Bücher von Lena Gross

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Didactics - English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: The filming of Bret Easton Ellis¿ bestseller novel American Psycho caused a major scandal after its publication in 2000 (Lee Brien). It covers the story of the serial killer Patrick Bateman, who enjoys a good reputation everywhere in Manhattan. Bateman is a young, athletic, handsome, successful, and stereotypical 1980s yuppie, who you are able to see in magazines, journals, advertising for Calvin Klein or Hugo Boss, and on Wall Street. On the other hand, he murders, rapes, tortures, mutilates, and cannibalizes his victims, but his cruel acts remain undetected. At first sight, Patrick¿s behavior seems very irritating because he neither provides the audience with any reasons for his murders, nor with any psychological insight into his character to justify his actions. Taking a closer look, his behavior and violence are an expression of the materialistic, superficial nature of the American society to which Bateman wants to belong ¿and into which his sickness and inhumanity do actually ¿fit¿¿ (Horsley 222). Although a lot of Bateman¿s brutal actions are shown, at the end of the movie the audience comes to question if all these murders really happened because some inconsistencies in his story become apparent e.g. Bateman outlines the murder of a man, who at this point was not even in town. Therefore, the question is raised as to whether the murders are real or just a product of Bateman¿s imagination, and if they are real, is the society so over the top that not even the crime matters and he is able to escape unpunished? In this paper, this question and especially what the murders are about to express either way will be analyzed in view of social criticism. Therefore, first of all, American society in the 1980s will be outlined to help the reader better understand the contemporary historical background to which the movie refers. Subsequently, the amoral materialism in American consumer society pictured in American Psycho will be described to clarify the social circumstances Bateman lives in. Accordingly, Bateman¿s cruel actions will be analyzed and its truth content will be discussed to later on conclude that this kind of society is not able to fulfill his life and by the help of violence Bateman wants to escape the conformity of Americäs superficial society.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: A central theme in Caribbean literature is the absence of regional or national identity (Povey 275). Also Edward Kamau Brathwaite, one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon, focuses on transcending and healing the fragmented culture of the dispossessed people, mainly the descendants of West African slaves, living in the Caribbean region. In his poetry, he reexamines the history of the black diaspora in search for cultural wholeness in present-day Caribbean life. Brathwaite¿s aim thereby is to offer a corrective to these people¿s problems of dispossession of history and of language. In his first major work The Arrivants, Brathwaite¿s overall goal is to enact a trajectory from the slave experience in the Caribbean colonies to Africa and back again to the islands, and thereby explore the African roots as well as the contemporary situation of the African diaspora in the Caribbean. Thus, he is able to illustrate some important African values, considered to be long-lost, in today¿s Caribbean society and moreover, he is able to portray the affiliation of these black people to the Caribbean culture.Accordingly, based on Edward Brathwaite¿s poetry volume The Arrivants, the importance of West African people to the Caribbean culture and especially their imported African elements, such as language, dance, song, and ritual-artistic expressions, will be outlined in this paper to depict their strong influence in the Caribbean and to support their strong survival identities. Therefore, first of all, the social and cultural history as well as the languages of the Caribbean are described to help the reader better understand the contemporary historical background to which Brathwaite¿s poetry refers. Subsequently, a brief overview of The Arrivants is given, to later on go into more detail by interpreting two of its poems, namely New World A-Coming and Caliban. In these poems, Brathwaite points out the brutal reality of historical deprivation in the New World and thus, the search of identity of African slaves for almost 300 years. But against this background, he later on emphasizes the desire for self-determination and the resistance of these black people, their newly developed African rituals and hence, their great influence on all aspects of Caribbean culture.

Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2013 im Fachbereich Soziologie - Beziehungen und Familie, Note: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Betrachtet man die heutige Gesellschaft Europas, so lässt sich eine Binarität der Geschlechter feststellen, welche dem Alltagsdenken der Menschen zufolge auf den natürlich vorgegebenen dichotomen biologischen Gegebenheiten gründet. Alle Individuen westlicher Kulturen werden von Geburt an aufgrund ihrer primären Geschlechtsmerkmale in zwei Geschlechter unterschieden und gehören resultierend ihr Leben lang entweder der Kategorie der Frau oder der Kategorie des Mannes an. Diese selbstverständliche binäre Differenzierung, die ihren Ursprung in der Biologie findet, die es wiederum als ultimative Wahrheit anzusehen gilt, soll in dieser Arbeit in Frage gestellt werden. Es soll stattdessen aufgezeigt werden, dass die Geschlechtszugehörigkeit von den Gesellschaftsmitgliedern selbst konstruiert wird. Herangezogen werden dazu unter anderem zwei Phänomene, die die Grundüberzeugung der europäischen Gesellschaft herausfordern; die Intersexualität und die Transsexualität, wobei letztere sich seit Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts in den westlichen Kulturen etablieren konnte (vgl. Hirschauer 1993: 9). Obwohl in westlichen Gesellschaften die Theorie der Zweigeschlechtlichkeit, also eine biologisch fundierte, dichotome Unterscheidung von Mann und Frau, fest in ihrem Alltagsdenken verankert ist, soll in dieser Arbeit anhand des Hermaphroditismus und einer Transsexuellen-Studie gezeigt werden, dass die binäre Differenzierung von Geschlecht sowie das Geschlecht selbst lediglich ein soziales Konstrukt der Gesellschaft ist.Thematisiert werden: die Alltagstheorie der Zweigeschlechtlichkeit, die konstruktivistische Sichtweise der sozialen Konstruktion von Geschlecht, das Verhältnis von Biologie und Kultur bei der Geschlechterdifferenzierung, das Konzept des "doing gender", Beispiele der Inter- und Transsexualität und die Handhabung dessen in anderen Kulturen, die Aneignung von Geschlecht sowie die Omnirelevanz des Geschlechts.