Date of Award
5-2007
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.F.A.
Degree Program
Film, Theatre & Communication Arts
Department
Film, Theatre, and Communication Arts
Major Professor
Lavender, William
Second Advisor
Boyden, Amanda
Third Advisor
Boyden Joseph
Abstract
Cheat River is a novel about balancing family obligations against self-preservation. That is what's at stake for Allison and Andrew McKenna, a pair of siblings in rural Appalachia who must endure their father's abandonment and their pregnant mother's breakdown. At first, the two find solace from their parents' problems on the banks of the river from which the novel takes its name. But eventually, Andrew's homosexual feelings drive him to the bohemian streets of Philadelphia in the early '90s where he falls in with political activists and a household of misfits. He disappears, and Allison comes to the city to look for him. By retracing her brother's life, she realizes not only what he meant to her but what it will take to survive on her own.
Recommended Citation
McQuain, Kelly, "Cheat River" (2007). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1065.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1065
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.