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Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Masters Thesis
Department or Program Affiliation
English -- Master of Fine Arts
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Araki-Kawaguchi, Kiik, 1983-
Second Advisor
Trueblood, Kathryn R., 1960-
Third Advisor
VanderStaay, Steven
Abstract
This thesis is as much of a love letter to Earth and all her inhabitants as it is a lamentation. Though written for children, it refuses to smooth over, downplay, or withhold the devastations of capitalism, the climate crisis, the Industrial Revolution, homophobia, and urbanization. Rather, this thesis seeks to bear witness, providing a companion with which to prepare for the world children are met with instead of the world we wish for them. Following an eleven-year-old autistic boy’s friendship with a curmudgeonly elderly queer man, Half a House explores the pressing feeling of not belonging, unconventional friendships, community, and creaturehood. It demonstrates the responsibility I believe children’s literature has to implore our community to think about their animal selves and their identity as a tellurian. It seeks to re-earn children's trust, honoring their incredible sensitivities, innate animism, and deep intelligence of the world in which they find themselves.
Type
Text
Keywords
novel, fiction, kidlit, children's literature, LGBT, lgbtq, lgbtq+, middle grade, weird fiction, speculative Fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, climate fiction, ecocriticism, ecotheology, climate change, climate disaster, capitalism, social commentary, absurdism, literary nonsense
Publisher
Western Washington University
OCLC Number
1440000243
Subject – LCSH
Middle school boys--Juvenile fiction; Autistic youth--Juvenile fiction; Autism--Juvenile fiction; Older gay men--Juvenile fiction; Belonging (Social psychology)--Juvenile fiction; Friendship--Juvenile fiction; Homophobia--Juvenile fiction; Capitalism--Juvenile fiction; Climatic changes--Juvenile fiction
Format
application/pdf
Genre/Form
masters theses
Language
English
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Recommended Citation
Good, Jamie, "Half a House: an excerpt from a novel" (2024). WWU Graduate School Collection. 1312.
https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwuet/1312