Date of Defense
11-29-2021
Date of Graduation
4-2022
Department
English
First Advisor
Richard Katrovas
Second Advisor
Meghann Meeusen
Abstract
This project contains four short stories and one collection of poetry. The first, “Touch-Me-Nots,” explores self-harm and healing using the touch-me-not plant as an analogy for avoiding self-harm and leaves readers with the hopeful sentiment of a person willing to heal by “leaving it alone.” Next, “The Bear and the Ant,” inspired by Aesop’s Fables, anthropomorphizes a bear and an ant and leaves readers with a ‘moral’ in true Aesop Fable fashion. Inspired by the ants who ransacked my six-month-old Halloween candy stash, I detail a Bear which attempts to “save” its honey for a day that never comes. The largest piece, “Walpurga Hausmännin,” is a short rough draft for what will eventually become a historical fiction novel set in Dillingen, Germany 1587. It will emphasize the connections between misogyny, midwifery, and accusations of witchcraft using details from the real accounts of Walpurga Hausmännin and her “confession” as well as using other invented characters. The compilation of poetry in “Remembering Her---10 Native American Women Who Changed History” takes important information regarding each woman and transforms it into easy-to-read poetry for children ages likely 10 and up. I believe these types of collections provide children with diverse role models and fill historical gaps the current, Eurocentric education system fails to cover. Lastly, “A Random Friday in November'' recalls my experience in high school going into lockdown from a potentially armed suspect hiding from the police. It takes on a memoir tone that transitions into a more general or political commentary on school shootings, lockdowns, and the culture of my small town. While my experience was certainly not equivalent to a full-blown school shooting, it gave me a taste of the absolute horror and panic the over 300,000 students in America (according to the Washington Post) have encountered with gun violence. Overall, this collection aims to better understand the range of storytelling, explore literary genres, and hone my general composition skills.
Recommended Citation
Cowan, Abigail, "The Exploration of Various Literary Genres through Short Story Writing" (2021). Honors Theses. 3546.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3546
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Open Access
Reflection Paper