Halved Shells

Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

English

Advisor/Mentor

Viswanathan, Padma

Committee Member

McCombs, Davis

Second Committee Member

Jensen, Toni L.

Keywords

Short stories; Fiction; Stream of consciousness; Imagery

Abstract

Identity, gender, sexuality, autonomy, art, allusion, fragmentation, the potential of images to be interpreted as signs and the danger of misinterpretation— these are all prominent themes in my manuscript, Halved Shells. Far from traditional narratives, the short stories within my collection are fragmented and confessional, bouncing from one thought, image, or memory to the next. For years, I’ve carried a notebook, cataloguing a piece of a child’s ball, a split oyster shell, a silicone mermaid’s tail. By centering imagery, the voice of each character becomes more intimate as their perception offers unique associations that at once reaffirm and trouble universal connections between the tangible and the abstract. In my short story, “Elsewhere Voices,” one of the protagonists, Mary, examines a child’s ball, which becomes a cracked eggshell and eventually, a baby. By drinking the yolk from the eggshell, Mary engages in an act of transubstantiation that leads to a gruesome and strange birth. The transformation of one image into another mimics her thought pattern, a generative stream of perception and interpretation. These associations are particular to the protagonist and offer new ways of seeing the world of the story and understanding this character’s mind. Likewise, the titular story of the collection, “Halved Shells,” implements a stream-of-consciousness style, and by doing so, aims to diminish narrative distance and go beyond glimpsing into a singular, yet complex, life. My short stories act as an outstretched hand, a point of connection inviting the reader to not only consider the perspective within these pieces but to engage with greater questions about what it means to live: How do we reconcile image and interpretation, identity and circumstance, free will and fate?

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