Art Therapy

The five stories in this thesis explore how people comprehend identity, especially in the context of geographical region, religion, relationships, and genetics. Each story's suburban setting plays largely into the characters' crises of identity, even though the protagonists range in age from teen to middle-aged father of four. Through the action of each story, the five protagonists awaken to new facets of their own characters. In "Love Your Neighbor," college student Julianne debates whether she can take revenge after a neighbor invades her privacy. Jacob Ritter, in "1-90," contemplates whether he understands his children now that they are grown and what type of father that makes him, while Lawrence Rachel Carmichael, the daughter in "The Twenty-Six Sins of Lawrence Carmichael," ponders whether her father's sins are transferable to her because they share a name. Painter Oliver Pritchard wonders whether he can break his artistic block by doing something he didn't think himself capable of—having an affair—in "Art Therapy." And in "Family Plans," J.J. Burwell faces sexual awakening while reconciling his parents' history.