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Emily Dickinson's Subversion of the Puritan Tradition
Johnsonová, Natalie Emma ; Machová, Mariana (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
Emily Dickinson grew up in a religious community where the influence of New England Puritanism was still present. Despite being raised as a practicing church member, she later chose not to formally join the Church. She was, nevertheless, continually in contact with religious discourse and struggled with her relationship to the divine; where the Church saw certainties, she saw questions. This is reflected in her poetry, which engages with religious themes, ponders on the possibilities of the afterlife and expresses doubts about the true nature of God. In this thesis, her life and poetry are analysed through the lens of the Puritan tradition of New England. The thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapters one and two focus on the historical-cultural contexts. The first chapter summarises American Puritanism, the Puritan worldview and its continuous presence in New England, drawing mostly from the works of Perry Miller and Sacvan Bercovitch. The second chapter focuses on Emily Dickinson's life and her interactions with the Puritan tradition. This chapter analyses Dickinson's life, with emphasis on different moments when she came into contact with the Puritan heritage, and it discusses some critical approaches to Dickinson's poetry, which deal with her rendering of the Puritan heritage. This summary...
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The Presence of Absence: Voice as a Narrative Element in Octavia E. Butler's Kindred
Zídková, Pavla ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee)
As the number of neo-slave narratives published in the last 40 years suggests, fiction writers still consider slave narratives essential for contextualising the contemporary debate on racial politics in America. The consistent popularity of the genre reflects the demand for revising and retelling the past through the lens of the thorny period of American history. The neo-slave narrative emerges during a specific historical moment, and Octavia E. Butler's Kindred is among its prime examples - originally published in 1979, the novel helped to establish the genre, and gained a substantial critical interest as well as recognition among mass audiences. The scholarly response focuses predominantly on the themes of temporality and historicity, especially in the context of postmodern philosophy. These are, undoubtedly, the building blocks of the novel, but they should not eclipse other, perhaps less obvious, points for critical inquiry. The present thesis aims to interpret the novel through the lens of voice in order to broaden the existing research archive with an inclusive analysis touching upon concepts adjacent to the elements of voice, such as authorial authenticity and historical authority, racial discourses, rhetorical strategies and absences. Arguably, it is on both formal and thematic levels that...
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Innovation of teaching photosynthesis using ICT technologies
VESELÁ, Pavla
The thesis deals with the problem of teaching the complex topic of photosynthesis and its handover to pupils of the ninth grade of primary schools. The literary part of the thesis deals in detail with the process of photosynthesis itself together with its key aspects and at the same time presents the possibilities of using digital technologies in teaching. The practical part of the thesis tests a newly designed digital platform for teaching photosynthesis in selected primary schools. The subject of the research was the analysis of pupil's general knowledge on the topic of photosynthesis with a partial focus on photosynthesis of aquatic plants. The way in which digital technologies can contribute to a better understanding of complex topics such as photosynthesis was investigated. For example, is this form of learning engaging for pupils, how do they evaluate it, or does it help pupils overcome common misconceptions? The research subject was also the evaluation of the textbook by teachers themselves. As part of the research, a questionnaire survey was conducted among pupils, where they answered a set of questions without prior teaching and then after teaching with the digital textbook. The results obtained suggest that the digital textbook can improve the pupil's knowledge and facilitate their understanding of the whole process of photosynthesis.
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Parental media strategies in children at age 6 - 9
Veselá, Pavla ; Slussareff, Michaela (advisor) ; Titěra, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to identify possible differences in parental media strategies and differences in the use of various media among children aged 6-9 years. These differences are examined based on specific characteristics of the parents. The thesis investigates the potential influence of parents' level of media competencies and their sociodemographic characteristics on the applied parental media strategies. The thesis looks at the parents' media competencies from their own subjective perspective. The research concluded that parental media strategies are highly individual and variable, with parents differentiating their strategies according to different types of digital devices. This suggests that parents do not passively accept technologies, but actively strive to create a suitable media environment for their children.
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"I Am a Garden of Black and Red Agonies": The Image of Maternity in Sylvia Plath's Poetry
Zakutná, Simona ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Machová, Mariana (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with the theme of motherhood in the poetry of Sylvia Plath. The main objective of the thesis is to explore how pregnancy, childlessness, and motherhood are understood by Plath in her poetry. I show how she transposed her thoughts and experiences of maternity into it and identify the main influencing outside factors. The poetry will be studied and read from a biographical, sociocultural, and feminist standpoint. Studies of motherhood and domesticity in the United States, predominantly by Betty Friedan and Glenna Matthews, will be analyzed in order to offer a general context within which Plath created her poetry and to demonstrate how she contested the idealized perception of motherhood at the time. To understand women's writing in a male-dominated literary canon and the ways in which Plath fought back against the language and archetypes imposed on her, demystifying motherhood in the process, feminist literary studies, predominantly The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar will be consulted. The thesis will consist of four chapters: the first chapter will deal with biographical occurrences in Plath's life, covering known life events recorded in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath and Letters Home relevant to the topic at hand. The second chapter will...
