This thesis consists of five short stories written during 2000-2003. Three of the stories were written in fiction workshops, and two were written after I completed the coursework for my M.A. All but one are written in first-person. "Refugee" was written for Elizabeth Stuckey-French's spring 2001 fiction workshop, and is in its fifth draft. It is the story of a man in his mid-thirties, restless, yet passive, a stay-at-home drifter, whose life so far is one big missed opportunity. He visits his brother's perfect suburban home and finds himself in a situation in which action is required—a life and two children depend upon it. "Hail Mary, Full of Lies" was also written for Elizabeth Stuckey-French's spring 2001 workshop. In this story, a young girl who knows the rules of the Catholic Church but does not understand them covets the role of Mary in the Christmas mass, and will say anything to get the part. This story is in its fourth draft. "Faster than the Human Mind" and "Lynne's Grooming Corner" were written in summer and fall 2002 and have not been workshopped. "Faster" grew from a story a friend told me about a patient with an unusual case of delusional disorder. The story touches on the struggle between reason and emotion, thinking and feeling, responsibility and freedom. "Lynne's" is currently more a slice of life story, a peek into the world of a v dog groomer born and raised deep in Cajun Louisiana. These stories are in second draft stage. "I'll Have the Past Your Prime Rib" was written for Elizabeth Stuckey-French's spring 2000 workshop, the first fiction course I ever took. This story was my first attempt at writing fiction, and in this fourth draft, a cynical young woman and her fading boss square off in the wake of their PR firm's disintegration. Themes many of the stories share are alienation, worlds colliding, tiny quirky obsessions, life altering obsessions, and most of all, the question, "What if your life turns out drastically different than what you hoped for?" What if you waste it with inaction? Or what if you burn so hard in one direction that you neglect other parts of your life and wind up at a lonely dead end? You will carry the weight of some decisions throughout your life—but which ones? The answers certainly aren't here in the stories, but the questions are. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2003. / April 2, 2003. / Short Stories Of Alienation And Obsessions / Includes bibliographical references. / Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Professor Directing Thesis; Janet Burroway, Committee Member; Mark Cooper, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180635 |
| Contributors | Miller, Holly Ellison (authoraut), Stuckey-French, Elizabeth (professor directing thesis), Burroway, Janet (committee member), Cooper, Mark (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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