The 2022 issue of the Dawson English Journal is here! Enjoy essays on poetry, theatre, fiction, film, and more. Many thanks to our diligent student editors, student authors, faculty advisers, and you, our readers!
Issue No. 13: Winter 2022
FEATURED
About the Author: Last semester, I took a poetry course taught by Kate Hall. Every class, she would have fun and creative activities prepared, which gave me the opportunity to reflect on and discuss various poems in a comfortable and engaging environment. Being in Pure and Applied Science, I am interested in science and math, and that’s what I’ll be studying in university, but I’ve always loved creative writing as well. I have lots of stories to tell, and now…
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About the Author: I am in the International Business Studies program. In my third semester, I took an English course on mental health in literature. The present essay is an attempt to find the intentions behind literature and highlight the interpretive act of storytelling. More precisely, it emphasizes the role of punctuation in The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante. I argue that punctuation is a series of stylistic devices that engender awe and perspective within literature. Ocean Vuong, my…
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I am a second year Social Science student, entering McGill in Psychology next fall, and then (hopefully) grad school. I have always loved reading, but if I have recently learned to love the discussions and writing that come with it, it is all thanks to my professor, Alyson Grant. These two essays (one on Asking For It – on the dangers of rape myths, and the other on Fairview – exploring paradigms of race) are the fruit of the work…
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About the Author: I am in my last year of the Visual Arts program. My interest in horror and camp films and literature was piqued when I saw the English course entitled “Scary Monsters.” In tying my program with the course, this essay compares the theme of the femme fatale found in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and in the Pre-Raphaelite art movement, both from the late 19th century. I remain predominantly interested in visual arts and plan to move on to…
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Hocine Mektoub Prof. Alyson Grant English 102: Irish Literature The Intruders: Ireland’s Othering of Ethnic Minorities as Demonstrated in “How I Fell In Love With The Well-Documented Life Of Alex Whelan” and “Under The Awning” Ireland’s complex and tumultuous history has resulted in a cultural identity deeply entrenched in a knowledge and love of country. However, as two Irish immigrant authors, Yan Ge and Melatu Uche Okorie, demonstrate in their harrowing short stories, it might come down to something much…
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About the Author: I am a second year Social Science student, entering McGill in Psychology next fall, and then (hopefully) grad school. I have always loved reading, but if I have recently learned to love the discussions and writing that come with it, it is all thanks to my professor, Alyson Grant. These two essays (one on Asking For It – on the dangers of rape myths, and the other on Fairview – exploring paradigms of race) are the fruit…
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About the Author: I am a fourth-semester student in Enriched Pure and Applied Science, and soon to be a mathematics student at McGill University. I am passionate about science, literature, and philosophy. This text, which I wrote for Reflections, explores our relationship to the Gigantic and the Miniature which, as I claim, are connected to our fear of the natural world. I wish to thank Professor Rebecca Million for suggesting I submit this piece, and the Dawson English Journal for…
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About the Author: I am currently studying Cinema and Communications in the ALC program. This essay was written in the context of my Explorations in Cinema class where we got the freedom to write about any type of media that resonated with us. AFAB individuals have always been overlooked in film and media studies, which is why I wanted to write about them and their contribution to film, and especially, to the horror genre. I plan to continue my studies…
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About the Author: I was in the Literature Profile until I graduated in Fall 2021. This essaytreats a subject that I feel very passionate about: the respect of nature and of our fellow humans. The freedom allotted to me in Lorne Roberts’ Literary Theory and Criticism course was essential for the creation of this essay. It was fun to experiment with a strange and humouristic style of essay writing. I will attend Concordia University in the fall, and I hope…
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About the Author: I am in the Cinema and Communications profile of the ALC program. Throughout my time at Dawson, I have focused my studies on feminist theories and topics, particularly on the portrayal of women in media. This essay, which I wrote for my Cinema Styles course, was at the time a culmination of my studies on the male gaze and society’s perpetual idealization of the female body. These are themes that I continue to explore in my creative…
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About the Author: I am a fourth-semester student of the Cinema and Communications program. I wrote this essay last year as a part of my Reflections course: a class about museums, wonder, curation, and the harmful effects of creating a false representational universe. Swift’s work stuck with me because it offers an explicit critique of English domination and travel prose. The novel speaks to the inescapable European bias of the explorer and the transgressive nature of travel. I would like…
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About the Author: I am currently a fourth-semester student in the Health Science program. I wrote this for Shalon Noble’s “Lyrical Ballads” class, which introduced me to Romantic poetry and shed light on the ways literature could give a voice to the marginalized. My analysis of “The Female Vagrant” examines the way women were portrayed in literature at the time in an attempt to understand if this representation was beneficial for this disempowered group. Meriem Belkacem Prof. Shalon Noble English…
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