{"id":{"repo_id":"umkc","oai_identifier":"oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/49498"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/umkc/oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/49498","repository":{"repo_id":"umkc","name":"University of Missouri - Kansas City","base_url":"https://mospace.umsystem.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Walk Through the Valley of Shadows","abstract":"Magical Realism, religion, illness and death are twisted through this collection of short stories to explore how people deal with the fantasy of belief in a very real world. The non-fiction essay \"How an Illness I Don't Have is Going to Kill Me\" explores how invasive an illness is to a whole family unit and not just the person with the disease. Elements from this piece can be seen in each of the fictional stories. \"Out of Breath Wishes\" explores how a woman comes to terms with who she is and how the world sees her despite the fact that she considers herself normal. Contrasting our contemporary world with sacred religious figures puts the character's faith into questions and forces them to try to figure out how to apply old belief systems to a question of sacrifice in the story \"In the Year of Our Lord.\" The next story, \"Ghost Boy in the Land of the Queens,\" brings the question of gender and existence into a character's world of death. \"The True Story of Cripple-Boy Who Was Probably Named Billy\" aims to make the reader realize that people with handicaps are so often turned into archetypes that the narrators of the story don't really care what actually happened to the real boy. And in \"Heaven Under New Management\" explores what happens when we finally get the power to have exactly what we want and why that is such a bad idea.","abstract_html":"Magical Realism, religion, illness and death are twisted through this collection of short stories to explore how people deal with the fantasy of belief in a very real world. The non-fiction essay &quot;How an Illness I Don&#x27;t Have is Going to Kill Me&quot; explores how invasive an illness is to a whole family unit and not just the person with the disease. Elements from this piece can be seen in each of the fictional stories. &quot;Out of Breath Wishes&quot; explores how a woman comes to terms with who she is and how the world sees her despite the fact that she considers herself normal. Contrasting our contemporary world with sacred religious figures puts the character&#x27;s faith into questions and forces them to try to figure out how to apply old belief systems to a question of sacrifice in the story &quot;In the Year of Our Lord.&quot; The next story, &quot;Ghost Boy in the Land of the Queens,&quot; brings the question of gender and existence into a character&#x27;s world of death. &quot;The True Story of Cripple-Boy Who Was Probably Named Billy&quot; aims to make the reader realize that people with handicaps are so often turned into archetypes that the narrators of the story don&#x27;t really care what actually happened to the real boy. And in &quot;Heaven Under New Management&quot; explores what happens when we finally get the power to have exactly what we want and why that is such a bad idea.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Casady, Nicole"],"institution":"University of Missouri--Kansas City","degree_name":"M.F.A.","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Creative Writing and Media Arts (UMKC)","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Terrell, Whitney"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016","date_published":"2016","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:18:08Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10355/49498","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Terrell, Whitney"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Casady, Nicole"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2016-07-08T15:44:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-07-08T15:44:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2016"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Creative Writing and Media Arts (UMKC)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.F.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Missouri--Kansas City"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10355/49498"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 11, 2016","Thesis advisor: Whitney Terrell","Vita","Thesis (M.F.A.)--Department of English Language and Literature. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Magical Realism, religion, illness and death are twisted through this collection of short stories to explore how people deal with the fantasy of belief in a very real world. The non-fiction essay \"How an Illness I Don't Have is Going to Kill Me\" explores how invasive an illness is to a whole family unit and not just the person with the disease. Elements from this piece can be seen in each of the fictional stories. \"Out of Breath Wishes\" explores how a woman comes to terms with who she is and how the world sees her despite the fact that she considers herself normal. Contrasting our contemporary world with sacred religious figures puts the character's faith into questions and forces them to try to figure out how to apply old belief systems to a question of sacrifice in the story \"In the Year of Our Lord.\" The next story, \"Ghost Boy in the Land of the Queens,\" brings the question of gender and existence into a character's world of death. \"The True Story of Cripple-Boy Who Was Probably Named Billy\" aims to make the reader realize that people with handicaps are so often turned into archetypes that the narrators of the story don't really care what actually happened to the real boy. And in \"Heaven Under New Management\" explores what happens when we finally get the power to have exactly what we want and why that is such a bad idea."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Walk Through the Valley of Shadows"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Terrell, Whitney"],"dc:creator":["Casady, Nicole"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2016-07-08T15:44:48Z"],"dc:date.available":["2016-07-08T15:44:48Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2016"],"dc:description":["Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 11, 2016","Thesis advisor: Whitney Terrell","Vita","Thesis (M.F.A.)--Department of English Language and Literature. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2016"],"dc:description.abstract":["Magical Realism, religion, illness and death are twisted through this collection of short stories to explore how people deal with the fantasy of belief in a very real world. 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Contrasting our contemporary world with sacred religious figures puts the character's faith into questions and forces them to try to figure out how to apply old belief systems to a question of sacrifice in the story \"In the Year of Our Lord.\" The next story, \"Ghost Boy in the Land of the Queens,\" brings the question of gender and existence into a character's world of death. \"The True Story of Cripple-Boy Who Was Probably Named Billy\" aims to make the reader realize that people with handicaps are so often turned into archetypes that the narrators of the story don't really care what actually happened to the real boy. 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