Date of Award

1-1-2020

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of English

Content Description

1 online resource (iii, 64 pages)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Edward L Schwarzschild

Committee Members

Aashish Kaul

Keywords

grief, mental health, teenage suicide, young adult fiction, young adult novella, Grief in adolescence, Twins, Suicidal behavior, Teenagers

Subject Categories

Creative Writing

Abstract

“And We Run” is a Young Adult novella that explores themes of grief, obsession, teenage suicidality, and loss. It follows a teenager named Seth, who has recently lost his twin brother, Colin, in a car accident. Seth refuses to believe his brother is dead, and he becomes obsessed with retracing his brother’s life through the journal Colin left behind. As Seth becomes more and more enthralled with trying to understand Colin, he also becomes fixated on his brother’s past relationship with a girl named Candice. Seth pursues a friendship with Candice, and the two of them begin to chase some sort of emotional closure for Colin’s death. In the novella’s afterward, I analyze how Young Adult fiction has portrayed adolescent mental health issues and suicidality, focusing especially on Looking for Alaska by John Green and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I also dissect some of the narrative and characterization choices I made in “And We Run” in the context of Young Adult conventions.

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