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Adequate Training for First Responders to Resolve Knowledge Deficit
of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Toms River, NJ
Steven DeCarlo, WCNS & Gianna DiCostanzo, WCNS
Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing at Wagner College
Introduction
What is Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a
broad range of conditions characterized by
social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and
nonverbal communication
First Responders in Toms River, NJ are
challenged when providing emergency care to
community members with Autism Spectrum
Disorder due to lack of adequate training and
education.
This leads to a great deal of distress for both
the patient who is in need of emergent care and
the first responders.
Our proposed solution explains education
systems in which First Responders will receive the
knowledge of ASD and how to handle real-life
situations of those with ASD.
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Community Assessment and Analysis
Toms River, New Jersey
Population 2022:
89,254 (1)
There is a higher risk for wandering, abduction,
child/domestic abuse, etc. (3).
There are several states throughout the US where first
responders and other professionals are unaware of what
Autism Spectrum Disorder entails.
Internet- based NJ Learn system as a part of their
training in autism awareness and response.
Studies show that with this online learning system,
more first responders are educated on what to do in case
of an emergency and they need to care for an autistic
child (3).
May misinterpret the individuals with ASD’s behavior
as delinquency
Behaviors include acts of aggression, screaming,
crying, and self-injury (3)
Toms River New Jersey offers a limited number of
close-range community resources which offer care for
those with ASD:
(1)
(1)
71.177% Born in Toms River
Educate that each person with ASD are unique and
adapts to the world on their own terms.
91.05% Native Born
Provide medical actors simulating real-life, hands-on
situations of someone with autism.
8.95% Foreign Born
This type of “role-play/theatre” aims to help first
responders feel more comfortable at first before
jumping into real life scenarios.
Conduct a debriefing session that would include a
group Q/A with ASD experts along with mandatory
competency testing to ensure understanding and safety
on ASD.
Reassures the participants that they have gained the
necessary knowledge needed to handle situations
Problem in the Community
The Autism rate in Toms River is twice the state of
New Jersey’s average as a whole (2).
Proposed Solution
It is the nurse’s job to understand how each
individual functions and to find the best ways to
communicate with that person and to give them the
proper care they need.
Providing first responders with scenario-based and
in-person training with those with ASD can help produce
a better outcome of care for all.
•
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5.90% Naturalized
3.04% Non Citizen
Multiple occupation therapy facilities that aid in the
assistance of training individuals with disabilities regain
independence of psychical, sensory, or cognitive
difficulties.
21 Plus, Inc provides family support services for
individuals with developmental disabilities of all ages.
Children's Specialized Hospital offers outpatient &
inpatient services ranging from infants to adolescents.
Elementary School Skills Group created to facilitate
the learning of appropriate social skills through play and
activities. (4).
References
1. Toms River, New Jersey population 2022 [Internet]. Toms River, New Jersey Population
2022 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs). World Population Review; 2022. Available from:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/toms-river-nj-population
2. Washburn L. NJ's autism rate is still climbing. in one district, one in 14 third graders is
affected [Internet]. Asbury Park Press. Asbury Park Press; 2021 [cited 2022Mar28].
Available from: https://www.app.com/story/news/2021/06/15/nj-autism-rate-schoolseducation/7685008002/
3. Kelly E, Hassett-Walker C. The training of New Jersey Emergency Service First
Responders in autism awareness [Internet]. Taylor & Francis. 2020 [cited 2022Mar28].
Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15614263.2015.1121390
4. Www.oceanresourcenet.org [Internet]. Autism Spectrum Disorder Resources. [cited
2022Mar28]. Available from: https://www.oceanresourcenet.org/healthservices/developmental-needs/autism-spectrum/
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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Gianna DiCostanzo
Steven DeCarlo
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Adequate Training for First Responders to Resolve Knowledge Deficit of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Toms River, NJ
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Alone on Christmas? No Can Do:
The Troublesome Portrayals of (Single) Women in Christmas Romantic Comedy Films
Genevieve Mishon
Department of Sociology & Department of Film and Media Studies, Wagner College
SO 491: Senior Seminar
Dr. Bernadette Ludwig
May 24, 2021
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Abstract
This thesis is an analysis of American-produced Christmas romantic comedy films and
the ways in which this genre presents gendered expectations. By studying fifteen films — a
varied selection of the most popular made-for-television, theatrical and streaming Christmas
movies produced after 2000 — I explore the roles that the films’ characters play within their
social environments and what the overall message is about American cultural values in relation
to the holiday season. Overall, women in these films are presented as out of place in the office
and rather belonging in small-town American homes where they are able to prioritize love and
family. This excludes (happily) single people and women who manage to work and raise a
family simultaneously. Through these presentations of women, I find that Christmas romantic
comedies stress a need for romantic relationships around the holidays, especially among women,
and present women and men in traditional gender roles.
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Alone on Christmas? No Can Do:
The Troublesome Portrayals of (Single) Women in Christmas Romantic Comedy Films
For many people, the December holiday season means cuddling up on the couch with a
blanket, some hot cocoa, and watching one of the many heartwarming Christmas romantic
comedies. But for individuals who are involuntarily single these films may leave them feeling
sad by the end of the movie because they are without a romantic partner on Christmas unlike the
women in these movies who eventually find love for the holidays. With all of these films
centered around romance, it is hard to ignore the constant reminders to couple during the holiday
season and, as a result, many who are single tend to experience sadness (Sharp & Ganong, 2011).
For many Americans, this holiday is considered part of cuffing season; a cultural concept that
associates this time of the year with being in a romantic relationship by “cuffing” someone or, in
other words, finding someone to commit to spending these holidays with, and maybe even
longer. With countless films debuting each year in theaters, on television networks like Hallmark
and Lifetime, and now on streaming sites like Netflix, Christmas romantic comedies have
populated the holiday season with stories of (mostly) women escaping from their lonely lives in
corporate America to find love under the Christmas tree (Brayton, 2021; Rosewarne, 2018).
The holiday season in the US consists of many consumerist activities and one of them is
watching Christmas movies. The Christmas movie category is filled with romantic comedy
storylines that often feature a young woman finding love during the holiday season, usually with
a man. For many Americans, watching these movies are a crucial element of the Christmas
season. By studying numerous Christmas-centric films, one central question this thesis addresses
is what do romantic Christmas movies communicate to audiences about gender norms and
romantic relationships? Movies often reflect and reinforce societal norms. Therefore, the
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common romantic storylines that appear in Christmas movies produced in the US for American
consumers reflect the values that mainstream American society has attached to this holiday, or at
least what individuals aspire to around Christmas time (Rosewarne, 2018). Considering that
Christmas is a peak moment of cuffing season, these movies enhance the societal pressure to be
in a relationship around the holidays. Furthermore, while these films depict women as happiest
when coupled during the holidays, they also manage to endorse traditional gender roles and
norms of American society and suggest that women are to follow them in order to have a happy
holiday season. Thus, another question this thesis attempts to find out is what gender roles and
expectations do mainstream American holiday movies perpetuate?
Literature Review
Romance is a popular genre commonly found in American movies and television shows.
Romance even emerges in movies that are not labeled or advertised as romantic films, partly
because many viewers like to root for a love interest. However, the romantic relationships
depicted in most of these films, regardless if they are explicitly labeled or advertised as a
romance film or not “may engender unrealistic expectations (of sex, love, and romance) in those
who are exposed to them” (Galloway, et al., 2015, p. 688). The overwhelming majority of
American Christmas movies feature heterosexual romance as a main theme, suggesting that
romance is an essential aspect of the Christmas season. In fact, it is hard to find a Christmas
movie today without a love story, especially when it comes to films that target adult audiences.
Sharp and Ganong (2011) found that (single) viewers of these movies reported that the “holidays
reminded them of their single status, encouraging thoughts about their romantic lives, and
increasing the likelihood of experiencing sadness” (p. 971). Since American society favors those
who are coupled during the holidays, single women, who are often the main characters in these
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movies, cannot escape the constant reminders that they also ought to be in a committed romantic
relationship during this time of the year.
Indeed, these films encourage coupling, marriage, and family, and thus make the point
that being single is undesirable. In this sense, these movies are merely a reflection of the values
and beliefs of an American society that has marriage and family at its core. The majority of
romantic plotlines that exist between a woman and a man in American cinema, highlights the
importance of the institution of marriage and heteronormativity in American society. This begins
early, as Cherlin (2009) observed “the main message we are giving to young adults and single
parents is ‘Get married’” (p. 11). For example, non-married female characters in the films are
often “hyper focused on finding a man,” and the movies usually end “with lead female characters
marrying” (Sharp & Ganong, 2011, p. 975). There is an assumption that in order for women to
be happy or feel complete, they must be coupled (Taylor, 2011) and/or on the path to having a
family.
Even though being single is sometimes a choice when it comes to one’s relationship
status, remaining single is viewed by many in society as a “problem for women,” (Budgeon,
2016, p. 402) or as “a failure to perform heterosexuality adequately” (Taylor, 2011, p. 22). These
movies push the idea that being single is less of a choice and more of an unfortunate situation for
women that requires a remedy. Therefore, these movies actively contribute to singlism in
American culture. “Singlism” is the discrimination against single individuals that is “manifested
in everyday thoughts, interactions, laws, and social policies-” (Sharp & Ganong, 2011, p. 957)
and the assumption that everyone wants to get/be married and have kids (Sharp & Ganong, 2011;
Carr & Byrne, 2005). This is a pressure that women face more often than men, especially in the
media because single men are more likely to be portrayed as bachelors. Single men who choose a
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life of independence are attempting to avoid the work and financial responsibilities that come
with managing a marriage and raising a family (Gerson, 2010). Additionally, singleness is
depicted as a temporary state within young women’s lives and is not considered an adequate
long-term lifestyle. Only those who attempt to “escape” or end their single status are visible and
accepted in society (Taylor, 2011). The responsibility for escaping singlehood rests with women,
instead of accepting that remaining single is a viable lifestyle.
In addition to pressuring women towards marriage, these films also suggest that
motherhood is the next probable step towards being complete as an American woman. Family
life is often portrayed in films as incredibly gratifying, more than paid work, and the natural role
for female characters. These films push motherhood by glamorizing family life and portraying it
as utopian (Hundley, 2000). The main characters tend to have positive relationships with their
relatives and have very well-behaved children, which in reality is not always the case. This
implies that family life is worth giving up a career or a life of independence.
Moreover, these movies, specifically the ones made for television, often suggest that
women have to make a compromise between love and work and that they should not attempt to
have it all (Hundley, 2000; Brayton, 2021). Women will turn down promotions to keep family at
the forefront, and then these characters are rewarded with happiness and love in return (Hundley,
2000). When female characters choose this path, they reinforce normative gender roles and the
importance of small-town America as opposed to corporate America. Additionally, Hallmark
movies present conservative values that perceive women as being happier in rural familyoriented spaces as opposed to work spaces (Brayton, 2021). They show this by “featuring an
unassuming but unhappy woman who retreats from a hectic corporate career and bustling city
life to find romance, family and new career opportunities in a bucolic fictional town” (Brayton,
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2021, p. 51). These storylines suggest that women are out of place in these types of corporate
spaces and can only find love once they give up their jobs and the big city life to settle down in
an ideal American small-town (Rosewarne, 2018). Brayton (2021) claims that “women’s
unhappiness (in these movies) can be directly attributed to the working conditions of late
capitalism and cut throat corporate culture, which leaves them ‘empty’ and devoid of love and
romance” (p. 61). Yet again, these films suggest that women cannot handle the working lifestyle
and belong in more nurturing environments, like the home.
In addition to women choosing love and family over their career, other common themes
arise like rejecting capitalist greed, and spreading fortune to those who are less fortunate, all to
credit the “spirit of Christmas.” Brayton (2021) suggests that “no other film genre than
Christmas movies offers a more sustained and recognizable roasting of capitalism with its
attention to socioeconomic inequality, workaholism and corporate greed” (p. 53). For a holiday
that has consumerism at the heart of it, these movies resist this ideal by presenting a magical
“spirit of Christmas” value that encourages generosity, which often leads to character
transformation. However, these movies rarely feature the original religious meaning of the
holiday, except for occasional re-enactments of the nativity scene. Overall, these movies repeat
plotlines that are familiar to most American viewers, are entertaining, and are generally easy to
understand (Zacharek, 2020) and, therefore, easy to consume. Although, at the same time they
reinforce gendered societal pressures through repetitive storylines of women who wish for love
during the holidays.
Data and Methods
A total of fifteen American films focusing on Christmas and produced after 2000 were
used for this analysis. I selected these films either because I had previously watched them, I had
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seen them advertised as popular, or because they were easily accessible via YouTube and other
streaming services like Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. This list includes some of the most popular
romantic comedy Christmas films, as well as some of the most popular streaming and made-fortelevision Christmas movies.1 I paid particular attention to social norms and overarching themes.
While watching all of these films I took detailed notes on any dialogue or plot points that seemed
to be reflecting values of American society, and how lead characters interacted with their social
environments. Then I drew connections between common behaviors or themes in order to
understand what these films are collectively communicating to audiences.
Most of the main characters in these films were either women or a heterosexual duo, with
the exception of two films that featured homosexual characters. All of these characters were
portrayed to be in their twenties and thirties with the exception of a few characters in Love
Actually. Except for two of the films, all of the main characters and most of the side characters
were heterosexual individuals. Although the films featuring non-heterosexual characters
followed similar conventions as the other Christmas romance films, they also addressed (at least
briefly) the effect that their sexual orientation had on their lives and how this aspect of their
identity limited them in certain ways. The majority of the main characters in these films were
white. One film featured mostly African American characters and a few others featured a
mixture of some white and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) characters. The main
characters are also commonly middle/upper-class with jobs that are usually mentioned very little.
Moreover, lower-class characters appeared more often in the films that featured BIPOC
characters.
1
See appendix for full list of films.
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For the most part, these films focused on thin and conventionally beautiful people. Only
one film features an overweight lead, who is played by Queen Latifah in Last Holiday. However,
in this film her character is portrayed as lonely and essentially invisible to society at the
beginning. Furthermore, other films that feature overweight side characters appear as a
laughingstock. Love Actually features a few female characters who are depicted as overweight in
the film and are targeted and portrayed as undesirable to men as a result. In these films
“femininity is partially defined as thin, flawless, attractive women who ought not concern
themselves with their appearance” (Hundley, 2000, p. 22). These movies present beauty through
a very narrow lens. It is safe to say that this film genre is under-representative of the American
population, however it is evolving slowly but surely to include BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+
characters among others.
Findings
The main purpose of this thesis is to analyze the romantic comedy Christmas genre and
its subject-matter with two central questions in mind. The first concentrating on what these films
communicate to audiences about gender norms and romantic relationships. While the second
question focuses on what gender roles and expectations mainstream American holiday movies
perpetuate. One of the main themes in many of the films is the expectation that women should
bring home a male date for Christmas. The film Holidate exemplifies this, when two young and
single strangers, Sloane and Jackson, make a deal to be each other's dates for all holidays so they
never have to be alone. Sloane is intensely singled out by her family at Christmas because she is
the only one of her siblings who is not married or in a committed relationship. When Sloane is
complaining about Christmas with her family, she tells Jackson “Every time I walk into a room,
I’m showered in a sea of pity and sad glances” because she is single. So, in order to avoid
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incessant reminders from her family about the need to find a man, Sloane feels as if she has no
other choice but to bring a fake boyfriend to her family holiday gatherings. The criticism that
Sloane experiences for being single is a reflection of American society’s stigmatization of people
who choose to remain single (Carr & Byrne, 2005). Often “women’s social identities reflected
being invisible in their families, less valued than their married siblings, and knowing that their
parents preferred them to be married” (Sharp & Ganong, 2011, p. 960). Sloane very much
experiences this pressure, mostly from her mother, and feels at fault for her single status. Her
mother tells her that she’s “much prettier with makeup” on, when she is already wearing
makeup, and suggests that she “could at least put on a nice top.” This criticism from her mother
further perpetuates stereotypes of femininity, specifically beauty standards.
Similar circumstances occur in The Christmas Contract. In order to make her exboyfriend, Foster, jealous and to present to her family during the holiday season that she has
successfully moved on from their breakup, Jolie strikes a deal with her friend’s older brother,
Jack, to be her fake date on Christmas. Sometimes it is easier to find a fake date than to face
questioning family members over the holidays and to avoid sitting at the kids table, which
actually happens to Sloane in Holidate. Carr & Byrne (2005) argue that “single persons are the
target of stigmatization,” and single people are highly conscious that they are targets, making the
stigma more existent (p. 84). Sloane and Jolie, like many single heterosexual women, have
internalized this stigma and believe that the holidays are easier when spent with a date even if
they have no romantic feeling towards that person.
The expectation placed on women to bring dates to holiday gatherings is merely one
aspect of a society that pressures individuals to couple with the goal of eventually marrying.
“The United States is unquestionably a promarriage society,” (Carr & Byrne, 2005, p. 84) and
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that is reflected in the subtle, and not so subtle messages that these movies send. As mentioned
above with Holidate, Sloane’s mother constantly reminds her that she should be, like her
siblings, on a path towards marriage. The alternative is to end up like her aunt who always brings
random strangers to holiday gatherings and is portrayed as a middle-aged hyper-sexual outcast.
In the US, pressure to marry along with the single stigma are the strongest for those in their late
20s and into their early 30s (Sharp & Ganong, 2011). It is acceptable to be single when women
are younger, but eventually a woman’s “biological clock starts ticking” and pressure for marriage
emerges. After that period of time society gives up on pressuring those who are no longer in their
biological prime for childbearing. This social value is evident through the pressure that Sloane
faces to couple and the lack of pressure that her aunt experiences who is viewed as a lost cause
for love because of her age. In a way, the main characters in Holidate initially make fun of these
ridiculous film conventions, but in the end, succumb to them as they end up falling into the same
traps when the movie ends with the main characters in love.
Similar to Sloane’s experience, the young women in Happiest Season, also face pressure
from their parents to couple, specifically into heterosexual relationships, and to eventually have
children. Harper and her two sisters, Sloane and Jane, consistently compete for their parents’
affection. In order to win acceptance from their parents, they need to be coupled and on the track
towards a traditional nuclear family. When Harper brings Abby to her parents’ house for
Christmas, pretending that she is her orphan friend instead of her girlfriend, Harper’s parents and
friends continuously invite Harper’s high school boyfriend to gatherings to try and push them
back together. Additionally, their father makes it a point to parade his grandchildren (Sloane’s
children) at a dinner event to his political donors. When Sloane asks if she can help promote her
father’s campaign for mayor he tells her “you just bring that beautiful family and show them off”
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followed by “these might be the only grandchildren we ever have.” However, considering that
Sloane was an attorney before she became a full-time mom, she can clearly offer more than
motherhood to her father’s campaign. Moreover, Sloane and her husband are separated but she is
afraid to tell her parents because they will be disappointed since she is only valued in her family
as the mother of their grandchildren. When Sloane finally shares with her parents that her
marriage has ended, she tells them “without my family I am worthless to you;” in reference to
her father’s earlier remarks. Furthermore, the youngest daughter, Jane, who is single and has
never been in a serious relationship, is continuously overlooked and underappreciated by her
parents because they “gave up on her,” as the mother claims, while her two older sisters get all of
the positive attention. Hence more reasons why Harper feels pressured by society and her family
to fulfill the normative expectation to become a heterosexual wife and mother which forces her
to hide her sexual orientation. Therefore, it is not just about Harper being gay but also about how
children, specifically women, feel like they have to live up to their parents’ expectation of being
married to a man and eventually becoming a mother.
A similar pressure to marry appears in Four Christmases that leads the two main
characters to rethink their future as a couple who initially do not want to get married. In Four
Christmases Brad and Kate, who are in a heterosexual relationship, avoid their families around
the holidays because their parents and siblings remind them that their cohabitation lifestyle is
unacceptable compared to conventional marriages. When asked why they don’t get married,
Brad responds by saying “we’re happy. Marriage just brings pressure and stress.” This film is
realistic in terms of its depiction of families that make mistakes and are not “picture perfect.”
Kate and Brad see marriage as the beginning to the end and do not want to end up like their
divorced parents. Furthermore, they are portrayed as not being ready to take care of children. For
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example, when holding a baby, Kate accidentally hits the baby’s head on a kitchen cabinet, then
later in the film Kate cannot swaddle baby Jesus, and Brad cannot stand the sight of puke, which
is something that babies do often. This is another film that highlights America’s pressure for
marriage and family, by presenting a couple that lives outside the norm. However, even though
Kate and Brad begin the film with a reluctance to follow the path towards marriage and family
because they see how badly it turned out for their parents, by the end of the film they have a
baby in their arms; and thus, like in Holidate, they follow the American expectation.
Additionally, this movie addresses the fact that divorce impacts many people including children
of divorced couples, but the main characters still somehow have hope that they can make it work.
Marriage often ends in divorce in the US, so movies like this one could be attempting to
“endorse” relationship ideals (Wilson & Hefner, 2013). Thus, Four Christmases attempts to look
past the United States’ discouraging rates of divorce in order to preserve the value of marriage
and family in American society.
Furthermore, these films reflect what Sharp and Ganong (2011) refer to as society’s
promotion of “marriage and motherhood as central to women’s identities.” (p. 958). Similar to
how Kate in Four Christmases is not portrayed as suited for motherhood, Jessie, the main
character in A Bride for Christmas, struggles to be a successful bride. Jessie has run away from
the altar on her wedding day on three separate occasions. Even though Jessie does not feel ready
to get married, her mother pressures her down the aisle time and time again, even when she
expresses uncertainty. Therefore, Jessie has made marriage a priority, so once she realizes that
she is in love with Aiden, she immediately asks him to marry her. A Bride for Christmas is a
perfect example of how Americans, specifically heterosexual women, are in a hurry to get
married (Cherlin, 2009).
