Date of Graduation
Spring 2014
Degree
Master of Arts in English
Department
English
Committee Chair
Kristene Sutliff
Abstract
THESE WERE REAL PEOPLE is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that comprise a grief memoir centering around the death of my husband, Nathan, from Acute Myeloid Leukemia at age twenty-five. Through reflections on grandparents, stickers, tattoos, sledding, and a McDonald's restaurant, among other things, the essays guide the reader along my experience as a "baby widow.” In the tradition of grief memoirs, the pieces also focus honestly on my attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to regain my bearings in a new, strange world and recover my sense of self with the help of an incredible "grief community.” My main endeavor was to highlight the many ways in which the griever is both alone and accompanied in her grief and, above all, to remember that those who have passed from this life are still very much "real” people.
Keywords
creative nonfiction, memoir, widow, grief, bereavement, mourning, spousal loss
Subject Categories
English Language and Literature
Copyright
© Renee L. Dunn
Recommended Citation
Dunn, Renee L., "These Were Real People" (2014). MSU Graduate Theses. 1134.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1134
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