Apocalypse girls

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

Creative Writing

First Advisor's Name

Dan Wakefield

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

John Dufresne

Third Advisor's Name

Meri-Jane Rochelson

Date of Defense

3-12-2008

Abstract

Apocalypse Girls is a memoir of adolescence set during 1985-1989 in Miami, Florida. The narrator's Peruvian-Argentine background places her at odds between the cultures of her parents, and los Americanos. She also deals with religious authoritarianism at Catholic school, and the controlling figure of her mother. The narrator represses a memory of a physically and emotionally abusive childhood, but the effects of abuse manifest as depression in her adolescence. Despite these conflicts, she struggles for identity by developing close friendships with other young women. Against her parents' restrictive ideas on gender, and the dictates of Catholic school, she finds liberation in peer influence through alcohol and sexual experimentation with boys. But this leaves her fragmented. She gradually locates some cohesiveness of self as she becomes aware of her sexual and emotional attraction to women.

Identifier

FI15101240

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