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It is not just young single women in these films, who are pressured to be in a committed
relationship, and ideally in a marriage; so are single parents with young children. But in contrast
to films about single individuals where women’s mothers play a central role in pushing for
coupledom, in movies such as Christmas on the Bayou and The Perfect Holiday, the women’s
young children take center stage, as the men need to win them over in order to earn the love of
the women. Rosewarne (2018) suggests that single parents are often featured in romantic
narratives because being “partnerless” is viewed as “a temporary state before characters
transition into romance and ultimately a nuclear family and existing children speeds up the
construction of the nuclear unit” (p. 23). For example, in Christmas on the Bayou, Caleb seems
to spend more time with Katherine’s son than with her, and wins the son over before she even
takes an interest in him. In the end, the main reason why she wants to be with Caleb is because
he would make a good father to her son. This dynamic illustrates the fact that these men have to
act as replacements for the deadbeat, almost villainous fathers that are barely involved in their
children’s lives. Furthermore, usually female characters are single because they divorced a bad
man, whereas male characters are usually widows, making their separated status not a choice,
and more endearing (Rosewarne, 2018). Considering that in the US, fathers are more likely than
mothers to be absent in their children’s lives, these portrayals reinstate the social perception that,
unlike men, women are naturally good mothers.
This scenario also plays out in The Perfect Holiday. Even though Nancy is at the time
going through a divorce, she is eager to find a new husband and potential father to her three
children, who are still struggling with the fact that their parents are splitting up. Both in the
movies and in real life, over time, American women feel pressure for marriage and family from
their social environments as their friends couple/marry and less desirable men are available
�15
(Sharp & Ganong, 2011; Fallon & Stockstill, 2018). Nancy is very eager to maintain the
traditional family structure when she brings Benjamin home to meet the kids on only their
second date, which reflects the trend in US society, that people tend to rush into new
relationships very quickly as Americans have “sped up the hands on the relationship clock”
(Cherlin, 2009, p. 201).
Conversely, when a single father is the romantic interest, he is perceived differently than
the deadbeat fathers in movies with a single mother as the main character. Additionally, their
children’s birth mothers are rarely ever mentioned and it is not always clear if they are separated
by divorce or by death. The potential lovers in The Princess Switch and The Holiday are both
single dads who appear to be very good fathers to their daughters. In The Holiday, when Amanda
meets Graham’s daughters for the first time, the girls express a desire to have a woman around
more often. One girl says “we never have grown-ups here, at all girls” and the other girl responds
“I really like it.” At this moment, Graham begins to feel pressured to bring a new mom home for
his daughters, which is yet another example of the central role that children in these films play in
recoupling their parents. In The Princess Switch, Margaret falls in love with Kevin, a single
father who has a very strong and friendly relationship with his daughter who spends plenty of
time with them throughout the course of the film. Margaret eventually develops a strong
relationship with Kevin’s daughter and after catching the bouquet at another wedding, Kevin
tells Margaret that she “might want to hang on to that bouquet,” suggesting that marriage is in
their future. Additionally, it is important to note that the gender of the child is an essential plot
point, considering these movies posit that daughters need a female figure (a stepmom) and sons
need a male figure (a stepdad) actively in their lives.
�16
Another common occurrence in these holiday romantic comedies is that women will
relocate to be with men, either to rural towns or royal palaces. In this situation, the lead female
character faces a geographical conflict but usually ends up choosing love in a small-town over
their career opportunities in the big city. For example, in Christmas on the Bayou Katherine turns
down a promotion that she has been working towards for a long time to move back to her
hometown and be with her childhood crush. Once again, children play a central role as the push
mainly comes from her son, who really just wants his mother to spend more time with him
instead of at the office. Hence why she chooses to move back to the rural town where she grew
up because there is a potential new father for her son and fewer corporate distractions, allowing
her to spend more time with her son and birth family. In Christmas on Wheels Ashley is faced
with a similar conflict when she goes home to her rural hometown in Washington for Christmas
and meets Duncan, an attorney whom she eventually grows fond of. At the moment when she
finally gets the opportunity to open her dream antique shop in Seattle, she turns it down to stay in
her hometown, for love and small-town traditions. The conflict in these types of films is “being
fabulous, strong and professionally independent counterposed with the desire to secure a
heterosexual partner” (Taylor, 2011, p. 14). It also seems to suggest that women cannot have it
all.
This past holiday season (2020) two mainstream US holiday films were released that
feature LGBTQ+ lead characters who are “rarely depicted on-screen” (Rao, 2020) or in this
genre that is historically rooted in heteronormative standards. One being the Christmas Set-Up
which is the first romantic Christmas film featuring gay lead characters to premiere on the
Lifetime network. And the second, Happiest Season is one of the first major Hollywoodproduced Christmas films to feature lesbian lead characters. However, these two films seemed to
�17
consist of very similar conventions as previous Christmas romantic comedies. Happiest Season
goes above and beyond the conventions of the Christmas movie genre by addressing the struggle
for family acceptance among LGBTQ+ individuals in conservative families. On the other hand,
The Christmas Setup barely addresses the issues that LGBTQ+ individuals face in a
heteronormative society, and overall focuses on choosing love over big-city life and highly
revered career opportunities. The main character, Hugo, goes home to Milwaukee to spend
Christmas with his lonely widowed mother and runs into Patrick, his High School crush. When
Hugo gets his dream job offer in London, England, he has to make a choice between Patrick and
London. Needless to say, he chooses love over his career opportunity. Even though this is a film
about two men and thus breaks a major convention of the Christmas romance genre, the main
character is presented as very feminine in comparison to his masculine love interest and the film
follows a very similar plotline as other movies within this genre, as Hugo chooses love in the
suburbs of Milwaukee over a career in London.
Women in holiday films not only move to small-town America for their love interests and
in pursuit of “traditional roles and values” instead of corporate roles, sometimes they fall in love
with a prince. And while in these cases they move up the socioeconomic ladder, they also, like
the women who move to small towns, have to leave behind their career, friends, and family. For
example, in The Princess Switch, Stacey, a middle-class baker, switches lives with her
doppelganger, Lady Margaret, a soon-to-be-married princess. When they both fall in love while
living the other person’s life, they decide to switch locations for good, allowing Stacey to marry
the prince. So, Stacey leaves her life in Chicago behind for an upgrade to royal life on Christmas.
Similarly, in A Princess for Christmas, when the prince is pressured to find a royal bride, Jules, a
poor woman from Buffalo who is a detached relative of the royal family, is invited to stay at the
�18
castle for Christmas with her niece and nephew who she is the legal guardian of. They end up
falling in love, and when they are ridiculed by his fellow royal folk, they defy the odds and show
people the importance of true love. These types of situations are interesting since Americans
have class-based expectations about marriage and tend to marry within their socioeconomic class
(Fallon & Stockstill, 2018). This social value is apparent through the upper-class people who
criticize the prince for wanting to be in a relationship with a woman from a lower-class
background. Therefore, both of these films, among others, set unrealistic expectations for women
by communicating that “regular girls” can marry into royalty. This is not a convention limited to
the Christmas genre but also applies to many Disney fairytale films. In fact, these royal
Christmas movies are merely an extension of the Disney princess fairytale stories that have
accompanied many young girls throughout their lives. In most of these cases the woman gives up
her world to be in his. Their relationship also defies class lines considering many of these
fairytales, such as Cinderella, allow a “regular girl” to become a princess by marrying into
royalty, suggesting that marriage is an easy way for women to climb the social ranks.
In addition to the portrayal of princes liking “regular girls” is the idea that men like
women who are different than them when it comes to socioeconomic status and in other ways.
The royal men in The Princess Switch, A Princess for Christmas and A Christmas Prince find
these regular girls refreshing, because they are so different from the other women these men are
used to. In A Christmas Prince, Prince Richard falls in love with Amber, a journalist from New
York City, who is pretending to be his little sister’s tutor in order to get closer to him for her
work assignment. Even though they do not get along in the beginning, he finds it endearing when
she wears Converse sneakers to a royal dinner event, and later in the movie he tells her “you’re
more genuine than anyone I’ve ever met.” The prince takes an interest in her because she is more
�19
authentic than the royal women within his social circle who are often portrayed in these films as
uptight and more concerned with reputation and appearances than anything else. Moreover, often
in these movies the characters do not initially like each other, either as a result of a previous
meeting or simply because they are so different from one another. But miraculously in the end,
love conquers all existing tensions and class differences between the two. A similar cross-class
love story takes place in The Princess Switch. Once the two women switch lives they almost
immediately meet perfect men because opposites attract, and more specifically the prince likes
that Stacy is “different.” However, it is important to note that since the two women look identical
to one another, the same beauty standards apply in this case. Therefore, these women have to be
refreshingly different from what he is used to from his social environment. Since these men are
more established in their royal class status (perceived as success), the women will always leave
their lives behind to be with the man.
Similar to how these films present women in traditional American gender roles, as
belonging in the home and away from the big city, they also suggest how women are “supposed”
to act in heterosexual relationships. These movies specifically portray heterosexual women as
fitting into a passive role in relation to their male counterparts. In other words, women are often
waiting for their man to come around and “sweep them off of their feet” to start the relationship.
This passive behavior is manifested in three different ways in these movies: love being
unexpected, the spontaneity of soulmates and men organizing elaborate displays of affection that
almost always take the woman by surprise.
First, love almost always appears when these women least expect it, which is ironic given
that these women are sometimes actively looking for relationships at the beginning of the film. In
The Christmas Contract, what seems like just a transactional trade-off for the lead woman to
�20
have a fake date on Christmas to make her ex-boyfriend jealous, turns into a beautiful love story
when they fall in love with each other. Likewise, in Last Holiday once Georgia begins to focus
on doing what makes her happy instead of waiting for a man to save her from her miserable life,
her love interest finally pursues her. These films communicate to audiences that their special guy
will appear when he is ready, not necessarily when she is in pursuit of the relationship. The
concept of unexpected love is also the premise for one of the highest grossing and most popular
American romantic comedy Christmas films, The Holiday.2 Iris and Amanda, the two lead
women in The Holiday, attempt to escape from their lives to get far away from the men who
wronged them. When Amanda first meets Graham, she tells him “you are unexpected,”
meanwhile Iris says “anything could happen” immediately after she meets Miles, the man who
will later become her love interest. The Holiday highlights the pressure that single people feel to
be coupled especially during this time of the year even after they have just ended relationships,
reflecting once again that Americans rush from one relationship/marriage into another (Cherlin,
2009). On the other hand, the movie presents the overused convention of meeting an unexpected
handsome stranger right in time for Christmas. Similar to Four Christmases and Holidate, The
Holiday also strives to poke fun at the corniness of the romantic Christmas genre through
mimicking the conventions that appear in these types of movies. One of the ways that this
appears is through the movie trailer voiceover that pops up throughout the film to remind
Amanda that she is a cliché of the single woman escaping from her life to unexpectedly fall in
love on Christmas in a magical English countryside. Through this element of the story, the
filmmaker seems to be exploiting the corniness of the Christmas movie genre, but ultimately the
2
Overall The Holiday, grossed between $205-206 million worldwide (Box Office Mojo), which ranks the film as
one of the highest grossing American Christmas films within the romantic comedy genre.
�21
movie ends in the same way as most other stories among the genre, with the two couples dancing
together over champagne on New Year's Eve.
Second, the idea that there is “the one” person for everyone (soulmates), and along with
that, the belief that everything is meant to be (destiny), arises in these films. In A Bride for
Christmas Jessie is hyper-focused on finding “the one.” After kissing Aiden, whom she has not
had any previous interest in, for the first time, she feels the “fireworks” and immediately
decides to propose to him because she believes that they are soulmates (which also speaks to
the love being unexpected convention). This sounds quite impulsive, but it reinforces the idea
of “the one” which is a common portrayal of love in the media. The idea of destiny appears in
The Princess Switch when the two women first meet. Lady Margaret claims that her and Stacy
were “destined to run into each other” so they could switch lives and find love, and later in the
film when the prince is convincing Stacy to marry him he says “You are my destiny. This was
the plan. We were meant to be together.” The problem with this romantic ideal of soulmates or
destiny, similar to the belief that love is unexpected, is that women are expected to passively wait
for “the one” to come into their lives and sweep them off of their feet. Then once he shows up,
these women are sometimes expected to give up their lives to be with him. This reinforces
traditional American gender norms of courtship which assign heterosexual men the role of
initiator while heterosexual women are only allowed to react once the man “makes his move”
(Lamont, 2014).
Third, the act of a man performing a big display of affection often in front of other
people, such as staging an elaborate gesture, speech or proposal to win over the woman is
another example of normative gender roles in heterosexual relationships which is essential to this
movie genre. This concept sets a very high standard for heterosexual women to expect of
�22
heterosexual men in American society and often allows for second chances. In Love Actually,
Jamie goes to Aurelia to propose in front of everyone in Portuguese (her native language which
he learned just for this proposal) at the restaurant where she works. Meanwhile the prime
minister goes knocking on every door to find Natalie, and then later kisses her in front of all of
the audience members while on stage. Heterosexual women are perceived as being easily swayed
by a man who makes an effort to be with her and who is not afraid to confess his love for her in
front of a group of people. The expectation in the US, as well as other socially similar countries
of the Global North, is that one partner, usually the man, will formalize the relationship with a
marriage proposal (Baker & Elizabeth, 2014). This means that women will often wait around for
the man to progress the couple towards the next step of their relationship.
For a more classic display of love, in A Bride for Christmas Aiden gets down on one knee
and proposes to Jamie on Christmas day (after only knowing her for four weeks) in front of her
entire family and then immediately has a wedding ceremony staged in the house. Even though
the only reason why Aiden pursued Jamie in the first place was to win a bet, since he is
promising to commit to her through this grand display of affection, she takes him back. When
men pull off these stunts, they are sometimes attempting to erase any previous wrongs that they
have done to the women, suggesting that if men put effort into a big romantic gesture then all
will be forgiven. Still, men should be held accountable for their actions and should not simply be
able to start over time and time again by wooing women with romance. Conversely, in Holidate
(2020) she is the one to make the big speech to win the guy over after previously turning him
down. This indicates that more recent movies attempt to flip the script by having women instead
of men stage elaborate displays of affection.
�23
Conclusion
Christmas romantic comedy films mirror and reinforce mainstream American cultural
values of heterosexual coupling, marriage and family, while discouraging as well as stigmatizing
single life and endorsing the traditional role of women in the home and not in the workforce.
Overall these depictions place the female protagonist out of the big city and office spaces and
into the small-town American home, where she is meant to fulfill a gender normative passive
role while her husband leads the way. All of the romantic conventions that present women as
passive and men as active in these films — such as love being unexpected, the idea of
soulmates/destiny, and elaborate displays of affection — create an expectation that women are to
wait for their special man to romance them into the next stage of life, marriage and then
eventually family. And even though it is ultimately the female lead who makes these decisions
(and the gay male lead in the Christmas Set-Up), like moving to a small-town or giving up their
dream job, these life changes are never sacrifices that heterosexual male characters are forced to
make. These movie portrayals reinforce gender roles within heterosexual relationships and
prevent women from living more independent lifestyles. Hence being able to have it all — as in a
career, a marriage and a family — or being happily single is not represented as attainable in these
movies. Furthermore, although there are so many Christmas films, they typically tend to feature
a limited demographic segment of heterosexual, middle and upper class, White, conventionally
attractive, able-bodied characters in their late twenties or early thirties (Hundley, 2000; Brayton,
2021; Hefner & Wilson, 2013; Sharp & Ganong, 2011). In the US where dating, marriage and
family come in many different forms, these films actually exclude many people with their
limited portrayals of the American population.
�24
In short, these female leads who place high importance on being in a relationship around
the holidays and are willing to leave everything behind, including their careers, for love are
symbols of the “Christmas spirit” that rejects capitalist greed and reinstates our urges to couple
during the Christmas season. Yet, it is important to note that in reality, “women are happier when
they have both career and family” (Hewlett, 2002, p. 69). So why do these women have to
choose in order to have an exceptional Christmas? Thus, the cultural perception that being single
is a “problem” for women (Burgeon, 2016) is continuously stressed in these Christmas romantic
comedy films by pushing female leads into heterosexual relationships and into the home. Even
though more recent films including LGBTQ+ and racially diverse characters offer better
representation, the importance of romance and what has erroneously been labeled as “the
traditional family” along with normative gender roles remain at the forefront of this genre.
�25
References
Baker, M. & Elizabeth, V. (2014). Marriage in an Age of Cohabitation: How and When People
Tie the Knot in the Twenty-First Century. Ontario: Oxford University Press (pp. 4-16).
Box Office Mojo. (n.d.). The Holiday (2006). Box Office Mojo by IMDb Pro.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0457939/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Brayton, S. (2021). Courtship and class conflict in Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas”.
Feminist Media Studies, 21(1), 51-65.
Budgeon, S. (2016). The ‘problem’ with single women: Choice, accountability and social
change. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33 (3), 402-418.
Carr, D. & Byrne A. (2005). Caught in the Cultural Lag: The Stigma of Singlehood.
Psychological Inquiry, 16 (2 & 3), 84-91.
Cherlin, A. J. (2009). The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in
America Today. New York, NY: Knopf.
Fallon, K. & Stockstill, C. (2018). The Condensed Courtship Clock: How Elite Women Manage
Self-development and Marriage Ideals. Socius, 4, 1-14.
Galloway, L., Engstrom, E. & Emmers-Sommers, T. M. (2015). Does Movie Viewing Cultivate
Young People's Unrealistic Expectations About Love and Marriage? Marriage & Family
Review, 51 (8), 687-712.
Gerson, K. 2010. The Unfinished Revolution: How a New Generation is Reshaping Family,
Work, and Gender in America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hefner, V., & Wilson, B. (2013). From Love at First Sight to Soul Mate: The Influence of
Romantic Ideals in Popular Films on Young People’s Beliefs about Relationships.
Communication Monographs, 80(2), 150–175.
�26
Hewlett, S. A. (2002, April). Executive Women and the Myth of Having It All. Harvard
Business Review, 80(4), 66-73.
Hundley, H. (2000, February). Lifetime's Limited Feminism: Defining and Deconstructing
Television for Women. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western States
Communication Association, Sacramento, CA.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED437698.pdf
Lamont, E. (2014). Negotiating Courtship: Reconciling Egalitarian Ideals with Traditional
Gender Norms. Gender and Society, 28(2), 189-211.
Lotz, A. D. (2006). Redesigning Women: Television After the Network Era. University of Illinois
Press.
Rao, S. (2020, November). Clea DuVall wanted to see more queer Christmas movies. With
Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, she made one herself. The Washington Post.
Rosewarne, L. (2018). Analyzing Christmas in Film: Santa to the Supernatural. Lexington
Books.
Sharp, E. A. & Ganong L. (2011). I’m a Loser, I’m Not Married, Let’s Just All Look at Me”:
Ever-Single Women’s Perceptions of Their Social Environment. Journal of Family
Issues, 32(7), 956–980.
Taylor, A. (2011). Single Women in Popular Culture: The Limits of Postfeminism. London,
England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Zacahrek, S. (2020, December). Sure, Netflix Christmas Movies are Often Patently Absurd.
They’re Also Occasionally Perfect. Time.com. https://time.com/5921304/netflixchristmas-movies-2020/
�27
Appendix 1
Films Reviewed:
A Bride for Christmas (2012)
A Christmas Prince (2017)
A Princess for Christmas (2012)
The Christmas Contract (2018)
Christmas on the Bayou (2013)
Christmas on Wheels (2020)
Four Christmases (2008)
Happiest Season (2020)
Holidate (2020)
Last Holiday (2006)
Love Actually (2003)
The Christmas Setup (2020)
The Holiday (2006)
The Perfect Holiday (2007)
The Princess Switch (2018)
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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Alone on Christmas? No Can Do: The Troublesome Portrayals of (Single) Women in Christmas Romantic Comedy Films
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Genevieve Mishon
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<a href="https://youtu.be/ZMhWdqddt2M" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Link to film</a> (17:26)
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Bernadette Ludwig, PhD
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PDF Text
Text
An Analysis on the Increased Rate of Thyroid Disorder in Staten Island
Gianna Micalizzi WCSN, Lakeisha Seaforth WCSN
The Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing Wagner College
Introduction
● Among middle age women living on Staten Island, does early
detection of thyroid cancer through the My Thyroid initiative with
health advertisements increase the rate of early detection and cancer
diagnosis?
● Staten Island is the second smallest borough in the New York City
region and it has the highest Thyroid cancer rate in the entire State.
● Staten Island has 66% of Thyroid cancer cases for both sexes in
comparison with the other four boroughs. When compared to the State
of New York excluding the four boroughs, Staten Island has 69% of
the Thyroid cancer cases for both sexes.
Problem in the Community
● Thyroid cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the USA, and an estimated over 62,000 new
cases occurred in men and women in 2015 (2).
● The American Thyroid Association estimates that 20 million US citizens are affected with a thyroid disorder.
● Thyroid cancer, a slow-progressing disease, occurs in the cells of the thyroid — a butterfly-shaped gland
located at the base of the neck (3).
○ Nearly all spikes in thyroid cancer have been of the differentiated thyroid cancer type with the subtype,
papillary carcinoma.
● The former Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, in his Cancer Research Initiative (2017) conducted
local studies examining the increase in thyroid cancer rates across New York City and New York State (4).
○ Data shows that Staten Island, NY has thyroid cancer rates that are nearly 70 percent higher than the rest
of New York State.
○ Thyroid cancer, primarily of the Papillary Carcinoma type, is the most common cancer among women
aged 35-39 on Staten Island.
○ Between 1996 and 2015, thyroid tumors of the papillary type increased from 77% to 92% in Staten Island.
● The increase in thyroid cancer on Staten Island, NY corresponds to an increase in routine diagnostic imaging
following the September 11th, 2001 attack of the World Trade Center (4).
○ Diagnostic testing included neck ultrasounds, cancer screenings and post-surgery diagnosis of thyroid
cancer.
● According to Healthy People 2030, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends against thyroid
cancer screening in the general population. Specific to those who (5):
Proposed Solution
● “My Thyroid” Health Program would be readily available on Staten
Island and directed at women between the ages of 45-60 to improve
the standard and quality of care for those with endocrine disorders of
the thyroid.
