Honors Projects for English
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ItemStarting A Conversation About Social and Climate Issues through Children's Literature(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022)
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ItemSick Building(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022)
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ItemScum: An Auto-Theoretical and Phenomenological Exploration into Feminist Rage(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022)
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ItemAllyship: Reckoning with Learned Histories(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2021)
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ItemBelonging The Literature of Fighting to Find One’s Place(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020)Two novels that have shaped my experience at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa are Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese. These novels contain many elements of internalized racism, as well as exterior racism, which had not before been described in such ways. The authors each draw on their personal experiences as well as Chinese culture in order to portray life as an Asian American living in America. Through their respective novels, the authors create vivid tales of personal identity struggles and learning how to come into one’s own individuality in a society that often shames such behaviors.
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ItemReturning to Mauliola & Mo‘olelo: Overcoming Traumas of Sand Island with Narratives from the Past(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020)With the continually expanding settler colonial presence and a growing capitalist- centric economy in Hawai‘i, relationships between Kānaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiians) and ‘āina (anyone who feeds emotionally, spiritually, or physically) are becoming increasingly threatened, regardless of whether they are conscious of the fact or not. This paper analyzes the modes through which this settler colonial system has dirtied or traumatized the abundant waters of Hawai‘i by examining the mo‘olelo (story, history) of Mauliola or Sand Island, wading through a history of disease, war, and contamination. To resist these themes centered on isolation, this project also explores methods of healing that aim to restore not only our relationship with ‘āina but also ‘āina’s ea—their breath, life, and sovereignty.
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Item911 and Other States of Emergency: A Short Story Cycle(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020)As reported by the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in seventeen adults in America has a diagnosable mental disorder. Mental illness is neither a death sentence nor a fun fact for a tumblr bio, and it cannot be defined as one single thing. A person with a myriad of diagnoses may deal with mental illness in a healthier way than someone who refuses to let go of a traumatic past, or vice versa. Even within a group of people with the same diagnosis, the manifestations and the ways in which people deal with illness can vary wildly from person to person. Regardless, these conditions can severely impact people’s lives but are often hidden away or worn like a pretty badge of honor. There is no single correct way to deal with mental illness, but finding a strong support system and maintaining honest communication can alleviate symptoms and stress. Though psychological distress and maladaptive coping strategies are difficult topics to write about and to discuss, I have chosen to explore mental illness in my short story collection. “911 and Other States of Emergency” is a cycle of five female-led stories, an experiment in form, narrative voice, and gender politics revolving around mental illness and (mis)communication.
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ItemFailure of History of Great Sadness(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020)Failure of History of Great Sadness is an original, creative work that presents itself as a blend of fiction, memoir, and literary criticism. The work is framed in such a way as to explain two ideas: that an initial goal was pursued but failed to have been met, and that this failure is actually an opportunity to develop a new work out of the old work’s remnants. The work encourages a seamless interweaving of what is imagined and what is real, and suggests the destruction of the boundaries between author and subject. Additionally, the work is a gallery of aesthetic: there are many types of ways to write, and, to the author’s best ability, a number of these ways are explored. The work of Failure of History of Great Sadness is, essentially, a collection of short stories that each focus on their own particular subject — with the added caveat that the work understands and proclaims itself to be an attempt at writing a thesis. But, more than that, the work centrally addresses that which is elusive: as in, the spark that makes magic into magic.
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ItemMaking the Most of What We’ve Got: Understanding the Paradox of Postmodern Fictional Satire in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2019)A fundamental paradox exists in the realm of satire in the postmodern because postmodernism challenges all traditional structures of moral values and literary expression, while satire often holds its subjects to the critical scrutiny of overarching moral and social standards. Postmodern satirists Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders both author fictional satire with absurdist elements, though their satire is possible in the postmodern realm because of the way in which it gently instills values of hope and empathy. Vonnegut precedes Saunders by a generation in which a world war and civil rights movements were rampant and active. The fiction of his career ultimately begins the postmodern satirist movement because his work maneuvers surreptitiously under the cloak of radical science fiction and dark humor. Defying the bleak appearance of his writing style, Vonnegut promotes a hope and restored faith in humanity. Saunders represents the twenty-first century postmodern satirist who uses empathetic development in his fiction in order to elevate the healing and ameliorative properties of his fictional satire. By provoking empathy for his dynamic characters, Saunders evokes human understanding and elicits compassion in readers with his moral trajectory. Both authors prove that despite breaking literary boundaries and challenging inherently accepted moral norms, they are still able to reinvigorate the individual moral sentiments of readers without imposing harsh, corrective dogmas.
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ItemRelease(University of Hawai'i at Manoa, 2019)Release is a collection of short stories rooted in different socio-political issues present in the United States including: abortion, assisted suicide, immigration, discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals and couples regarding adoption, marital rape, and religious freedom. The goal of this collection is to humanize and destigmatize controversial topics in order to open a pathway to education and discussion. These stories were inspired primarily by The Jungle by Upton Sinclair along with with elements of Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. These novels all show the personal struggle of a character dealing with a larger issue, whether it be rooted in race, class, or specific political structures. Where this collection pulls more from Sinclair’s novel is in the attempt to contribute to the genre of political fiction which is resurging in relevance. Byars researched various academic studies, articles, journal entries, as well as news articles and blogs to simulate the indepth research carried out by Sinclair when he created The Jungle. Byars then used her sources to design first-person narratives, humanizing the socio-political issues discussed similar to the methods executed by Allison and Morrison. Byars intersects personal experiences, academic analysis, and investigation of social politics to express six unique perspectives of contentious subject matter.