Post your Final Project Proposals here!

The assignment for the Final Project Proposal says:

Posting your proposal to the course blog before the same deadline will earn you an extra free weekly blog post. (It will replace a missing post or will add extra points, if you’ve not missed a post.)

Please post your proposal here as a comment on this post (rather than as a bunch of independent posts, which would clutter up the blog home page…).

17 thoughts on “Post your Final Project Proposals here!

  1. The Morphing Mystic: Morgan le Fay’s Modern Rebirth

    Morgan le Fay, in Arthurian legend, is a cold and calculating sorceress who uses her magical abilities at attempts to thwart King Arthur. Or at least, that is what her image has taken the form of after hundreds of years in Arthurian romances. Beginning as a godly feminine figure, a fay (fairy), and a healer and later transitioning into a dark, devious sister to Arthur whose jealously leads to her often being the antagonist in many Arthurian texts in order to usurp his throne, her role changes drastically. Though she leaves a legacy of being an enchantress and many readers of Arthurian legends know of her, Morgan le Fay is a very elusive character. Research on her has not been bountiful in the last twenty years, and her character and roles in Arthurian texts and legends are often very diverse. She sometimes appears as beautiful, captivating, and helpful, such as in Geoffery of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini, and then as an old crone in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Her fading beauty also reflects her dying reputation of goodness and her transition into a darker figure within medieval texts. However, with the assistance of research by religious studies scholars, medievalists, and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, I seek to build upon Morgan’s character as a spiritual, feminine authority that is often in conflict with her magical abilities. Bradley takes Morgan le Fay’s character and turns her into a priestess who possesses supernatural qualities such as foresight, while also taking a feminist approach and incorporating the women who influence King Arthur. By using her narrative that uses Morgan as the main character and almost exclusively focuses on women, I can begin to use other sources to argue that Morgan does not deserve her bad reputation and that her “evil” qualities are a result of cultural fear and panic when women possess too much power.

  2. Working Title: “Nevertheless, she persisted”: Silencing of Women in Modern Society and in Medieval Literature

    In my paper I will examine the phenomena of silencing women as a misogynistic act by comparing the silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren, both during her time as Senator but specifically looking at her –ultimately unsuccessful — 2020 presidential campaign, to the silencing of women in medieval literature, specifically the silencing of the unnamed wife in “The Manciple’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer. This paper falls under topic three of the extended research analysis in which students are prompted to analyze a feature of contemporary culture — silencing of women — in relation to a feature of medieval culture we have encountered in medieval texts. By comparing a modern phenomena to a past one, I plan to highlight the similarities of misogynism that take place in society, as represented in real life and literature, to argue that the silencing of women has not been eradicated over time.
    The main argument in this paper will consist of doing the following: demonstrating how silencing of women is an act of misogyny, as discussed by Kate Manne in her book Down Girl and arguing that silencing can take place in multiple forms — as evidenced by Susan Chira, Kate Manne, and David Raybin in relation to the way both Elizabeth Warren and the unnamed wife in “The Manciple’s Tale” were characterized and treated. Body paragraphs will include a close read and analysis of “The Manciple’s Tale” as well as a close read and analysis of news articles written about Elizabeth Warren that document her time on the campaign trail and analyze her unsuccessful run for President.
    In writing this paper I do not aim to denigrate the progress that has been made regarding gender biases. Rather, by demonstrating similarities between the past and present I hope to reveal that we have not progressed as far as we may think we have, especially in relation to medieval times which carries a negative connotation of being a time of barbarism and savagery. Ultimately, I argue that the continuous silencing of women demonstrates how misogyny is still very prevalent today and that readers should critically analyze the society we live in today.

  3. Morgan le Fay and the Fight for Recognition
    For this final project, I would like to write a literary analysis essay on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Specifically, I plan to analyze the character of Morgan le Fay. The essay would closely examine the role she plays in the poem and analyze the importance she carries in it. By looking at the instances when Morgan arrives in the poem and how other characters describe her, I can get a sense of how she is revered and determine the weight she carries in the story. I will explore the tests she sets up for Gawain and the game she coordinated for the Green Knight to propose at Camelot to ascertain whether or not she was successful in her trials. To help guide and support my own analysis, I will utilize scholarly essays and articles that similarly examine Morgan le Fay’s role in the poem and her attempts and success in her tests.
    What I want to accomplish through this project is the recognition that Morgan le Fay does play a large and important role in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight despite not having any lines of her own and only being talked about by other characters. I would like to argue that while this could be seen as a way of silencing a powerful female character, the story would not exist without her. From what I have read in some articles, Morgan has been regarded as unimportant and inorganic to the tale and I would like to show through analysis and support from other articles and essays that she is, in fact, important to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
    Examining articles that have looked at similar aspects of Morgan’s character and role in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight will help me to frame the issue of recognition she gets. Albert Friedman’s article, which discusses Morgan’s orchestration of tests and events in the poem, can be used to show the lack of recognition Morgan receives. In it, Friedman writes that the poet “fails to convince us Morgan is organic to the poem” (274). Another writer, G.L. Kittredge (whom I didn’t include in my annotated bibliography but will cite in my essay), said in his book A Study of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ that Morgan is “the one weak spot in the superb English romance” (136). To argue against these claims, I will implement my own interpretation of the text and use the support of articles like those by Denver Ewing Baughan and C. M. Adderley who write that in all of English literature, “it would be hard to find a character so obviously the moving cause of the entire plot” yet so misunderstood as Morgan le Fay (Baughan 241).

  4. The Supernatural Saint: Religion, Sex, and Hierarchy in The Life of Christina of Markyate

    Over the course of the semester, we have examined many texts that showcase female characters with supernatural abilities. From Morgan Le Fay’s magical abilities in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to the Fairy Lady’s otherworldly beauty in Marie de France’s Lanval, medieval women are endowed with remarkable gifts that give them a control over not only themselves, but of those around them. In my final essay for Medieval Feminism, I will be doing a literary analysis of The Life of Christina of Markyate and discussing how the supernatural visions that Christina experiences throughout the text influence the agency and control she has over, not only herself and her relationship with religion, but the resulting power from these visions and its influence over her sexuality and position within the medieval caste system.
    Through an analysis of the visions and spiritual experiences Christina has throughout her narrative, my overall goal with this project is to see how this religious power she gains provides Christina with an agency over herself and the world around her. Too many times, male characters are bestowed with supernatural gifts (i.e. Cúchulainn and his feats of strength) and, as a result, have this power and control. By taking a closer look at the magical visions Christina has, it can also shine a light on the power bestowed upon women in medieval texts too.
    I will be providing a socio/cultural context for medieval women of the time and through my research, I will examine how religious institutions responded to otherworldly experiences like the visions Christina has (Carter). Additionally, like Karen Dodson discusses in her article, “The Price of Virtue for the Medieval Woman: Chastity and the Crucible of the Virgin,” one of my critical issues that I will be tackling is how Christina’s adherence towards a life of chastity should not be degraded, but rather exalted.

  5. The Meaning of Medieval Marriage

    The topic of my final project pertains is marriage culture during the Medieval Ages pertaining to the inequality of rights between men and women within those marriages. The overall argument of my final project is that women during the Middle Ages were often victims of inequality in marriages that often led to rap e, abuse, and distress. This is not a comparison of marriage culture during the Medieval Ages compared to marriage culture in modern times, but more of an examination of what marriage culture looked like for women at the time and the challenges they faced with extremely limited voice or power. My purpose for this project is to identify the leading factors that made married life extremely restricting and often victimizing for many women to prove that marriage was basically the signing over of all individual rights to the husband. The essay will highlight the significance of the involvement of marriage laws with the Church and how that intersectionality under canon law presented obstacles for married women in terms of their options to escape abusive or unfit marriages that women were often coerced into and then tied down to. One of the main secondary sources that I anticipate to reference to often is “I Will Never Consent to Be Wedded with You!” Coerced Marriage in the Courts of Medieval England by Sara M. Butler, which contains the stories of three married women during the Medieval Ages and the abuse they were all victims from their husbands. The article focuses on the legal binds of marriage and the fine line between influence and force, which are major overarching themes relevant to the focus of my project. My aim is to successfully convince the reader, based on the argument that I made and the evidence I presented, that it is clear that married women in the Medieval Era were unfairly treated and the role as wife was objectified in the eyes of society, the Church, families, men, and government.

