Many students in the J.N. Andrews Honors Program have worked on their senior Honors Thesis projects this year. For her thesis project, Madison Vath (senior, English) chose to analyze Greta Gerwig's 2019 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”
“I'm focusing on how she takes passages from the original novel, published in 1868,” Vath said, “and expands, or reveals them, to prove the point that in order for a woman to thrive in a patriarchal society, she must have a) a strong foundation and b) community and connection with other women around her.”
For their thesis projects, students are required to write a formal research proposal and defend it before the J.N. Andrews Honors Council, which is formed by professors from a range of disciplines at Andrews University. This project must be completed by the end of a J.N. Andrews Honors Scholar’s senior year, during which they present their research at the Honors Scholars & Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium and later at the Honors Thesis Symposium.
Vath said the reason she chose her topic was complicated.
“Throughout all my literature classes, I've really enjoyed learning about the female authorship experience, especially for writers in the 19th century,” she said. “There's a lot of theory on early female authors, and I've taken that theory and applied it to Jo March, the protagonist in Gerwig's film, as she goes on her own journey as a woman attempting to be a successful writer.”
Throughout her writing process, Vath has learned much.
“I've learned that I love analyzing literary texts and drawing my own conclusions as to what they mean and what hidden messages they might have,” she said.
In her future career, she wants to find ways she can “continue to write and analyze in library sciences.”
Vath really enjoys “how much [she’s] learning about [her] own writing process, specifically what works and what doesn't.” Kristin Denslow, Vath’s mentor and an associate professor of English, has been a great help to her, giving her “a lot of useful tools to incorporate into future writing projects.”
Along with the positives of Vath’s thesis came a number of challenges. Other than time constraints, the most difficult part of the process was beginning to write a specific section of the thesis. Vath knows “quite a bit about female authorship,” but “when it came to writing that particular section [she] didn't know where to start.” In these instances, Vath relied greatly on her mentor. She would ask Denslow, "Hey, hi, can we outline this, please?" After she asked her mentor for help, she “doubled down over President's Day weekend and emerged with fifteen full pages!”
When it comes to writing a thesis, Vath gave this advice: “Start small. I've been working on this for a little over a year now, and the first time I sat down to begin the research process was during one of my days off while working at summer camp. I literally looked up interviews with Gerwig to see what insight she brought to a classic American novel. So start small, and don't be afraid to ask questions!”
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