Publication Date
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Erin Flanagan (Advisor)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Novel set in late-1970s Cincinnati, on its traditionally conservative, Catholic west side. Karen is a sheltered seventeen-year-old girl, who gets a job bussing tables at a bowling alley restaurant. Unlike the friends she has struggled to fit in with throughout high school, Karen finds she is immediately welcomed into the group of teenagers who work there. She tries to become more street smart like her new friends, but finds herself jolted by their casual attitudes towards drinking, drugs, and sex. Along with the coming-of-age theme, the story addresses issues of homosexuality in a time when gays were just beginning to come out publicly. Karen struggles with her search for truth and love against the seventies' backdrop of social upheaval and economic insecurity. While the subjects are serious, the first-person narrator has a sense of humor and enduring hope that reflects the bittersweet and fleeting nature of teenage melodrama.
Page Count
250
Department or Program
Department of English Language and Literatures
Year Degree Awarded
2007
Copyright
Copyright 2007, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
