Date of Award
Spring 5-28-2025
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
English/Creative Writing
First Advisor
Askolyd Melnyczuk
Second Advisor
Eileen Pollack
Third Advisor
Chelsey Grasso
Abstract
This is a collection of short stories that focuses on a variety of characters that live in and around mainly Salem, Massachusetts. The character of Mariel is featured in several stories as we are presented with the travails she endures while she is at college, trying to graduate while working, as well as navigating through the nuances of many relationships. We start from the first story where Mariel is literally looking at the entire world from the top of a gas tanker at the gas station where she works to the perspective of another co-worker at the same gas station and ends with the final story where Mariel finds a way to put an ending to one aspect of her life and embark into her next chapter. These stories focus on the mundanities of everyday life to reveal that truth and art and class struggles that occur daily that we might not give a second thought to yet giving these characters the attention and closeness these stories present, broadens our understanding of the world at large.
Recommended Citation
Matteau, Barbara M., "Getting into Cars with Strangers" (2025). Graduate Masters Theses. 898.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses/898
Comments
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