  6. How Queer: The Demonization of Homosexuality in King Arthur’s Lore, and How It Relates to Queercoding Today

    For this paper, I have chosen to pursue the third topic; to analyze a feature of contemporary culture in relation to a feature of medieval culture found in texts discussed this semester. The feature I have decided to focus on is the portrayal of homosexuality in medieval texts, and more specifically, the coexistence of its presence and demonization. I will show how the attitudes towards homosexuality in medieval texts correlates to the treatment of queer characters in modern media through a process called “queercoding”; queercoding is defined as characterizing villains with stereotypically gay traits, leading to an association between gay people and villainous traits. I will primarily be focusing on the lore of King Arthur within this paper, however, I intend to incorporate other sources as well, specifically for the contemporary examples.
    My purpose in this paper is to show that we are not immune to the attitudes of the past; furthermore, that the views of the past are not so distant or primitive compared to our own. For example, religion was a large force behind the demonization of homosexuality during the middle ages, and these arguments are still present today. I also hope to show that just because homosexuality was disencouraged, that does not mean it was not present. There is surely still homophobia present today, but that does not mean gay people do not have large, thriving communities. In fact, I want to highlight the strange disjunct that is behavior bordering on the homosexual within many Arthurian tales, however because it is never explicitly spoken as such the characters are not villified. This will carry into the topic of queercoding as I address how it is the villains that are allowed flamboyant, explicitly gay mannerisms; the heroes must maintain a thin veneer of heterosexuality.
    I will be working primarily from Koeun Kim’s essay on queer-coded villains and Joseph Brennan’s article on a queer reading of the villain Mordred in BBC’s Merlin for my arguments concerning the queer-coding of villains in contemporary culture, and how it can tie into Arthurian legend. The blog entry by Tyler Tichellar also provides excellent insight into the homophobia interwoven into how people perceive Arthurian legends in the modern day, as well as Donald Hoffman’s article “Queer As Folk”. Carolyn Dinshaw’s book “Getting Medieval” provides a much more general discussion of sexuality in medieval texts, which will be very helpful for providing a background to my argument. Looking at what I have so far, I believe I will be focusing the medieval aspect of my argument entirely on texts involving King Arthur, as that is what the majority of my sources address. For the contemporary aspect, I will have to consider if it is better to narrow down my argument to modern remakes of Arthurian tales, or if I should expand into a larger variety of examples.

  7. Medieval Sexual and Domestic Violence Through the Lens of Gender
    In this analysis, I intend to discuss literary and real world examples of sexual and domestic violence during the middle ages. Through this discussion, I will demonstrate how the law and the general outlook of society tend to side with men in these crimes. This portion of the argument will primarily revolve around the academic outside sources that I found. After I detail these sources, I will set them in dialogue with the works we read in class that involve any form of domestic and/or sexual violence (including The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale, Bisclavret, Laustic, etc.) The purpose of this project is to reveal the acceptance of domestic violence at the hands of men against women and to highlight the many ways that medieval men escaped punishment for extreme cases of domestic violence and sexual violence. In the discussion of domestic violence, I will primarily use the source “The Acceptability of Marital Violence: Six Case Studies.” Through these examples (and the discussion surrounding them) I will highlight the fact that women had to prove more than just the abuse–they had to prove that their husbands’ morals have been skewed. I will also discuss the portion of this source that explains how a woman must not have provoked her husband in any way. I will connect this primarily to The Wife of Bath’s Prologue as the wife faces domestic abuse but fights back, all the while being portrayed as sexually and emotionally manipulative. For sexual abuse, I intend to shift my focus to the law in the source “The Rhetoric of R*pe and Politics of Gender in the Wife of Bath’s Tale and the 1382 Statute of R*pes.” I hope to focus the most of some of the language of the laws to demonstrate society’s view of women as stolen property of the family in cases of a sexual assault. I will emphasize the language of the laws that focuses on what constitutes a r*pe (suggesting that it must be forceful, there must be signs of bodily harm, etc.) I will compare these laws to the descriptions in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, demonstrating subtle indicators that the narrator does not fully believe/side with the woman. Overall, these sources (and literary examples that demonstrate connections to these sources) will help prove a tendency to excuse and side with men in cases of domestic violence and sexual assault.

