functioning correctly, memory consolidation of explicit memories occurs; however, damage of pyramidal neurons of the CA1 region have been associated with amnesia-like symptoms, most notably anterograde amnesia (Campbell & Macqueen, 2004). The immature neurons in the hippocampus are unable to differentiate into mature neurons; therefore, damage to these neurons results in impaired neurogenesis, cell death of mature neurons and glial cells that can be attributed to other neurotoxic factors. This explains the anterograde amnesia; if neurogenesis is impaired, then the neuroplastic rearrangement necessary for memory consolidation and learning processes cannot occur with the same efficiency of a healthy brain. It has also been suggested that the impaired ability of pyramidal neurons to differentiate may also be the result of hyperactivity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (MacQueen & Frodl, 2011).

The decreased neurogenesis observed is also attributed to increased glucocorticoid levels that overtly inhibit the activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF), which are essential to the cellular remodeling of neurons upon stimulation. The increase in these levels appears to be related to an increase in activity of the HPA axis; this is related to increased levels of psychological stress, which puts pressure on the HPA to produce more cortisol (Cao et al., 2017; Moica, Gligor, & Moica, 2016). Specifically, the HPA axis produces more cortisol because overall corticosteroid receptor (CR) signaling in the hippocampus is also impaired and is contributing less cortisol as an end product (Dranovsky & Hen, 2006; Holsboer, 2000; MacQueen & Frodl, 2011). Increased glucocorticoid levels are also associated with neurotoxic effects on existing hippocampal cells; this is an additional hypothesis of another contributing factor to decreased hippocampal volumes. The subfields most affected were the CA fields; these regions are the location of the interneurons critical to memory consolidation (Cao et al., 2017).

Anatomical deviations in cortical structures are not exclusive to the hippocampus; the medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the superior frontal gyrus appear to be affected in adolescents with MDD. The OFC is associated with higher-order functions involving decision making and reward-emotion associations, while the superior frontal gyrus has been implicated in working memory and self-awareness. The superior frontal gyrus also has links to critical somatosensory pathways and motor cortices (du Boisgueheneuc et al., 2006; Rolls, 2004). In a study of 20 cohorts around the world, where each cohort included individuals across all age groups, both the superior frontal gyrus and the medial OFC exhibited decreased total surface area, indicating less cortical folding but not necessarily decreased thickness. In both adults (where cortical thickness was decreased) and adolescents, abnormalities in the medial OFC were exclusively in participants with MDD when compared to healthy participants; the lack of cortical folding observed in adolescents suggests a direct disruption over normal cortical development propagated by MDD pathogenesis (Schmaal et al., 2017). Abnormal cortical folding and altered cortical thickness may contribute to the dysregulation of emotion-linked pathways, somatosensory pathways, and motor cortices that results in the discoordination of motor movements and altered somatosensation seen as symptoms of MDD and BD.

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As the general understanding of the mechanisms behind cognitive impairment improves, so does the prospective outlook on effective drug development. Currently, common antidepressants, such as serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are effective at targeting multiple receptors responsible for serotonin-reuptake. However, a newer drug named Vortioxetine not only acts like an SSRI inhibiting serotonin reuptake via the transporter protein, SERT, but it also regulates the activity of other serotonin receptors. It does so via a variety of mechanisms, ultimately acting as an agonist or antagonist on a variety of G-protein couple receptors and as an antagonist on a ligand-dependent ion channel. This unique and multifaceted action on a variety of receptors illustrates how Vortioxetine regulates serotonin both presynaptically and postsynaptically. This expanded reach of serotonergic activity has a larger effect on synaptic plasticity than traditional SSRIs. Because multiple mechanisms of action involved in MDD pathogenesis are targeted, Vortioxetine appeared to be a viable possibility as an SSRI alternative capable of better treating symptoms relating to neurocognition. In early animal studies, Vortioxetine eased neuropsychological deficits seen in animal models (Perini et al., 2019). In human studies, Vortioxetine initially did not appear to have any advantage of SSRIs, other than having less reported side effects. Studies that critically evaluated cognitive abilities revealed that Vortioxetine did improve performance on tests of learning and memory; these results were independent of whether Vortioxetine had any effect on other depressive symptoms (Bennabi, Haffen, & Van Waes, 2019; Perini et al., 2019). In a separate study involving women with MDD who were perimenopausal and postmenopausal, tests evaluating physical functionality were conducted and indicated statistically significant improvement among participants who had taken Vortioxetine. With this information on the effects of Vortioxetine in individuals with persistent and/or intense MDD, Vortioxetine stands as a promising treatment for specifically cognitive and psychomotor dysfunction (Kelliny, Croarkin, Moore, & Bobo, 2015). The effectiveness of Vortioxetine in treating the neuropsychological deficits seen in persistent MDD not only continues to implicate a relationship between the two, but it also indicates that the many mechanisms targeted may all contribute to the pathogenesis of MDD, in relation to the cognitive and memory deficits observed.

Overall, research on medications for cognitive impairment in BD is limited. It is thought that some Alzheimer’s medications may improve cognition and memory in patients with BD; however, these effects observed in early studies may have more to do with improved emotional regulation and mood stability (Sanches et al., 2015). This suggests that, at least for BD-I, stabilizing mood may have a secondary effect resulting in the improvement of cognition.

Non-pharmaceutical therapeutic approaches to MDD and BD treatment also hold potential in addressing neurocognitive deficits. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has become a common avenue in treating and managing MDD, and studies involving BD patients who underwent CBT indicate some positive impact of CBT on BD symptoms (Chiang et al., 2017; Zuckerman et al., 2018). Regarding treatment of neurocognitive deficits, it is thought that principles of cognitive restructuring found in CBT, including behavioral tactics to improve memory, attention, and awareness of thoughts, may lead to some cognitive improvement (Bowie, Gupta, & Holshausen, 2013). Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) is a method of treatment dedicated to alleviating neurocognitive deficits. Traditionally, it has not been applied to mood disorders; however, in recent years, it has gained attention for the potential benefits it holds for those with MDD and BD (Zuckerman et al., 2018). In a study evaluating BD patient’s response to CRT, executive functioning and working memory were two domains that improved post-CRT (Strawbridge et al., 2021).

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Notably, the impaired neuroplasticity that is associated with neurocognitive symptoms of MDD and BD may give rise to new and effective treatments. The treatments above are thought to target general electrochemical dysfunction observed in regions with altered anatomy.

However, as the understanding of neuroplasticity in memory consolidation and emotional regulation increases, so do the prospects in seeking effective therapies in repairing the flexibility of cellular remodeling in the cortex. Neuroplasticity improving medication-therapy combinations have been discussed as a potential treatment that can have a longer-lasting effect than current ones. Note that these combinations include commonly prescribed antidepressants (Perini et al., 2019). Current neuroplastic-training therapies work, but only for the duration of the therapy.

Afterwards, the individual often enters a relapse. Unfortunately, more large-scale clinical studies must be run for this route to be pursued further, as does research on the lack of dynamic neuroplasticity seen in mood disorders (Wilkinson, Holtzheimer, Gao, Kirwin, & Price, 2019).

Mood disorders are often associated with distinct anatomical abnormalities that can bring about the neuropsychological, consistently observed symptoms of these disorders. Mechanisms of neuroplasticity have been repeatedly implicated as the causes for volume reduction and altered cortical folding of key regions of continual neurogenesis. As research into these mechanisms continues, so does the work in prospective treatments and therapies. By studying the cognitive deficits observed in depression, the persistent and relapsing nature of mood disorders is also better understood. Therefore, as the mechanisms of neuroplasticity in mood disorder pathogenesis are illuminated, so are strategies in treating persistent neuropsychological effects.

The role of neuroplasticity is an avenue of opportunity in studying MDD and BD and holds promising potential for new therapeutic strategies.

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Bennabi, D., Haffen, E., & Van Waes, V. (2019). Vortioxetine for Cognitive Enhancement in Major Depression: From Animal Models to Clinical Research. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 771-771. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00771.

Bowie, C. R., Gupta, M., & Holshausen, K. (2013). Cognitive remediation therapy for mood disorders: rationale, early evidence, and future directions. Canadian journal of psychiatry.

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Chiang, K.-J., Tsai, J.-C., Liu, D., Lin, C.-H., Chiu, H.-L., & Chou, K.-R. (2017). Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy in patients with bipolar disorder: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0176849-e0176849. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176849.

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du Boisgueheneuc, F., Levy, R., Volle, E., Seassau, M., Duffau, H., Kinkingnehun, S., . . .

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Gruber, S. A., Rosso, I. M., & Yurgelun-Todd, D. (2008). Neuropsychological performance predicts clinical recovery in bipolar patients. J Affect Disord, 105(1-3), 253-260. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2007.04.014.

Hayley, S., & Litteljohn, D. (2013). Neuroplasticity and the next wave of antidepressant strategies. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 7, 218-218. doi:10.3389/fncel.2013.00218.

He, H., Hu, C., Ren, Z., Bai, L., Gao, F., & Lyu, J. (2020). Trends in the incidence and DALYs of bipolar disorder at global, regional, and national levels: Results from the global burden of Disease Study 2017. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 125, 96-105. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.03.015.

Hibar, D. P., Westlye, L. T., Doan, N. T., Jahanshad, N., Cheung, J. W., Ching, C. R. K., . . . for the, E. B. D. W. G. (2018). Cortical abnormalities in bipolar disorder: an MRI analysis of 6503 individuals from the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group. Molecular psychiatry, 23(4), 932-942. doi:10.1038/mp.2017.73.

Holsboer, F. (2000). The Corticosteroid Receptor Hypothesis of Depression.

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James, S. L., Abate, D., Abate, K. H., Abay, S. M., Abbafati, C., Abbasi, N., . . . Murray, C. J. L. (2018). Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet, 392(10159), 1789-1858. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32279-7.

Kelliny, M., Croarkin, P. E., Moore, K. M., & Bobo, W. V. (2015). Profile of vortioxetine in the treatment of major depressive disorder: an overview of the primary and secondary literature.

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Lam, R. W., Kennedy, S. H., McLntyre, R. S., & Khullar, A. (2014). Cognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder: effects on psychosocial functioning and implications for treatment. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 59(12), 649654. doi:10.1177/070674371405901206.

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MacQueen, G., & Frodl, T. (2011). The hippocampus in major depression: evidence for the convergence of the bench and bedside in psychiatric research? Molecular psychiatry, 16(3), 252-264. doi:10.1038/mp.2010.80.

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Moica, T., Gligor, A., & Moica, S. (2016). The Relationship between Cortisol and the Hippocampal Volume in Depressed Patients – A MRI Pilot Study. Procedia Technology, 22, 1106-1112. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.protcy.2016.01.156.

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Perini, G., Cotta Ramusino, M., Sinforiani, E., Bernini, S., Petrachi, R., & Costa, A. (2019).

Cognitive impairment in depression: recent advances and novel treatments.

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Schmaal, L., Hibar, D. P., Sämann, P. G., Hall, G. B., Baune, B. T., Jahanshad, N., . . . for the, E.-M. D. D. W. G. (2017). Cortical abnormalities in adults and adolescents with major depression based on brain scans from 20 cohorts worldwide in the ENIGMA Major Depressive Disorder Working Group. Molecular psychiatry, 22(6), 900-909. doi:10.1038/mp.2016.60.

Strawbridge, R., Tsapekos, D., Hodsoll, J., Mantingh, T., Yalin, N., McCrone, P., . . . Young, A. H. (2021). Cognitive remediation therapy for patients with bipolar disorder: A randomised proof-of-concept trial. Bipolar Disorders, 23(2), 196-208. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12968.

Wilkinson, S. T., Holtzheimer, P. E., Gao, S., Kirwin, D. S., & Price, R. B. (2019). Leveraging Neuroplasticity to Enhance Adaptive Learning: The Potential for Synergistic SomaticBehavioral Treatment Combinations to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Depression. Biol Psychiatry, 85(6), 454-465. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.09.004.

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Zuckerman, H., Pan, Z., Park, C., Brietzke, E., Musial, N., Shariq, A. S., . . . McIntyre, R. S. (2018). Recognition and Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Major Depressive Disorder.

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What Should be Valued in College Admissions: How Political Identity Influences Views Within the Affirmative Action Debate Victoria Tumilty Victoria Tumilty (‘22) is a psychology major with a double minor in criminal justice and history. Victoria’s interest in the topic stemmed from her freshmen English course, where she explored the controversial debate of affirmative action and its use in higher education. Victoria further became interested in how affirmative action beliefs correspond with political ideology. With the help of Dr. Cara Kozma, Victoria was able to develop her interests into an independent research project.

Victoria plans to earn a graduate degree in Forensic Legal Psychology.

Abstract This study explores participants’ views on the use of affirmative action in college admissions as well as whether their political ideologies connect to their views on the policy. The debate on affirmative action tends to be discussed around the conflicting perspectives of those who support the policy, citing that it is designed to “level the playing field” by providing equal opportunity, creating a more diverse setting, and those who oppose the policy, claiming it creates “reverse” discrimination by prioritizing identity over merit-based qualifications. Previous research points out that people’s political ideologies tend to influence their views on social policies, like affirmative action. The debate surrounding the policy has been a piece in a much bigger, complex political debate, as the U.S. grows more polarized, as exemplified in the 2020 Presidential election. To investigate further, an IRB-approved survey was administered. It was hypothesized that participants who self-identified as Republican would not agree with the policy, believing in a more merit-based admissions process, while participants who self-identified as Democrat would agree in the policy’s use, supporting a more diverse admissions process. For the most part, the results supported this idea; however, there were more participants who selfidentified as Independents than expected. As the nation becomes more polarized, people appear to just pick a side: typically, the one similar to their political beliefs. Affirmative action will continue to be a factor in a bigger political debate until the polarity of the nation reduces.

Keywords: affirmative action, higher education, merit, political identity, race

here are many factors that are considered when a student applies to college. Transcripts, letter of recommendations, achievements, awards, and extracurricular activities are some of the sections on college applications. Applications also include sections on biographical information including race, sex, socioeconomic status, and parental level of education. These latter questions, specifically the question of race, exist on college applications typically for two

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reasons: either for the college’s record-keeping purposes or for the implementation of affirmative action.

The use of affirmative action has always been a controversial topic (Bronstein & Pfennig, 1988; Crosby & Clayton, 1990; Fried et al., 2001; Goldsmith et al., 1989). Since the Civil Rights Movement, people have been advocating for equality for all Americans, regardless of their race, sex, and ethnicity. Therefore, the policy of affirmative action was established. It is a policy instituted by the federal government to provide equal opportunities to minority groups on factors of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. This policy is typically used in education, but it can also be used in business employment. Affirmative action was first created by an executive order from President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and remains in effect to this day (Hg.org Legal Experts, 2019). When the policy was first created, there were little criticisms; however, today, many Americans have conflicting views on whether the policy should be used.

