Date of Award

5-2022

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

English

Committee Chair(s)

Michael Sowder

Committee

Michael Sowder

Committee

Adena Rivera-Dundas

Committee

Benjamin Gunsberg

Abstract

This thesis is the start of what I envision to be a full-length memoir. I address multiple themes, specifically family and generational trauma and mental illness. I explore these themes non-linearly, through personal narrative, scientific research, and scene recreations. I begin with an introduction and then move into an essay that explores my experience meeting my estranged sister from the first time. Throughout the essay, I move in and out of this meeting, weaving the encounter together with my own struggles with mental health, research about the Peppered moth species, and scene recreations from the lives of other women in my family. Through each of these subjects, the deeper theme of generational trauma is explored.

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