Honors Theses

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Matt Bondurant

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This is a hybrid collection of creative pieces that I have written in order to try to capture the feelings associated with loss and oppression. These pieces are only loosely related thematically and are not one single narrative. I especially wanted to focus on female characters who become disillusioned with their lives, find they have no real agency, or that they cannot truly write their own narratives. Through research on the Middle East, mostly focusing on Syria, and a close friendship with a Syrian refugee while I was studying abroad in Paris, I found the inspiration and ideas for many of the pieces in this collection, such as the short story, Ola. Through a semester of research conducted on the history of Algeria and the Algerian War of 1954-1962, and through a close friendship with a Frenchman from Algeria and his wife, I found the ideas and inspiration for my stories Amina and Marwa. None of these stories reach conclusions, nor do I think they really ever could have. I wrote fragments of these women's lives to create the impression of a perpetual and shared story of loss.

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