The Children Are On Fire

Identifier

6567

Author

Thomas Nathan Cooper

Date

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Major

Creative Writing

Committee Chair

Eric Schlich

Committee Member

Courtney Santo

Committee Member

Joshua Philips

Abstract

The Children Are On Fire is a work bred out of the frustrations of blue-collar job and detrimental encounters with masculinity there-in, work such as, AC repairman and maintenance worker. The Children are On Fireis a collection of short stories based in realism depicting character’s who lives are touched social and economically by the specter of masculinity with explorations in the genre conventions of magical realism and the post-apocalyptic. Magical and the post-apocalyptic element serve as a means to interrogate character relationships within the realm of generational trauma from masculine societal norms, often in the form of religion. The Children are On Fireadopted genre elements of magical realism and the post-apocalyptic genres in the form of: scars, magical stitching, post-apocalyptic stories of a world burning, and of adventurers who can divine knowledge. They connect thematically to the realist pieces in the collection by maintaining the detriment of masculinity, blue-collar thinking, and religious myth-making.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Recommended Citation

Cooper, Thomas Nathan, "The Children Are On Fire" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2080.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/2080