● Our program will provide primary prevention through education of
evidence based practice gathered by endocrinologists, nurses and data
collection from organization such as American Cancer Society.
○ The research and data will help educate the public about signs and
symptoms of thyroid disorders and risk factors of thyroid cancer.
● Our ultimate goal is to spread awareness to the Staten Island
community on thyroid health and to decrease unnecessary diagnostic
testing of thyroid disease for asymptomatic individuals.
● The solution is based on Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model of
Nursing Theory. This theory prioritizes primary prevention of illness
and health promotion in which the nursing curriculum should be
revised to reflect this emphasis (6).
○ Don’t have a family history of thyroid cancer.
○ Don’t have previous exposure.
Community Assessment and Analysis
○ Don’t have certain inherited genetic cancer conditions.
○ Don’t have symptoms.
● Staten Island has a population of 476,143 which is a 36% increase
compared to 350,000 in the 1990s.
● The median household income is $89,821 and it is ranks as one of the
least poverty stricken borough with the average poverty rate of 8.3%
● Employment grew by 13 percent since 2012 with a record of 97,000
new jobs in 2017. The largest employer is the healthcare field,
followed the Retail and lastly the Construction industry (1).
● 20 years ago, Staten Island experienced the aftermath of 9/11 with the
1.5 million tons of debris from the explosion being transported into the
Freshkills landfill, in the South Shore area. The landfill is currently
being transformed into a park.
● The major health concerns in Staten Island are cancer, obesity, mental
hygiene and alcoholism.
● Staten Island medical community is encouraging patients to get
screened for thyroid cancers. The borough has invested in
advertisements that educate and encourage residents to get screened as
well as providing free screenings.
References
1. DeNapoli , T. P., & Bleiwas, K. B. (2018, September). An Economic Snapshot of Staten Island .
osc.state.ny.gov. Retrieved from
https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/reports/osdc/pdf/report-7-2019.pdf. Level 1
1. Cabanillas ME, McFadden DG, Durante C. Thyroid cancer. The Lancet.
2016;388(10061):2783–95. Level 5
2. Holzheimer R, Mannick JA. Surgical treatment: Evidence-based and problem-oriented
[Internet]. München: Zuckschwerdt; 2001. Available from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK6979/ Level 2
3. Staten Island Cancer Incidence Investigation Executive Summary [Internet]. health.ny.gov. New
York State Department of Health; 2017 [cited 2022Mar30]. Available from:
https://health.ny.gov/diseases/cancer/docs/richmond_executive_summary_2019.pdf Level 4.
4. Thyroid cancer: Screening [Internet]. Thyroid Cancer: Screening - Healthy People 2030. U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force; [cited 2022Mar29]. Available from:
https://health.gov/healthypeople/tools-action/browse-evidence-based-resources/thyroid-cancerscreening Level 7
5. Pender NJ, Murdaugh CL, Parsons MA. Health Promotion in Nursing Practice. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson; 2011. Level 6
Department of Health. Thyroid Cancer Incidence and Mortality by Year, New York City,1976-2018.
�
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GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
1
An Overview on Perceptions of Grief Implemented into Counseling
Katie Bivona
Department of Psychology, Wagner College
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
2
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….3
CHAPTER
1
THE HISTORICAL ANALYSIS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF GRIEF
COUNSELING AND CHANGES TO ITS GENERAL PERCEPTION…………………5
Grief in the First Millennium……………………………………………………………...5
Freud’s Grief Work Theory…………………………………………………………….….6
Kubler-Ross Model…..…………………………………………………………………..12
Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model………………………………………………..13
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….14
2
THE INVESTIGATION OF EFFECTIVE GRIEF COUNSELING AND ITS
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS…………………………………………………………...16
Theory on Personal Experience with Grief…………………………………………..…..16
Countertransference……………………………………………………………………...16
Factor of Personal Experience with Grief.……………………………………………….17
Training…………………………………………………………………………………..19
Relevance to Today’s Needs..……………………………………………..……………..19
Conclusion..………………………………………………………………………….…..20
3
INVESTIGATING COMPLEX ISSUES THAT ARISE IN GRIEF COUNSELING
SETTINGS…………………………………………………………………………...…..21
Problem of Childhood Bereavement………………………………………….………….21
Prevalence…………………………….………………………………………………….21
Potential Solutions……………………………………………………………………….22
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
3
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….…25
4
REFLECTING ON INTERNING AT EMMA’S PLACE……………………………….26
Emma’s Place…………………………………………………………………………….26
Connections…………………………………………………………………………….26
LIST OF REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………….29
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
4
Abstract
The study of grief and bereavement is a complex subject and has been developed through various
psychologists and individuals who have done research on it. Analyzing the development of grief
counseling approaches is vital to understanding how the knowledge known today regarding
bereavement was acquired and extended throughout the 19th century. Chapter one focuses on the
historical analysis of grief counseling as well as how and why general perceptions of grief have
changed over time. The events that were significant turning points to the development of grief
counseling approaches are highlighted in this chapter. In chapter two, the focus shifts to factors
and variables that contribute to being an effective grief counselor. The factors discussed are
specific to the needs of societal standards today and reflect current literature on grief. In chapter
three, the problem of childhood bereavement having unpleasant outcomes is discussed and was
combated with solutions to alleviate the likelihood of these circumstances. Lastly, chapter four is
a reflection on the experience at my field placement, Emma’s Place, which is a grieving center
for children and families. Significant connections between my field placement and the first three
chapters of my paper were made. The general goal of this paper is to provide an overview of
grief and how it is approached, throughout history and in current times.
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
5
Chapter 1:
“The Historical Analysis on the Development of Grief Counseling and Changes to its
General Perception”
Beginning in the early nineteenth century when Sigmund Freud proposed his theory of
grief work, to the late nineteenth century when Stroebe and Schut proposed the Dual Process
Model of Coping with Bereavement, the way grief is understood as well as counselors'
approaches to grief counseling has evolved. During the historical events of World War 1 and
World War 2, the needs of those who were grieving began to change. Prior to wars and Freud’s
theory on grief, an event as tragic as losing a child was a normality and didn’t require significant
attention. Freud’s ideas were substantially influential on various psychologists, who proposed
theories to further develop the general perception of grief. The focus of this chapter is to
historically analyze the development of grief counseling from the publication of Freud's
Mourning and Melancholia to the psychological theories of Kubler-Ross and Stroebe and Schut
who contributed to its development and brought about change in the way in which grief is
understood.
At the time of the first millennium, death in infancy was a common event. The first year
of life had the greatest mortality while few people survived to old age (Parkes, 2002). An event
that is considered immensely horrific today was once an occurrence that mothers could not only
move on from quickly, but even boasted about. A belief held onto by millennials was that the
soul of their deceased infant would immediately become a cherub in heaven which was boasted
about by mothers who viewed this as contributing multiple cherubs to heaven depending on how
many infants they had lost (Parkes, 2002). Although death in infancy was a historic trend of this
time period and is disturbing to societal standards now, feelings of grief and sorrow were not
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
6
foreign concepts, and there were other types of bereavement that did cause grief such as the
death of older children (Parkes, 2002). Dying of a broken heart can even be traced back to
Biblical times, confirmed in a study by Benjamin and Fitzgerald in 1969 which indicated that
first year widowers had a rise in heart disease after losing their spouse and had high mortality
rates (Parkes, 2002). The way grief was understood in the first millennium led to individuals
feeling apathetic toward death in infancy, but would later change in several centuries as the
demands of grief became increasingly vital.
During WWI in the early nineteenth century, Freud published Mourning and Melancholia
where he established the difference between mourning and melancholia and proposed his grief
work hypothesis which ultimately changed perceptions of grief, and got it to be considered in the
psychological domain. The publication of his work had come at an appropriate time during the
war which was validated in the 1960s by Geoffrey Gorer, an English anthropologist and writer,
who stated that rising death rates during WWI are what paid show to mourning in earlier years
(Parkes, 2002). Grief was being heavily repressed and a change was desperately needed. Many at
war had developed a “stiff upper lip,” a saying used to describe warriors who had their grief
under firm control by repressing it (Parkes, 2002). In Mourning and Melancholia, Freud
describes mourning as expressing feelings in a healthy manner, and the conscious mind working
through one’s grief to eventually accept the loss for what it is (Freud, 1912). On the other hand,
he described melancholia as unresolved grief that becomes a part of the unconscious mind as it is
too unbearable for the conscious mind to process (Freud, 1912). Essentially, Freud’s grief work
theory meant that the grieving must break ties with the deceased, readjust to new life
circumstances, and build new relationships (Hamilton, 2016). Freud’s efforts initiated
psychologists to think about grief as a phenomena that can affect the psyche. This led them to
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
7
agree that grief should be considered as part of the psychological domain (Granek, 2010) and has
had lasting effects since then. Freud’s grief work hypothesis had laid a new foundation for the
grieving process, that psychologists could reflect on to further develop his work, contributing to
perceptions of grief greatly evolving.
As various psychologists began to theorize and propose ideas about grief, much of what
historical figures had to say such as Erich Lindemann and John Bowlby was influenced by Freud
in some way. In 1944, Erich Lindemann, a psychoanalyst, published the Symptomatology and the
Management of Acute Grief which transitioned and pivoted grief to be further developed as a
psychological kind, giving further relevance to bereavement at the end of WW2 (Granek, 2010).
Lindemann had found confirmation in his work with bereaved individuals through Freud’s theory
of repression (Parkes, 2002). Lindemann’s research had followed the event of the Cocoanut
Grove Fire which killed 42 people and was the deadliest nightclub fire in history (O’Connor,
2019). His efforts to further develop grief in the psychiatric domain was also directly correlated
to war casualties and the demands of evaluating the mental and physical effects of the population
(Lindemann, 1944). Lindemann gave clear and concise reasonings for his beliefs, proposing that
grief is a definite syndrome with psychological and somatic symptomatology which required that
it be treated as a psychiatric disorder; being predicted, managed, and subsequently treated by
professionals (Granek, 2010). The initial response to the distress of losing a loved one would not
typically indicate that medical attention was needed but as the psychiatrist, it was vital to get past
the initial reaction of the patient’s distress to truly understand their trauma and whether or not
they represent clear and cut neuroses (Granek, 2010). Lindemann’s efforts were a success and
provided additional support to Freud’s theory on repressed grief, giving individuals an even
deeper understanding of how to work through it. As Granek (2010) stated, “While Freud put
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
8
grief on the map, Lindemann (1944) charted the territory.” Lindemann was also the first to bring
bereavement studies to be empirically tested; using quantitative methods, epistemologies, and
experimental apparatuses which brought grief from a psychoanalytic concept to a psychiatric one
(Granek, 2010). The efforts of Lindemann in the 1940s brought perceptions of grief into the
following era of it being treated as a psychiatric disorder, while also introducing empirical based
research to support it.
In the 1950s, British psychologist John Bowlby was also heavily influenced by the ideas
of Freud and contributed to the study of bereavement by proposing his theory of attachment,
proving that how individuals grieve and respond to loss partially stems from the organization of
their attachment system (Frayley, 2018). He proposed that children, beginning in infancy, had
attachments to their primary caregiver and that the level of attachment depended on the
availability and responsiveness of the caregiver, which could have psychological effects into
adulthood (Bowlby, 1960). Prior to this, Freud proposed that psychoanalytic theory was the
development of attachment to the satisfaction of the child’s instinctual drives by the mother and
that the mother and child’s emotional bond forms through the attachment to their mother as the
provider of food (Rosenberg, 2013). Bowlby then developed his theory by combining
psychoanalytic and learning theory (Rosenberg, 2013). Bowlby held an ecological perspective on
attachment and loss, which was one of his most major contributions to the study of bereavement
(Frayley, 2018). This perspective suggested that infants of all species could explore and engage
in social interactions when they felt secure with their attachment figure (Frayley, 2018). On the
other hand, inaccessibility to the attachment figure may produce a rise in anxiety, followed by an
attempt to reestablish contact through protesting, searching, approaching, and clinging (Frayley,
2018). As explained, Bowlby and Lindemann’s contributions to the study of bereavement can be
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
9
traced back to the influence of Freud, and were detrimental to its development and changes in the
general perception of grief.
Bowlby’s theory of attachment would eventually be extended upon at various angles by
Colin Murray Parkes and Mary Ainsworth, which has had lasting effects contributing to the
study of bereavement. In 1970, Colin Murray Parkes, a British psychiatrist, extended on
attachment theory by proposing the four stages of mourning, (Servaty-Seib, 2004) as well as
Mary Ainsworth, an American-Canadian psychologist who further developed ideas on
attachment in 1970 by creating a systematic way of studying it (Parkes, 2002). These historical
figures have also contributed to the general studies of bereavement’s development. Colin Murray
Parkes worked under the supervision of Bowlby and had published several articles of his own
regarding grief (Granek, 2010). Together, they proposed a model of mourning including four
stages; numbness, yearning and searching, disorganization and despair, and reorganization
(Servaty-Seib, 2004). The four phases enforced the concept that grieving is a process and Parkes
had stated that the patterns he identified were descriptive, only a rough guide (Servaty-Seib,
2004) and were not clear-cut predictions (Frayley, 2018). He also proposed that it is possible for
oscillation to occur back and forth between two stages (Frayley, 2018). In addition, Parkes was
able to extend on Bowlby’s attachment concept in describing what he called a “grief-prone
personality” which modeled poor outcomes that anxiously attached individuals may face,
supported with empirical evidence (Frayley, 2018).
Parkes’ work took grief studies down a new route since it revolved more around the
empirical and scientistic rhetoric of the time, whereas Bowlby’s theories were psychoanalytic in
orientation (Granek, 2010). His methods were empirically sound and grounded in science which
would assimilate into contemporary psychological culture and even paralleled some of
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
10
Lindemann’s work in 1944 (Granek, 2010). He refers to grief as a complex process which
requires professional intervention, supporting his claim with evidence that the bereaved have
increased mortality rates and physical problems, turning it into a physical and mental disorder,
also defended by American psychiatrist George L. Engel. (Granek, 2010). Parkes believed that
adults who were characterized as insecure, dependent, anxious, or fearful often had an
underlying cause of mourning (Frayley, 2018). In the period of the 1970s, Parkes’ extension on
attachment theory, inspired by Bowlby, has provided significant insight to mourning which has
further developed methods in grief counseling due to identifying various phases which have
empirical validity.
Additionally in 1970, Mary Ainsworth extended on Bowlby’s theory by constructing a
systematic way of studying various types of attachment, and has contributed to bereavement
studies by suggesting that each of the attachment styles will respond to bereavement in a unique
manner (Parkes, 2002). Ainsworth’s goal wasn’t to confirm Bowlby’s attachment theory, but to
see if conceptualizing the child’s tie to its mother as secure would fit what mothers and babies
actually do (Ainsworth, 2015). Her emphasis on the secure base concept is also what motivated
the original attachment theory to evolve (Ainsworth, 2015). She had developed the Strange
Situation Test, and used it to investigate the interplay of attachment in a controlled laboratory
setting (Frayley, 2018), giving her the ability to distinguish between secure and insecure
attachments with the help of her colleague Mary Main (Parkes, 2002). Among their studies they
concluded that there were three identified major patterns of infant-mother attachment: secure,
resistant, and avoidant (Frayley, 2018). Parkes (2002) had also developed a questionnaire to test
variation of responses in bereavement of the different attachment styles. This confirmed that
people with secure parental attachments show less grief and have lower scores of distress after
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
11
bereavement. Parkes (2002) noted that anxious and ambivalent attachment styles, caused by
inconsistencies in parenting, may lead to suffering from protracted grief and a continued
tendency to cling, whereas avoidant attachment styles find it difficult to express affection and
grief. In the early 1970s, the work of Ainsworth and Parkes provided additional research and
gave further understanding on grief, by extending on Bowlby’s attachment theory and how their
work affects grief outcomes.
To touch upon the notion of grief being classified as a medical condition, which as
mentioned earlier was proved by Parkes, it is also important to acknowledge that American
psychiatrist George L. Engel proposed this same idea and originally sparked curiosity about it. In
1960, Engel published Is Grief a Disease? which provided an original psychosomatic
perspective on grief, suggesting that grief is a proper and legitimate subject for study by medical
scientists (Engel, 1960). Engel’s work supported the claims of Parkes, bringing out that grief is a
great cause of mental pain which interferes with one’s effectiveness of functioning due to the
bodily and psychological symptoms that occur (Parkes, 2002). Engel supported his and Parkes’
claim that grief was a disease by interviewing psychiatric patients, finding that twenty-eight out
of twenty-nine of them were suffering from variants of typical grief (Granek, 2010). Although
Engel’s work contributed to the study of bereavement by giving it a psychosomatic perspective
and encouraging psychiatric treatment for it, some felt that it was unfair to classify the grieving
with a psychiatric diagnosis and that medical treatment wasn’t the best option for it (Parkes,
2002). Still, the use of psychiatry to treat this illness had been justified by Parkes, who was
credited for providing sound descriptions of grief based on empirical methods and hard evidence
(Granek, 2010). In doing so, Parkes contributed to the field of bereavement, giving evidence to
why grief should be treated as a psychiatric disease which was an argument originally fuelled by
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
12
Engel’s publication Is Grief a Disease.
Despite the various efforts and advancements made by the historical figures discussed, it
wasn’t until the late 1960s when Elisabeth Kubler-Ross proposed the Kubler-Ross model in her
book Death and Dying, and later on again in 1999 when Margaret Stroebe and Henk Schut
proposed the dual process model of coping with bereavement, that significant change was made
to grief counseling approaches, and introduced brand new models to cope with bereavement.
Kubler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist, proposed the Kubler-Ross model as a descriptive
outlook on how different responses to bereavement may manifest in terminally ill patients
(Servaty-Seib, 2004), and overtime became the five stages of grief which we know today: (1)
shock and denial; (2) anger, resentment and guilt; (3) bargaining; (4) depression; and (5)
acceptance (InPsych, 2011). Her model eventually became the most well-known model to
conceptualize grief as a series of predictable events (InPsych, 2011), although Kubler-Ross had
emphasized that the stages were intended to be only a rough guide (Servaty-Seib, 2004). The
general perception of grief has greatly changed since the five stages of grief was proposed since
it has become so widely adhered to and deeply ingrained in the culture (InPsych, 2011). It has
also helped people understand their own reactions to significant loss, and is routinely taught in
medical school and nursing curricula (InPsych, 2011). Kubler-Ross had proposed the five stages
of grief based on information she gathered from interviewing terminally ill patients, observing a
common pattern of emotions in the patients (Corr, 2020), and explained that failing to work
through the emotions could result in complications (InPsych, 2011). The Kubler-Ross model
clearly had an impact and intrigued many, as she had over two hundred interviews over the
course of almost 3 years (Corr, 2020). Since Kubler-Ross’s model was proposed, the field of
thanatology has also had significant and profound advances (Servaty-Seib, 2004). Kubler-Ross
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
13
has also been credited with humanizing the process of dying, which could set a foundation for a
modern hospice movement to grow (Larson, 2014). The effects that the Kubler-Ross model had
on approaching grief became a significant turn in the development of grief counseling.
Although the Kubler-Ross model has had major significance to bereavement studies,
approaches in grief counseling, and helping people understand their grief, there has also been
much controversy over it. In Kubler-Ross’ book, she had warned readers that not everyone will
experience each stage, nor at the same rate or in the same order, and still many felt that the stages
were rigid and linear (Corr, 2020). Even in her attempts to warn the grieving not to misuse the
model, many were under the impression that the stages enforced a standard for how the grieving
process should unfold (Corr, 2020) and that the model overlooks the remarkable uniqueness of
the grieving process (Servaty-Seib, 2004). Various authors proposing criticisms about the model
represent how misunderstood it truly was, with many arguing it didn’t have any empirical
validity (Corr, 2020). Additional complaints were that the model failed to meet essential criteria
for psychological stages, such as irreversibility, an invariant sequence, universality, as well as not
meeting the uniqueness of each individual's grieving needs (Larson, 2014). In several
thanatology textbooks it was also suggested that the stage-based model does not pertain to
individuals who are grieving the death of a loved one since Kubler-Ross worked with dying
patients rather than grieving ones (Corr, 2020). It has also been proposed that there are new
demands to grief which its needs aren’t met in the model and differs from the grief of the 1960s
when her book was published (Larson, 2014). Even in the model’s supposed flaws, it has brought
many advancements to grief perceptions.
In 1999, triumph over grief work theories of the past took place when Margaret Stroebe
and Henk Schut, both professors of clinical psychology, proposed the dual process model of
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
14
coping with bereavement, correcting flaws in traditional grief work theories. Stroebe and Schut
strongly believed that there were numerous shortcomings of traditional grief work theories which
were known to be effective ways of coping with bereavement (Stroebe, 1999). The lack of clarity
in Freud’s grief work hypothesis finally called for change in the late 1990s, with Stroebe and
Schut addressing the areas which needed changes the most. They suggested that it lacked an
imprecise definition, failed to represent dynamic processing which is a characteristic of grieving,
lacked empirical evidence and validity across cultures and historical periods, and also had limits
on health outcomes (Stroebe, 1999). To overcome the limitations of previous formulations, they
thought it was necessary to create a stressor-specific model developed from a cognitive stress
perspective (Stroebe, 1999). Being stressor-specific was important since losses tend to invariably
involve various and diverse stressors, not just a singular stressor (Servaty-Seib, 2004). The
model represents two modes which oscillation occurs between; (1) loss orientation, where the
griever copes by engaging in emotion-focused behaviors, and (2) restoration orientation, where
the griever is problem-focused and makes external adjustments needed to adapt to the loss
(InPsych, 2011). The diversity of the stressors is vital and differentiates this model from Freud’s
model as it normalized not always being immersed in grief work and that it is perfectly healthy
to take a break from. It promotes a nonlinear nature to coping patterns which addresses concerns
of previous grieving methods; suggesting that coping can differ from one moment to another,
from one culture to another, and from one individual to another (InPsych, 2011). Overall, another
level in approaching grief was made when the dual process model was proposed, as it brought
clarity to many concerns that began with Freud.
