A Series of Insignificant Happenings Public

Abstract

This fictional collection consists of six short stories which are centered on the inner dialogues of various women. While each story focuses on a different female protagonist, or multiple, many of the stories explore similar topics. Among these are insecurity, the sacrifices required for love, the gendered power dynamics of relationships, and the difficulty of grappling with both the present and the future at once.  

In the piece “On the Precipice of Some Ominous Canyon,” the lives of three women from the same family and their experiences with growing up are examined. In “Quixotic,” a customer service representative compares her current dull relationship with a childhood infatuation. In “Why We Go to Slovakia,” a young college student abroad desires to broaden her social horizons while struggling to forget a toxic past relationship. In “Wisteria,” a recent graduate and artist attempts to recover her individuality and functionality after a long term relationship went sour, while in “Starved,” a current marketing intern remembers a best friend from her college days who was sick with an eating disorder. In the last piece, “Drive,” a woman steals her ex-boyfriend’s cousin’s car to get back at him for cheating on her. 

The reason for the title of this collection stems from one commonality which the stories seem to share – the smallness and subtlety of the plot. All of these pieces are far more driven by character than by the series of events, and although the events that do occur in the present day story lines may often seem insignificant, for the characters they are anything but. 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

On the Precipice of Some Ominous Canyon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Quixotic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Why We Go to Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Wisteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Starve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

About this Honors Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Emory College
Department	English and Creative Writing
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Literature, American
Mot-clé	Short story collection
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Skibell, Joseph, Emory University
Committee Members	Herald, Patrick, Emory University Rosinberg, Erwin, Emory University Stolley, Karen, Emory University

Dernière modification

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	A Series of Insignificant Happenings ()	2019-04-07 19:09:02 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions