Henry Wait: a character study
Abstract
My thesis is an interwoven collection of autobiographical poetry and prose which
portray my experiences as a drug addict. Particularly, how I started and how I stopped
using drugs, potential causes and consequences of such a life, and a nuanced look at how
these habits affect a person’s relationships, both platonic and romantic. The memoir starts
with a first-person protagonist who discusses the idea of writing in the third person, and
pretending to be someone named “Henry.” We then shift into a first-person story where
the speaker clearly identifies themselves as Henry, then we go back to an anonymous
first person, and so on. The reader should see by now, rather clearly, that it doesn’t really
matter who the speaker is. What matters is that the narrator is conflicted and multifaceted.
Lines such as “all these parts of other people,” and titles like “Let’s Not Be
Ourselves” directly demonstrate this. The rest of the manuscript alternates between third
and first person, as appropriate to the content and what the speaker hopes to convey.
Overlapping key memories and themes help to remind the reader that it’s all the same
person. Along the way, poetry is used to indicate major shifts in content, time, theme, or
tone. This helps to suggest that the collection has been carefully orchestrated, and that the
fragmented pieces will weave together to create a much larger narrative.
Subject
Autobiographical poetry
Henry Wait
Creative Writing
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/79583Description
"A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts-English Creative Writing."