There are several arguments for each side of the debate. One pro-policy argument focuses on diversity. Late journalist and philosopher Gary Gutting (2018) explains the policy is needed because minority groups are underrepresented in elite colleges. Gutting suggests that the underrepresentation is not due to the prejudices of college admission’s boards but rather to the lower test scores and less impressive academic achievements of minority students. The other claim in support of affirmative action is for reason of reparations. Author and journalist Kimberly Reyes and many others support the policy as a program to make a right from a wrong.

Reyes (2018) believes that the people who are descendants from those who have been discriminated against in our country’s history deserve to be treated better today. They deserve to have an equal chance at higher education, since many were denied it in the past.

On the other hand, many people are against the use of the policy. Fox News journalist Mike Gonzalez (2018) claims that the government should not have stepped in and involved itself with issues of higher education and that there are other more important issues elsewhere. Some who oppose the policy may also agree with scholar Stanley Fish (2000), who states that the policy is actually “reverse racism” by getting rid of merit-based qualifications and only taking into account minority status. Because the policy involves the government’s involvement, politics come into play. The policy is not just about education but rather a piece of a much larger political debate.

From Clinton to Trump, presidential administrations have alternated between Democrat and Republican leadership, and with that comes policy changes from the previous administration.

One of these changes has been centered on the policy of affirmative action. The Democratic Clinton administration believed the policy would make education in America better. The Republican Bush administration stressed a preference for race-neutrality. The Democratic Obama administration established policies so that race could be used voluntarily with the interest of having diversity. Lastly, the Republican Trump administration worked to rid the policies Obama created and revert to race-neutrality of the Bush administration (Anderson & Balingit, 2018).

With each policy change, it seems that the people who agree with the use of affirmative action are more liberal, politically identifying as Democrat, and the people against affirmative action are more conservative, politically identifying as Republican. There is no doubt that the debate surrounding the use of affirmative action is heated, but the debate about the policy represents much more. It is not just about education but rather a piece of a much larger political debate as the nation becomes more polarized, which can be seen from every Presidential administration trying to undo the policies from the previous administration. To understand more 90

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about opinions around the debate on the use of affirmative action in higher education, it is not only important to examine what people feel needs to be valued more in the college administration process, but also how each identifies politically.

Previous literature (Fried et al., 2001) has proposed that political ideology plays an important role in affecting how people view the policy of affirmative action. One explanation as to how political affiliation connects to this policy debate revolves around the idea of perceived fairness. Rasinski (1987) suggests that political identity falls more along a continuum, ranging from individualism to egalitarianism, with each side taking a different standpoint on the use of affirmative action, and using fairness as its justification. Fried et al. (2001) suggest that individualism is representative of modern political conservatism and that people with this viewpoint believe the government should take a limited role when it comes to ensuring equal opportunities for all individuals. Individualists would thus have negative views surrounding the use of affirmative action. Conversely, he and his colleagues point out that egalitarianism is representative of modern political liberalism and that people who identify as such believe that fairness is based on the collective good of the people. These people would thus have positive views on affirmative action, stating that the government needs to step in to provide equal opportunities to those who have been discriminated against in the past.

With knowledge from previous literature and opinions from political journalists, it is clear to see that one’s political identity can affect one’s belief on the use of affirmative action. This study aims to create a snapshot of whether, at this moment in time, people’s political views align with their opinions on the policy of affirmative action. This current moment in time is of interest as the United States experienced what can be considered the most divisive election in the nation’s history. While studying both sides of the debate, I believe that the controversy of whether affirmative action should be used in higher education is not just a debate of equality or diversity but rather part of a much bigger, complex political debate, as our nation becomes more polarized.

It is hypothesized that conservatives, who identify as Republican, will not agree with the use of the policy, thus valuing a more merit-based admissions system. Conversely, liberal individuals who identify as Democrats, will agree with the use of the affirmative action policy and place more value on a diverse admissions system centered around an applicant’s background.

Method Participants In this study, there were 103 responses to the survey. Of the 103 participants, 70 (67.96%) identified as women, 31 (30.10%) identified as men, and 2 (1.94%) preferred not to answer. This is consistent with typical university demographics. According to U.S. News & World Report (2021), women make up 57% of the student body, whereas men only 43%. Participants were undergraduate students and professors from a small liberal arts college in the South and working adults. Nearly half of the participants were traditional college age (17-22 years: 48.5%) followed by 29.1% who were 50 years or older. Participants 23-30 years made up 16.5% of the sample and 2.9% were 31-40 years and 41-49 year, each. Participants also identified their political affiliation. Nearly half of the sample self-identified as Republican (48.5%), while 22.3% selfidentified as Democrat, and 20.4% self-identified as Independent. Moreover, 8.7% of respondents preferred to not specify their political identity. All participants who took the survey did so voluntarily, and all responses were kept anonymous.

Materials To explore whether at this moment in time people’s political views appear to connect to the affirmative action debate, an IRB-approved survey was conducted. The survey administered 91

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consisted of fifteen-questions (see Appendix). The survey questions were created by the researcher, with the majority being yes/no, opinion-based questions. Since the survey was asking about people’s opinions, there was also a write-in option for each question where participants could volunteer more details about their answers. The survey was conducted through Google Forms. It was distributed via two different mediums. One was through a post on the researcher’s personal Facebook page. Additionally, the survey was sent to members of the Class of 2022 Leadership Fellows cohort at a small private liberal arts college in the South. The targeted respondents were students and professors from the author’s university, as well as friends and family members, who saw the survey via the Facebook post.

Design The survey was open for two weeks. Over that time, there were 103 responses, which exceeded the goal of 100 responses. The data recorded from these responses were put into an Excel sheet. Descriptive statistical analyses were calculated to describe the data and observe whether the data supported the original hypotheses of the study. This method of analysis was chosen because it allowed for descriptions to be made about the individual variables: merit, race, political identity, and agreement of the affirmative action policy’s use from the dataset. This was desired because the present study does not aim to establish a relationship between the variables, which has already been established by previous research. Instead, the goal of the study was to obtain a snapshot of these specific characteristics following the 2020 presidential election.

Results One question on the survey asked participants what they thought should be valued more in the college admissions process (Appendix question 5). According to the results from this question, 98.1% of all respondents indicated that in their opinion merit should be valued more in the college admissions process. No one selected race or family ties. Both money and connections made up 1% of the responses respectively. A question focused specifically on merit (Appendix question 6) asked whether respondents believe a person needs to have good merit to get into college. Based on the responses, 69.9% of people believed yes, merit was needed to get into college. On the other hand, 15.5% of people said no, merit was not needed, and 14.6% of people said they did not feel particularly strong either way. Furthermore, since the survey is examining the policy of affirmative action in higher education, a question solely about race was asked (Appendix question 8). Over half of respondents, 61.8%, said no, race should not be considered.

Twenty-three and half percent said yes race should be considered and, 14.7% said they did not feel strongly either way.

Participants were also asked their views on the use of the affirmative action policy in higher education. Respondents were asked whether they agree with the use of affirmative action in the college admissions process (Appendix question 13). In addition to the choices of yes, no, and I do not feel strongly either way, this question had the option for respondents to write in an answer. Of the responses, 38.4% indicated that they do not agree with the use of affirmative action in higher education, while 23.2% did agree with the policy’s use, and 32.3% did not feel strongly either way. The write-in option made up the other 6% of responses. Two percent of the write-in option indicated that they “feel that affirmative action has great potential to be helpful, but it is not regulated in such a way to benefit those who the policy is intended to help.” One percent of the write-in responses stated that “yes, they believed in the use of the policy, but only if merit was also considered.” Another 1% of the write-in option did not explicitly state their opinion on the use of the policy but stated that “if systemic racism and implicit bias can be eliminated, then affirmative action would not be needed.” Moreover, 1% of the write-in option 92

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also stated that “they do not agree with the policy that currently exists, but that is not to say that those students who may not have had the same opportunities as others should be disregarded.”