  8. Questioning Nature: Gender and Class in Le Roman de Silence
    Le Roman de Silence is a medieval, Old French romance from the thirteenth century. Despite its age and old language, the poem has proved to be just as relevant, if not more so, than it must have been roughly eight centuries ago. The material in its story raises questions revolving around gender identity, gender performity, gender roles, and class through its cherished protagonist, Silence. For the sake of my essay I will be using the gender neutral pronoun, they, when referring to Silence. Primarily, I plan to comment on the misconceptions we, as modern readers and thinkers, may have about the people of the Middle Ages and the way they thought about topics such as gender and class. After that disclaimer of sorts, I will analyze Le Roman de Silence in depth, focusing solely on the subjects of gender (identity, performance, and roles) and class as well as how these topics intertwine within the story. Silence is a unique character in medieval literature given that they traverse both through genders and classes. The struggles that arise from Silence’s performing as male and later performing as female are coupled with Silence’s decision to be a minstrel despite their noble birth and upbringing. The story seems to defy what was previously thought of as natural, particularly gender and class, and the ending complicates the story’s meaning even further. I’ll make use of work from scholars who have analyzed Le Roman de Silence through feminist, queer, and class theories. From this analysis, I hope to thoroughly address some questions that arise from Silence’s unconventional medieval life in an effort to ameliorate a few stereotypes about people of the Middle Ages as well as investigate gender and class both within the story and the story’s own suggestions about these topics.

  9. Sex and the Body: A Tool for Empowerment or Belittlement?
    Throughout the semester, many of the works we read in class incorporated women using their bodies and sexuality as a form of empowerment. My purpose is to show how that power impacts not only the women in the stories but the readers. I chose this subject because when we first discussed women using sex to their advantage, I viewed it as misogynistic. It seemed like a plot line that men would use because it seemed as though the message intended was that they can only obtain power through beauty and their bodies. However, after discussing it in class I started to think I was the sexist one. If women want to use sex to accomplish their goals, then more power to them. By walking through my own thought process, I think I can best convey how the use of sex is not ludicrous but rather a powerful move for a woman with goals to accomplish or even just for enjoyment. Many of the sources I reviewed on this topic seemed to feel the same way that I originally did and even view the use of sex as an overused trope. D. W. Robertson’s critique entitled “The Concept of Courtly Love as an Impediment to the Understanding of Medieval Texts” is particularly harsh. The concept of courtly love plays a heavy role in the use of the body and is a popular perspective for modern scholars to take when analyzing these medieval texts. Robertson describes courtly love as though it is a false idea and “not only impractical but downright inconvenient” (Robertson). My focus will be in proving that sex is a valid method of completing goals and how different views, such as religion, affect that perspective.

  10. Working Title: Sexuality and Gender Transformation of Silence
    In my paper, I will be discussing gender transformation and Silence’s struggle to determine her own gender identity throughout the story of Le Roman De Silence. I will also analyze the text’s nonheteronormative moments that not only serve to destabilize sex-gender categories but also to point to a more general concern about the coherence of groups of race and class. I intend to compare the internal difficulties and experiences that Silence faces with intersex, transgender, and others’.
    My purpose within the project is to reveal the significance of Silence’s character and her controversial, yet powerful, influence on sex and gender throughout the story during the middle ages. I want to expose the misogyny and patriarchal flaws within the time period from the story and compare it to modern-day society. We must recognize the improvements we’ve made since the middle ages up until now, but also the equality we so desperately are still trying to achieve.
    The issues I fear of facing are that I don’t possess enough useful information from all of my sources. My second and third sources, which are both journal articles, will be the primary sources that I use to create my paper. The other sources in my annotated bibliography may not be as beneficial, so I’m hoping that my two main sources will provide me enough information. In past assignments, I’ve struggled with having in-text references to back up my points, so I’m hoping that I will be able to have more examples within this project easily.

