Committee Chair

Baker, Sybil

Committee Member

Stewart, Jennifer L.; Babine, Karen, 1978-

Department

Dept. of English

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This thesis contains two parts: a craft paper on interiority and seven chapters of a young adult social realism novel. The craft paper explores different strategies for “showing and telling” as a means of conveying interiority in faith-based characters, and it analyzes these strategies in two YA novels, Let’s Call it Doomsday by Katie Henry and Autoboyography by Christina Lauren, both of which center around queer, Mormon characters. The novel chapters in the thesis are from Something Holy, which follows Beck Taylor, an eighteen-year-old, mostly closeted bisexual boy who only has a few months until he leaves on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Determined to make the most of his time left, he and his cousin Emilia follow Evergreen, their favorite local band, on tour, but when Beck falls for the male drummer Julius, feelings and faith complicate his perfect summer.

Acknowledgments

A lot of people have made this thesis possible. Thank you to Dr. Charles Waugh at Utah State University for his early support of this book, and to Dr. Karen Babine and Dr. Jennifer Stewart for their encouragement and feedback as both professors and committee members throughout my time here at UTC. I want to give a special thanks to Professor Sybil Baker who helped me turn years of thoughts and scribbles into something I can be proud of. To Brittany, thank you for always being my first reader and biggest cheerleader. To my family, thank you for always listening to my musings of books and writing. Finally, Mom and Dad, thank you for loving me unconditionally. I’m where I am today because of the home you gave me.

Degree

M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

5-2023

Subject

Self in literature; Bisexuals--Fiction; Mormon gays--Fiction

Keyword

interiority; young adult; Mormon; LGBTQ+; fiction; novel

Discipline

Fiction

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

vii, 69 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Fiction Commons

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