Lastly, 1% of the write-in option indicated that “they did not know what the policy of affirmative action was and thus did not feel comfortable answering.” The results from this question were similar across the board, in that no one answer was chosen more than the others.

Lastly, the following results examine how respondents identified themselves politically, as well as their opinions regarding the use of affirmative action in higher education (see Figure 1).

Of the 103 responses, 50 people politically identified themselves as Republican. Of those 50 people, 50% did not agree with the use of the policy,16% agreed with the use of affirmative action, and 34% did not feel strongly either way. There were 23 participants who politically identified as Democrats. Of those responses, 39.1% indicated that they agree with the use of affirmative action in higher education, 26.1% did not agree with the use of the policy, 30.4% did not feel particularly strong either way, and 3.4% chose not to indicate their opinion on the policy.

Twenty-one people identified themselves as Independent. Of those, 23.8% agreed with the use of affirmative action in higher education, 33.3% did not agree with the use of the policy, 19% did not feel strongly either way, and 4.8% chose not to indicate their view on the policy., 19% of respondents used the write-in option to indicate their stance on the policy. Additionally, nine people chose not to identify their political affiliation. Of these nine responses, 11.1% agreed and 11.1% disagreed with the use of the policy, 44.4% did not feel strongly either way, and 22.2% chose not to state their opinion on the policy’s use. Lastly, 11.1% of these responses indicated their opinion on the policy via a write-in option.

Discussion This study hypothesized that a more conservative individual, a person who identifies as a Republican, will not agree with the use of the affirmative action policy, thus valuing a more merit-based admissions system. Conversely, a more liberal individual who identifies as a Democrat, will agree with the use of the affirmative action policy, thus placing more value on a diverse admissions system centered around an applicant’s background. The hypotheses were supported by the results; however, there were a few unexpected results.

The first surprise was that none of the respondents chose race as a factor when asked, in general, what should be valued most in the college admissions process. I hypothesized that participants identifying as Democrat would have chosen race because there is a societal assumption that liberal individuals tend to believe that is an important factor in college admissions; therefore, these individuals would support affirmative action to have more diversity in colleges. The overwhelming answer to this question was merit. According to these data, it would seem most people value merit as the most important factor in the college admissions process. However, when asked whether a person needs good merit to get into college, the responses were more divided. The majority still answered yes. But some selected no or took a middle stance. It would seem that some people believe merit should not be the only factor considered. The other factor, at least according to some respondents, should be race.

Additionally, the questions regarding political identity and people’s agreeableness to the policy of affirmative action were important for respondents to answer, as they correspond to the hypotheses that people’s support for affirmative action in higher education reflects that of their political identity. According to the data, the respondents who indicated they identified as Republican also said they did not agree with the use of the policy in higher education. The respondents identified as Democrat also, for the most part, said they do agree with the use of the

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policy. It seems that people’s opinions regarding affirmative action did tend to align with their political identity.

The findings in this study were consistent with previous literature. The policy of affirmative action has been a highly controversial topic when it comes to its use in institutions of higher education (Bronstein & Pfennig, 1988; Goldsmith et al., 1989). Furthermore, Fried et al. (2001) suggested that political ideology plays a key role in influencing how people view public policy, like affirmative action. Studies by researchers (Rasinski, 1987; Fried et al, 2001) have indicated political identity falls on a spectrum. However, when it comes to agreement on affirmative action, these studies have found that people who are conservative have negative views on the policy’s use, while those who are liberal have a positive view on the policy’s use.

One potential limitation to this study is that predictions were only made based on the political views for Republicans and Democrats because these two political parties are the dominant political identities in the United States. However, 20.4% of respondents specified their political identity as Independent. With those who did, their agreement with the use of the policy in higher education was more varied. More people indicated their political identity as Independent than expected. This was surprising because the Independent Party is not one of the more dominant political parties in the nation. One explanation as to why this occurred is that this survey was done around the same time as the 2020 presidential election. This election, in particular, was very divisive, and this divisiveness could have caused some people to change their political views to a more neutral viewpoint. In fact, 2020 saw more people registered as Independents than Republicans for the first time in the United States’ history. From the 31 states that require voters to register by party, 29.09% of those voters registered as Independent, whereas only 28.87% registered as Republican (Blake, 2020). This could account for the higher number of people who identified as Independents in the survey.

Another limitation to this study is that a convenience sample was utilized. A convenience sample is a type of non-probability sample method where the sample taken is from a group of people easy to contact or reach. In this case, the people who participated in this study where those who were connected via social media with the researcher and saw the post regarding the survey. Additionally, participants could have come from a small Leadership Fellows organization from a small private liberal arts university where the researcher also studies. These people would have been easy to contact about the survey. One way to determine if this convenience sample caused any sampling bias would be to replicate this study by conducting the survey on a larger scale, with a more random sample.

In conclusion, the results from the survey support the hypotheses that political identity plays an influential role in how people view the policy of affirmative action in higher education. Prior to doing this research, I had never really thought about the policy in a political way. I thought of it more as a tool used in education to provide diversity and equal opportunity. However, since diving deeper into the debates regarding affirmative action, it is clear that political identity is influential in shaping attitudes towards this public policy. I am not shocked that these results supported this claim because, while the involved university is liberal arts-focused and fosters diversity and cultural awareness, it is built around more conservative values and is located in the South, which tends to be more Republican-leaning. As the results of the 2020 election would show, political identity is an important piece of identity, and it can cause people to dig their heels in deeper when it comes to beliefs over certain policies. The 2020 election points out just how strong people’s political ideologies can be, and I believe that is not going to go away any time soon. It would be interesting to see in the future whether there will continue to be a trend 94

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between political affiliation and attitudes towards public policy. Perhaps this study could be replicated after the 2024 election.

Similar to many other issues present in the nation, the political belief a person has tends to influence their view on issues of public and social policy. Often, people so firmly believe in their position that they are not willing to meet in the middle to solve the problem facing higher education. Mike Gonzalez (2018) sums this up by saying, “affirmative action has become the gateway drug to identity politics, or the breakup of America into antagonistic ‘oppressor’ and ‘subordinate’ groups constantly engaging in power relations.” The use of affirmative action in higher education will continue to be debated, and people will continue to feel strongly about their positions on the policy. As long as this still occurs, the policy will likely continue to be a factor in a bigger political debate until the polarity of the nation reduces, and people can work on the issue with cooler heads.

References Anderson, N., & Balingit, M. (2018, July 3). Trump administration moves to rescind Obama-era guidance on race in admissions. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-administration-moves-torescind-obama-era-guidance-on-race-in-admissions/2018/07/03/78210e9e-7ed8-11e8bb6b-c1cb691f1402_story.html?utm_term=.d50bbf41fd53.

Blake, A. (2020, February 28). For the first time, there are fewer registered Republicans than independents. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/28/first-time-ever-there-are-fewerregistered-republicans-than-independents.

Bronstein, P., & Pfennig, J. (1988). Misperceptions of women and affirmative action principles in faculty hiring: Response to Elliott’s comment on Bronstein et al. American Psychologist, 43(8), 668-669. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.8.668.b.

Crosby, F., & Clayton, S. (1990). Affirmative action and the issues of expectancies. Journal of Social Issues, 46(2), 61-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01923.x.

Fish, S. (2000). The nifty nine arguments against affirmative action in higher education. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 27,79-81. https://doi:10.2307/2679016.

