Dog Gone By: a Novel

Date

2015

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MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa

Abstract

This thesis examines the profound effects of Prohibition on race, politics, and sociology. To explore the role of the 1930s and its influences and potency, this thesis analyzes, through the fiction device, anthropomorphic animals employed in a historical setting, as the first half of this novel-in-progress. Through the story, the 1930s not only reeled from the insanity of the previous decade, the 1920s, it carried over and solidified many contemporary facets of modern life: Jazz, the Arts, Organized crime as well as Racial integration and interrelations. Peopled only by canine characters, “DOG GONE BY” tells the story of Basenji-mix STACEY HANKIN, a recent arrival to Gotham during the early summer of 1932. As part of the Great Black Migration, an exodus that occurred between 1916-1970 when Blacks left the South to migrate North, West and Midwest, and to escape rampant Jim Crow laws, Stacey tries to find opportunities not available in rural Tennessee. Even in the North, segregation and other troubles prevail, making it difficult for Stacey to secure a living. By the time of the story, she has already met and been employed by bootlegger/gangster ‘SLASH’ CASTELLANO, a mutt with wolfish features. “Dog gone by” speaks on themes of one’s past often catching up with one’s present, how profound the effects can be from previous generations. Also, how someone can be gifted/cursed by the vestiges of family history and how societal pressures continue to press on the individual’s free will.

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Keywords

Dogs

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