Through the historical analysis of grief work theories from the beginning of the 19th
century to more recent models proposed in the late 1990s, significant progression in grief
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
15
perceptions has occurred. The demands for change came to a peak during WW1 which inspired
Freud to propose his grief work theory, having had a domino effect which led other psychologists
to further develop his ideas throughout the 19th century. The next turning point was in the 1960s
when the Kubler-Ross model rose to popularity and became a staple in grief interventions,
allowing clients and grief counselors to put an identity to emotions during the grieving process.
Lastly, in 1999 the latest advancement to approaching grief was proposed by Stroebe and Schut
through the dual process model that allows individuals to view grief in the lens of two stressors
which traditional grief work theories had failed to do.
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
16
Chapter 2:
“The Investigation of Effective Grief Counseling and its Contributing Factors”
In the field of mental health, it is crucial for grief counselors to consider what it means to
be an effective counselor in order for bereaved clients to be properly guided through the grieving
process. Effective counsel can be recognized as counsel which helps clients navigate and make
progress in their grief. The breakthrough clients experience is often looked at and celebrated,
while the side of it that is not normally focused on includes the factors that contribute to
becoming an expert in grief counseling, gaining significant authority in the field, and becoming
an effective counselor. The goal of the current chapter is to review this subject’s current
literature at a different angle, shifting gears away from the focus on client successes toward how
effective grief counselors are developed.
Previous theories suggest that certain variables contribute to a counselor’s effectiveness.
A theory to be reflected on is that bereaved clients often perceive grief counselors to have more
credibility when they themselves have experienced the death of someone close to them (Hayes,
2007). Counselors with personal experience can provide the hope that they have discovered on
their own path, and can reflect on their own experiences when making treatment decisions. They
are especially helpful when they have healed and navigated through their own personal grief, and
are no longer immersed in their trauma (Hayes, 2007). Clients may also perceive therapists with
grief experience as more empathetic which may assist them in delivering counsel more
effectively when there is a receptive patient on the other end (Hayes, 2007). However, it is
important for counselors to have dealt with their own emotional problems as counselors’
responses tie directly to them, which Freud once referred to as “countertransference” and can be
defined as “...therapists’ reactions to clients being adversely influenced by therapists’ unresolved
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
17
personal conflicts” (Hayes, 2007, p. 346). In the event of countertransference, a counselor’s
ability to deliver effective counsel can be negatively altered (Hayes, 2007). Therapists can use
this theory of personal grief by looking through the lens of it while administering client care,
reflecting on this aspect which can then contribute to the therapist delivering effective counsel.
A factor that contributes to delivering effective counsel is making sure that as the
counselor you have worked through your own grief. Counselors must foster expectations for the
client’s new reality and make sure that your own healing has taken place and your baggage has
been worked through which is vital so that emotions do not get triggered (Fishman, 2014)
Counselor’s personal dealings with grief is a factor which is frequently mentioned in literature
regarding grief counselors as well as dealing with personal baggage that ties into the aspect of
self care, as experts in the field must prioritize it so they don’t repress their own grief (Dodd,
2022). Counselors putting in the effort to make sure they have healed from their trauma is an
extremely important factor which contributes to being an effective grief counselor.
Supporting this theory, research has shown that personal experience with grief is
associated with grief counselors’ effectiveness and has been further proven to be a contributing
factor to becoming an effective grief counselor. In a study conducted by Ober (2011), he
referenced a model known as “grief counseling competencies” which was developed in 2000 by
Charkow. The competencies are divided into five major subscales that measure various abilities
in counselors (Ober, 2011). The five subscales include Personal Competencies which indicate
personal experience with grief, Conceptual Skills and Knowledge, Assessment Skills, Treatment
Skills, and Professional Skills (Ober, 2011). Ober (2011) referred to these subscales in his study
to measure various factors and whether or not they contributed to different levels of competency
in grief counseling. When the model was originally designed, Charkow had surveyed family
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
18
therapists with personal grief experience which revealed a higher overall grief counseling
competence for those individuals, proving that personal experience can add to effectiveness
(Ober, 2011). The personal experience of grief may qualify a counselor in a way that cannot be
earned with a degree, as they have already done the rigorous innerwork in this area themselves.
This could contribute to the higher competency level displayed in the model. Although personal
experience is a factor in effective grief counseling and can add value to a counselor, it doesn’t
replace the skills that come with training (Ober, 2011). Grief experiences may become a
hindrance if the therapist’s personal grief has not been dealt with properly (Hayes, 2007). Despite
the value of personal experience with grief, Ober (2011) emphasizes that this does not replace
meeting the training standards in the field and developing well-defined competencies. Although
personal experience with grief cannot replace skills gathered in training and education, personal
experiences with grief have proven to be a contributing factor in grief therapists’ effectiveness.
Additionally, various research has been studied regarding important concepts that grief
counselors must be trained on and adhere to in order to operate as strong and effective grief
counselors. Fishman (2014), was studying to become a grief counselor and had recent grief of
her own at the time she published her work, emphasizes several solid points and describes her
research as not one to counsel the grieving, but to teach grief counseling. Fishman (2014)
discusses several contributing factors to being an effective grief counselor such as being fully
present with a client, based on the idea of “here and now.” This idea is a central feature of
Gestalt psychotherapy, as well as seeing patients in a specific lens as a counselor (Fishman,
2014). Counselors must understand that they cannot fix or give back what the client has lost, and
should function based on the idea that they are “...journeying alongside the individual…''
(Fishman, 2014, p. 347). Wolfelt (2016) also values the factor of walking alongside the mourner,
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
19
not in front of or behind him, allowing the mourner to choose the path of their own journey.
Since this is their journey, the client is the true expert regarding the knowledge of their trauma
(Fishman, 2014). Another factor that contributes to being an effective grief counselor is to be
fully present with the client to create a strong therapeutic alliance (Fishman, 2014). Wolfelt
(2016) describes this idea of being fully present with a client as being the “temporary guardian of
their soul,” rather than attempting to assess, analyze, fix or resolve their grief. After reviewing
literature, it is clear that grief counselors must adhere to the appropriate concepts or ground rules
when working with bereaved individuals in order to be an effective counselor.
To be an effective grief counselor, it is important to have the skills to differentiate and
handle various grieving styles (Dodd, 2022), so that all client’s needs are met and not harmed
due to missing a diagnosis (Beckett, 2015). When it comes to grief counseling settings, a
common diagnosis which arises is complicated grief, which is severe and intense grief that
doesn’t improve overtime (Dodd, 2022). It is vital to recognize when a client’s case is beyond a
counselors expertise and trying not to take on anything beyond it. Counselors being overly
confident in their competence can be harmful and it is wise to recognize when a client is
experiencing grief that’s beyond normal limits (Dodd, 2022). It is in the best interest of the
counselor and the client for the case to be passed onto another professional in that scenario
(Dodd, 2022). In reviewing this literature, a contributing factor to the effectiveness of grief
counseling is the ability to have the proper skills for diagnosing and treating various types of
grief.
Another important factor in being an effective grief counselor is to review updated and
current research. Counselors must adapt to the circumstances of now and avoid only pulling from
outdated training and literature for grief counseling, especially in the event that clients are
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
20
experiencing complicated grief (Dodd, 2022). Counselors must rely on updated sources to
discern the event of complicated grief (Dodd, 2022). Living through the covid 19 pandemic has
disrupted known rituals and altered the way individuals mourn (Khoury, 2022). The aftermath of
the pandemic has resulted in many individuals suffering with prolonged grief disorder and
complicated grief (Khoury, 2022). To deliver effective treatment today, it is important that
counselors are conscious of today’s reality of social isolation and sudden death and how that
contributed to the rise of complicated grief (Khoury, 2022). Being aware of current societal
issues and the relevance of them is a factor that furthers the effectiveness of grief counselors.
Through reviewing present literature and various research studies, it is evident that there
are numerous factors which contribute to becoming an effective grief counselor. In analyzing the
various factors, it also is clear that there’s not one sole route to achieve effectiveness in the field
and that expertise can’t come without proper knowledge. Through investigating theories and
factors such as personal experience with grief, countertransference, proper training, diagnostic
skills, and reviewing updated research, the necessities of becoming an effective grief counselor
have been established.
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
21
Chapter 3:
“Investigating Complex Issues that Arise in Grief Counseling Settings”
In the field of grief counseling, there are various problems that can arise from childhood
bereavement due to the complexity of the manner. In grief counseling approaches, it is important
to navigate through problems and understand what the grieving process entails to find the
appropriate solutions. In this chapter, the problem that will be discussed is how bereavement in
childhood often leads to unfortunate statistics in adulthood and especially in the diagnosis of
complicated grief where the prognosis is even more difficult to combat.
Before the age of eighteen, approximately 4% of children will experience the death of a
primary caregiver which often results in unfortunate outcomes such as behavioral issues,
emotional struggles, and a threatened sense of security (Ener, 2018). Solely in the United States,
approximately 1 of 20 children and adolescents have experienced a loss this detrimental.
(Dyregrov, 2013). These children's mental health will most likely be affected with researchers
estimating that 5 to 10% of children and adolescents may experience depression, PTSD, and
prolonged grief disorder (Boelen, 2021). In many cases, bereaved children battle with fear and
struggle with expressing their pain verbally which can result in externalizing stress and
aggressive behavior (Ener, 2018). Research has shown that bereaved children are susceptible to
long term consequences in adulthood, impacting their overall quality of life, and can experience
health consequences such as the worst case scenario of premature death (Dyregrov, 2013). Long
term and latent effects also include a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders as an adult
(Chen, 2018). Deaths that are taken the hardest by children and lead to complicated grief often
involve traumatic aspects, sudden or unexpected death, and affect parenting roles (Dyregrov,
2013). Complicated grief (CG) or prolonged grief disorder is when a bereaved individual has a
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
22
difficult time assimilating into life without the person and accepting that they’re gone.
(Tofhagen, 2017). Childhood bereavement is a prevalent issue that causes innocent children to
suffer immensely.
While developing treatment interventions and solutions for grieving children, counselors
must remain informed and on guard about the unique mental health needs of bereaved children.
The child’s cognitive development level at the time of the death must be considered by the
counselor and how this factor determines the way they will handle the death, as well as their
understanding on irreversibility, finality, inevitability, and their general perception of the loss
(Ener, 2018). In regards to complicated grief, diagnosing it in children can be challenging, but
can be recognized when grief is prolonged and intense, which alters the child’s ability to engage
in the life they knew prior to the death as well as their ability to function emotionally, physically,
cognitively, and socially (Dyregrov, 2013). In order to provide appropriate solutions while
working with bereaved children, counselors must understand the cognitive development level of
the child along with differentiating if their grief is classified as normal or complicated.
Solution: Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
Solutions and treatment regarding complicated grief in children may be taken in a
medical approach since CG is recognized in the DSM-5 as persistent complex bereavement
disorder (PCBD) (Fields, 2018). The diagnosis is the first step to treating a patient, and it can
benefit counselors to study professional feedback on what constitutes complicated grief while
diagnosing clients. Professionals widely believe that CG can be displayed through intensity and
duration of reactions which is information to further diagnostic abilities (Dyregrov, 2013). CG is
also characterized by bereavement responses that are periodically longer than normal and are
often related to parental deaths which hold stigmas such as AIDs related deaths or suicide
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
23
(Dyregrov, 2013). In many cases, a solution to CG is the use of psychotherapy as well as
providing the client with tasks they must complete. These tasks can include establishing a “new
normal,” promoting self-regulation, building social connections, setting aspirational goals for the
future, and remembering old memories in a positive way (Fields, 2018). Since CG is classified as
a medical diagnosis, treatment often involves medication such as the use of selective
serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs (Fields, 2018). Medication is beneficial for both children
and adults when used with other CG treatments alongside it and was found to have 61% positive
response rates whereas CG treatment without medication led to only a 41% response rate (Fields,
2018). Early interventions in CG such as referrals to supportive care services and mental health
professionals can jumpstart effective treatment before serious harm to a patient occurs
(Tofhagen, 2017). CG is also known to require extended treatment periods to yield desired
results (Tofhagen, 2017). Complicated grief being classified as a disorder in the DSM-5 allows
for treatment from health care professionals with medication and psychotherapy.
Solution: Various Therapeutic Orientations
With or without the presence of complicated grief, the stakes are high for complex issues
to arise in childhood bereavement and usually requires professional interventions which can
include therapeutic orientations such as play therapy, expressive arts therapy,
cognitive-behavioral therapy, and music therapy (Chen, 2018). These therapies are crucial to
childhood bereavement as children are more likely to grieve through behaviors, bodily
expressions and play, rather than verbal expression (Chen, 2018). Therapeutic consistency with
cultural backgrounds is also ideal in this setting and can be implemented in the various
therapeutic orientations (Chen, 2018). Play therapy is the most commonly used intervention for
children, and has shown to decrease behavioral and psychological issues by expressing grief in a
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
24
healthy and achievable manner for children (Chen, 2018). Children naturally lack expressive
abilities, and repetitive play is a significant and common outlet for them (Dyregrov, 2013). The
dual-process model of coping with bereavement, designed by Stroebe and Schut, can be
facilitated and successfully used through the use of art therapy since it promotes oscillation
between negative and positive emotions during grief (Green, 2021). The nature of art therapy is
to allow children to express both negative and positive emotions which facilitates the use of
oscillation as coping mechanisms and coincidently promotes the use of the dual process model
(Green, 2021). Music therapy and trauma-focused school-based brief intervention were also
identified as two promising treatment models for grieving children (Chen, 2018). In getting
children to directly communicate their emotions and to normalize their grieving experience,
cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective and can help children overcome these specific areas
(Chen, 2018). It has also proven to be effective in improving children’s psychological and
behavioral symptoms (Chen, 2018). Overall, partaking in child-friendly therapeutic orientations
is an expressive outlet and intervention for them that has been proven to work effectively.
Solution: Solid Child-Parent Relationship
Lastly, another important variable and solution to working through grief in childhood,
and preventing effects from bleeding into adulthood, is to create a strong child-parent
relationship with the surviving parent (Chen, 2018). In Chen’s (2018) study, a majority of the
interventions involved parent or family components and greatly encouraged parents to help their
child cope by facilitating stronger relationships. Parents being cognitive about their reactions to
the loss is important since children’s reactions are often influenced by parent’s expressed feelings
and thoughts (Dyregrov, 2013). It can be damaging to assume a child is too young to understand
a death and neglect their grief, resulting in the child being punished, ignored, and tormented
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
25
(Dyregrov, 2013). Criteria that moves toward a healthy non-pathological response is parental
warmth and establishing clear boundaries in the home (Dyregrov, 2013). Keeping a strong
child-parent relationship and making the child feel secure can also alleviate the effects of
children’s stress and fear of other family members dying (Dyregrov, 2013). These
implementations are key predictors of improving the outcomes of bereaved children and parents
have a direct influence on determining the likelihood of their child developing CG (Dyregrov,
2013). Through implementing strong child-parent relationships, negative effects can be
alleviated and calmed while the child is young while parental responses either have the potential
to positively impact or negatively affect their child’s grieving process.
Overall, bereavement in childhood is a commonality that can be addressed before
adulthood to overcome statistics and prevent mental disorders from developing. There are
interventions that can begin early to promote healthy coping mechanisms in children’s grieving
processes as well therapeutic orientations that are effective outlets to express their emotions.
Perhaps mental health disorders of bereaved children can be fully avoided in adulthood if it is
widely understood that children are never too young to understand tragedy in their lives. With
proper medical diagnosis and treatment, various therapeutic orientations, and a solid child-parent
relationship, it is possible to alleviate the prognosis of complicated grief as well as the unpleasant
statistics of childhood bereavement.
�GRIEF STUDIES AND PERCEPTIONS
29
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�
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An Overview on Perceptions of Grief Implemented into Counseling
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Text
Analysis of the Function of Small
Intestinal Aggregates of the
Necturus Based on Old Classical
and Recent Literature Data
K AELIN WO LF
�Objectives
§To analyze classical literature surrounding the possible functions of the cellular aggregates found
in the small intestine of the Necturus
§To understand how the limitations of the scientific technology of the period may have led to
inconclusive or incorrect conclusions
§To understand modern scientific techniques that could now be used to assist in answering this
question
§To use the information gained from these modern techniques regarding related species to to
perform a comparative analysis to reach a possible conclusion
�The Necturus
§Also known as the mudpuppy, is an amphibious animal related to frogs
§Historically an important model organisms for labs, but is now protected due to population
decline
§ Were vertebrate organisms that were cheap to maintain and had few regulations in place regarding
their treatment
§ Has led to a great body of work surrounding them that can no longer be explored directly
§One classic argument that was never resolved was whether the cellular aggregates seen in
histological preparations of their intestines are glandular or proliferative in function
�Cellular Aggregates
§The structures in question appear to extend from the mucosa of the intestine
§Tend to sit along the invaginated folds of the intestine
§If glandular- They should have a luminal surface and space to hold a product, as well as a duct to
the intestinal lumen through which to secrete their product
§If proliferative- They should have a higher rate of mitosis than the surrounding tissue (measured
by mitotic index), and there should be movement of new cells out of aggregate and into mucosa
§ Cells populating the aggregate should be stem cells
§In the drawing, the aggregates are labelled “b”
(Figure taken from Kingsbury, 1894).
�Stem Cells
§Undifferentiated cells that can mature into multiple types of mature cells based on the signaling
pathways they interact with
§Main classifications
§ Multipotent- Able to differentiate into several different types of mature cells
§ Pluripotent- Able to different into differentiate into any of the cell types that make up the body
§ Totipotent- Able to different into differentiate into any of the cell types that make up the body, plus
extraembryonic or placental, cells
§Function to develop tissue types in growing organisms and maintain cell populations in
developed tissues (process known as proliferation)
§ Stem cells can divide and differentiate only a portion of the daughter cells, thus maintaining the reserve
of stem cells and creating new cells to replace the cells in the tissue that have died
�Problems Identifying SC
§Individual cells are morphologically similar to many other cell types
§Groups of different types of stems cells don’t exhibit a rigid standard morphology
§Many differentiated cells are identified by a particular function of biological pathway they
participate in
§ Because their function is to become these other cells, stem cells don’t yet display these easily
identifiable markers
�Classical Literature
§Argue glandular function
§ Hoffman (1878)- Claimed his preparations showed glandular lumen
§ Kingsbury (1894)- Claimed his preparations showed glandular lumen
§ Bates (1904)- Argued other similar species had been shown to have intestinal glands
§Argue proliferative function
§ Mead (1916), Patton (1960), and Nicholas (1894)
§ Collectively argue that their preparations lack evidence of lumen or ducts
§ Also note that the aggregate has a much higher mitotic index than the rest of the
intestinal mucosa
§Argue dual function
§ Sarcedotti (1894), Dawson (1927), Goldsmith (1929), and Bizzozero (1982)
§ Argue that the aggregates switch back and form between the two functions based on
the needs of the intestine
§ Seek to appease the fact that both sides seem to be making valid and reputable
arguments
(Figure taken from Dawson, 1927).
�Classic Techniques
§H&E (Hematoxylin & eosin)§ Hematoxylin- Basic stain with a positive that stains nucleic acids a
dark purple/blue due to its interaction with the negative phosphate
backbone
§ Eosin- Acidic stain with a negative charge that stains the cytoplasmic
proteins pink since cytoplasmic proteins tend to be basic
§ High degree of detail and clarity, allows for calculation of mitotic
index
(Figure taken from Aghaallaei et al., 2016).
§Mallory’s trichrome complex§ Aniline blue- Stains collagen a deep blue color
§ Acid fuchsin- Stains cytoplasm and nuclei red
§ Orange G.- Stains red blood cells orange
(Figure taken from Ahmed et al., 2015).
�Limitations
§Could not detect signaling pathways or genetic expression
§Resolution much lower than techniques that exist today
§Before modern imaging preparations had to be hand drawn to show others
§Improvements in instruments, chemicals, and procedures create preparations with fewer
artefacts
§ Artefact- An artificial structure or tissue alteration seen on a histological preparation resulting from the
preparation process
�New Techniques
§Karnovsky’s fixative
§ Developed 1965 to fix tissue for use in electron microscopy
§ Preserves the morphological and chemical integrity of the tissue using both formaldehyde and
glutaraldehyde as embalming chemicals
§ Formaldehyde is smaller and is able to permeate the tissue faster and create a weaker hold to keep the
tissue in place
§ The larger glutaraldehyde molecule diffuse more slowly, but create a stronger fixation
§ Work by crosslinking polymers to each other via ionic and covalent bonding
§ Preserves microtubules especially well, which is critical for determining a mitotic index
§Embedding in Durcupan
§ Unlike its predecessor, paraffin, it doesn’t require an organic solvent that can negatively affect the
integrity of the tissue
�New Techniques
§BrDU (5-Bromo-2-deoxyuridine)
§ BrDU acts as a thymidine analog, that when injected, will be incorporated into the DNA of cells
undergoing DNA synthesis for division
§ The BrDU can then be visualized with antibodies and fluorescent microscopy
§ Will show not only which cells were dividing, but also the lineage of dividing cells if left in the tissue for
multiple generations of cell division
§Signaling markers
§ Discovered by studying the crypts of Lieberkühn in mice, which are intestinal aggregates with confirmed
stem cell function
§ Four main signaling cascades have been identified as different between stem cells and mature epithelial
cells- WnT, Notch, Indian Hedgehog (Ihh), and BMP
§ Are highly conserved pathways, that if shown to operate in Necturus aggregates, would be evidence in
favor of their function being proliferative
�New Techniques
§Gene expression markers
§ Similar to signaling cascades, there have been several genes whose
activity has been linked with stem cell function
§ Lgr5, Bmi, DCAMKL-1, and Sox9
§ Identified to be functional in stem cells, but have little to no function in the surrounding
epithelial tissue
§ The schematic shows high levels of these markers at the base of the
crypt
§ The level of expression decreases as you move up the crypt into the
mucosa as the stem cells there tend to be more differentiated
(Figure taken from Aghaallaei et al., 2016)
�New Techniques
§Phylogenetic comparison- Using gene
sequencing to compare how similar a
given gene is across species
§Created using the NCBI database records
of the Lgr5 gene
§ Necturus is not fully sequenced, so its
relative the frog was used in its place
§Highlighted species being worm, rat,
human, frog, and mouse moving from top
to bottom
§Shows the species with most sequence
homology to the frog is the mouse
§ Mice are known to have proliferative
intestinal crypts
�New Techniques
§Created using the NCBI database records of
the Sox9 gene
§Highlighted species being zebrafish, rat,
human, mouse, frog, and worm moving from
top to bottom.
