Samantha Sudbrock

Art assistant for Professors and security personnel for Art Department

Tutor for German studies

The story Monarch of the Glen, by Neil Gaiman, featured in his book 'Fragile Things' is a short fictional story that intertwines the modern world with the legends of Norse and Greek gods. As a work, it integrates mystery, myth, magic, action, and romance, making it a perfect story to convert to film. One of the more touching scenes is towards the end when Jennie, a barmaid and hulder, says her final goodbye to Shadow. The scene demonstrates an impossible love between the two characters. However, it also alludes to an uncertain, possibly hopeful future for both of their lives. The goal of the paper is to propose and describe how one could film the above mentioned scene.

Throughout the past century, our world has become more connected than ever before. The amount of international conversion and multicultural integration in many nations has skyrocketed. In the United States alone, 21% of school-age children (between ages 5-17) speak a language other than English at home. As a result, the ability to speak two languages or more has become a desirable skill in employees. Due to the the belief that children of bilingual households have an almost unfair advantage over monolingual children, many parents consider a bilingual upbringing. As many know, children, who grow up learning to speak two or more languages, build a different set of neural connections compared to a monolingual. In the eyes of many parents, this is often interpreted as a positive trait. However, how does learning two languages simultaneously actually affect the normal development process of a child? Does a bilingual upbringing always result in an advantage over monolingual children? Or are there disadvantages that are being overlooked? If there are disadvantages to growing up bilingual, are they life long, or only for a specific period? These questions are the inspiration for my research paper into the comparison of the development, advantages, and disadvantages of a bilingual versus a monolingual development for a child.