<p>This
novel began as a short story collection exploring aspects of blackness that
dealt with homosexuality, family dynamics, violence, Christianity and societal
constructs. The first draft was titled <i>Innerworkings</i>. My goal was to
show how the actions or inactions of others can easily affect someone else’s
life by focusing on each character individually before their story intertwined
without another’s. This current thesis manuscript steams from my experience of
talking to family members and peers, each with a different option about how the
topics stated should be handled. Most of the conversations left me with more
questions and feelings of guilt or questioning what my life looks like vs what
it should look like. With the current thesis manuscript, I strive to find a way
to bring up a new way to handle discussions where spiritually and unspiritual
topics can be handled respectfully. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reading
Jesmyn Ward’s <i>Sing, Unburied Sing</i> and <i>Salvage the Bones</i>
allowed me to see how a story could play out when each character is given their
individual spotlight while also giving the reader insight to how they view the
other characters. The work here is also influenced by Tomi Adeyemi’s novel <i>Children
of Blood and Bone </i>and Marlon James’s <i>Black Leopard, Red Wolf</i> that
showcased how important maps and character charts were in helping the readers
understand the world and plot by giving them insight before they cracked open
the first chapter. With time, I hope to be able to integrate maps and family
tree dynamics into the novel so that The Community can be properly showcased as
a character and its changes over time. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12202307 |
| Date | 01 May 2020 |
| Creators | Johnay Hall (8770229) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Spineless/12202307 |
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