Fried, Y., Levi, A. S., Billings, S. W., & Browne, K. R. (2001). The Relation between Political Ideology and Attitudes toward Affirmative Action among African Americans: The Moderating Effect of Racial Discrimination in the Workplace. Human Relations, 54(5), 561–584. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726701545002.

Goldsmith, N., Cordova, D., Dwyer, K., Langlois, B., & Crosby, F. J. (1989). Reactions to Affirmative Action: A Case Study. Recent Research in Psychology, 139-146. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9639-0_11.

Gonzalez, M. (2018, August 20). Yes, it’s time for affirmative action to end — finally. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/yes-its-time-for-affirmative-action-to-end-finally.

Gutting, G. (2018, December 10). Opinion | I’m for Affirmative Action. Can You Change My Mind? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/opinion/im-foraffirmative-action-can-you-change-my-mind.html.

Hg.org Legal Experts. (2019). What is Affirmative Action and how it was created? Hg.Org. https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/what-is-affirmative-action-and-why-was-it-created31524.

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Rasinski, K. A. (1987). What’s fair is fair—Or is it? Value differences underlying public views about social justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 201-211. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.201.

Reyes, K. (2018, December 27). Affirmative Action Is About Reparations, Not Diversity. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/affirmative-action-aboutreparations-not-diversity/578005.

U.S. News and World Reports. (2021). High Point University. U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/high-point-university-2933.

Figure 1 Percentage of agreement for affirmative action’s use in higher education by political affiliation

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Appendix Questions from Survey 1. Consent/Volunteer: By answering this question, you agree to take this survey willingly.

The responses recorded are anonymous, and nothing will be linked to you. You acknowledge that you, as the participant, will not be compensated. This is completely voluntary; however, please know that the responses given may be used as data points in a paper that will be sent off with the ultimate goal of being published. Thank you for your consideration in completing this survey. It is much appreciated. If you have any questions regarding the survey or process, please contact the primary investigator, Victoria Tumilty (vtumilty@highpoint.edu), or the faculty supervisor, Dr. Cara Kozma (ckozma@highpoint.edu). If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact the chair of IRB, Dr. Kimberly Wear (kwear@highpoint.edu). a. I agree and wish to continue to the survey. b. I do not agree nor want to complete survey. If so, you may close the link.

2. What is your gender? a. Female b. Male c. Prefer not to say 3. What is your age? a. 17-22 b. 23-30 c. 31-39 d. 41-49 e. 50 and older 4. What is your political identity? a. Democrat b. Republican c. Independent d. Prefer not to say 5. What do you believe should be valued more in the college admissions process? a. Money b. Connections c. Race d. Merit (i.e., grades, accomplishments, etc.) e. Family ties (legacy) 6. Do you think a person needs to have good merit to get into college? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option)

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7. Do you think the amount of money a person’s family has matters when it comes to college admission? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 8. Do you think an applicant’s race or background needs to be taken into consideration in the college admissions process? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 9. Do you think an applicant’s awards and achievements need to be taken into consideration in the college admissions process? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 10. Should how much money an applicant’s family has affect whether they get into college? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 11. Should an applicant’s family legacy status matter in the college admissions process? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 12. Do you know what the policy of Affirmative Action is? a. Yes b. No 13. Do you agree with the use of Affirmative Action in higher education or the college admissions process? a. Yes b. No c. I don’t feel strongly either way d. Other (write-in option) 14. Can you explain Affirmative Action in your own words?

15. What do you feel should be valued more in the college admissions process?

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The Search for Acceptance and Happiness: Reactions to Russian Social and Gender Stereotypes in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina Hailey Turner Hailey Turner (‘22) is a double major in English literature and technical theater. Hailey has always been interested in stereotypes and what is accepted socially compared to what people want. By looking at past literature, perhaps we can tie it to our culture today. Hailey has found facing and owning the challenges of research as the most fulfilling aspects of her academic work. Dr. Virginia Leclercq introduced her to the novel Anna Karenina. Additionally, Dr. Leclercq helped Hailey narrow the scope of her research and dive deeper into the literature.

After graduation, Hailey hopes to apply to an MFA program and continue her work as a stage manager in regional theaters.

Abstract For centuries, voice has become a key function that connects people in an impactful way.

However, gender and social stereotypes have often pushed women to keep their voices hidden from the world. During the nineteenth century, Russian women faced the choice between security and upholding societal standards or ostracization and pursuing their own happiness. In Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the female protagonist and her sister-in-law find happiness through different uses of their voices. The title character, Anna Karenina, finds herself stronger and theoretically happier by rejecting societal norms and choosing to pursue an adulterous relationship. On the other hand, Dolly Oblonskaya finds peace and refuge by choosing to uphold social standards over her own happiness or desires. The question becomes what or who defines happiness in this period: the individual or society? Through examining the lives of Anna and Dolly, I will argue that for a woman to find her voice in this period, she must have an elegance to uphold society’s standards as a woman and accept the social battle that is to come. The path to social acceptance through the means of psychology, religion, and domestic values prevents nineteenth-century Russian women from finding true happiness. When a woman looks for happiness in the smallest parts of her life, she is finally able to fully live.

Keywords: russian literature, women, anna karenina, gender and social stereotypes, 19th century

oice is a function that connects people to their humanity. It allows their thoughts and ideas to be presented into the universe for all to hear. When battling against society’s standards, one’s voice can help someone understand their inner strength. For centuries, women have often felt that their voices were not being heard above the roar of cultural and gender stereotypes and thus found themselves the weaker sex. During the nineteenth century,

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Russian women often faced the difficult choice between upholding societal standards or doing what made them happy. Through movements such as “The Woman Question,” women tried to make their position in society known to the world. After the emancipation of serfs in the nineteenth century, many people wondered how their daily lives would change economically.

“The Woman Question” movement forced people to think about a woman’s worth, specifically in family matters and the working class, and accept a new standing (Engel 319-348). In Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel, Anna Karenina, the title character finds herself stronger and supposedly happier by speaking and acting against societal norms. However, her sister-in-law, Dolly Oblonskaya, finds refuge and peace with her domesticity. While the idea of standing out from social norms and speaking up for what one believes is enticing, Anna Karenina and Dolly Oblonskaya soon learn that there are deadly consequences. Tolstoy’s novel suggests that for a woman to find her inner strength in this period, she must have elegance to uphold society’s standards as a woman and accept the social battle that is to come. By examining the lives of both Dolly and Anna, their experiences exemplify the path to social acceptance through psychology, religion, and domestic values that prevents nineteenth-century Russian women from ever finding true happiness or contentment.

Through property ownership, nineteenth-century Russian society advocated for more freedom for women than in other countries during this period. Unlike many other countries, a woman had the right to “control their property,” even while in marriage (Marrese 380). This 1753 law allowed women to have a certain element of freedom from their spouse in the marriage. With this freedom, a woman could make certain independent choices without fear of legal repercussions. Readers get a first-hand view of this freedom in Anna Karenina since Dolly owns a forest estate that is worth a valuable amount (Tolstoy 5). Her husband, Oblonsky, sees an opportunity to sell this property and make a considerable fortune. Yet, because of a previous argument over Oblonsky’s affair, he has no right or ability to convince his wife into selling the land. He reveals how “unpleasant” it is “that a financial consideration would now be mixed up with the impending reconciliation” between him and his wife (5). Like Dolly and Oblonsky, many married couples dealt with financial matters in a casual, business-like manner, leaving some marriages feeling loveless. By having the final say in her property, Dolly symbolizes the one right that women have in society.

While owning property gave women some control, it was the only true freedom they had.

