Agora
Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal
Volume 15:2 (2024)
Student Writer Awards

Agora
Red Deer Polytechnic
Undergraduate Journal

Volume 15:2
Student Writer Awards 2024

Agora: Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal
Volume 15:2 2024 Student Writer Awards

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Jessica Legacy
Editors (Student):
Laurel Bach-Knapp
Irina Sheridan
Editors (Faculty):
Megan Bylsma
Michelle Goulet
Janelle Grue
Cover Art: Edmar Antonio Velasco Reyes, “Self Portrait in Legoland”
Editor’s Note: Although the Agora editorial staff makes every effort to maintain a consistent house style, we
have also decided to allow discipline-specific styles, especially concerning references and notations, to remain
unchanged.
We thank the CAT Fund, the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the School of Arts and
Education, and the Red Deer Polytechnic Foundation for their support in the publication of this journal.

Table of Contents
Analytic Essay Years 1 and 2
Sam Shortt, Araby and The Male Gaze .............................................................................. 1
Anna Krieger, Grounded Normativity and Living with Meaning: A Comparison of Ducks
and Moon of the Crusted Snow ....................................................................................................... 6
Jesse Willie, Lords of Nothing: How Hell or High Water Redefines the Western ........... 11
Analytic Essay Years 3 and 4
Brandon Holden, Veiled Sin: Unraveling Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” ...... 16
Terry Anderton, You Only Own Yourself If You Can Sell Yourself: Wage Labour, Agency,
and Self-Denial in Severance ........................................................................................................ 21
Brandon Holden, “The Outsiders” Annotated Edition ..................................................... 27
Research Essay Years 1 and 2
Destiny Jackson, Ukiyo-e Inspiring It All......................................................................... 35
Saija Clement, On Solid Ground: How cultural narratives and women’s roles in
Haudenosaunee governance allowed for political stability following the 1687 abduction by the
French ........................................................................................................................................... 42
Danica Madsen, How Astrology Survived the Rise of Christianity: A Brief Literature
Review .......................................................................................................................................... 52
Research Essay Years 3 and 4
Caillee Di Lella, Mothers of the Race: The Glorification of Motherhood, Racial Purity
and Compulsory Sterilisation Under the Third Reich................................................................... 61
Jordyn Hansen, From Kandiaronk to the French Revolution: An Intellectual History of
the Indigenous Critique of Europe. ............................................................................................... 74
Brett Theise, A Look at Feminist Media Theory in Film .................................................. 82

Creative Writing Years 1 and 2
Blake Feser, Dear Dirty Burbs: A Series of Unfinished Letters You May Never Know
About but Have Anyway............................................................................................................... 89
Samara Ridderhof, Dwelling ............................................................................................ 93
Kaitlin White, Motherhood and Violence ....................................................................... 100
Creative Writing Years 3 and 4
Skarlette Bittorf, Nuts, Bolts, and Trash ......................................................................... 139
Mandy McKee, Elegies – A Triad ................................................................................... 159
David Gordon, Death Smiled at Me ............................................................................... 164