  11. My project will be entitled “Gender Conformity and Expectations: From Medieval Times to Now.” This title accurately represents what I wish to pursue within my paper, and lends itself to some forms of self reflection. In this essay I will be discussing the expectations set upon Silence, from “Le Roman de Silence,” depending on their outward appearance, and discussing how our society still adheres to these gender stereotypes. I will also be offering within this essay a clear depiction of the damage caused by gender expectations. This will be through a modern classification of medieval acts. For example, I will be discussing the topic of toxic masculinity in the medieval period and how it is apparent in modern times. I will also be addressing concepts such as “tomboy” and “metrosexual” in regards to “Le Roman de Silence,” and how these words have sprouted from gender expectations that predate their existence. The overall goal for this essay is to discuss how gender expectations and conformity in times predating the current have set the course for modern gender. I will also be discussing the benefits of blurring the lines of gender in regards to Silence and current individuals.
    My purpose for this project is to discuss something I am incredibly passionate about in a way that inspires others to move through their life with these new thoughts. In my annotated bibliography there is a chapter about a non-binary individual, and I plan to use their perspective to help push my essay in regards to the benifits of blurring the lines of gender. I also plan to use their chapter to help discuss the detriment that gender expectations are causing, and how they are applicable to “Le Roman de Silence.” Overall, this paper will be an intriguing insight to the lines in gender that society has created, and the detriment that they have and are continuing to cause.

  12. That’s What She Said: An Analysis of Courtly Love Tropes in The Office

    Over the course of this paper, I plan to be analyzing the manifestation of courtly love tropes in the hit sitcom, The Office, focusing primarily on the relationship between Jim and Pam, but touching on other characters and relationships that may prove relevant to the argument. My purpose in this essay is to discover how cultural attitudes have changed as well as illuminate what archetypes we have held onto societally. I plan to do this by fleshing out the similarities and differences between a traditional courtly love story and Jim and Pam’s relationship in The Office. I will be using transcripts from The Office Ladies podcast to strengthen my understanding and analysis of the show itself. I have many sources concerning the defining qualities of courtly love to draw from. I plan to focus on the characteristics of courtly love such as an illicit relationship, the exchange of love tokens, chivalric deeds to impress the lady, and so on, illuminating how these appear in The Office in Pam’s engagement, Jim’s teapot gift, and Jim’s pranks on Dwight. I would like to draw upon the lais of Marie de France as examples of courtly love stories for my comparative analysis, however I am worried that not diversifying my examples will weaken my argument. This will be certainly be something to consider as I’m going forward. Another thought is the idea of other characters, like Phyllis and Meredith, falling into categories like domestic and transgressive as described in Root’s essay. I am also not sure if I will need to look at the other relationships in the show, for instance, Dwight and Angela, to solidify or strengthen my analysis.

  13. Working title: Medieval and Modern aspect of both marriage and virginity
    My paper will be relating an aspect of contemporary culture with that of medieval culture through my secondary sources and literature we’ve read in class. I decided the aspect I will be focusing on is virginity and marriage; how the two go hand in hand and affect each other in both Medieval times and modern. The purpose of this paper will be to show relations between medieval and modern culture, and maybe point out that in many ways we haven’t progressed as much as we like to say, and the things we think are ridiculous about the ideals of marriage and virginity in medieval culture are actually present in our modern culture. I found a secondary source that focuses on the legal and religious aspects of marriage in Medieval times and I am very interested to compare that to modern Christian ideas of marriage and virginity as well as the laws around marriage at this time. I think in terms of considering women’s roles and their lives in the Medieval period it is important to think about marriage and virginity. Women’s rights were once really based in marriage and their rights over their body often lied in their religion and whether they wanted to live a life of celibacy or get married. I think it’s important to shed light on the rights that marriage gave women even if it’s nothing compared to the rights women have now. Highlighting the similarities and differences of our opinions on marriage and virginity for women will show just how women are and were treated and how important their relationships with men are considered in their religion and social life.