§Important to note- These trees don’t
represent conclusive data, but show the
possibility of a certain function via the
species’ relationships
�Conclusion
§Recent literature has given us a detailed understanding of the intestinal makeup of other close
species, which could be compared to historical preparations of the Necturus.
§In mammals, using visualization of signaling pathways and migration patterns, intestinal
aggregates were shown to be crypts of Lieberkühn
§The aggregates of the Necturus are comparable in morphology, location, and pattern of
occurrence to the crypts of Lieberkühn
§In mice, similar patterns of mitosis were found as noted in the Necturus- High mitotic index in
the aggregates, and very low mitotic index and epithelium
§From this we conclude that the “aggregates” are most likely indeed equivalent to the Crypts of
Lieberkühn in the mammalian small intestine
�References
Aghaallaei, N., Gruhl, F., Schaefer, C., Wernet, T., Weinhardt, V., Centanin, L., Loosli, F., Baumbach, T., & Wittbrodt, J. (2016). Identification, visualization and clonal analysis of
intestinal stem cells in fish. The Company of Biologists, 143(19), 3470-3480
Bates, G. (1904). The histology of the digestive tract of Amblystoma punctatum. Tufts University Studies,
Beattie, A. M., Whiles, M. R., & Willink, P. W. (2017). Diets, population structure, and seasonal activity patterns of mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus) in an urban, Great Lakes
coastal habitat. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 43(1), 132–143.
Birchenough, G., Johansson, M., Gustafsson, J., Bergstrom J and Hansson, G. (2015). New developments in goblet cell mucus secretion and function. Mucosal Immunology, 8,
712-719.
Cardiff, R., Miller, C., and Munn, Robert. (2014a). Manual Hematoxylin and Eosin Staining of Mouse Tissue Sections. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, 655-658
Cardiff, R., Miller, C., and Munn, Robert. (2014b). Mouse tissue fixation. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, 522-524
Dawson, A. (1927). On the role of the so-called intestinal glands of the Necturus with a note on mucin formation. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 46(1), 114.
Graham, L. & Orenstein, J. (2007). Processing tissue and cells for transmission electron microscopy in diagnostic pathology and research. Nature Protocols, 2, 2439-2450..
Herreid, C. (2019). The Mudpuppy. Evolutionary Biology. http://www.bio200.buffalo.edu
Kee, N., Sivalingam, S., Booonstra R., and Wojtowicz, J. (2002). The utility of Ki-67 and BrdU as proliferative markers of adult neurogenesis. Journal of Neuroscience Methods,
97-105
�References
Kingsbury, B. (1894). The histological structure of the enteron of the Necturus maculatus. American Microscopical Society, 16(1), 19-64.
Mead, H. (1916). On the so-called intestinal glands in Necturus maculatus. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 35(2), 125-130
Ross, Michael H. (2011). Histology: A Text and Atlas. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN 978-0-7817-7200-6.
Safi, R., Vlaeminck-Guillem, V., Duffraisse, M., Seugnet, I., Plateroti, M., Margotat, A., Duterque-Coquillaud, M., Crespi, E. J., Denver, R. J., Demeneix, B., & Laudet, V. (2006).
Pedomorphosis revisited: thyroid hormone receptors are functional in Necturus maculosus. Evolution & Development, 8(3), 284–292.
Ahmed, S., Adbelrahman, S., and Hassan, E. (2015). Effect of low frequency noise on fundic mucosa of adult male albino rats and the role of vitamin E supplementation
(histological and immunohistochemical study). Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pathology, 5(6), 256-265.
Sato, Y., Mukai, K., Watanabe, S., Goto, M, and Shimosato, T. (1986). The AMeX method. A simplified technique of tissue processing and paraffin embedding with improved
preservation of antigens for immunostaining. American Journal of Pathology. 125, 431-435.
Staeubli, Willy. (1963). A new embedding technique for electron microscopy, combining a water-soluble epoxy resin (Durcupan) with water-insoluble Araldite. Journal of Cell
Biology, 16, 197-201
Umar, S. (2010). Intestinal stem cells. Current Gastroenterology Reports, 12, 340-348
Wonderly, D. (1963). A comparative study of the gross anatomy of the digestive system of some north american salamanders. Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society, 4, 3148
Xu, L., Lin., W., Wen, L., and Li, G. (2019). Lgr5 in cancer biology: functional identification of Lgr5 in cancer progression and potential opportunities for novel therapy. Stem Cell
Research & Therapy.
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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Analysis of the Function of Small Intestinal Aggregates of the Necturus Based on Old Classical and Recent Literature Data
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Biopsychology
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Biology - Jenna Zarino
Analysis of the Role of Increased PLC Concentrations on the expansion of the
vitelline Membrane to Prevent Polyspermy without the occurrence of a
Fertilization Event
By Jenna Zarino
Class of 2020 - Major: Biology
Abstract:
Prevention of polyspermy has been aided by various evolutionary mechanisms,
particularly expansion of the vitelline membrane in sea urchins. On the basis of this research,
phospholipase C (PLC) plays a major role in the cascade of events that are involved in the
fertilization of egg by sperm. Although it has been understood that PLC is thoroughly involved
in fertilization, its significance as a polyspermy prevention agent has not been widely recognized
or studied. The data gathered suggests that PLC not only serves the purpose of breaking down
PIP2 into inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG), but also in vitelline
membrane expansion and development of the fertilization window. Therefore, the observable
components, particularly of the vitelline membrane expansion as a result of exogenous PLC
application, reinforce the role that PLC has in membrane activity. This membrane activity was
analyzed by exposing sea urchins to concentrations of PLC to observe whether or not vitelline
membrane expansion occurs without a fertilization event. The most notable finding from this
approach was expansion of the sea urchin vitelline membrane, suggesting successful cortical
granule docking, following exposure to PLC. Since the membrane expansion was observed
shortly after exposure to the PLC agent, it suggested that fertilization by sperm is not necessarily
required for fertilization window formation, as previously thought. The content of this
experiment therefore concluded that exogenous PLC application can activate vitelline membrane
expansion as a result of intracellular concentration increases and gradient formations.
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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Zarino, Jenna
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Analysis of the Role of Increased PLC Concentrations on the expansion of the vitelline Membrane to Prevent Polyspermy without the occurrence of a Fertilization Event
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Dr. Jonathan Blaize
Biology
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Biology
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2528ff1bea042dafe6d03053ee9c2255
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Bethany Friedman
11/24/2020
Antigone Thesis
Antigone is a play about a spiritual quest for justice. A spiritual quest can be defined as a
search for the divine. Antigone’s search for religious justice is through her brother, Polynices. In
Ancient Greece, the gods were the most prominent source of power. The gods are the ultimate
creators of life and King Creon defied the laws of the gods by presenting an edict to the people
of Thebes that said that Polynices cannot have a sacred burial. This thesis argues that in pursuing
this edict, King Creon overstepped his role as a mortal king, attempted to enter into the realm of
the gods, and threatened to destroy the natural order of Greek society. Meanwhile, Antigone’s
motivation throughout the tragedy is to restore the natural order of Greek culture in which the
gods are on the top of the hierarchy--below these immortal creatures is mortal man. In order to
demonstrate the validity of this claim, this thesis begins by recounting a traditional, accepted
reading of Antigone. It is then divided into two parts. The first part provides evidence for the
claim that the play is about Antigone’s spiritual quest in restoring the divine order which Creon
has destroyed through his extreme hubris.The second part reviews alternate interpretations of
Antigone in order to indicate why they are flawed.
TRADITIONAL READING
After Oedipus went into exile, his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, battled for his
Theban throne. Eteocles and Polynices end up killing each other in battle for the Kingdom of
Thebes. After this, Creon, Jocasta’s brother, becomes the king. Eteocles was declared the hero of
the battle with Polynices and given a sacred burial. Additionally, King Creon creates an edict that
says Polynices will not have a burial because he invaded Thebes and therefore is a traitor. He
1
�also declares that anyone who buries Polynices will be put to death for breaking his law.
Antigone, Oedipus’s daughter, knows that every mortal man that creates laws can be overtaken
by the gods because the gods are immortal and have full power. Traditionally, all must have a
sacred burial, but Creon makes a civil edict contrary to this tradition. Creon lacks wisdom, not
knowledge, when he creates this civil law. In this reading, Creon’s hubris and pride are what
cause him to challenge the sacred, divine law.
Antigone rebels against Creon’s edict and buries Polynices anyway. She is discovered
breaking the law and is brought before Creon in the palace. Antigone tells Creon that she
believes his edict is in conflict with divine law. In response, King Creon tells Antigone that he
cannot reverse the death penalty and the law he made because if he does this, he will lose the
trust of the people of Thebes. Antigone is set to marry Haemon, Creon’s son, but despite this,
Creon still punishes her for burying Polynices. Creon puts her in a tomb with a stone in front of it
and he intends to starve her to death. Haemon tries his best to be respectful to his father, but tells
him that people agree with Antigone and are too afraid to tell him because of his power. When
Haemon sides with Antigone, his father calls him a girly man. Haemon is insulted by this
comment and says that Creon will never see his face again. Initially, the chorus is afraid to tell
Creon that they agree with Antigone as well, but they finally tell him that he should change his
mind. Creon responds by saying that he never changes his mind, his fatal flaw. Towards the end
of the play, Tiresias comes along. He is a profit, a seer, and has never been wrong. Tiresias tells
Creon that no one has ever done what he did, he took a live person and put her below ground. He
says that Antigone will suffer a tremendous loss. Creon dismisses Tiresias even though he is
always correct. Creon needs to make reparations at this point but does not listen. He believes that
all power is vested in him.
2
�Creon ends up having a change of heart, but this change is too little, too late. He goes
down to the cave where he sees Haemon crying because Antigone hanged herself. Haemon is
very angry at Creon and he is holding Antigone. He blames his father for her death and tries to
stab him, but ends up stabbing himself. As a result of Haemon’s death, Creon’s wife also kills
herself. Creon becomes very upset and begins to understand that he is responsible for Antigone,
Haemon, and his wife’s death. He was acting from pride and hubris rather than wisdom. From
his terrible experience, he discovers that each is living out his or her destiny. Humans are not in
control of their destinies, the gods are.
PART ONE: ANTIGONE’S SPIRITUAL QUEST OF RESTORATION
The plot of Antigone may seem direct and simple, but there are multiple layers to this
tragedy, including themes of piety, symbolism, justice, the spiritual quest, and the damage of
excessive pride. This thesis argues that the main motivation of Antigone is Antigone’s attempts
to restore the natural, divine order that has been destroyed by Creon. In this part of the thesis, I
will first discuss the origin of Greece’s reverence for the gods in connection with Creon and
Antigone’s actions, then I will discuss the pattern of destruction and restoration of the natural
order of Thebes. Next, I will show how Antigone is on a spiritual quest for the restoration of
Creon’s destruction of the divine law, then I will discuss hubris as the downfall of King Creon,
and lastly I will show that Antigone’s primary motivation throughout the tragedy is divine
justice.
1. GREECE’S REVERENCE FOR THE GODS
3
�Antigone’s reverence for the gods stems from long-standing cultural and spiritual Greek
tradition. For Greek society, the gods are in everything. There is a god of wine, a god of the sea,
a goddess of love, a god of war, a goddess of the night. Justice is a goddess and she is who shall
decide the fate of Polynices. King Creon is but a mortal man. Throughout the play, Antigone
takes the necessary steps to be the carrier of Greek culture and respect the Gods through her
quest. Although the burial of her brother violates Creon’s edict, she is aware that the divine law
takes precedence. The fate of each character within the play is determined by the gods, for Creon
would not have become king without Ares, the god of war. Ares is the one who made Eteocles
and Polynices battle for the crown. Thanatos, the personification of death, carried Polynices and
Eteocles to the underworld, making Creon eligible to take the throne. Antigone truly reveres the
gods like the citizens of Greece and she understands that every mortal man that creates laws
could be overtaken by the gods. Creon’s actions not only destroy the cultural fabric of Thebes
but are also disrespectful to all the gods because he tries to challenge the fate that they have set.
The background of the gods’ creation process of humans is important because in reading
Antigone one must realize that humans must respect the gods because they are the creators of
civilization. In Creon’s disrespect of the gods’ rules, he is disrespecting his creators’ rules. The
gods are in everything because they created everything1. One day, the gods realized that they
were bored because they are immortal and their lives were filled with sameness. Because of their
1
Because the gods created the humans, they are the ones that decide what happens to humans after death. The
sacred burial is part of Greek culture and this is shown in Antigone because Eteocles is declared a hero, so he is
buried. King Creon lets his own beliefs about good v. evil get in the way of the fate that the gods set for people.
Justice is a goddess who is supposed to decide who is good and who is bad, and what the fate of the dead should be.
Polynices dies and is kept above ground when he was supposed to be put underground. With this action, Creon
deems Polynices undeserving of the afterlife. He does not leave the decision to the goddess, Justice, or Hades, the
god of the underworld. When Antigone violates his civil edict, he puts her underground with the dead, while she is
alive. Ironically, the places of the two bodies should be switched, but Creon places them unnaturally above and
below the ground. The unnatural places of the bodies become restored to the natural when Antigone buries her
brother against Creon’s decree and when she kills herself. When she kills herself she restores natural order, because
she becomes a dead person underground instead of a living person separated from civilization.
4
�eternal boredom, the gods thought that it might be fun to populate the Earth with life. Zeus gave
the job of making animal species to Prometheus and Epimetheus ended up working with him.
Epimetheus made the animals while Prometheus would check over the final products.
Epimetheus gave different powers to different creatures. After he finished designing the various
creatures that would inhabit the Earth, he showed Prometheus to see if he was satisfied. He liked
all of the work, except for the humans. This clay form was naked with no special abilities. But,
this did not matter, Zeus had given the brothers a certain time limit and today was the day that
these creatures would be released on Earth. The gods actually had no plans for human beings.
Prometheus said, “...we’ll just have to let this… human… fend for itself for a while”(Waterfield
13).
For the gods, goodness was defined as whether the life lived by a creature was pleasing in
the eyes of the gods. If goodness is defined as whether a life lived by a creature was pleasing in
the eyes of the gods, Creon definitely did not fulfill the standard of “good”. On the other hand,
Antigone’s whole motivation throughout the play is to please the gods, so she would be
considered “good” in their eyes. The gods devised life for the creatures that they had made. They
were in control of everything that would happen to the humans and they would test how the
creatures would respond to things like natural disasters and famine. The relationship of the gods
to humans is comparable to a board game. The gods are the players and the humans are the
moving pieces. This is important in considering the plot of Antigone because Greek society is
supposed to be bound to the gods, not mortal man. When Creon enacts his civil edict, he is
breaking the law of the gods. Creon reverses the board game metaphor by having the moving
piece of the game control the player, instead of the player control the game. This destroys the
natural order of the world in compromising the way fate works.
5
�Prometheus is the one who invented the human being because he felt a connection to
them. Prometheus saw the humans’ potential to resemble the gods. He knew that since the
human lacked any powers/skills, it would not take long for humans to be defeated and eliminated
from Earth. In knowing this, Prometheus decided to invest his own essence into the human
beings. The essence that Prometheus imparted happened to be intelligence. As Descartes points
out, intelligence is the only human connection to divinity. Prometheus could have left the
humans without any mental faculties to blindly follow the gods, but also die. In giving the
humans intelligence, Prometheus gives civilization a divine quality. If the gods did not give
humans intelligence, then Creon would never have become the king. The other gods did not
know that this knowledge was a gift from Prometheus, but the gods were able to see that the men
now feared for the future and decided to have fun with human intelligence.
Additionally, the gods invented sacrifice; men had to ask for better things rather than
worse things and in doing so had to provide something valuable for the gods as they asked.
When Creon breaks the divine laws, he does not even attempt to show respect to the gods
through sacrificial prayer. He acts as if his civil law is the right decision for his kingdom with no
consequence. If Creon asked the gods before he made his civil edict, the fate of the characters in
the play could have been different. The only issue left for the humans was that they needed fire
to succeed. So, Zeus gave the men fire “... and in return men were to sacrifice to the god, giving
the gods the best bits of the sacrificial victim”(Waterfield 14). Zeus also added that whatever is
done today will be final, for this day was the day of fire. Zeus’s addition of fire to Earth shows
that he has the ability to both continue and end the lives of creatures on Earth. When Creon
6
�breaks the law of the gods in not giving Creon a sacred burial, he disrespects Zeus and all of the
other gods2.
The traits of human beings were given by the gods, the trait of intelligence, the warmth of
fire, and even being alive are privileges given to humans by the gods. These abilities and gifts
can easily be taken away. By Zeus, what happens after death is the decision of the gods. The
gods made human beings and as the legend says, the gods also have the ability to sweep humans
off of the Earth. Zeus has the power to punish the other gods for going against his orders, so
what makes Creon think the gods will not punish him, a mere human? If Zeus will torture
Prometheus for decades just for playing a trick on him, one can only imagine how he will
discipline Creon for defying the divine law. In Greek culture, the people revered the gods
because they had respect for the inventors of human society. Without the gods, there would be no
Creon and that is what he fundamentally misunderstands. Throughout Antigone, Creon calls
himself a “supreme” king. “In the right of kinship nearest to the dead, possess the throne and
take the supreme power…”(8). King Creon shows the utmost disrespect towards the gods in
thinking that he has supreme power. Because of this fundamental misunderstanding and
disrespect towards the gods’ position of power, Creon feels that he has the ability to change the
fate of human life. Antigone simply attempts to remind Creon that he is a mortal man, by taking
action for the justice of her brother.
2. THE DESTRUCTION AND RESTORATION OF NATURAL ORDER
2
Unfortunately, Prometheus decided to play a trick on Zeus with his sacrifice. Zeus is the supreme god, so all other
gods report to him. He is the father of all, the supreme king and no one will dare oppose his will. If anyone opposes
Zeus’s will, they will be greatly punished. Zeus was furious with this trick, making for a lesser sacrifice from the
gods, so he decided to take away the humans’ fire so that they would die a slow death. The gods knew that without
fire the humans would not be able to prevail. Against Zeus’s decree, Prometheus gave the humans fire himself and it
was final because it was still officially the day of fire. Because of this, Prometheus was tortured for a long time.
7
�The main theme throughout Antigone is the destruction and restoration of the natural
order of the divine law. There is evidence of this interpretation written into the fabric of the
tragedy. In Creon’s attempt to manipulate Polynices’s fate, he attempted to play the role of a god
and messed up the divine plan3. Everyone knows and reveres the Gods, but Antigone is the one
who took action in the pursuit of Justice and Piety. In going against Creon’s edict and displaying
civil disobedience, Antigone attempts to restore order in the divine plan - therefore being
divinely obedient. First, Antigone gives Polynices his sacred burial, and then when she is
confronted by Creon, she attempts to inform him of his wrongs. Creon makes the exact opposite
effort as Antigone. First, he decides the fate of Polynices after death. He does not give him a
sacred burial and leaves him out for the dogs to eat. He then punishes Antigone for trying to
restore the natural order within Thebes by putting her underground while she is still alive and
plays with fate again by trying to control everyone.
Creon sees Eteocles as the hero and Polynices as the villain for invading Thebes. In
reality, they were both left Thebes from Oedipus. Eteocles and Polynices stabbed each other at
the same time in battle. Creon believes that because Polynices was technically the “intruder”, he
has the ability to punish Polynices after death. In actuality, Justice is a goddess who resides in
Hades and she will make the decision of one’s fate after death. In terms of divine law, it does not
make sense that Creon would decide who gets buried and who is left out for the dogs to eat.
Creon decides that Eteocles will be buried and Polynices would be left above ground to be eaten.
Creon attempts to question why Antigone buried Polynices. In his eyes, he cannot
decipher why someone would break his law. He believes he is the supreme king and that his laws
3
Creon’s disruption of divine order is a display of symbolism. Creon creates a tension between civil law and divine
law that is unnatural. Usually there is a natural hierarchy. According to Antigone, by Zeus, on the very top is Divine
Law, below that is Civil Law, and below that is individual will. In this play, Creon is the symbol of the unnatural and
Antigone is a symbol of the natural. Antigone is on a spiritual quest to make sure Polynices is buried and that the
gods decide his fate, not Creon.
8
�are the ones that should be followed. Because he is the king, he does not think that any law
should be above his. He also believes that Polynices is a bad man for invading the kingdom. In
response, Antigone says, “All the same, these rites are due to the underworld”(20). Antigone
truly believes that the divine law should decide the fate of Polynices, not a mortal man like King
Creon. The divine law is what guides her action to bury her brother. She does not disobey King
Creon’s edict to be a rebel, but because of the divine law. In response, Creon tells Antigone that
“The enemy can never be a friend, even in death”(20). Clearly, Creon believes that Polynices is
the enemy.
Part of the reason that Creon does not want Polynices to be buried is that he believes that
he is the enemy. John Tralau’s philia idea could be referenced in Creon’s scenario. Creon takes
the role of Justice by deciding this. For Antigone, philia does not matter; it is about divine law,
which says that everyone deserves a sacred burial and after that, the gods decide who deserves to
be punished and who goes to heaven. Creon violates this natural order by leaving Polynices
above the ground and making a law that prohibits anyone from burying him. He does this
initially because Polynices apparently invaded Thebes, but he allows this decree to continue
because as a king, he does not want to be proven wrong by a girl.
