Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Fine Arts
Major
Creative Writing
Date of Defense
12-23-2010
Graduate Advisor
Mary Troy
Committee
Steven Schreiner
John Dalton
Abstract
Dustbowl is a dystopian novel that follows a young man named Ward as he joins a deadly cult that is intent on leaving the planet. He travels with a cleaning crew—a group of killers—through small towns, abducting children for the cult’s plan to have humankind populate the stars. The novel explores concepts like loneliness, grief, violence, love, and family, among others, as Ward traverses across a dust-filled, shambling American Midwest that is falling apart all around him. He finds solace from the harshness of the world in his crewmates, in a stray dog that he happens upon, in a girl that he tries to save, and eventually in himself.
OCLC Number
741147795
Recommended Citation
Harned, Patrick Scott, "Dustbowl" (2010). Theses. 91.
https://irl.umsl.edu/thesis/91