The Completeness: Novel

The concept of completeness is a state of having all the parts that one needs to be whole--or, of being complete. What that is depends on what the person needs--a wife, a friend, a lover, a friend, art, a trade, a religion, a God. Each of these others fits into the individual character, like a piece that fits an empty space in a jigsaw puzzle. Without it, that empty space becomes a nothingness that is all too real--one becomes aware of the appearance and substance of nothing. What does a person do without that sense of completeness? Do they look for something that fits the empty spot in their psyche? Do they ignore it, maybe find solace through anything else without actually recognizing what it is that they are missing? Or do they just accept that emptiness and make it a part of their whole? These were the main questions in my mind as the plot developed over the past year. If anything, the plot focused on the idea of incompleteness. Each character is missing something in his or her life, and they are trying hard to find it again. The completeness becomes an intangible abstraction, an unreal idea that cannot be seen or even explained. The incompleteness, what they find themselves living with every day, is a constant reminder of what their life could have been if they had that completeness. Kevin is haunted by what his life could have been had his son lived; Nancy's corporate job reminds her of being alone, playing drums in a rock band; and Randy is defeated by his own attempts to save the world that cannot be saved. The tension and the tragedy of the story is the memory that each character has experienced completeness before, and the uncertainty that they will ever find it again.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Harr, Samuel Royce

Contributors dc:contributor

• Douglas Unger, Chair
• Richard Wiley
• Donald Revell

• Literature in English, North America

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/368

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:thesesdissertations-1392