Even though a woman was legally allowed to divorce her husband, the societal repercussions prevented many from choosing this path. To legally obtain a divorce, one had to go through a series of steps, such as providing “proof of one party involved in an extramarital affair” or showing that “one of the spouses has disappeared and his/her whereabouts are unknown” (Yukina). Such legal cases, especially those involving adultery, required a long and tedious waiting game for evidence to arise. Once word of the divorce became known among one’s social peers, the situation would often become extremely humiliating, especially for the women.

Moreover, divorce not only affected one person’s standing in society but also that of everyone involved, including the children. For example, Anna finds herself unhappy and conflicted in a loveless marriage. At the beginning of her affair, Anna realizes that divorcing her husband, Karenin, for the sake of her lover, Vronsky, holds higher stakes than what appears on the surface.

By obtaining a divorce, she would then be forced to forfeit her ties from her young son, Seryozha, to her husband, even though she “cannot live” without him (Tolstoy 267). She reflects that “without my son I cannot live even with the man I love, — that if I forsook my son I should act like a horrid disreputable woman” (267). Having to obtain a divorce holds a higher stake, 100

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such as loosing custody of her child, for women in disagreeable marriages than what it is worth.

As a compromise, many partners would simply live apart if they did not get along (Marrese 386).

The fear of being cast out from society pushed many women to stay in unhappy circumstances to be accepted by the social world. Dolly also finds herself searching for an escape from her marriage. After learning about her husband’s ongoing affairs, she wishes to be left alone and thinks of him as a “stranger” (Tolstoy 10-11). However, instead of searching for divorce, Dolly would rather protect her family’s good name. She states that she “would do anything in the world to save them,” even if it means “leaving them with a dissolute — yes, a dissolute father” (10-11).

Dolly sees society’s acceptance as a burden that she must accept for her children. Because of the time’s societal norms, Anna and Dolly are faced with the challenge to conform to these stereotypes or push against them.

According to the UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal, Russian literature during this time tends to divide women into two categories, “saints or sinners,” based on how they conform to societal norms. Undergraduate student Nina Youkhanna identifies how Russian heroines become more powerful when they learn to use their voice to their advantage. In Anna Karenina, Dolly tends to mold herself into the ideal woman in Russian culture. From the moment the reader meets Dolly, her unhappiness and sorrow become evident. In the first chapter, Dolly “discovered an intrigue between her husband and their former French governess” in their household and soon “declared that she would not continue to live under the same roof with him” (Tolstoy 1). Apart from the legal consequences of her reaction, being a wife to an unfaithful man obviously hurts Dolly deeply. Knowing that another person has come between her and her husband crushes a part of Dolly’s soul. As she catches a glimpse at Oblonsky’s smile, she “shudder[s] as if with physical pain” (2). However, after talking to Anna about the situation, Dolly realizes that she has forgiveness in her heart and can resume their relationship (65).

Dolly’s forgiving heart pushes her into the categories of sainthood and of the ideal woman.

Russian society deeply invests itself into the religion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Youkhanna). Having this spiritual influence in her day-to-day life allows Dolly to make her internal voice heard. While she does tell her husband that she cannot forgive him, her actions later replace the harmful words she said. Rather than abruptly ending her marriage, Dolly believes that she will never be accepted in the world without Oblonsky. After confiding in Anna, Dolly learns that “these men may be unfaithful, but their homes, their wives, are their holy places” (Tolstoy 64). In this moment of pure spiritual forgiveness, Dolly becomes a powerful and holy woman in the eyes of Russian society.

Accepting the role of motherhood also keeps Dolly aligned with ideals for women in Russian culture. The main duties of a wife included “to love and respect her husband, to adapt herself to please him, and to endure insults with a humble spirit” while in the midst of “rearing children” (Freeze 721). Becoming a mother and attending to household needs amounts to significant tasks for anyone. Even while Dolly raises her six children alone, she treasures every moment with them as “the only kind of happiness possible” for herself. If she did not have these moments, “she would have been left to her thoughts about the husband who did not love her” (Tolstoy 238). By accepting the loving moments with her children, Dolly sends a message of her strength to society even amid her doubts. She has every right and reason to mope about and wallow in her marital state. Instead, her domesticity helps Dolly show the world that her worth is more than her husband’s decisions. Because she does not act on her own self-doubts, Dolly becomes an idealized mother figure that Russian society esteems. Dolly decides to stay with her husband, even though he does not care for her, because she realizes the impact it would have on 101

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her children’s name. Oblonsky knows that his wife will never leave because “she loves my child” (11). In this instance, Dolly keeps her pain to herself to be strong for her children. She wants them to have the best life possible, even if it means continuing her own suffering. Rather than pushing against the traditional stereotype, Dolly embraces the role of motherhood to cast away her fears and doubts. It gives her not only a sense of self-worth but also allows her own voice and morals to be heard through her children for generations to come. Dolly’s dedication to her children exemplifies a selfless love she has “without expectations of acknowledgement” from the outside world (Youkhanna). By completely accepting her role as a mother, Dolly finds comfort in the social world while still standing up for her own beliefs.

Dolly’s feminine persona pushes her to find acceptance by becoming her own hero. When her marriage appears to fall into shambles, Dolly is left with an unbearable heartache. Although Dolly “did not wish to talk about her sorrow,” she cannot help herself from opening up to one person: Anna (Tolstoy 61). She recounts that Oblonsky will never love her as he once did because her “looks have been sacrificed” after giving birth to their children (63). However, Dolly convinces herself that she can save her marriage and forgive her husband for his wrongdoings in the most feminine way possible: domestic duties. In this decision, Dolly becomes her own heroine and saves everything that she has so desperately worked for. This strength ties into the holiness that Dolly manifests. Figures such as “the Madonna” or “the cult of the Mother” glorify the idea of a woman who uses “superior inferiority” to her advantage (Youkhanna). Dolly uses the stereotypical feminine quality of forgiveness and love towards her husband to elevate the sense of her own power and heroism. Without her actions, the marriage would fall to shambles, never to be repaired again.

One of the best forms for women to use their voices, while staying in line with society, is by saying nothing at all. In the nineteenth century, “women were most powerful when they were silent” among a group of high-society men (Youkhanna). Silence gives women an opportunity to be strong in the moment, even when it feels unbearable. While Oblonsky works with specific duties in Petersburg, Dolly and her six children decide to move to the countryside for the time being. Oblonsky assures her that everything is ready for their arrival to their new home.

However, when Dolly arrives, she sees that nothing is suitable for living. She sees these conflicts “so terrible from her point of view” that she has to “fight with the tears that rose every moment to her eyes” (Tolstoy 238). Instead of becoming bitter about her situation, Dolly decides to take matters into her own hands and see that the proper demands are met. Dolly has the choice to run to her husband and complain about each issue with the country house, with the hope that he will come to her aid. Instead, she knows that he is not to be trusted with this matter and stays silent about her complaints. In a way, these “cares and anxieties were for Dolly the only kind of happiness possible” (238). Silence has the power to grab people’s attention and force them to listen to what one has to say. When Levin visits Dolly at the country house, he is shocked at how she has handled the situation without Oblonsky and is “confused because he imagined that Dolly might not like to accept the help of a stranger in matters that ought to be attended to by her husband” (243). Dolly’s silence allows her to heal emotionally from the pain her husband inflicted. Russian women know that while they may not be able to verbally take matters into their own hands, their silence makes their opinions known. Dolly’s silence fuels the work she does to find her own happiness and acceptance in her own sphere.