While talking to his son, Haemon, Creon defends his edict. “There lives no greater friend
than Anarchy”(26). Creon believes that his law is “a cause of order” in Thebes because it is a
law. When one thinks of what a law should imply, the word that comes to mind is order. Usually
the person disrupting the law causes anarchy, except that Creon is actually the one who is
disrupting the divine law. Antigone is the one trying to restore order. Creon only interprets
Antigone as an anarchist because she is breaking his law. It is ironic that Creon makes the word
anarchy feminine. It is as if Creon defines Antigone with the word, anarchy. When in reality,
9
�Creon is the one who causes chaos in his kingdom because he does not follow the divine law and
changes the fate of his whole family.
In conversation with Creon, even Haemon agrees with his supposed future wife. He says
to Creon, “You desecrate by trampling on Heaven’s honour!”(28). In defense of his future wife,
Haemon tells his father that he believes in the same thing as Antigone. He believes that Creon is
disrespecting the laws of divinity. For this accusation, Creon accuses his son of being a
“woman’s follower” and tells him that Antigone will die before her and Haemon get to marry.
Another ploy that Creon uses to defend his bad decision is insulting his son about his gender.
When Haemon disagrees with his father and Creon cannot think of anything to say back, he
simply insults his son instead of saying something that makes sense. By calling Haemon a girl
when he wishes to be identified as a man, Creon destroys the order of the world again. Creon
believes that the word of a man is more powerful than the word of a woman. By relating Haemon
to a woman, Creon is able to justify ignoring his son’s plea. This is clear because he has no clear
rebuttal for Haemon’s statement about the Heavens.
Creon presents his son with more broken logic as he defends his destructive actions.
Creon exclaims, “It is lost labor to revere the dead”(29). This is totally antithetical to Greek
belief. When Eteocles had his sacred burial, everyone revered him, so what is the difference with
Polynices? Both Eteocles and Polynices died, so with Creon’s logic that it is “lost labor to revere
the dead” he contradicts himself. For Creon, the difference between Eteocles and Polynices and
their after-life privileges were solely his decision. He decided that Polynices was bad and
Eteocles was good. In defense of his decision to disobey the divine law he claims that respecting
the dead is a waste of time. Creon should clarify his statement by adding, “It is lost labor to
10
�revere anyone that I think is bad upon death.” The gods made Creon and he should respect their
wishes. In the eyes of the gods, it is not lost labor to revere the gods.
Creon attempts to destroy natural order again by putting Antigone underground in an
enclosed area while she is still alive. Creon is very specific with his intentions in putting
Antigone underground. “Wall her up in some deep catacomb as I have said; leave her alone,
apart, to perish if she will; or if she live, to make her tomb her tenement. For us, we will be
guiltless of this maiden’s blood; but here on earth she shall abide no more”(Sophocles 33). Creon
willingly puts a living person in an underground tomb. He wants her to be apart from the living
“to perish.” If she does live instead of perish, Creon wants Antigone to make the underground
tomb into her home.
When first reading the tragedy, it seems like King Creon’s largest blunder is when he
keeps Polynices from being buried. Many interpretations miss that Creon does the much more
unnatural action of putting a living person underground so that she can no longer reside on Earth.
Creon destroys the natural circle of life by basically burying Antigone alive. He again takes the
authority of the gods and decides that because Antigone disagrees with his civil edict, she can no
longer be part of civilization. It is as if King Creon is trying to keep Antigone from infiltrating
the rest of the kingdom with her pious attitude. In defending his “Supreme throne” he decides
that he has the power to prevent Antigone from living life on earth, robbing her of her wedding
and future children.
Creon’s original decree said that anyone who buried Polynices would be put to death. By
putting a living person underground, he reneges his word. Creon fails to understand that by
changing this part of his law, he could still lose the trust of the people of Thebes because, in a
way, he still did not keep his word. He did not kill the culprit who buried Polynices, he just put
11
�her in a tomb while she was still alive. With this chain of logic, why couldn’t Creon retract the
whole edict? He changed part of it so that he does not have to have Antigone’s blood on his
hands, but this change is basically equivalent to changing the whole law. Creon goes on to say
that he does not have to feel any guilt for Antigone’s blood because he is not having her killed.
Creon should actually feel more guilt for his actions because he did not end Antigone’s misery
before isolating her for the rest of her life, but instead allowed her to live a miserable life
underground with the dead. Creon’s movement of Antigone to an underground tomb shifted the
natural order of the world even more, and as a result, he ended up breaking his own decree
changing the fate of his kingdom4.
The outside perspective of the chorus shows the reader what the people of Thebes
believe. At first the chorus is excited to have a new king, but as the play moves forward the
chorus affirms Greek society’s respect for the gods. The perspective of the chorus is important
because they are viewing the situation at hand from the outside. While both Creon and Antigone
present their views from a subjective perspective, the chorus fills the play with objectivity. After
Creon sentences Antigone to her unnatural fate to live underground, the chorus interprets King
Creon’s actions.
“Happy the man whose cup of life is free from taste of evil! If Heaven’s influence shake them,
no ill but follows till it overtake them, all generations of his family; like as when before the
sweep of the sea-borne Thracian blast the surge of the ocean coursing past above the cavern of
the deep rolls up from the region under all the blackness of the shore, and the beaten beaches
thunder answer to the roar”(Sophocles 23).
4
In Oedipus’s madness he called down Pelops’ curse upon his sons and doomed them to divide their kingdom and
die at each others’ hands (Waterfield 108). This curse falls upon generations to come. It is possible that Antigone’s
fate from the start was to fight Creon and someday fall. Creon ignored the gods and he was definitely punished for
it. But ultimately I question, was fate truly played with or did Oedipus curse future generations with his madness?
Although Creon tampered with fate and was the one to go against divine law, was Oedipus the one to impart this
chaos on his family? Maybe Oedipus’s madness spread to Creon and made him feel like he was King of the world.
All in all, this would just prove even more that divine law is the supreme law and Creon’s decree went against it
causing more heartbreak for his family than the gods already had planned. In making the human being, the gods
planned for humans to make large sacrifices to get what they want. In the end, Creon made the ultimate sacrifice by
going against divine law, for he lost his whole family.
12
�Similar to how Antigone predicts that Creon’s fate will be worse than hers, the chorus also
foreshadows Creon’s self-induced fate. At the moment that Creon sends Antigone down to the
cave, it may seem like his cup of life is free from the taste of evil, but in reality the Heavens are
going to take over Creon’s life and curse his family with death. For King Creon, the cup of evil is
for anyone who disobeys his civil edict, but for the gods the cup of evil is for the overly prideful
man who tries to decide the fate of the dead, i.e. Creon. The chorus compares the fate of Creon’s
family to the blast of the sea overtaking the Greek land in blackness. The chorus references the
death of Oedipus in analyzing the future fate of Creon, which signals a horrible fate of
loneliness.
3. ANTIGONE: ON THE QUEST FOR DIVINE JUSTICE
Antigone’s primary method in restoring the order of Thebes is through her spiritual quest
to bury her brother5, Polynices. Antigone faces death for her religious belief that the burial of her
brother is justified. Despite the consequences of the burial of her brother, Antigone buries him
anyway because she realizes the importance of spiritual existence of the gods in her culture.
Antigone is a symbol of the divine because she knows that she will be punished by Creon - with
death - and still goes through with her pursuit of justice. The play becomes a battle between
divine law and civil law. One of which has to do with the spirit and the other, mankind. By page
5
The entirety of Antigone is a chain reaction all enacted by Oedipus. Analyzing the chain of events from the
beginning of Antigone, Polynices and Eteocles kill each other, Creon becomes king and declares that Polynices
intruded Thebes, so he cannot have a sacred burial. He makes an edict that says anybody who does bury Polynices
will be put to death. Antigone then buries Polynices. She is not killed, but instead put underground while she is still
alive. Creon realizes he was wrong for making the law that prevented the burial of Polynices. Antigone has already
killed herself before Creon’s realization. As a result Haemon tries to kill Creon, accidentally killing himself. Then as
a result of her son’s death, Creon’s wife kills herself. By the end of the play, Creon is left in eternal sadness because
he has lost everyone he cares about. Creon’s law continued a chain of destruction that Greek society hoped would
stop after the deaths of Polynices and Eteocles.
13
�three of the play, Antigone declares what she believes about the burial of Polynices. The
interaction between Ismene (Antigone’s sister) and Antigone shows the contrast between their
motivations.
Ismene: “For my part, I will ask pardon of those beneath, for what perforce I needs must do, but
yield obedience to them that walk in power; to exceed is madness, and not wisdom.”
Antigone: “Then in future I will not bid you help me; nor henceforth, though you desire, shall
you, with my goodwill, share what I do. But what seems right to you; him will I bury”(Sophocles
3).
Ismene feels that the gods will allow her to follow Creon’s edict because he is the one that
apparently walks in power. She feels that to go against Creon’s decree would be madness, so she
basically calls Antigone crazy for disobeying their uncle. At this point, Antigone tries to explain
her actions to her sister, Ismene. She tells Ismene that in the future she does not expect her help
in any endeavor. Antigone will bury Polynices and she does not care that it is a crime on Earth,
what she cares about is what the gods will think. Ismene’s thought process is flawed when
looking at the way the gods conceived the humans. Ismene claims that she will ask for “pardon”
from those beneath so that she could abide by Creon’s human law. On the contrary, when the
gods allowed the humans to live they invented sacrifice. For humans to receive anything from
the gods, a sacrifice that matches the value of the request must be made. What matches the value
of a request to allow a human to make decisions that should be made in the heavens? In Ismene’s
effort to obey Creon’s law she shows blatant disrespect of the gods, which Antigone wants no
part of. Even if on Earth her burial is considered a “capital crime”, Antigone knows that this
“crime” is a pious one. She is choosing to please the gods rather than her uncle. Antigone knows
that the gods will approve of her plan to bury her brother. Therefore, when she takes action and
buries Polynices against Creon’s edict, she acts as a figure of piety.
When Antigone explains her reasoning for burying her brother, she references the gods.
Antigone will not deny that she buried Polynices, even though she realizes that her actions broke
14
�the law. She overstepped King Creon’s law, “Because it was not Zeus who ordered it, Nor
Justice, dweller with the Nether Gods, Gave such a law to men; nor did I deem Your ordinance of
so much binding force, As that a mortal man could overbear the unchangeable unwritten code of
heaven…” (17). Antigone knows that the gods have supreme power and their orders are what
matter. Zeus did not order the people of Thebes not to bury Polynices. Zeus did not pronounce
Polynices a bad person. Additionally, Justice did not decide that Polynices was a bad man or that
he should be punished. A mortal man cannot “overbear the unchangeable unwritten code of
heaven”. These words are powerful. The “unchangeable unwritten code of heaven” is the natural
order set forth by the gods. This means that these rules cannot be changed. A mortal man cannot
decide the fate of the dead. The code of the gods is also unwritten, meaning that everyone knows
this code. Creon broke the gods’ rules knowing that their code is unchangeable and therefore
destroyed natural order. When Antigone buries her brother it is her following her religious
calling, thus she is a spiritual quester.
Creon and Antigone converse before she is taken away to death and Antigone makes one
of her strongest statements. “Am I not come through piety to be held impious? If this is approved
in Heaven, why let me suffer and own that I have sinned; but if the sin belong to these- O may
their punishment Be measured by the wrongfulness of mine!”(34). Antigone took pious actions
only to be treated like she did something impious. Antigone’s actions are approved by the gods.
She has not sinned, yet she is being treated as if she committed the worst crime. Creon treated
Antigone’s spiritual quest as a sinful action. Because Creon is ruled by selfish intentions, for him
Antigone did sin. Antigone’s sin was not against the Heavens, but her “sin” hurt King Creon’s
pride. Antigone disobeyed a mortal man in power because she was following her path that was
set by a higher power: the gods. Antigone foreshadows the end of the play by referencing
15
�Creon’s future punishment, which should be measured by the “wrongfulness” of her punishment.
As Antigone was taken by the guards to her death, she says “I duly performed the dues of
piety!”(35). Antigone realizes that she is going to die for her act of piety and does not regret her
actions. Antigone is the symbol of piety and restoration throughout the play and only performed
the duty that she thought was necessary. Piety is a universal law, one of divinity, that bears much
more power than Creon’s edict and he will pay that price. He is the one who has erred in his
ways, not Antigone.
4. KING CREON’S PRIDE AND HUBRIS: HIS DOWNFALL
Creon’s attempt to rise in position on the hierarchy is fueled by his hubris and pride. With
this selfish motivation, Creon becomes the destroyer of the natural order. Creon’s motivation is
ironic in that hubris is excessive pride or self-confidence but he is too insecure to take advice.
His hubris is the reason that he made and pursued the edict. “In the right of kinship nearest to the
dead, possess the throne and take the supreme power…”(8). In taking “supreme power”, Creon
mimics the actions of a god. He decides that Polynices is a bad person and does not deserve a
burial. When Antigone buries Polynices anyway, he declares that she should not be allowed to
live along with the masses. Creon’s pride and hubris gave Creon the internal power to disobey
the law of the gods and try to be one. With that, he does not even identify the faults of his actions
until Antigone has already died. Creon’s overbearing hubris makes him truly believe that his
actions as a “godly, supreme being” were allowed and correct. He did not want his people of the
kingdom to think that he could not keep his word: a selfish feat, and because of this insecurity,
Polynices was not given a sacred burial. Antigone was buried alive, ultimately killing herself,
upon this sight, Haemon killed himself, and as a result, Creon’s wife also killed herself.
16
�Something that Creon thought would be to his benefit, actually caused him to lose everything
that was important to him. Instead of having a reputation for being inconsistent, he made himself
a reputation for causing his family to kill themselves. Is that any better? Creon’s attempt to be
consistent ultimately brought about sorrow- ending lives.
In his actions, Creon is making assumptions about what the gods want. “Or do you see
Gods honouring the bad?”(12). No god has declared Polynices as “bad”. King Creon made this
assumption on his own. Creon suppresses the hierarchy and puts himself on the highest pedestal
as mortal man. Antigone is his rude awakening, trying to humble him, reminding him that he is
not a god. Creon’s extreme pride infiltrates him and allows him to act like a mad man. Creon
may be in a position of power on earth, but in the Heavens, Creon’s actions will not be seen this
way.
Creon: “And you made free to overstep my law?”
Antigone: “Because it was not Zeus who ordered it, nor Justice, dweller with the Nether Gods,
gave such a law to men…”(Sophocles 17).
Creon is completely shocked when Antigone proudly admits that she disregarded Creon’s law
and buried Polynices anyway. Because of his hubris, he cannot conceive someone disobeying
him--especially a woman. Antigone reveals who she is willing to take orders from. She is not
being an anarchist in her disregard for Creon, but the opposite. Antigone tells Creon that because
no god announced that Polynices could not be buried, she is not following his law. Creon’s sense
of shock after hearing this news reveals that he is a pompous man who does not care if there is
any “supremer power” than he.
Even the chorus feels that King Creon’s hubris is his downfall. The Chorus reflets what
any reasonable person would think and responds to Creon’s reaction to the burial of Polynices.
“Wresting his country’s laws to his own will, Spurning the sanctions of celestial right; High in
17
�the city, he is made city-less, Whoso is corrupt, for his impiety… ”(15). The people of Thebes
can clearly see that Creon is corrupt in the declaration of his edict. His will alone is what caused
him to leave Polynices above the ground and punish him. He goes against the sanctions of the
gods and decides that Polynices is a bad person and invader. The Chorus foreshadows what will
happen later in the play. In the beginning, he is the almighty king, making civil decrees that are
ungodly. By the end of the play, Creon has lost everything because of his actions that directly
reject that of divine law.
Tiresias, the seer and profit, is King Creon’s last hope to make him realize the mistake he
has made. In Tiresias’s words, Creon has sent a “living soul unworthily to dwell within a
tomb”(40). Tiresias is the closest human to divinity, for he has never steered anyone wrong. He
attempts to reprimand Creon’s actions and correct him. Tiresias warns “... to take thee in the evil
of thine own hands… ”(40) will bring him “wails” from his own home and “enmity” from his
kingdom. Tiresias finally is able to inspire Creon to correct his mistakes. “I cannot fight at odds
with destiny”(41). Although throughout the entire play, King Creon acts as if he is the supreme
power, he finally acknowledges that he is not. The gods control the fate of human beings. King
Creon has tampered with fate and realizes too late. Tiresias’s predictions were correct and King
Creon is left in shambles.
5. ANTIGONE’S MOTIVATION: DIVINE JUSTICE
Antigone’s motivation throughout the play is to find justice for her brother, Polynices.
This matters to Antigone because she reveres the divine law. The divine law says that everyone
should have a sacred burial and then the goddess, Justice shall decide what happens next. It is
important to note that the divine law is equivalent to the natural order because the divine law
18
�determines the fate of the people. Antigone does not go against Creon’s edict because of her
relationship with Polynices. She rejects Creon’s edict because it is in opposition to divine law. I
believe that if any citizen was treated the way that Polynices was, Antigone would stand up for
them because she wants justice in her world. Antigone states, “All the same, these rites are due to
the underworld”(20). Antigone is only following the laws of the underworld in the pursuit of her
actions. Her reasoning for her actions is consistent throughout the play with her references to
Zeus or the underworld when justifying her actions. Her reverence for the gods is not specific to
her brother, but it is a universal reverence. She does not care that she is a woman, about the lack
of support from her sister, or that her actions break the civil law of King Creon. What she does
care about is the supreme law of the gods.
An example from the text that supports this reading is found in a conversation between
Antigone and Ismene in which Antigone first tells her sister about her plan to go against Creon’s
edict. Ismene is unsupportive. But Ismene’s words did not affect Antigone’s decision, because
she felt that Ismene misunderstood the importance of Polynices’s burial. Antigone explains,
“Death, so met, were honour; And for that capital crime of piety, Loving and loved I will lie by
his side. Far longer is there need I satisfy Those nether powers, than powers on earth; for For
ever must I lie. You, if you will, Hold up to scorn what is approved of Heaven!”(3). Antigone
acknowledges that her “crime” is in the name of piety. Polynices died for his kingdom and she
loved him, for he is her brother. The satisfaction of the gods is more important than the
satisfaction of a human king. “There need I satisfy those nether powers” means that Antigone
believes that satisfying the gods is of utmost importance. She confronts Ismene and tells her, it is
ok if she disapproves of Antigone’s actions, but Antigone knows that what she is doing is
justified in terms of the divine law.
19
�Creon attempts to curtail Antigone’s plan with his threat of death attached to his edict.
Antigone’s civil disobedience is in direct opposition to Creon’s civil law. Antigone makes a
statement where she shows the world that just because something is the law does not mean it is
justice. She uses her beliefs in the gods to show that the fairness of Greek culture brings people
together. Preservation of culture brings forth a consistent belief system. Humans treat humans
fairly and evenly. Creon opposes this system and decides how to treat Polynices after death when
it is the job of the gods to decide what happens after death. Many critics point out Antigone’s
civil disobedience, but what about Creon’s divine disobedience? How about Creon’s ability to
ignore the cultural fabric of society just because he is in a position of power? Creon’s ignorance
becomes his hubris and defines his downfall in the play.
PART II: VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS IN CONNECTION AND CONTRAST WITH
ANTIGONE’S SPIRITUAL QUEST OF RESTORATION
The sources in this part provide implicit analyses of the play that, while interesting and
worthy of reflection, are not written in the fabric of the piece. Hegel takes the tragic hero and
makes the tragic collision. Molly Farneth analyzes the role of women within Greek society and
decides that their social roles are what repress them. John Tralau attempts to assign philos to
Antigone and Creon as their motives for their actions. While, from a psychoanalytic perspective,
Antigone is a self-willed victim who echoes herself throughout the play. Given the reading in
part one, I maintain that each of the views in part two misses an essential piece of Antigone:
reverence for the divine law. In this part of the thesis, I will first discuss the Hegelian
interpretation of Antigone, then I will discuss the feminist interpretation of the Hegelian
20
�perspective. Next, I will consider the interpretation that defines the characters of Antigone by
their Philos, then I will discuss the psychoanalytic interpretation of Antigone.
1. THE TRADITIONAL HEGELIAN PERSPECTIVE
Francisco J. Gonzalez’s text highlights the Hegelian view of Antigone. According to him,
it is a “tragic collision” between two characters, Antigone and Creon, who each embody some
sort of good. Both Antigone and Creon have different views, but each view has validity in
Hegel’s eyes. Hegel’s position of tragic collision conflicts with Aristotle’s interpretation of Creon
as the tragic hero. Gonzalez’s interpretation of Hegel’s Antigone is in contrast to the
interpretation of part one in that Hegel considers both Antigone and Creon “good”. But, it falls
short because if both Creon and Antigone are good, then there is no point in what Antigone is
doing and the play itself does not make sense.
Antigone is not about individual characters, but the message that is sent to Greek
society.6 It makes the reader question what justice actually is, what being pious means, and
realize the theme of destruction and restoration of justice. Antigone is a symbol in that she is the
bearer of culture, of the divine law.7 Hegel believes that Antigone is a play about good v. good. I
believe that Hegel’s view is unsupported in the play. Only one character’s view can be right and
that is Antigone. If this were not true, then why would all of Creon’s family end up dead? And
why would he end up admitting his mistake? Creon blatantly disobeys the laws of the gods and
that is why he is fundamentally incorrect in his edict.
6
Gonzalez begins by deconstructing the Aristotelian tragic hero. According to Gonzalez, if Creon is to be called the
“tragic hero” within this play, shouldn’t it be named after him? I believe that this comment is flawed in that the
tragic hero’s importance is in their fatal mistake. Just because someone is the tragic hero, does not mean that they
should be the title of the play.
7
The tragic hero implies that there is a good side and an evil side, when in reality Hegel sees two good sides.
