Hobo Noah

Date of Award

2017

Degree Name

M.A. in English

Department

Department of English

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Joseph Pici

Abstract

In Hobo Noah," Claudia wakes in the middle of the night in her new apartment to find her son Noah sleeping under the dining room table. This discovery jumpstarts an examination of Claudia's split with Terri, her long-time partner, and Claudia's move out of the house she shared with Terri and their twin boys. As Claudia's drinking escalates, her already fracturing family learns that they can no longer rely on her, especially when Noah is found sleeping in a neighbor's yard at night while he is supposed to be in Claudia's care. In "The Retarded Angel," Sam Gerich writes the story of the boy with the shell, a human-like character with a large shell on his back, and his quest to find his family and a mysterious flashlight that was described to him by a priest. As the boy with the shell travels from town to town looking for his family and this flashlight, he meets a number of mysterious figures. An old man and his friends viciously attack the boy, attempting to rob him. A man with claws and a doctor help the boy to recover. An old woman recruits the boy into a clandestine operation that smuggles babies from one town to another. The boy with the shell eventually meets a lighthouse operator and attempts to steal the lighthouse operator's fire starter. When the boy's plan is foiled, he throws himself from the top of the lighthouse. He survives the fall, but his shell breaks, revealing wings underneath."

Keywords

Mothers and sons Fiction, American Literature, Gender Studies, twins in fiction, short story cycle, head lice, metafiction

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2017, author

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS