Collateral Damage: Exploring the Metaphors and Realities of War in Three Fictional Narratives

<p>Since earliest recorded history, human beings have been going to war with each other. It seems that this is an integral and inescapable part of our existence. As humanity has advanced and expanded over time, our wars have advanced and expanded in stride, to the point that we are capable of destroying all life on the planet “at the push of a button.” This awesome power, coupled with an impulse so primal that we struggle to understand it, is a dangerous and terrifying prospect. It is vitally important that, in this age of drone strikes and nuclear proliferation, we do not lose sight of the individual human element. For this project, I have written three fictional stories set against a backdrop of human conflict. I use this backdrop to explore the themes of: belonging, home, love, acceptance, place, and identity. Whether we believe in the fight or whether we are even in the fight, it is clear that war permanently changes us. This project questions what effect war has on the individual person, and ultimately asks: is it necessary?</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate Humanities

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Dancisak, Jessica N.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Judy Halebsky, PhD
• Thomas Burke, MFA

• war
• conflict
• fiction
• Arts and Humanities
• Creative Writing

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/masters-theses/159

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:masters-theses-1160