Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Creative Writing
First Advisor
Lori Martin
Second Advisor
Chase Dearinger
Third Advisor
Linden Dalecki
Keywords
Fiction, Short stories, Florida, Women, Regionalism
Abstract
Particular to the three short stories in Eulogyis the importance of place, as they are set in the fictional location of Potter’s Island, which is based on my childhood sense of Florida.Contradictions, complications, and disappointments can be uniquely tied to a sense of place. My own parents and grandparents moved to Florida when I was three years old, but where they lived, how they lived and worked, and what dreams they pursued was only partially an immigrant’s story of wanting a better life.
The past has weight—a weight that must be dealt with, for real people, and for the characters in my stories. Charlie Dunham, a new retiree who has recently moved to Island Circle, finds out that the idea of starting over sometimes ends up in the reality of being rootless and unable to flourish, despite all the right conditions for regrowth. Clementine Asher, a fourth grader who buries the road kill she finds on her way home from school in a burned out Florida pine forest, has to meet her past head on when her missing father shows up after leaving his family desperate and struggling to survive. And Dodie, whose family is always on the run from trouble, has to find a way to balance family loyalty and the need for self-survival.
Recommended Citation
Allison, Kim T., "Eulogy" (2019). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 349.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/349