  14. For my paper, I intend to investigate knighthood and courtly love. I intend to consider these concepts from both a historical and romanticized perspective. I will center my investigation around analyzing the texts we have read throughout our course. Many of the texts we have studied included knights and romances. I really enjoyed the fictionalized aspects of these stories, so I became curious about the truth behind the romance. I would like to know how much of the stories were embellished and how much of them would have been realistic.
    My first step will be to define some key terms such as “chivalry” and “courtly love.” Once I have done so, I will clarify that I am comparing a historically accurate perspective to the romanticized stories we have read this semester. I will dive into Sir Gawain and the lais by Marie de France to analyze each of the knights’ interactions with courtly love. I will assess if their behaviors were realistic and if their romanticized motivations would have been accurate. A book about courtly love by William Reddy suggests that knights’ great accomplishments were motivated by their romantic interactions. Therefore, we must question if the knights were more motivated by their lovers or by their career. I plan to conclude with a discussion of the greater implications of courtly love. The sexist values embedded in chivalry are still present and valued modernly, and I plan to investigate how they contribute to modern misogynistic perspectives. I am slightly concerned about finding the necessary resources for this part of the paper, but I feel that a contemporary conclusion would complete my investigation most effectively. Therefore, as I discuss some of the stories we have read throughout my paper, I will highlight the misogynistic behaviors that are rooted in chivalry and courtly love.
    I really don’t know what to do for a title. Suggestions would be awesome. “A Knight of Love” is my go-to, but I’m afraid that may be too ridiculous. “Courtly Love and Knighthood” is a safer but more boring bet. “Love, Ambition, and Misogyny” is another idea, but none of them sit just right. Thank you for your feedback, Dr. Seaman!

  15. I am planning on taking an in depth look at Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and analzying the story through a queer lense. The relationship between Sir Gawain and Bertilak extends far beyond a plantonic heterosexual friendship. I plan on beginning my paper by contextualizing the story. I am first going to establish what the climate was like for the queer community during Medeival times, not only socially but also the repersentation or lack of repersentation within medieval literature. For this portion of the paper I plan on utilizing Boyd and his article in order to create a strong introduction. Once this is established, I will briefly discuss the importance of religion and Christianity during this time. This is important for contextualizing the story as well, due to how prominent religion is throughout the entirety of this epic, and how explicit Christianisy is with gender roles and norms. There are also some interesting biblical parallels that Cox talks a lot about in her article, that could possibly benefit the introduction as well. Once I have finished this I will then move on and begin my overall argument. The scenes that I am going to be focusing heavily on are the bedroom scenes, and the exchange of gifts. The language and the manner in which these scenes are described is also going to be essential to my overall argument for the homosexual desire that persists throughout the story. For the argument section I am going to be using an array of sources, and the majority of the sources that I have been able to find deal with the scenes that I am planning on discussing in particular.
    The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on the queer aspects that are cascaded throughout the epic of Sir Gawain. I also am intersted in diving deeper into what the queer community was like during this time period. This is a topic that I have always found intriguing, but have never had the chance to fully research prior. Bringing forth what the climate was like for people of the community will add not only relevance to the argument, but could potentially add some clarity as to why it was that Sir Gawain is written the way that it is. There are some aspects to this paper that I still need to tweak a little bit, and I would like to conduct further research on this topic in order to make sure that my argument is not only solid, but accurate. I am struggling with the overall organization of my research, but hopefully once I begin the paper the information will start to flow naturally into order.

  16. Marriage as a construct of society is one of the oldest constants in the structure of human interaction. However, marriage was not the same construct as it is seen in todays society. While modern marriage, at least in the western sense, is viewed as something people do when they are in love and is viewed as a form of agency something individuals chose to do on their own. In the medieval era, especially marriage was an expected aspect of life unless going into monastic life. Not only was marriage an expectation but it was a sense of survival, it was not the act of love but rather people making decisions for the economic and social standings that they would fit. The people making the decisions for them were very rarely the bride. It is one of the reasons why the research of consent within medieval marriage has begun. With more later medieval records that still survive, rare cases of women objecting their marriages because of the lack of consent arise. With the discussion of medieval feminism, if there is one thing that must fall into that category it would be the concept of women fighting for their own agency in marriages they did not consent to in court. Consent is something that is displayed constantly in depictions of medieval life, with marriage however it is not as talked about as freely. Trying to look into the details of what makes a medieval marriage one that has not been properly consented in the eyes of the court of the time, how that relates to medieval feminism. With the situational aspects of it and what is still available, it could lead to a very interesting analysis based of the countless cases of lack of consent we’ve seen in the semester.

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