21
�Hegel believes that human law is grounded in divine law and divine law only becomes
“aware of itself” within human law. This is ironic because the two types of laws completely
contrast each other, but need one another to survive. Each good is blind to the other. As argued in
part one, it is true that human law needs the divine law in order to survive, but divine law does
not need human law. This point is essential in deconstructing Hegel’s argument. Gonzalez and
Hegel are incorrect in stating that divine law only becomes aware of itself in human law. Divine
law is enacted within the gods. The divine law is the code that the gods live by and expect
humans to follow, but it does not die without human participation. The divine law stands alone in
its enactment because it is for the gods. Therefore, the laws are in no way equal. Human law
needs divine law and divine law is its own entity. The “goods” are not blind to each other
because Antigone is good and Creon is bad. Divine law and human law are unequal.
Gonzalez continues to state that Antigone does not see how what Creon is doing is good
and Creon does not see how Antigone is doing something good. “The tragedy is that in the
conflict between right and right, each right becomes a wrong without ceasing to be
right”(Gonzalez). In Gonzalez’s piece, he observes the line from the play, “Sooner or later, foul
is fair, fair is foul to the man the gods will ruin” (696-698; Fagles trans.). He argues that Hegel’s
reading pays justice to this line because it applies to both Creon and Antigone. Both Creon and
Antigone fall to horrible fates. Antigone kills herself and Creon loses his family. But part one
establishes a different interpretation. The quote above ends with, “the man the gods will ruin.”
In opposition to Gonzalez’s interpretation, this line is actually completely aligned with the
argument that divinity is superior to human law because the gods do ruin, but it is not Antigone
who is ruined, it is Creon. Antigone dies by Creon’s destruction of the natural fate that the gods
have set forth. The gods ruin Creon because he admits he is wrong (being inconsistent with his
22
�enactment of the law), loses his entire family, and he has defied the law of divinity. Creon learns
that the divine laws are fair and this is foul to him because he loses everything he cares about.
The alternate interpretation from part one to those like Gonzalez’s is that Creon’s
defiance of the gods and his hubris get him into trouble. By defying the divine law he is
attempting to be like a Greek god; thus he is not good. Creon gives us further evidence of this
while talking to his son, Haemon, when he says, “And what worse sore can plague us, than a
loved one’s worthlessness? Better to spurn this maiden as a foe! Leave her to wed some
bridegroom in the grave! For, having caught her in the act, alone of the whole city disobeying
me, I will not publicly bely myself, but to kill her”(Sophocles 25). Creon would rather see his
niece die than admit his wrongs. He is willing to sacrifice his son’s bride to make himself look
better. In making his civil edict, he declares anyone who disobeys it worthless, so he sentences
his son’s bride and niece to death so that King Creon may continue his reign as a “god.” Some
may argue that Antigone is also very arrogant in her stance, and therefore not good in the same
way as Creon, but she is trying her best to stand up for what she believes in. In a way, Creon also
attempts to stand up for what he believes in, but does he really believe that the civil law is
superior to the divine law? The civil law does not have as much standing as the divine law and
this is what Antigone is trying to defend.
Hegel’s view is that although Antigone and Creon both have an aspect of good, they still
destroy each other in their quest to be right. But part one maintained that Antigone is a symbol of
piety and Creon is a symbol of hubris. Antigone’s motive only has standing if she is good and
Creon is not. Antigone would have no reason to break Creon’s civil law if Creon’s view was
equally as “good” as Antigone’s. Contrary to Hegel’s view, they do not destroy each other;
rather, Creon destroys everything while Antigone only tries to fix what Creon has damaged.
23
�2. FEMINIST INTERPRETATION OF HEGEL’S ANTIGONE
Molly Farneth presents a unique, feminist interpretation of the Hegelian reading of
Antigone. While she agrees with Gonzalez that both Creon and Antigone are good, she believes
that gender is what undoes the relationship between them. More specifically, she says that the
difference between human law and divine law can be interpreted as a difference between male
law and female law. This interpretation is interesting because it solely depends on the gender of
the main characters, but it misses the mark because the thematic structure and plot of Antigone
depends on more than gender differences.
The author cites Hegel’s interpretation in that Antigone is about characterizations of
groups according to their gender, and their relationship to the world. Hegel attempts to give a
complete picture of Greek Sittlichkeit in Antigone. Sittlichkeit means how the Greeks obtain
social order within the ethics of their society. Hegel begins by highlighting the harmony within
the Greek society, specifically within Antigone. The opposition between Antigone and Creon is
simply a clash of two, gendered sides who both think they are correct because their gender binds
them to the laws differently. Pursuing one of these laws causes a conflict for the other8.
Many critics have a problem with the fact that Hegel distinguishes Oedipus from
Antigone, making his crime excusable (because he didn’t expect it) and her crime inexcusable
because she buried Polynices knowing that her action would break civil law. Antigone is proud
of herself for standing up for what is justified in divine law: the burial of Polynices. Farneth
acknowledges that there is no real reconciliation between Creon and Antigone. She states, “The
confessions of Antigone and Creon fall on deaf ears”(659). In other words, Antigone never faults
8
The rules about gender conflict do not apply within the family structure. Hegel puts forth that within the family, the
brother and sister have a relationship where desire is not a factor. But, in the brother-sister relationship, the sister is
able to achieve “self-hood”, whereas in a desirous male-female relationship, there will always be a fundamental
inequality of roles. Apparently, “nature assigns the human law to men and the divine law to women”(651). Hegel
believes that this is not because of nature, but because of the ethical norms of society. This is where the term
“character” comes to play. Character for Hegel is a one-sided and unreflective form of identity that is immediate.
24
�herself, and everyone (that matters) that Creon would confess his wrongness to has died. Once he
realizes what he has done, it is too late to save Antigone. As a result of Antigone’s death, Creon’s
son dies, and then his wife dies. Additionally, Hegel categorizes women as the “internal enemy”.
Hegel believes that the community thrives by suppressing the women within it. The gender roles
within the community are what repress women, not women in themselves. The prevailing culture
assigns women to certain roles. As a woman, when Antigone appeals to Creon about the
wrongfulness of his actions, he does not listen. One reason is because of his hubris and excessive
pride as “supreme king”. The other reason is because Antigone is a woman. In Ancient Greece, it
was not common for a woman to be right.
It is true that gender roles are what repress women in Antigone but Antigone’s gender is
not the main cause of her problems. In contrast to both Gonzalez and Farneth, the central issue is
the choice of following Creon’s edict or the laws of divinity; there is no mutual destruction
between Antigone and Creon. I believe that the destruction of everyone is due to Creon’s hubris
and inability to change his ways for the divine law. If the Greeks worshipped the gods as much
as I have learned, wouldn’t Creon’s decree be wrong within the universal law of piety? If so, the
destruction of Creon’s community is due to Creon himself. Gender does play a role in the
dynamic of the tragedy, but ultimately the conflict in the play comes down to one’s belief. If
Antigone was a man and buried Polynices, it would not change her fate. The way Creon reacted
toward his son shows that he still would not have admitted the wrongfulness of his ways. If the
main plot changed in the play and Haemon buried Polynices, according to Antigone’s motivation
of following the divine law, nothing would change in the plot. I believe that Sophocles was
intentional with his choice of making Antigone a woman. But, I think that the point of this
choice was to make a statement: the divine law prevails no matter what gender one is.
25
�3. JOHN TRALAU’S PHILIAN PERSPECTIVE
The ideas above are fully Hegelian, whereas the other views presented will stray from the
interpretation of Antigone as a tragedy of mutual destruction. Johan Tralau concentrates on the
idea of Philia in an attempt to save the Hegelian interpretation and make it less subjective, but
the lack of textual evidence for his view makes it hard to accept.
The Hegelian perspective could be interpreted as subjective because it is about the
characters themselves. While the Philian interpretation takes the entirety of the tragedy into
consideration citing the different communities within it. This interpretation is interesting because
it deals with the loyalty of Creon and Antigone to different parts of their communities. But, the
Philian interpretation is deficient in evidentiary support. The claim that Creon acts in a certain
way because of his loyalty could be interpreted as true because of his selfish motive and hubris.
On the other hand, Antigone definitely did not act as she did because of loyalty to her family, but
instead loyalty to the divine law.
The idea of Philia is different from the Hegelian interpretation because it deals with the
loyalty of Antigone and Creon to the environments around them. He believes that both Creon
and Antigone are unattached to the communities they strive to protect and that Antigone is
self-destructive by arguing for divine laws. Supposedly, both Antigone and King Creon strive to
protect the Greek community, but they have different motivations in doing so. Tralau puts forth
that both Creon and Antigone are unattached to the Theban community. The author uses the
word “Philia” as the guiding principle in his theory. Antigone has her own meaning of who is
Philos. Both Creon and Antigone’s Philos are not the Greek community. For Creon, an enemy of
the city, could never be Philos, hence Antigone. The author points out that Creon’s words could
26
�be used against him. Tralau’s analysis of Creon’s Philos is inconsistent because it seems that not
every enemy of the city is left out of Creon’s Philos. Creon’s own son (Haemon) disagrees with
Creon’s decree yet he is still Philos.
Polynices is Philos to Antigone, so therefore must be buried. Tralau points out that
because Polynices is Antigone’s philos, they could have an incestuous relationship. Tralau does
address the lack of evidence for the incest view by pointing out that Antigone’s mother and
father are also Philos. The loyalty and family issues that Tralau mentions are not for the gods to
decide, so therefore are not the central issue of this play. The author says that Antigone overlooks
the state, but this is because the gods matter over the state. Tralau makes the central issue
Antigone’s loyalty, when in reality the central issue is the law. Creon is a power-hungry man,
while Antigone is trying to do right by the divine law.
Antigone’s definition of philia is complicated because it is about blood relation.
“...Antigone’s understanding of kinship seems to be very narrow: Philia is about being of the
same blood or, rather ‘of the same womb’”(Tralau 390). This may seem arbitrary but it is not
because Tralau puts forth that if Haemon was in the same position as Polynices, she may not
have acted in the same way. If Haemon was not given a sacred burial, Antigone may not have
fought Creon for him because Haemon is only her fiance, he was not born from the same womb
as Antigone. Tralau claims that this definition of Philia is inconsistent because there is no place
for her parents. As argued in the section, “Antigone’s Motivation: Divine Justice”, this point is
not valid because if Antigone’s motivation is divine law, she would have buried anyone, it would
not matter if there was any blood relation.
The author’s interpretation of Antigone and Ismene’s relationship puts them in opposition
to each other. Tralau believes that Antigone disrespects Ismene by denying her the right to die
27
�with her. While in my reading, Ismene wants to protect Antigone by keeping quiet. Antigone
does not strive to be protected, she wants Creon to know what she has done. I would not
misconstrue this notion by saying that Ismene is the enemy of Antigone. When Antigone does
not want Ismene to die with her it shows another way that Antigone protects her sister. She loves
Ismene and does not want her to die for a cause that she does not care about. Thus, Antigone
exhibits philia toward Ismene by saving her from death.
Tralau’s theory of philia within Antigone has several flaws. First, if Antigone’s
motivation were philia, why wouldn’t it include Haemon? There is no solid proof within
Antigone that she would not do the same for Haemon as she did for Polynices. Antigone believes
in the divine law and that is why she acted in the way that she did throughout the play9. There is
no textual proof within the play that says Antigone buried Polynices because he is her brother.
On the other hand, there is textual evidence that Antigone gave a sacred burial to Polynices
because she was following the laws of the Heavens. For example Antigone states, “As that a
mortal man could overbear the unchangeable unwritten code of heaven…” (Sophocles 17).
Antigone acknowledges that man cannot overstep the divine laws that are already in place. This
is a general statement that Antgone puts forth in defending her actions and proving the
wrongfulness of Creon’s decree. The unwritten code of Heaven is that everyone gets a secret
burial, so Antigone is simply asserting that she values the validity of the laws of the gods over
Creon’s law.
4. THE PSYCHOANALYTIC ANALYSIS OF ANTIGONE
9
Polynices was her brother, but the only reason this could be significant is because he is within the direct bloodline
of Oedipus. If Oedipus really did call upon Pelop’s curse, then it was fate that Eteocles and Polynices died a
gruesome death at each others’ hands.
28
�The psychoanalytic interpretation of Antigone is the most subjective interpretation of the
play in relation to the others, for one is forced to look at a play through a completely contrasting
lens. When reading the play with the other views in mind, one does not have to shift his
perspective. The play reads as if any of the views could be easily conceived. Whereas Miriam
Leonard’s psychoanalytic interpretation has to be searched for in the tragedy. This interpretation
is interesting because it is so creative, but it misses the mark because there is not enough
evidence to support it. Additionally, the psychoanalytic perspective overlooks the laws of
divinity, which play an essential role in the tragedy.
Miriam Leonard asks the question: what if Antigone was at the forefront of
psychoanalysis instead of Oedipus? Miriam Leonard poses that Antigone could actually be at the
forefront of psychoanalytical theory because the play raises important issues about feminist and
political issues (Leonard 135). The Hegelian views and philian view place Antigone and Creon
at odds with each other, while this psychoanalytic view concentrates solely on Antigone. Further,
the figure of Antigone herself has become central to feminist and political theory.
Miriam Leonard explores the strengths and weaknesses of Lacan’s analysis of Antigone.
For Lacan, Creon does not matter at all. Antigone is about Antigone herself; she is the central
figure. Lacan moves away from a pious analysis by rejecting Hegel and focusing solely on
Antigone’s desire. In Lacan’s view, Antigone’s desire (to bury Polynices) makes her look like a
disturbing, intimidating, self-willed victim. Loraux and Leonard agree that for Lacan to focus
solely on Antigone, a third of the drama would have to be thrown away, hence all of Creon’s
monologues. Lacan believes that Antigone’s pure desire does not have to do with politics, but
that her choice is one of beauty and purity. Because Lacan paints Antigone out as a figure of
innocence, Lacan believes that for Antigone, the burial of Polynices is a matter of ethics. Lacan
29
�feels that Antigone’s motivation is one with no motive, which makes it an ethical decision. “... it
can be seen that Antigone’s position represents the radical limit that affirms the unique value of
his being without reference to any content, to whatever good or evil Polynices may have done, or
whatever he may be subjected to”(Leonard 142). Lacan’s blatant rejection of Creon and the
emphasis placed on language within Antigone, makes it as if Antigone is echoing herself
throughout the play. Antigone’s language and her actions reflect back to her. Antigone sacrifices
herself for her brother and death follows. Antigone attempts to place her brother below the
ground and she is placed below the ground. Lacan attempts to disassociate Antigone from the
political, but his ideas leave room for some interpretation by Leonard.
While many of Lacan’s ideas are sympathetic to the interpretation in part one, Leonard’s
focus on incest moves us in a direction opposed to part one. Leonard’s main thesis is that Lacan
does not pay enough attention to the cycle of incest apparent in Antigone. Antigone buries her
brother and accepts death, which can be seen as a rejection of patriarchal culture. She stands up
to King Creon and her death denies “generational continuity” to Haemon. Although Lacan
rejects the Hegelian interpretation of Antigone, his ideas continue to reflect Hegel, for both
ignored how odd Antigone’s relationship to Polynices is. Lacan’s idea of incest is different than
others in that he believes that the root of Antigone’s desire is for her mother. The mother is the
root of creation and destruction… giving birth and death to her children (145). Antigone’s drive
to save her brother parallels Jocasta’s original sin of incest (with Oedipus). Jocasta’s husband
dies by the hand of Oedipus and she marries Oedipus. Antigone’s brother kills her other brother
and she breaks King Creon’s law and buries Polynices against his decree. Because of her actions,
she is buried alive leaving her future husband ultimately dead. In both scenarios Jocasta and
30
�Antigone choose another family member over their husband. They choose someone with their
blood.
In relation to my theory of Antigone as the restorer, I find Lacan’s theory of Antigone’s
desire to be insular. Although, I ultimately disagree with Lacan’s view because he makes
Antigone’s burial of Polynices into something avoidable, like a choice she didn’t need to make.
Lacan’s view takes away the legitimacy of the divine law. Antigone does not simply bury
Polynices because she desires to, for it is not her ethics that makes her do so. It is the divine law
that forces Antigone to bury Polynices. This is not a choice on Antigone’s own accord, but a rule
to be followed that shows her reverence for the gods. Additionally, I disagree with Leonard’s
interpretation of the missed aspect of incest. Like I pointed out in Tralau’s philia interpretation,
there is no proof that Antigone is in love with her brother. Antigone is a follower of the divine
law no matter who it concerns10.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the interpretation of Antigone in part one is the most evidence based
perspective. Antigone’s reverence for the gods is written into the fabric of the play. Not only
does Antigone cite the divine law in her defense of her actions several times, but it is a known
fact that all of Greece reveres the gods as part of traditional culture. Antigone is a play about the
restoration of human destruction. The motivations for the destruction and restoration of Thebes is
what moves the play forward. Antigone is on a spiritual quest to follow the divine law of the
gods, while King Creon wants to prove his worth to his kingdom by making a civil edict that
goes against the law of the gods and becomes entrapped by his hubris. While alternate
10
Antigone does not mention Jocasta at all. Oedipus is mentioned by the chorus, but the idea that Antigone imitates
Jocata’s actions is conceived from thin air. The family of Oedipus does experience bad luck, but this is because of
Pelop’s Curse and Creon’s destructive actions.
31
�interpretations make us reflect on the play in fruitful ways, they are not central to the fabric of
the play.
32
�Annotated Bibliography
Atkison, Larissa M. “‘Antigone's’ Remainders: Choral Ruminations and Political Judgment.”
Political Theory, vol. 44, no. 2, 2016, pp. 219–239., www.jstor.org/stable/24768037.
Accessed 3 Oct. 2020.
Atkinson’s piece presents Antigone from the viewpoint of the chorus. The usual readings
of the play inscribe a binary issue between Creon and Antigone. Atkinson believes that both
Antigone and Creon are apolitical while the chorus presents the political perspective. Many
authors have turned to minor characters like Haemon and Ismene for their readings. Atkinson’s
attention to the chorus (and any other attention to minor characters) restores “a multivocal
texture to the tragic universe”(221). One of the unique aspects of the chorus is the unity that the
voices bring to the text. There is a dynamic that allows subjectivity to the reader in deciding if at
certain points the chorus is supposed to be interpreted as a singular person or if the chorus should
be interpreted as many, but it is kind of both at the same time. The chorus is committed to
providing the reader with insight into another perspective of judgment. The chorus is seen as a
council of old men in the reader’s first encounter. They demonstrate a desire for change after the
tragedy of Eteocles and Polynices. They hope that Creon will be a new, different type of leader.
But Creon does not demonstrate the type of change the chorus was yearning for. Instead, Creon
presents a decree that goes against the divine law. It is like Creon forgot that Oediseus’s thrown
was for both Eteocles and Polynices when he makes his decree about Polynices not being buried.
Creon is repeating “the cycle of pain” that Thebes has experienced prior by ensuing vengeance
on Polynices. For Creon, the chorus’s role has been diminished, for his hubris does not allow him
to accept any other opinions than his own. They are no longer advisors and this marginalizes
them. The chorus tries to intervene in the play, but Creon does not listen. The chorus
33
�acknowledges that they are bound to the laws of the gods. “Their law balances together respect
for ‘laws of the earth and the justice, to which one is bound by oath, of the gods’”(225).
Atkinson shows that the Chorus knows that legislation is a process. The power of the individual
can be destructive to the collective Chorus. The only time that Creon listens to the Chorus is in
their plea for Ismene not to be punished along with Antigone. This text also acknowledges
Antigone’s decision to align with the dead rather than with the living. Unfortunately, the Chorus
ends up disapproving of Antigone’s actions. Only after Antigone is dead, does the Chorus
commend her for her courageous act. Additionally, the Chorus tries to persuade King Creon to
listen when in Tiresias’s presence. Ultimately, although the Chorus may have supported
Antigone in the burial of Polynices, they did not support the way she went about it. The Chorus
was careful in choosing when to share their opinions with King Creon knowing that he would not
take people’s advice. The chorus revives the voice of the people within the drama of Antigone.
Atkinson is right in saying that as the reader, one often only concentrates on the two main
characters (Antigone and Creon). The Chorus is a window into what society as a whole believed.
This article helped me to understand the purpose of several passages within Antigone. It is very
valuable to confirm that the prevailing belief was that divinity was the higher power within
Greek culture.
Farneth, Molly. “GENDER AND THE ETHICAL GIVEN: Human and Divine Law in Hegel's
Reading of the ‘Antigone.’” The Journal of Religious Ethics, vol. 41, no. 4, 2013, pp.
643–667., www.jstor.org/stable/24586153. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.
Farneth suggests that Hegel’s interpretation of Antigone poses a challenge to religious
ethics. The difference between human law and divine law can be interpreted as a difference
34
�between men and women. The author cites Hegel’s interpretation in that Antigone is about
characterizations of a certain group and their relationship to the world. Hegel attempts to give a
complete picture of Greek Sittlichkeit in Antigone. I take this to mean how the Greeks within
Antigone obtain social order within the ethics of their society. Hegel begins by highlighting the
harmony within the Greek society, specifically Antigone. Hegel puts forth that within the family,
the brother and sister have a relationship where desire is not a factor. Apparently, “nature assigns
the human law to men and the divine law to women”(651). Hegel believes that this is not
because of nature, but because of the ethical norms of society. This is where the term “character”
comes to play. Character for Hegel is a one-sided and unreflective form of identity that is
immediate. Bringing this back to the topic of Antigone and Creon, their opposition is simply a
clash of two sides who both think they are correct for different reasons. Pursuing one of these
laws causes a conflict for the other. Many critics have a problem with the fact that Hegel
distinguishes Oedipus from Antigone, making his crime excusable (because he didn’t expect it)
and her crime inexcusable because she knowingly buried Polynices knowing it would break
human law. The author writes about how Antigone acknowledges her guilt. But I disagree. I do
not think that Antigone is that guilty. I think that she is proud of herself for standing up for what
is justified in divine law: the burial of Polynices. Farneth agrees with me about the fact that there
is no real reconciliation between Creon and Antigone. She states, “The confessions of Antigone
and Creon fall on deaf ears”(659). In the next section of Hegel’s writing, he categorizes women
as the “internal enemy”. Basically, Hegel believes that the community thrives by suppressing the
women within it. Hegel reads Antigone as a mutual destruction of characters. One objection that
Farneth puts forth is that Hegel contradicts himself because he naturalizes gender in his later
work. The gender roles within the community are what repress women, not women in
35
�themselves. This article has advanced my understanding of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
and Antigone within it. I disagree with what Hegel and Farneth have focused on. For I do not
think that there is mutual destruction. I think that the destruction of everyone is due to Creon’s
hubris and inability to change his ways for the divine law. If the Greeks worshipped the gods as
much as I have learned, wouldn’t Creon’s decree be wrong within the universal law of piety? If
so, the destruction of Creon’s community is due to Creon himself.
