Last weekend, I attended the second annual honors research retreat and had the opportunity to listen to the seniors’ research projects and glean ideas for my own future project.  The presentations that resonated with me the most were Elisa Klaassen’s presentation on the connections between Tolkien and Beowulf and Marlena Kalafut’s presentation on dystopian fiction.

Elisa discussed several connections between the classic tale of Beowulf and J.R.R. Tolkien’s renowned Lord of the Rings trilogy.  As an English major, I was wondering what I would be able to that kind of research for my honors project, and I’m glad to have witnessed such a good presentation.  Elisa did a phenomenal job explaining how and why Beowulf served as an inspiration to Tolkien, and I enjoyed her direct comparisons of Tolkien’s characters, themes, motifs, objects and scenes to those in Beowulf.  Sadly, she did not have enough time to divulge all of her points, but she did get to explain the similarities between Gollum and Grendal.  After the presentation, I found myself eager to dive back into Tolkien’s world again with fresh eyes.  I have never done such a large-scale literary analysis, and as a Lord of the Rings fan, I will avidly wait to read her final product.

The other presentation I enjoyed the most was Marlena’s in which she summarized quite a few well-known dystopian novels and how they reflect the legitimate fears of mankind.  I love how she started with The Republic.  Ever since it was a part of our list of honors assigned readings, I now feel a special connection to Plato.  Kidding.  Marlena did a wonderful job making connections between several books: The Republic, Utopia, New Atlantis, Brave New World, Modern Utopia, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, A Handmaid’s Tale, The Giver, and (of course) The Hunger Games.  I noticed as well how the initial fears of loss of individuality and free thought, governmental control, and loss of knowledge presented in the first dystopian novels in response to utopian novels carry on in today’s society.  Of course, the ideas are not entirely the same but become more nuanced as time goes on.  For example, there is a new level of the fear of losing individuality and humanity because of the advancements in A.I. technology.  Dystopian fears not only persist in books but also in other media.  While Marlena revealed to her audience the similarities between the novels, I was making similarities in all kinds of storytelling mediums: movies like The Matrix and Equilibrium and video games like We Happy Few and Detroit Become Human.  I love dystopian fiction just as much as Marlena seemed to, and by the end of the presentation I felt inspired to read and re-read the books she touched on.

The way the retreat went was more than satisfactory.  I learned a lot about what a successful honors research project looks like, and I am eager for February to roll around so I may read the final products.  I liked the panel discussion at the end of the day as it gave me insight as to how I might go about starting and conducting the research project and what pitfalls to avoid.  Although I still don’t feel like I am anywhere near ready to decide on my topic (even generally), I feel more confident that I am able to do this huge project.