Domesticated Animal is, at its core, a novel about a girl and her dog. Lira has lost her parents in an accident and her only tether to the world is her dog, Blue. She is being taken care of by a foster family who doesn’t quite know how to handle her trauma, and a cynical, cold social worker named Stella. But when an incident occurs between Blue and a stranger’s child at the park, Lira fears that she and her dog will be separated, so she runs away into the relative “wild” of the swampy outskirts of Houston, Texas. The narration shifts from Lira, to Blue, to Stella, as the novel attempts to explore the consciousness of three different beings as they all struggle to find freedom and find home.
","abstract_html":"<p><em>Domesticated Animal </em>is, at its core, a novel about a girl and her dog. Lira has lost her parents in an accident and her only tether to the world is her dog, Blue. She is being taken care of by a foster family who doesn’t quite know how to handle her trauma, and a cynical, cold social worker named Stella. But when an incident occurs between Blue and a stranger’s child at the park, Lira fears that she and her dog will be separated, so she runs away into the relative “wild” of the swampy outskirts of Houston, Texas. The narration shifts from Lira, to Blue, to Stella, as the novel attempts to explore the consciousness of three different beings as they all struggle to find freedom and find home.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Barron, Luisa"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jon Billman"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z","subjects":["Fiction"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/839","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jon Billman"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Barron, Luisa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2029-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fiction"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/839"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Domesticated Animal is, at its core, a novel about a girl and her dog. Lira has lost her parents in an accident and her only tether to the world is her dog, Blue. She is being taken care of by a foster family who doesn’t quite know how to handle her trauma, and a cynical, cold social worker named Stella. But when an incident occurs between Blue and a stranger’s child at the park, Lira fears that she and her dog will be separated, so she runs away into the relative “wild” of the swampy outskirts of Houston, Texas. The narration shifts from Lira, to Blue, to Stella, as the novel attempts to explore the consciousness of three different beings as they all struggle to find freedom and find home.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Domesticated Animal"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jon Billman"],"dc:creator":["Barron, Luisa"],"dc:date.available":["2029-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Domesticated Animal is, at its core, a novel about a girl and her dog. Lira has lost her parents in an accident and her only tether to the world is her dog, Blue. She is being taken care of by a foster family who doesn’t quite know how to handle her trauma, and a cynical, cold social worker named Stella. But when an incident occurs between Blue and a stranger’s child at the park, Lira fears that she and her dog will be separated, so she runs away into the relative “wild” of the swampy outskirts of Houston, Texas. The narration shifts from Lira, to Blue, to Stella, as the novel attempts to explore the consciousness of three different beings as they all struggle to find freedom and find home.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/839"],"dc:subject":["Fiction"],"dc:title":["Domesticated Animal"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:36Z"}