Gonzalez, Francisco J. “2005 Summer ReadingThe Burial at ThebesHegel on the Antigone.”
Skidmore College, www.skidmore.edu/fye/summer_reading/2005/themes/hegel.php.
Gonzalez’s text highlights the Hegelian view of Antigone. The “tragic collision” is
between two characters who each embody some sort of good. Both Antigone and Creon have
different views, but each view has validity to Hegel. This position of the tragic collision conflicts
Aristotle’s interpretation of Creon as the tragic hero. If Creon is to be called the “tragic hero”
within this play, shouldn’t it be named after him? If there is a tragic hero, it implies that there is a
good side and an evil side, when in reality Hegel sees two good sides. He calls Antigone a “noble
defender of human rights”, which I completely disagree with. Hegel thinks that Antigone is a
play about good v. good. Human law is grounded in divine law. Divine law only becomes “aware
of itself” within human law. This is ironic because the two types of laws completely contrast
each other, but need one another to survive. Each good is blind to the other. Antigone does not
see how what Creon is doing is good and Creon does not see how Antigone is doing something
good. “The tragedy is that in the conflict between right and right, each right becomes a wrong
without ceasing to be right”(Gonzalez). In Gonzalez’s piece, he observes the line from the play,
“Sooner or later, foul is fair, fair is foul to the man the gods will ruin” (696-698; Fagles trans.)
36
�He argues that Hegel’s reading pays justice to this line because it applies to both Creon and
Antigone. Both Creon and Antigone fall to horrible fates. Antigone kills herself and Creon loses
his family. For Hegel, this conflict of tragedy is only a step along the way for absolute spirit.
This piece will be very useful to me in my thesis because it is endorsing a view that I completely
disagree with. There is an evil within this play and it is Creon: trying to be God. The civil law
does not have as much standing as the divine law and this is what Antigone is trying to defend.
Hegel’s view completely contradicts my view with Antigone as the defender of piety.
Honig, Bonnie. Antigone, Interrupted. Cambridge University Press, 2013. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=545637&site=eds-live.
Honig puts forth that Antigone is a figure of conspiracy. Apparently, Antigone
communicates in a way that makes her look like she does things secretly. According to Honig,
the things that Antigone says to Creon go over his head. The author believes that Antigone is a
brave figure for having an open secret. Honig proceeds to point out several scenes in which
Antigone is interrupted. The author believes that these interruptions are an important part of the
play, but are never paid attention to. When Antigone buries Polynices, she is interrupted by
Creon. When she tells Creon what she did, she is taken to a cave. Antigone’s suicide is another
interruption, but this time of her life and her marriage. Honig sees Antigone as a
multidimensional figure. She puts forth that she is not only political, or a defender of the family,
or a creature of desire, but a combination of everything, a heroic but not isolated Antigone. She
conspires using language in an unconventional way. When looking back at the play, I realize that
Creon really does not process a lot of what Antigone says, which kind of makes what Antigone
what is saying like a secret. No one is listening to her. Honig acknowledges that this is an
37
�unusual way of seeing Antigone. She highlights Antigone’s background and references the idea
of kinship as a reading. Honig paints Creon as a totally political figure, which he is as a king.
There are many views set forth in this play. This multidimensional analysis of a conspirator
contradicts my analysis of Antigone as a religious figure. I believe that none of the details Honig
puts forth are relevant to a religious interpretation.
LEONARD, MIRIAM. “ANTIGONE, THE POLITICAL AND THE ETHICS OF
PSYCHOANALYSIS.” Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, no. 49,
2003, pp. 130–154. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44696793. Accessed 4 Oct. 2020.
Leonard poses the question: what if Antigone was at the forefront of psychoanalysis? The
author references Lacan and Irigaray and their different interpretations. The figure of Antigone
has become central to feminist and political theory. For Lacan, Creon does not matter at all.
Antigone is about Antigone herself. Loreaux commends Lacan for moving away from a pious
analysis, which is the opposite of my goal. Lacan focuses on Antigone’s desire and how it makes
her look like a disturbing, intimidating self-willed victim. Lacan believes that Antigone’s pure
desire does not have to do with politics. Although, Leonard argues that in Antigone rejecting
normative standards, she is taking a stand against patriarchy. Psychoanalytical ideas come to
fruition when Lacan brings forth that Antigone picks her brother over her husband implying
incest. Is Antigone’s pure desire incestuous? The author points out that this makes Lacan sounds
Hegelian because prioritization of her brother, Polynices. Lacanian’s idea incest is different than
Hegel’s in that he believes that the root of Antigone’s desire is for her mother. The mother is the
root of creation and destruction… giving birth and death to her children (145). Antigone’s drive
to save her brother parallels Jocasta’s original sin of incest (with Oedipus). In Irigaray’s view,
38
�Antigone wants to govern as much as possible as a woman. According to her, Hegel removes
Antigone from the symbolic order and this takes away her opportunity to be part of the political
world. The author puts forth that by having an anti-political analysis of Antigone, one is
removing Antigone from the political scene. These psychoanalytic interpretations are very
interesting because they offer a new way of looking at Antigone, promoting a different
understanding. They will allow me to refute them easily with my view of Antigone as the
religious hero. The point that interests me most here is Lacanian’s interpretation Antigone’s
incestuous relationship with Polynices that is modeled by Jocasta.
Tralau, Johan. “TRAGEDY AS POLITICAL THEORY: THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF
ANTIGONE'S LAWS.” History of Political Thought, vol. 26, no. 3, 2005, pp. 377–396.
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26221709. Accessed 4 Oct. 2020.
Tralau concentrates on the idea of philia, which is a very interesting perspective. This
source is useful to me because, in my opinion, it is an incorrect interpretation. In my thesis, I will
be able to use Tralau’s piece as an example of an erroneous interpretation of Antigone, which
does not give attention to the central issue. Tralau believes that both Creon and Antigone are
unattached to the communities they strive to protect. He thinks that Antigone is self-destructive
by arguing for divine laws. John Tralau attempts to save the Hegelian interpretation and make it
less subjective. The author uses the word “philia” as the guiding principle in his theory.
Antigone has her own meaning of who is philos. For Creon, an enemy of the city could never be
philos, hence Antigone. The author points out that Creon’s words could be used against him.
Polyneices is philos to Antigone, so therefore must be buried. This text interprets Creon as
simple and Antigone as a complicated character. I would argue the very opposite. The loyalty
39
�and family issues that this author mentions are not for the gods to necessarily decide, so therefore
are not the central issue of this play. The author says that Antigone overlooks the state, but this is
because the gods matter over the state. Loyalty is the issue here. Creon is a power-hungry man,
while Antigone is trying to do right by both of her brothers. I do not like the author’s
interpretation of Antigone and Ismene’s relationship. I think he takes the notion too seriously,
missing the point of the play. In my reading, Ismene wants to protect Antigone by keeping quiet.
Antigone does not strive to be protected, she wants Creon to know what she has done. I would
not misconstrue this notion by saying that Ismene is the enemy of Antigone. When Antigone
does not want Ismene to die with her it shows another way that Antigone protects her sister. She
loves Ismene and does not want her to die for a cause that she does not care about. Thus,
Antigone exhibits philia toward Ismene.
Waterfield, Robin, and Kathryn Waterfield. The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and
Heroes Vividly Retold. Quercus, 2012.
The background of the gods’ creation process of humans is important because in reading
Antigone one must realize that humans must respect the gods because they are the creators of
civilization. In Creon’s disrespect of the gods’ rules, he is disrespecting his creators’ rules. The
gods are in everything because they created everything. One day, the gods realized that they were
bored because they are immortal and their lives were filled with sameness. Because of their
eternal boredom, the gods thought that it might be fun to populate the Earth with life. Zeus gave
the job of making animal species to Prometheus and Epimetheus ended up working with him.
Epimetheus made the animals while Prometheus would check over the final products.
Epimetheus gave different powers to different creatures. After he finished designing the various
40
�creatures that would inhabit the Earth, he showed Prometheus to see if he was satisfied. He liked
all of the work, except for the humans. This clay form was naked with no special abilities. But,
this did not matter, Zeus had given the brothers a certain time limit and today was the day that
these creatures would be released on Earth. The gods actually had no plans for human beings.
Prometheus said, “...we’ll just have to let this… human… fend for itself for a while”(Waterfield
13).
41
�
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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Antimicrobial Resistance in the Maasai Community
Megha Biju WCSN, Marissa Stavola WCSN, Antoinette Nuara WCSN
Wagner College Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing
Introduction
Problem in the Community: Antimicrobial Resistance
• The Maasai tribe is in northern Tanzania, Kenya, which is the
most visible cultural group in Africa today. It is estimated the “total
Maasai population is about 883,000 which is approximately half of
the living in Kenya and other held of Tanzania,” (2).
• The Maasai's cultural norm is to practice little to no livestock
hygiene. With this cultural acceptance, livestock often become
ridden with harmful microbes. This has caused many families in
this community to be exposed to microbes resulting in potentially
fatal illnesses (4).
• In the Republic of Keyna antimicrobials are unregulated allowing
for easy accessibility to this medication. Many tribes, like the
Maasai tribe, will unknowingly administer improper amounts of
antimicrobial medications to sicken livestock (4).
• This has presented itself to be problematic, causing Maasai tribe
to have high prevalent rates of microbial infections and
antimicrobial resistance.
• Community education is needed on transmission prevention of
microbial infections, which includes proper personal hygiene,
proper livestock preparation and medication and knowledge on
proper antimicrobial usage.
Community Assessment and Analysis
• The Maasai tribe has not changed too much over the past
30 years. They try to stay with traditions, and again, try to
stay away from the outside government of Kenya.
• Their main source of living is livestock. “Cattle, goats and
sheep are the primary source of income for the Maasai (5)
• This community has been using their livestock to test
antimicrobial medication, Oxytetracycline. This drug is also
cheap and easily available for them to test the resistance of
this antibiotic (4).
• Statistics show that almost 71% of Maasai children have
contracted pneumonia (6).
• 33% of new babies in this country are born infected with
HIV/AIDS and 50% of those children dying before the age
of two because they and their mothers cannot receive
proper treatment (6).
• Almost 52% of the contaminated food is filled with worms
which are ingested causing GI issues (4).
• The Kenyan government has instituted programs towards
behavior changes from the traditional semi-nomadic life for
the Maasai. “community health intervention” which will
educate the Maasai community about microbial resistance
(6).
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms such as
bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites change when they are
exposed to antimicrobial drugs such as antibiotics, antifungals,
antivirals, and antimalarials (1).
Factors that contribute to antimicrobial resistance:
• Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in people and animals
• Not finishing the full course of antibiotics
• Poor infection control
• Inadequate sanitary conditions
• Inappropriate food-handling
• This community has easy access to unregulated over the counter
antibiotics that lead to a high incidence of purchasing these drugs
for treating animals as well as humans when they fall ill. This
community does not have adequate medical clinics, therefore,
they do not have access to appropriate care needed to treat
different infections.
• Research found that greater than 95% of Maasai households selfadminister antibiotics to their livestock while 75% of those
households administer these antibiotics without consulting
professional veterinarians or livestock officers (6).
• This community does not adhere to the withdrawal period of
antibiotics when caring for their cattle. The Maasai tribe members
are constantly interacting and consuming the livestock which
leads to a higher transmission rate for diseases.
• In relation to other tribes within northern Tanzania, Maasai
families attend their health clinic 11% more than the Arusha
families, and 27% more than the Chagga families (6).
• The most commonly used antibiotic in the Maasai community is oxytetracycline.
• If an animal doesn’t respond to the treatment the owner will raise the dosage or switch to a different treatment.
• Maasai men reported administering the same antibiotic dosage regardless of how much the animal weighed
(6). Incorrect dosing is one of the biggest risk factors contributing to antimicrobial resistance because the dose
is either too high and remains within the system for longer periods of time, therefore making the withdrawal
period much longer. On the other hand, if the dose is too low it will not be enough to terminate the infection
within the animal’s body.
• In the United States it is estimated that at least 2.8 million people contract an antibiotic-resistant infection, and
more than 35,000 people die per year (3).
References
1. Antimicrobial resistance [Internet]. World Health Organization. World Health Organization; 2020 [cited 2021Apr19]. Available from:
https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/antimicrobial-resistance
2. Brady R, Suksiri S, Stella Tan S, Dodds J, Aine D. CURRENT HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS OF THE MAASAI PEOPLE IN SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA [Internet]. Digital Commons @Cal Poly . 2008. Available from:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1005&context=honors
3.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2020 [cited 2021Apr19]. Available from:
https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/index.html
4.Kimera ZI, Mdegela RH, Mhaiki CJN, Karimuribo ED, Mabiki F, Nonga HE, et al. Determination of oxytetracycline residues in cattle meat marketed in the
Kilosa district, Tanzania. Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 2015;82(1).
5.Maasai People, Kenya. [cited 2021Apr20]. Available from: http://maasai-association.org/maasai.html
6. Roulette CJ, Caudell MA, Roulette WW, Quinlan MB, Quinlan RJ, Call DR, et al. [Internet]. A two-month follow-up evaluation testing interventions to limit the
emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant bacteria among Maasai of northern Tanzania. BMC Infectious Disease; 2017 [cited 2021]. Available from:
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-017-2857-z
Proposed Solution
Proposed Solution
Culture and Social Structure
Basic elements of a culture assessment
Interacting elements influence unique
care expressions and practices
Culture care preservation,
accommodation, and repatterning
Leininger's Theory of Culture Care and universality guides
our proposed solution because it demonstrates care and
collaboration with the client while keeping the culture of the
Maasai community in mind. The Sunrise Model consists of 3
levels, each representing a part of the Sunrise. The rays of
the sun represent the basic elements of a culture
assessment. The core of the sun represents culture care
preservation – emphasizes the support of indigenous care
practices, culture care accommodations – involves the
synthesis of indigenous and professional care practices,
and culture care repatterning – the implementation of
professional care with respect for indigenous beliefs and
values (Nelson). Where the sun and its rays converge
represents the interacting elements that allow nurses to
incorporate our evidence-based practice in a culturally
sensitive approach to care.
Our innovative health program Saving the Maasai hopes to
provide culturally competent educational resources that allow
the community to learn both in a classroom setting and by
doing. The basis of our innovative health program addresses
this need for prevention of infection by educating on proper
hand hygiene as well safe food consumption. Some activities
that the program hopes to provide is educating our patients
on important hygiene practices, such as hand washing
whenever possible, to minimize the spread of germs and
bacteria that can become harmful to our health. Allowing the
client to work alongside you and to use educational
techniques such as teach back can help us to determine if we
are providing effective education. Diet is an important part of
health, which is why we feel it is important to teach about how
to properly wash and cook foods prior to consumption. Finally,
it is important to discuss effective use of antibiotic therapy. If
after taking the proper precautions, infection from an
organism occurs, it is important for the community to
understand how antimicrobial therapy should be used.
Learning Objectives for our Proposed Solution
• The Maasai community will demonstrate proper hand
hygiene
• The Maasai community will demonstrate effective
preparation and consumption of foods consistent with a
healthy lifestyle
• The Maasai community will verbalize understanding
of effective antimicrobial use
�
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Antoinette Nuara
Marissa Stavola
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Antimicrobial Resistance in the Maasai Community
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�
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Jacquelyn Ciccotto
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Anxiety and Depression Among Adults in the Lower East Side of Manhattan due to Covid-19
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Babies Born with Opioid Addiction in the North Shore of
Staten Island
Gentjana Poga WCSN, Suqi Tang WCSN, Gianna Caterina WCSN
Introduction
Proposed Solution
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Community Assessment and Analysis
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References
�
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Senior Presentations Archive
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This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
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2017 -
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
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2020-nursing-Poga Tang Caterina
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Poga, Gentjana<br />Tang, Suqi<br />Cateriana, Gianna
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5/1/2020
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Babies Born with Opioid Addiction in the North Shore of Staten Island
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Evelyn L. Spiro School of Nursing
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text
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eng
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Nursing
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/1909/archive/files/eb492678772fd87ac93bb02601a32d25.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=pklBT7E%7ELL40Bg3RuAmDKOxLFgnGeI9a-xhhz-bYpZZaD4UmfFwfDzEjPApKFiADzYDP4aikBKPirEnJ1z4FKB08cV3OsvzQmZIPtX%7EQt1tnO5hHfDlMePcJoQS%7EbINW6T2BsSCzvNEwbPcTKOm53uPwJeCYPxMbGR-5OECsAdUCset12pr4oNWsS5foaW%7EVxIhCggzWu1LC6Gn7dH873qaMn0bgJknZ5spF8K62JHIDf4yT7RO-MEYwjXmsE6of%7EC09mTaX%7ECORjPz0hdSUKSMJ6lMxPi0IZZdOLiIKm0L7Z%7Ey6mhbLNXAgH829Y5ZzOALGMybvqVyvpvgDvys9IA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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PDF Text
Text
Back to School:
Student Choices
during
Pandemic
By: Emil Matti
Major: Economics
�Introduction
●
Colleges faced a pandemic in 2020.
●
In Spring 2020, all U.S. colleges closed campuses and moved to remote learning.
●
As Universities moved to online teaching, they faced substantial losses in revenues.
●
To bring back students to campus, Universities had to grapple with the following:
○
Keep students socially distant in classrooms, dining halls, etc.
○
Find space for students to quarantine on campus.
○
Abide by the state laws regarding COVID related safety.
�Literature Review
●
Singhal (2020) identifies the origin of the virus in Wuhan, China, scientific makeup and timeline
of SARS-CoV-2. He suggests that the virus rapidly started to spread in January 2020.
●
Shah and Mekala (2020) show that patients who were put in isolation presented immediate stress
symptoms. The study also suggests that families felt more isolated because of the way the
general public tried to avoid them.
●
Bradley and Fox’s (2020) study conclude that to open universities safely, they must test
frequently to prioritize safety for families and students
�● A timeline shown (Ballotpedia, 2021) gave me an idea
of what states were restricted from New York where
some students resided in these restricted states.
�Variables
●
●
Dependent Variable:
○ Decision: whether a student decides to attend class in person or online in the fall semester of
2020.
Independent Variables:
○ Commuter: whether the student commutes to school or lives on campus.
○ Grade: what grade the student is in.
○ International Student: whether the student is an international student or not.
○ Hot Spot State: whether the student resides in a restricted state from New York or not (as of
August 10, 2020).
○ Off Campus Lease: whether the student has an off campus lease or not.
○ Online Classes on Schedule: how many classes were made online by their professor regardless of
their decision.
○ Student-Athlete: whether the student plays a sport on campus or not.
○ Significant Other: whether the student has a significant other that attends Wagner or not.
○ Preference on Learning: whether the student prefers to learn in a classroom setting or online.
○ Friends: whether friends were primary factor in coming back to campus or not.
�Data Collection
● Data collected through a google form
● Google form linked to Google sheet
● Survey sent out through student mailing list
�Overview of Sample
● 202 students responded to the survey.
● 137 students returned to in person
learning.
● 65 students stayed home and learned
remotely.
�Overview of Sample (Continued)
●
Students reside from 27 different states
in the sample.
●
42 students reside in a restricted state
based on New York’s law.
●
160 students do not reside in a
restricted state.
●
18 students are international students.
�Overview of Sample (Continued)
● 79.3% student-athletes decided
to return to campus.
● Only 59% of non
student-athletes decided to
return to campus.
�Results
●
Theoretical Equation:
○
decision = B0 + B₁commuter - B₂grade - B₃interational student - B₄hot spot state + B₅off campus lease - B₆online class on
schedule + B₇student athlete + B₈significant other + B₉major requirement + B₁₀preference on learning + B₁₁friends + e
●
Estimated Equation:
○
decision = 0.461 + 0.96commuter - 0.051grade - 0.011international student - 0.111hot spot state + 0.064off campus lease
0.056online class on schedule + 0.054student athlete + 0.035significant other + 0.055major requirement 0.001preference on learning + 0.340friends
●
Online class variable was negatively statistically significant.
●
Friends variable was positively statistically significant.
●
Model could explain more than 55% of variation in the student’s choice.
�Takeaways
●
Conditional on the instructor’s choice of mode of instruction, the probability of a
student returning to campus went down with an unit increase in availability of online
classes.
●
Friends present on campus increased the probability of choosing an in-person
instruction mode for the representative student.
�
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Title
A name given to the resource
Senior Presentations Archive
Description
An account of the resource
This archive contains materials from Wagner’s annual ‘Senior Presentations.’ This event honors outstanding students from each discipline who completed their Senior Learning Community project with excellence. The work is representative of Wagner’s highest standards, and is exemplary of the diversity of subject matter, public-facing scholarship, and civic-minded professionalism our students have attained through their four years here. These students were specially invited to present their work in a formal setting, traditionally the day of Baccalaureate. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format appropriate for their discipline, and so, the presentations vary in their format. Some might be in the form of a short video, or paper abstracts, while others might be posters or music clips. We expect this archive to serve as a resource for generations to come. Congratulations to our Seniors!
Date
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2017 -
Rights Holder
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Document
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Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Presentation
Date Digital
2021
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2021_Economics_Matti
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Emil Matti
Date
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5/1/2021
Title
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Back to School: Student Choices During Pandemic
Contributor
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Utteeyo Dasgupta
Culture and Economy
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text
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application/pdf
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11 slides
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eng
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U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this work. It is provided by Wagner College for scholarly or research purposes only. Commercial use or distribution is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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Wagner College, Staten Island, NY
Economics