Date of Graduation

Spring 2022

Degree

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

Committee Chair

Michael Czyniejewski

Abstract

The following thesis is a collection of creative nonfiction essays, poems, and short stories. The overarching theme of this body of work is Millennial-aged adults grappling with a variety of traumas both personal and global; this dovetailing of personal grief alongside international grief is meant as an artistic expression of anxiety. In other words, the question posed here is: what does a young adult make of a world that is incessantly brutal? The answer is explored in both fictional and nonfictional ways, and no definitive conclusion is given. Rather, the events of the stories contained herein are representative of the constant tension between personal tragedy and tragic events transpiring in the world simultaneously, and the seeming inability to escape either.

Keywords

tragedy, trauma, crutch, suicide, anxiety, depression, short story, fiction, essay, memoir, creative writing

Copyright

© James Preston Heil

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