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Black American Dream as a Clash of Principles: Representations of the American Dream in Black American Political Poetry
Bularzová, Kristýna ; Machová, Mariana (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
Kristýna Bularzová MA thesis 1 Abstract The MA thesis will focus on the representations of the concept of the American dream in Black1 American poetry. From its origins in the Declaration of Independence (in the "pursuit of happiness") the concept of the American dream has been seen as problematic, with the idea of an "unalienable right" clashing with its being mutable and fleeting and potentially out of reach. The main goal of the thesis is to demonstrate that the American dream has been present in the works of Black American poets as a potent, yet schizophrenic concept (with reference to Martin Luther King's idea of "American schizophrenic personality) for decades, and possibly centuries, and its central ambiguity and the clash of principles has remained essentially the same, only the representations vary. Analyzing poems by Black poets from the 20th century, the thesis will explore the concept of the Black American dream as a myth to which, as James Baldwin put it, "we are clinging [and] which has nothing to do with the lives we lead." The thesis is divided into two parts, incorporating not only the poetic perspective on the matter, but also the ideas on the topic by key African American thinkers from different historical periods (such as Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, or Martin Luther King Jr.)....
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The Xenogenesis Trilogy: The Utopian Writing of Octavia E. Butler
Hejna, Magdalena ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
This thesis analyses the three main characters of Octavia E. Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy - Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs, and studies each book in the trilogy in order to trace utopian elements in Butler's writing. It explores different ideas of what utopia and the utopian is, and, through this, proposes that it is the impulse of change, constant becoming, that constitutes utopian writing. The thesis states that even though Butler herself was skeptical towards the concept of utopia, her work is an example of modern utopian writing - a constant striving towards a better future through the creation of worlds that inspire and call for change. The introduction starts with the main question of the thesis: "Is Butler a utopian writer?" It focuses on the author's own approach towards utopia and her self-distancing from being labelled a utopian writer. The following part is centered on the development of the concept of "utopia" itself. It starts with the first use of the term by Thomas More in 1516, which initiated an understanding of the term as a "better place," then presents different criticisms of utopia, which point to its dystopian nature, and finishes with the modern concepts of utopia that revitalize its potential. The introduction concludes with the brief summary of the planned research on the three...
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Young African American Women and Their Environment: Contemporary African American Feminine Identities, Political Views and the Sense of Security
Severová, Jana ; Maderová, Blanka (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring the unique experiences of marginalized communities and how their experiences are reflected in contemporary literature. This thesis analyzes and focuses on young African American women and their environment, specifically how the environment that surrounds them becomes reflected in parts of their identities. The particular features analyzed in this bachelor thesis include the contemporary African American feminine identity, political views as an identity feature, and a sense of security, all concerning the concept of environment. These distinct elements are explored in two contemporary novels by young African American women writers: Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley and The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris. The goal of this thesis is to show how much young African American women are affected by their surroundings and what it means to be a young Black woman in contemporary American society. Most importantly, this thesis explores how vital of a role femininity, one's political views, safety and security play in one's life. One of the outputs of this work is a short comparison of several intense situations that the main characters of the two novels experience. This thesis also briefly introduces the various terms and concepts that are...
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Young African American Women and Their Environment: Contemporary African American Feminine Identities, Political Views and the Sense of Security
Severová, Jana ; Maderová, Blanka (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring the unique experiences of marginalized communities and how their experiences are reflected in contemporary literature. This thesis analyses and focuses on young African American women and their environment, specifically how the environment that surrounds them becomes reflected in parts of their identities. The particular features analyzed in this bachelor thesis include the contemporary African American feminine identity, political views as an identity feature, and a sense of security, all concerning the concept of environment. These distinct elements are explored in three contemporary novels by young African American women writers: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley and The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris. The goal of this thesis is to show how much young African American women are affected by their surroundings and what it means to be a young black woman in contemporary American society. Most importantly, this thesis explores how vital of a role femininity, one's political views, safety and security play in one's life. One of the outputs of this work is a short comparison of several intense situations/events that the main characters of the three novels experience. This thesis also briefly introduces...
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"Silence into Language and Action": Political Poetry of Audre Lorde
Stará, Barbora ; Machová, Mariana (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
In her work, Audre Lorde rebels against the white male oppressors through her intimate confessions and bold imagery. Both her poetry and her prose call for justice across society. She claims her Black, lesbian, and feminist identity as she comments on the inequalities and oppression faced by the marginalised groups and formulates thoughts of and reasons for intersectional activism. Given her multi-layered identity, Lorde is able to acknowledge the multiplicity and interconnectedness of oppression and discrimination in American society. In her book of essays Sister Outsider, she presents her key thoughts on discrimination, oppression, and liberation. Lorde's poems reflect the American reality as they serve as testimonies of the struggles of Black Americans, women, and queer people. This thesis closely examines three of Audre Lorde's most famous poems, namely "A Litany for Survival," "Afterimages," and "Power" in the context of her ideas on poetry as an activist tool. To offer a framework for the reading, the opening chapter of the thesis is dedicated to delineating the historical-political context of the time of Lorde's life and work, as well as the context of the genre of political poetry and poetry of witness. Lorde proposes her understanding of poetry as an illuminative and transformative power...
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