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The Sum of My Undergraduate Degree

Call it being Type "A", being anal retentive, intelligent, stupid, crazy, on-crack, but I saved every single paper from my undergraduate degree (at least most of them.)

Most people write their papers, wipe their brows with tear-soaked tissues, and say "thank fuck that's done so I can never think about THAT again," before moving onto the next paper.

To me, I thought that was a waste. If I'm going to spend five years of my life writing papers, researching, and learning how to think deeply and critically, how can you measure your actual progress without keeping that record? So. I kept it. And it is very obvious how much I grew even year to year, never mind how much I grew from year one to year five.

Preserved entirely, I present, ALL of my papers that have survived (alas, when my mac died on me, I didn't have every single one backed up, so you can see the gaps in the earlier years). I have published them so it actually adheres to the dates they were submitted, and from most recent to least recent.

The growth is astonishing.

All the essays are available for free below, but a bound edition will soon be available, and the funds from the sales of this book will be 100% going to my student debt.

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Juvenilia: University-Era Essays

Comus as a Literary Character

Comus as a Literary Character

Amanda Rautio

I have always been particularly interested in Greek mythology, but I have never encountered the name Comus before. Comus is an integral part to the story as he serves several roles: not...

Comus as a Literary Character

Amanda Rautio

I have always been particularly interested in Greek mythology, but I have never encountered the name Comus before. Comus is an integral part to the story as he serves several roles: not...

The End of the Affair - A Novel Study

The End of the Affair - A Novel Study

Amanda Rautio

Maurice Bendrix, the protagonist of The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, is a man who is ruled by his emotions. Bendrix wields his pain as a weapon and...

The End of the Affair - A Novel Study

Amanda Rautio

Maurice Bendrix, the protagonist of The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, is a man who is ruled by his emotions. Bendrix wields his pain as a weapon and...

Marriage Compared: Hills Like White Elephants and the Yellow Wallpaper

Marriage Compared: Hills Like White Elephants a...

Amanda Rautio

In "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the role of men is cast as a vastly superior role to that of women, and relationships are truly displayed as a...

Marriage Compared: Hills Like White Elephants a...

Amanda Rautio

In "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the role of men is cast as a vastly superior role to that of women, and relationships are truly displayed as a...

The Turning of the Screw - A Novel Study

The Turning of the Screw - A Novel Study

Amanda Rautio

In "The Turning of the Screw" by Henry James, the role of Miss Jessel, while not seemingly significant, is actually quintessential to the entire plot in conjunction with Peter Quint....

The Turning of the Screw - A Novel Study

Amanda Rautio

In "The Turning of the Screw" by Henry James, the role of Miss Jessel, while not seemingly significant, is actually quintessential to the entire plot in conjunction with Peter Quint....

The Seven Deadly Sins in Medieval Epics

The Seven Deadly Sins in Medieval Epics

Amanda Rautio

The artistic purpose of the evil creatures is to show three things: the first is to juxtapose the good from the evil, and the second is to show how to be a...

The Seven Deadly Sins in Medieval Epics

Amanda Rautio

The artistic purpose of the evil creatures is to show three things: the first is to juxtapose the good from the evil, and the second is to show how to be a...

An Inquiry into the Self and Other in Beowulf

An Inquiry into the Self and Other in Beowulf

Amanda Rautio

In the epic, Beowulf, the purpose of the other is to reinforce the sense of self for the Geats and the Danes. Through the defeat of the other, or the different, by...

An Inquiry into the Self and Other in Beowulf

Amanda Rautio

In the epic, Beowulf, the purpose of the other is to reinforce the sense of self for the Geats and the Danes. Through the defeat of the other, or the different, by...