Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Mark Lewandowski

Second Advisor

Peter A. Carino

Third Advisor

Matthew Brennan

Abstract

"Broken Masks: A Study in Sanity" is a mixed work of fiction and nonfiction short stories that explore the lives of people who are off center of normal. Some of the protagonists are different because of psychological trauma, some are different because of the circumstances of their birth, and some are different because what is normal to them seems horrific to the reader. The idea of the mask, sense of Self or social role, has interested me since my undergraduate days in psychology, and I have attempted to blend current psychological understanding of trauma and psyche with fictional and nonfictional presentations of the lives people live when their masks have broken. I have divided this work into three sections: "Hysterical," "Fringe," and "Outside In." "Hysterical: Women's Lives" comes primarily from the idea that hysteria was a woman's disease and that women were more susceptible to diseases of the brain because of the sexuality. In this section, I explore the lives of female protagonists who have been subjected to psychological pressure. In "Fringe: Life on the Edge," I focus on fringe dwellers, people who live on the outside of normal. These protagonists are primarily male, but all live on the fringe of 'normal.' Finally, "Outside In" is a set of creative nonfiction essays which deal with my own experience with difference.

Download

Share

COinS