Date of Award

Spring 5-2016

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Campus-Only Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Advisor

David Kress

Second Committee Member

Gregory Howard

Third Committee Member

Naomi Jacobs

Abstract

This thesis is a collection of short stories. Seeking a means of describing and categorizing types of isolation as they intersect with relationships, places, and exceptional situations, the author sought out to explore some of these possibilities through a series of fictions loosely related by theme but unconnected by content or continuity. Each story investigates a different “type” of separation, including self-imposed exile and social ostracizing. By questioning the limitations we place on the boundaries between ourselves as individuals and as members of a society, this thesis questions the notion that humans are inherently social, and suggests that we only have parameters for such socialization in order to define exclusion.

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