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Defense Date
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Tom De Haven
Abstract
Road Going Home follows the life of four women of the same family: grandmother, granddaughter, her mother, and her aunt. Mother Karen leaves home at sixteen because she's pregnant, afraid of disappointing parents Ruth and Nelson. Her sister Lacy is just a child when she leaves. Karen has always wanted to leave home because her small town feels suffocating. At the opening of the novel, Karen has moved into a commune in central Virginia. Her father kidnaps granddaughter Dylan in hopes of bringing his family back together. However, the result is the family growing more apart from one another. Thematically, the novel seeks to answer what happens to families when they run away from one another. How do we come back together again? And how do we rebuild those close ties that we once lost?
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008
VCU Only:
Off Campus Download
Comments
Part of Retrospective ETD Collection, restricted to VCU only.