Honors Theses
Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Tom Franklin
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Growing up, the story was told to me this way: one day, a little boy’s foot washed up on a beach in Charleston. An investigation found that the foot belonged to a patient of Dr. Reed, an orthopedic surgeon who had removed the boy’s foot some three years prior. The doctor had stored the boy’s foot in his freezer at home. When one day the freezer broke down. Dr. Reed disposed of the body part by substituting it for raw chicken in his crab trap. Somehow the foot escaped the bait compartmentmuch to the leathery beachgoers’ horror. Even as a girl, I always hated that light-hearted ending. What if this stoiy' had taken a dark turn? The image of a hand in a crab trap haunted me. A hand is more complex than a foot—any artist can tell you that. A hand also seems more delicate, more intimate. So I had my opening image all along. But the setting, Beaufort, provided me with a place and a people. And more problems. Of course there are racial tensions between black and white residents of Beaufort County. There’s a long history here, as we all know. But as deep-rooted as those conflicts can be, attitudes and perceptions are always changing. In many households there is a generational divide—with parents caring more about racial differences than their children.
Recommended Citation
McClure, Elizabeth Britt, "Down Creek A Screenplay" (2014). Honors Theses. 2375.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2375
Accessibility Status
Searchable text