Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis (Master's)

Department or Program

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Alan Lelchuk

Second Advisor

Anna Minardi

Third Advisor

Harriette Yahr

Abstract

Writing is reflective. The following piece of writing is a reflection on the knowledge I have acquired and the discussions I have participated in throughout my time at Dartmouth College, with a close eye on character. It is also a reflection on my life as a young adult and my life leading up to adulthood. It is an extremely personal piece that I have struggled with immensely since putting pen to paper, though above all, it is a work of fiction.

My hope for this piece was to create a work that was honest and relatable, specifically to my peers. From February of 2023 to April, I conducted a series of interviews with individuals in their early to mid-twenties who were living or had lived in Denver, Colorado. I asked each of them a long series of questions ranging from their names and birthdays to their philosophical and religious beliefs. These individuals were gracious enough to impart to me personal stories and ideas that were at once amazing and overwhelming. I wanted more than anything to create a work that was reflective of everything I had learned.

At the same time, I was reading a series of realistic fiction books, including The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, as well as several books on the discipline of writing, including On Writing by Stephen King and The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick.

As I have worked and reworked this piece of writing I found it impossible to capture every perspective I wanted to at first, and in turn, I have found it necessary to compromise. I went in the direction of focusing on the First Person. In the future, I would like to revisit this project and take it out of the first person, so that other characters can be fleshed out more and so that I might have the opportunity to understand this character and myself a little bit more.

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