Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2002

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Michael Knight

Committee Members

Allen Wier, Charles Maland

Abstract

The underlying idea I had for this thesis in the beginning was to capture a time period that represents the end of all that is known and understood for the protagonist. I wanted to create a written snapshot of flux, where nothing is calm, nothing is certain, and above all, nothing is predictable for the protagonist; everything is new and in a constant cycle of change. For this narrative time scheme, I chose the end of the protagonist's last summer at home and the beginning of his college career. I introduce the reader to the protagonist during his final two days at home before he leaves for school. For these two days, I make the reader a witness to the end of something that the protagonist was once a part of through the eyes and narrative voice of the protagonist himself. This ending represents the loss of stability with the people around him, the loss of belonging, the loss of trust (with others and himself), the loss of friendship, and thus his disintegration from these elements. The remaining chapters focus on the narrator's first week of college. Here, the narrator is uprooted from what represents home and is forced to contend with his inability to integrate with the people around him, namely his roommate and women. It is not until the end of the novella that the cycle of disintegration is broken and the narrator is able to begin the healing process that comes from connecting.

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