Date of Defense

4-25-2016

Date of Graduation

4-2016

Department

English

First Advisor

Richard Katrovas

Second Advisor

Rachel Clark

Abstract

Drew knew that if he had the power to pick the soundtrack of his heaven he would choose the drop of the beat as his Cessna’s tires touching down on a landing. Faye did not put much stock in heaven, but she liked the idea of spending eternity bathed in colors, ones she could fathom now and new ones her mortal eyes couldn’t see. For Louis all he wanted was the feeling of a warm hand in his leading him to the afterlife. Drew, Faye, nor Louis planned on dying any time soon but for varying reasons they knew death could come for them sooner than later. For Faye she assumed her mental health would drug her chamomile tea one rainy night. Drew figured he might miscalculate a landing, or his engine could go any moment. Now Louis, he signed on to a job where death was a tax write off.

When Louis calls Drew about being shot on the job both have to endure a radical uprooting of what it means to act as a best friend after three decades. Drew holds tight onto Louis’ hand hoping that during surgery his phantom grip will bring Louis comfort. All the while during his own surgery Drew’s mind fleets across images of Monica, his ex-wife, and Faye the one he hopes will turn the damage he did to her, to something constructive if not art worthy.

Faye packs a bag to move across the country away from her two best friends, but also from a past that only builds to haunt her. She is taking a job that will steer her one step closer to a steady life earning. Her fingers pass over the pictures of Drew and her; smiling, hiking, and making pies on Fourth of July. She will not give him space in her mind after she leaves but she compromises by obsessing over their relationship up until her flight. She remembered that first morning she was with him, the one night stand turned into years of fighting and a type of love that she was sure she would use as inspiration for paintings for the rest of her life.

Whiskey Hotel follows two groups of friends, and two generations to see what causes a person to finally come to age. This is a new take on the classic bildungsroman, because now a days a person does not always come into themselves at thirteen or even eighteen, sometimes it happens at ten, or twenty, or thirty-six.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

essay for thesis.pdf (163 kB)
Reflection Essay

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