Under the Root is a collection that explores the experience of trauma through stories that majorly take place in/are inspired by the American South. These stories feature characters who are affected by the traumas of generational inheritance, addiction, poverty, and racism, as well as sexual, physical, and verbal abuses. As a collection, Under the Root displays how trauma manifests within the collective psyche of the American South, utilizing satire to argue that these manifestations of trauma are directly connected to the conservative culture of this region. Every story in this collection centers around a character with a different trauma and explores how trauma can manifest within both the experience of these characters and the narrative/lingual structure of each story.
The critical preface to Under the Root introduces how the “trauma plot” is utilized within this collection and discusses my creative work in the critical contexts of aesthetics, creative writing craft, contemporary satire, and clinical psychology. This essay analyzes scholarship on the therapeutic benefits of expressive nonfiction within a clinical setting and connects these findings to writing about trauma and anxiety within the fictional mode. Analyzing my personal experience and creative process for crafting this collection, this preface interprets my particular approach to aesthetics, humor, and form as having specific therapeutic applications when one draws from their personal anxieties and traumas when writing fiction.
","abstract_html":"<p><em>Under the Root</em> is a collection that explores the experience of trauma through stories that majorly take place in/are inspired by the American South. These stories feature characters who are affected by the traumas of generational inheritance, addiction, poverty, and racism, as well as sexual, physical, and verbal abuses. As a collection, <em>Under the Root </em>displays how trauma manifests within the collective psyche of the American South, utilizing satire to argue that these manifestations of trauma are directly connected to the conservative culture of this region. Every story in this collection centers around a character with a different trauma and explores how trauma can manifest within both the experience of these characters and the narrative/lingual structure of each story.</p> <p>The critical preface to <em>Under the Root </em>introduces how the “trauma plot” is utilized within this collection and discusses my creative work in the critical contexts of aesthetics, creative writing craft, contemporary satire, and clinical psychology. This essay analyzes scholarship on the therapeutic benefits of expressive nonfiction within a clinical setting and connects these findings to writing about trauma and anxiety within the fictional mode. Analyzing my personal experience and creative process for crafting this collection, this preface interprets my particular approach to aesthetics, humor, and form as having specific therapeutic applications when one draws from their personal anxieties and traumas when writing fiction.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wallace, Gaven"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Olivia Clare Friedman","Dr. Joshua Bernstein","Dr. Monika Gehlawat"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z","subjects":["Short Story Collection","Creative Writing","Therapeutic Writing","Fiction"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1061","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Olivia Clare Friedman","Dr. Joshua Bernstein","Dr. Monika Gehlawat"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wallace, Gaven"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2274-08-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Short Story Collection","Creative Writing","Therapeutic Writing","Fiction"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1061"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Under the Root is a collection that explores the experience of trauma through stories that majorly take place in/are inspired by the American South. These stories feature characters who are affected by the traumas of generational inheritance, addiction, poverty, and racism, as well as sexual, physical, and verbal abuses. As a collection, Under the Root displays how trauma manifests within the collective psyche of the American South, utilizing satire to argue that these manifestations of trauma are directly connected to the conservative culture of this region. Every story in this collection centers around a character with a different trauma and explores how trauma can manifest within both the experience of these characters and the narrative/lingual structure of each story.
The critical preface to Under the Root introduces how the “trauma plot” is utilized within this collection and discusses my creative work in the critical contexts of aesthetics, creative writing craft, contemporary satire, and clinical psychology. This essay analyzes scholarship on the therapeutic benefits of expressive nonfiction within a clinical setting and connects these findings to writing about trauma and anxiety within the fictional mode. Analyzing my personal experience and creative process for crafting this collection, this preface interprets my particular approach to aesthetics, humor, and form as having specific therapeutic applications when one draws from their personal anxieties and traumas when writing fiction.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Under The Root"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Olivia Clare Friedman","Dr. Joshua Bernstein","Dr. Monika Gehlawat"],"dc:creator":["Wallace, Gaven"],"dc:date.available":["2274-08-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Under the Root is a collection that explores the experience of trauma through stories that majorly take place in/are inspired by the American South. These stories feature characters who are affected by the traumas of generational inheritance, addiction, poverty, and racism, as well as sexual, physical, and verbal abuses. As a collection, Under the Root displays how trauma manifests within the collective psyche of the American South, utilizing satire to argue that these manifestations of trauma are directly connected to the conservative culture of this region. Every story in this collection centers around a character with a different trauma and explores how trauma can manifest within both the experience of these characters and the narrative/lingual structure of each story.
The critical preface to Under the Root introduces how the “trauma plot” is utilized within this collection and discusses my creative work in the critical contexts of aesthetics, creative writing craft, contemporary satire, and clinical psychology. This essay analyzes scholarship on the therapeutic benefits of expressive nonfiction within a clinical setting and connects these findings to writing about trauma and anxiety within the fictional mode. Analyzing my personal experience and creative process for crafting this collection, this preface interprets my particular approach to aesthetics, humor, and form as having specific therapeutic applications when one draws from their personal anxieties and traumas when writing fiction.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1061"],"dc:subject":["Short Story Collection","Creative Writing","Therapeutic Writing","Fiction"],"dc:title":["Under The Root"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z"}