Fiction Commons^™

Trapped In Polygamy: European Women Converting To Mormonism And Living In Polygamous Marriages In 1850s Utah Featuring She Who Left Zion: A Wife, A Witness, A Woman Unsealed, Rebecca Sanchez

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This Honors Capstone project explores the lived experiences of European women who converted to Mormonism and entered polygamous marriages in 1850s Utah. Through rigorous historical research and creative writing, it culminates in a novel-in-progress titled She Who Left Zion: A Wife, A Witness, A Woman Unsealed. The story follows Phoebe Carter, a fictional English convert who immigrates to Zion after being promised eternal family unity—only to confront the brutal reality of polygamy, spiritual coercion, and patriarchal control.

Grounded in primary and secondary sources—including autobiographies, diaries, and letters from women like Ann-Eliza Young, Fanny Stenhouse, and contributors to The Women …

Unclaimed, Morgan Tharp

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Morgan is a Junior English Writing and Political Science double major. In her free time, she enjoys running for DePauw’s cross country and track teams, reading, and playing ping pong.

The Ate's Arrivial, Eliana Jolanda Alzate

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Eliana Alzate is a Junior English Writing and Computer Science major at DePauw University. Her works explore the intersections of diasporic identity, political chaos, and artistic discovery. When she isn’t writing stories and poems, you can find Eliana filming vlogs and singing karaoke.

Sky Temple Of Remebrance, Emily Loera

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Emily Loera is a Junior double majoring in Design Studies and Asian Studies. She is on the Women’s Track and Field team and involved in many other organizations on DePauw’s campus. She loves to share her art with others, read, and hang out with her friends.

“More Than What [They] Made Us To Be”: From Passing To Perception In Victorian And Modern Vampire Media, Lauren Sieberg

English (MA) Theses

Throughout Victorian Gothic horror fiction, vampires function as deviant figures, maneuvering within social confines of passing until their status quo-threatening identity is exposed. Of the popular vampires from this period, most gradually fail to maintain status as social insiders—as demonstrated with Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula or Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, who possess the temporary capacity to pass until their hidden monstrosity is revealed over time. Even if Gothic monsters are confined to a limited space and time far from society, this is still not enough; in accordance with the Victorian culture of morality policing by dominant groups, the vampiric Other …

I Write For Them And Sundays, Audrey Ickes

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Audrey Ickes is a Senior English-Writing major and History and Communications double minor. Flip to page 31 to see the rest of her credentials or page 23 to find out why she writes whether she likes to or not.

Double, Double, Toils And Troubles: Analyzing The “Magical” Relationships Between University Leaders’ Personality Traits And Their Self-Efficacy In Leadership Situations, Fay Ludvine Boudreaux

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This present study investigated the relationship between higher education leaders’ personality traits and their self-efficacy in leadership situations. A total of 151 leaders employed across the nine institutions within the University of Louisiana System completed a survey that prompted them to identify their personal values, traits, and skill sets, as derived from the online Pottermore quiz, the official Harry Potter Hogwarts House sorting instrument. This niche personality metric was chosen to cater to higher education’s evolving landscape, as it welcomes an influx of Millennials into leadership positions. Participants’ responses were eventually recoded to “sort” them into their respective Houses: Gryffindor, …

The Bones: A Novel-In-Progress, Chris Stark

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Arrow Rock, Spring 2025, Full Issue

Arrow Rock

No abstract provided.

The Castle Is Still Here, And Yes, It's Still Scary: Reconstructing The Gothic Through Contemporary Short Story, Alyssa Kilroy

Undergraduate Theses

Since Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto published in 1764, the literary Gothic has grown and spread to include a multitude of subgenres in a variety of formats. Gothic literature has served as both a product and a showcase of its contextual influences, providing a deeper look at humanity's deepest flaws, fears, and passions that shape our societies. While the Gothic's historically fluid identity allows Frankenstein to exist in a literary realm alongside Wuthering Heights, something consistent in its core continues to appeal to modern audiences and remains relevant in contemporary literature and other media. This project offers a …

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International, Sahit Liyanage

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Sahit Liyanage is a Freshman at DePauw University. He is yet to declare a major, but it will be either English Writing or a double major in English Writing and Biology. He enjoys wildlife photography, boxing and badminton.

Excerpt Scenes From Twin Lilies Of Tirg, Sal Tindell

Honors Theses

Excerpts of Twin Lilies of Tirg: is a craft paper and three novel scenes. The craft paper focuses on the elements and structure of dialogue and how it is present in three scenes that follow the three elements in a novel: the ground situation, the conflict, and complication. The novel Twin Lilies of Tirg is a fantasy fiction that focuses on King Sebestian as he navigates running his kingdom while being blackmailed by another King.

Cue The Meet Cute, Sarah B. Cocks

Graduate Thesis Collection

Margery has always loved three things: romantic comedies, predictability, and the legacy of her family's video rental store. But when her beloved, yet struggling, small-town movie rental shop is threatened by her parents' impending divorce, her carefully curated life starts to unravel. Determined not to let her dream job fade into nostalgia, she launches a summer-long community dating event to save it. There’s just one problem: she’s never been on a date before.

To her dismay, her coworker-slash-cinema-nemesis, Henry, considers himself a dating expert—and he’s all too eager to lend a hand.

Layered with pivotal early-2000s cinematic references, sharp banter, …

Michigan Fiction, Bryce Durfey

Honors Theses

The screenplay Michigan Fiction follows a failing children's book author who is desperate for another taste of success. His father has told him his entire life that success by any means is all that matters. After a chance meeting with a more successful crime-novelist colleague, and learning of his next book idea, he decides to follow him to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to steal his idea for a book. He stays in a motel where the original killer once stayed and killed. Things go awry when he accidentally murders someone. After the town thinks it's the old killer returning, …

Top 6 Reasons You Should Kill Bears, