Date of Award:

5-2026

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

English

Committee Chair(s)

Amber Caron

Committee

Amber Caron

Committee

Adena Rivera-Dundas

Committee

Charles Waugh

Abstract

This collection of four fictional short stories explores questions of belief—and practice of belief—in four separate contexts. The first story, “Little Marie,” follows a young girl who’s made her own system of belief created by correlation. The second story, “Last Days,” sees a woman return to her childhood home which has been overcome by the hoarding habits of her paranoid, fundamentalist Christian mother. The third story, “Graduation,” takes place at a divinity school graduation and explores the strength of both social influence and unspoken rules within closed groups. The final story, “Away From the Ninety and Nine,” follows a cult member who has been captured by law enforcement and ripped away from her close-knit unit.

These stories seek to explore the many different forms which faith can take and the great power which belief holds, and to examine where the interplay between faith and doubt can lead an individual.

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