Presentation Title
Panel Name
Literary Treatments of Tragedy, War, Fear, and Redemption
Location
Lecture Center 15
Start Date
3-5-2019 3:15 PM
End Date
3-5-2019 4:30 PM
Presentation Type
Multimedia/Creative Presentation
Academic Major
Communication
Abstract
I drafted this short story for an assignment in my Creative Writing 102z course based on techniques we learned in class including estrangement but also it was inspired, in part, by Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie”. Williams’ play touches on certain familial mental health struggles in each character that were deep rooted and I wanted to communicate the same effect. My story revolves around the present life and childhood of Charles, an underground boxer, who was orphaned at a young age due to both of his parents’ struggles with mental illness. Charles experienced his mother’s mental deterioration before and following his father’s exit from their lives. He also lived through abuse imparted by his father as a result of his father’s untreated anger issues. What breaks the cycle, temporarily, in my piece is the intervention of a mentor in the form of George, the owner of a boxing gym, who tries to help Charles deal with his problems in alternative ways rather than how his parents handled them. Throughout the story, there are pieces of monologue from present-day Charles that cut through the 3rd person limited narration of his childhood in order to provide closer retrospection on his part.
Select Where This Work Originated From
Course assignment/project
First Faculty Advisor
Joshua Keller
First Advisor Email
jdkeller@albany.edu
First Advisor Department
Creative Writing
The work you will be presenting can best be described as
Finished or mostly finished by conference date
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Fiction Commons, Social Psychology Commons
A Sign of the Times
Lecture Center 15
I drafted this short story for an assignment in my Creative Writing 102z course based on techniques we learned in class including estrangement but also it was inspired, in part, by Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie”. Williams’ play touches on certain familial mental health struggles in each character that were deep rooted and I wanted to communicate the same effect. My story revolves around the present life and childhood of Charles, an underground boxer, who was orphaned at a young age due to both of his parents’ struggles with mental illness. Charles experienced his mother’s mental deterioration before and following his father’s exit from their lives. He also lived through abuse imparted by his father as a result of his father’s untreated anger issues. What breaks the cycle, temporarily, in my piece is the intervention of a mentor in the form of George, the owner of a boxing gym, who tries to help Charles deal with his problems in alternative ways rather than how his parents handled them. Throughout the story, there are pieces of monologue from present-day Charles that cut through the 3rd person limited narration of his childhood in order to provide closer retrospection on his part.