While maintaining gender stereotypes allows Dolly to have a degree of freedom, Anna pushes her way against them in order to find happiness. Anna, a young mother and wife, meets the charming Vronsky and falls completely and uncontrollably in love with him (Tolstoy 56-57).

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Over the course of the novel, Anna’s passionate nature makes her question society’s standards for a woman, especially within the church. Again, Russian women during the nineteenth century are seen as having a connection to a holy figure. Biblical figures, such as Mother Mary, are seen as “steadfast reference point in the lives of Orthodox women” in this period (Shevzov 63).

However, instead of clinging to religion as a guide in her unfavorable circumstances, Anna sees it as an obstacle. To live peacefully with her new child and Vronsky, Anna must convince her husband to obtain a divorce. However, Karenin sees divorce as “impossible, because a feeling of self-respect and his regard for religion would not allow him to plead guilty to a fictitious act of adultery [on his part]” (Tolstoy 392). Karenin’s moral and religious standards are the only things that prevent Anna from being happy. She understands that her actions are not seen lightly in the eyes of the church, but her passionate love for Vronsky makes her push against that. She understands that “she could find no help in religion unless she was prepared to give up that which alone gave a meaning to her life” (263). Anna would rather turn against the church and society to make a stand for her happiness, no matter what the cost may be. However, Anna does have a moment of regret and reverence for religion in her final moments. As the train begins to encompass her, Anna has a moment of panic and mutters her last words: “God forgive me everything!” She begins “feeling the impossibility of struggling” to death, as she completes her suicide (695). Having her final words cry out to God illustrates a repentance for her rebellion against society and religion. Anna’s desperation and previous rejection of religion only push her towards her untimely death. She questions, “Where am I? What am I doing? Why?” and wonders whether her motivations for happiness were worth all of the pain and suffering in the end (695).

Yet, Anna becomes free from society through her own gruesome ending.

Based on the two categories of women in Russian society, saints and sinners, Anna finds herself embracing the latter. While adultery is not seen as a legal issue, society holds it as “crimes against morality” (Muravyeva 214). If the issue persists, some husbands believe it gives them the justification to commit marital physical abuse (229). Apart from potential physical abuse, the social backlash for adultery can be almost as excruciating. In the novel, Anna decides to attend the theatre “to throw down a challenge to Society — which means, to renounce it forever,” even though Vronsky believes it is a bad idea (Tolstoy 494). Once there, Anna becomes the centerpiece a dispute between the Kartasovs, an upper-class couple. Even though the argument was relatively quiet and unnoticeable, Vronsky “saw that it was something humiliating for Anna,” as she “was summoning her utmost strength to sustain the rôle she had undertaken” (497). Anna understands that the role she has accepted for herself will not be taken lightly by others. Yet, she still tries to live a normal life in society filled with socialization and art.

However, society would rather see her as a “fallen woman” with whom it should not associate.

Madame Kartasova believes that “it was a disgrace to sit near” Anna because of her flagrant adultery (499). She does not want her own image to be damaged or tainted by a physical association with Anna. While she is upset about Madame Kartasova’s reaction, Anna still sees her love for Vronsky as the light of her life. The “anguish” that she suffers is because of her love for Vronsky and rejection from the world (499). However, simple “assurances of love” remind Anna that her life is nothing without Vronsky by her side (499). Anna uses her physical actions of going to public theatre as a rebellion against what society believes. Society would rather have Anna hide herself away at home because of the immorality of her adulterous affair. However, she still desires to go out in public and enjoy art and human interactions as she did before the affair. Ultimately, Anna holds her ground against the sexual stereotype of immorality to voice her own opinion and strength.

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Unlike Dolly, Anna sees silence as a sign of weakness rather than strength. The emotional torment of Anna’s affair pushes her to speak her mind, instead of staying silent. In moments of psychological despair, she questions the very basis of her relationship with Vronsky. She plainly accuses him of neglect, while stating, “when I feel as I do now, that you are hostile toward me — hostile is the right word — if you only knew what that means to me! If you knew how near I am to a catastrophe at such moments…How afraid I am! Afraid of myself!” (638). During this period, women generally “were silenced and oppressed” by their male counterparts, making it “not surprising that many [women] suffered ill mental health as a result” (Sigurðardóttir 27).

However, Anna does not let Vronsky push her true feelings aside. She desires for him to fully understand her in ways that she cannot explain. Unlike women such as Dolly, Anna would rather be shunned from society and be true to herself than hide her passionate nature and be accepted.

This obsession takes hold of Anna’s life to the point that she loses control. In the heat of the moment, a “strange evil power prevented her from yielding to her impulse” to stay silent and “did not allow her to submit” to society (638). Anna wants Vronsky to be her whole world and have nothing else in the way. She begins to convince herself that the only way to keep him from falling out of love with her is by starting intense arguments between them. After being humiliated at the theatre, Anna tells Vronsky, “It’s all your fault!” and that he “should not have driven [Anna] to it” if he truly loved her (499). This outburst makes Vronsky feel remorseful, and he seeks to comfort her in her distress. To Anna, the actions she takes to achieve this goal are practical and justifiable in the name of love. By having Anna take a stand and voice her concerns to Vronsky, she denies the social norm of women suffering in silence.

Instead of finding peace in domestic life, Anna sees it as a burden and trap that leads to conforming to gender norms. Women in nineteenth-century Russia were typically seen as a vessel for bearing children. While nannies and governesses raised the child at a young age, it was the mother’s duty to prepare and make sure the household runs properly (Waters 104). When Anna faces the choice to live with Vronsky or stay with her son, she chooses her lover over her own flesh and blood. Once she gives birth to Vronsky’s daughter, Anna “rarely thought of her son” and becomes “unpardonably happy” with her new life (Tolstoy 421-422). The traditional lifestyle Anna has with her son and husband becomes a bore to her. She finds joy and happiness in living outside of the society’s standards. The simple act of giving birth to a child out of wedlock and raising that child defies the religious and social standards of what a family should look like in nineteenth-century Russia. Anna wants to crush this interpretation of how a woman should act, even at the demise of her own relationship with her son. However, even in her happiness with her new family, Anna still sees domestic life as a type of servitude. While Dolly begs Anna to obtain a divorce from Karenin, Anna says, “what wife, what slave could be such a slave as I am in my position?” (577). Anna believes that she is a slave in her position because she does not have the unique security that a marriage to Vronsky would allow. The choices she has made at this point in her life have only pointed her towards love and happiness. Now, Anna faces the reality that love is not always lighthearted. The legality of a marriage to Vronsky costs Anna the stable life she has created with Karenin. On her death bed (before she recovered and then committed suicide) Oblonsky asks his sister if she can continue living with Karenin to which replies, “I don’t know at all” (389). Instead of living in the comfort of Karenin’s forgiveness, Anna hates “him for his virtues” (388). She desires to have complete control of Vronksy and his life but does not want to give him that same right over her. In fear of losing her beauty and thus Vronsky’s love, Anna makes sure that she will never be able to have children again with the help of her doctor (578). By rendering herself incapable of what society believes is a woman’s main 104

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duty in life, Anna rejects society’s morals and endangers her relationship with Vronsky. She refuses to become the mother figure that society praises and, instead, desires to only be Vronsky’s lover. Yet, in a sense, she protects her future children from the shame and mockery that they would have had to endure. In the nineteenth century, a woman’s “husband was entitled to the children, even if they were a result of the women having an adulterous affair” (Chevalier).

Because of this legality, little Annie, Anna and Vronsky’s daughter, is “owned” by Karenin rather than her father. Anna does not want to see another one of their children be forced to accept Karenin as their legal guardian for the sake of society. Anna takes away the only physical hold that society still has on her by giving up all domestic ties.

Like Dolly, Anna also questions the very idea of heroism in gender roles. Anna’s nature prides itself on being curious about the world. When Vronsky begins to take up a new hobby, Anna sees it as her duty to know every possible fact about architecture and related matters to help him (Tolstoy 582). During this time, women were only believed fit to work on domestic household issues. To be successful, “Anna must cross over gender boundaries” and prove that her knowledge is worthy of men’s time (Hoisington 36). As a result, Anna tries to put herself in the man’s sphere to be closer to her lover. By her actions, Anna advances to an elevated level of “hero” while leaving the other female characters behind. She tries to “invoke” her own “masculinization” in a society that rejects the contemporary ideal (36). Anna craves the happiness that women around her are unable to achieve because of their gender. She desires to have the same control that men have in their daily lives. For example, Anna decides to go to the theatre unescorted by Vronsky to send a message to society. By doing so, Anna throws “down a challenge to Society — which means, to renounce it forever” (494). Anna faces the challenge even though it will come with a cost. Yet, Anna would rather renounce society and stay true to herself than hide her voice in the shadows of her mind. In the end, her obsession with becoming her own hero pushes her to extremes that ultimately end with her death.

The pressure to conform to societal stereotypes illustrates how both Dolly and Anna see their world. While each uses different means to be “free” in society, their definitions of freedom contrast. Dolly finds her freedom within herself. She looks at society and desperately wants to prove that she can be strong and successful in the eyes of Russian culture. Her children, home life, and religion ground her and allow her to be who she wants. Rather than faking her emotions, her quiet lifestyle exemplifies the holiness of the idealized woman. Anna, on the other hand, would rather follow her own path than society’s. Anna sees the stereotypes that women have followed for decades and decides to challenge them to the best of her ability. She wants to create a world where women are allowed to change their minds about who they love without fear of the consequences. Her rejection of classic duties, such as bearing multiple children, gives her a sense of power that society fears. Instead of being quiet, she speaks her mind for the world to hear.

Anna does not let the opinions of other people change how she lives her life.

While both women may be different on the surface, they have the same goals in mind: happiness and acceptance. According to recent research on mental health, many people have low self-acceptance based on their low acceptance by others. In a Harvard Medical School study, Dr. Srini Pillay looks at how self-acceptance can physically contribute to a healthier lifestyle.

Whether it is the result of an unloving childhood, a personal crisis, or the search for social acceptance, learning to accept oneself “has profound effects on your physical and psychological health” (Pillay). Like Dolly, some try to cope with this hardship by adapting a “taking it” attitude. In both religion and family matters, Dolly would rather take emotional abuse and neglect than show weakness to society. People with this approach, especially during the 105

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nineteenth century, believed that showing weakness was a “reflection of their value” (Pillay).

Even when Dolly is at her lowest point and believes she can no longer live with her adulterous husband, she still accepts Oblonsky and cannot “get out of the habit of regarding him as her husband and loving him” (Tolstoy 9). Dolly desires to fight and prove not only to society, but to her own husband, that she can stay true to herself while undertaking the traditional role of a woman during this period. Dolly finds her happiness in following the norms of a wife and mother.

However, Anna searches for her own happiness and acceptance by another route. Anna tries to cope with self-acceptance through “accomplishing great things,” such as speaking out against Karenin, running away with Vronsky, and showing her face in a hypocritical society (Pillay).

While Anna appears to be happy and content with her life for a while, this method only works for a short time. Research shows that actions of achievement are “a poor substitute for intimacy” in relationships (Pillay). When Anna finally has everything she has ever wanted, she begins to doubt herself and her relationship with Vronsky even more. She fears that his love for her will diminish or will be given to another woman. She fears his rejection so much that she looks towards opioids for relief (Tolstoy 680). Anna’s fear of being unloved and having no passion in her life forces her to take matters into her own hands and ultimately leads to her tragic suicide.

Anna believes that the only way to ensure the acceptance of Vronsky and society is to make them both hurt and morn her death.

Ultimately, social and gender norms in nineteenth-century Russian society forced women to be creative in using their voice. Whether one conforms and adapts to social norms, like Dolly, or takes a stand against them, like Anna, a woman’s voice has the power to change the way history is interpreted. Depicting the ideal woman was never Tolstoy’s intention for Dolly or Anna.

Rather, he allows the characters to learn that society would rather have them quiet than live to their fullest capacity. Dolly remarks that “[Anna] wishes to live” and that “God has implanted that need in our souls” when we are created (Tolstoy 551). Human nature’s instinct to break free from society’s rules brings a blossoming of joy and freedom to the lives of these women. They are no longer constrained by their duties but simply enjoy the fact that they are alive. Even in times of despair, Tolstoy reminds his readers that “everyone lives, everybody enjoys living” when they live to their fullest extent and are completely happy (551).

Works Cited Chevalier, Juliette. “Women in 19th Century Russia.” Medium, 22 February 2018, https://medium.com/@_juliettech/women-in-19th-century-russia-c70eca8ef68e.

Engel, Barbara. “The ‘Woman Question,’ Women’s Work, Women’s Options.” Dostoevsky in Context, edited by Deborah A. Martinsen and Olga Maiorova, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016, pp. 319-348. Literature in Context.

Freeze, Gregory L. “Bringing Order to the Russian Family: Marriage and Divorce in Imperial Russia, 1760-1860.” The Journal of Modern History, vol. 62, no. 4, 1990, pp. 709746. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1881061.

Hoisington, Sona. A Plot of Her Own: The Female Protagonist in Russian Literature.

Northwestern UP, 1995, pp. 33-43. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv47w368.8.

Marrese, Michelle Lamarche. “The Enigma of Married Women’s Control of Property in Eighteenth-Century Russia.” The Russian Review, vol. 58, no. 3, 1999, pp. 380395. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2679412.

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Muravyeva, Marianna G. Women in Nineteenth-Century Russia: Lives and Culture. Open Book Publishers, 2012. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vjszk.13?seq=6#metadata_ info_tab_contents.

Pillay, Srini. “Greater self-acceptance improves emotional well-being.” Harvard Health Blog, 16 May 2016, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/greater-self-acceptance-improvesemotional-well-201605169546.

Shevzov, Vera. “Mary and Women in Late Imperial Russian Orthodoxy.” Women in NineteenthCentury Russia: Lives and Culture, edited by Wendy Rosslyn and Alessandra Tosi, 1st ed., Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2012, pp. 63-90. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vjszk.8.

Sigurðardóttir, Elísabet Rakel. “Women and Madness in the 19th Century: The effects oppression on women’s mental health.” Skemman. https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/16449/1/BAElisabetRakelSigurdar.pdf.

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Ed. George Gibian. New York, NY. Norton, 1995.

Waters, Elizabeth. Mothers and Daughters: Women of Intelligentsia in Nineteenth-Century Russia. Sage Publications, 1985. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1394989.pdf? refreqid=excelsior%3Ac80c1a075031bd823dbed0fffe2286be.

Youkhanna, Nina. “A Chorus of Women: An Exploration of the Feminine in 19th and 20th Century Russian Literature.” UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal, 9 Apr. 2016. https://ucbcluj.org/a-chorus-of-women-an-exploration-of-thefeminine-in-19th-and-20th-century-russian-literature.

Yukina, Irina. “Women’s Rights in Imperial Russia. Outcasts of History.” New Eastern Europe – A Bimonthly News Magazine Dedicated to Central and Eastern European Affairs, 8 Mar. 2019, neweasterneurope.eu/2019/01/02/womens-rights-imperial-russia-outcasts-history.

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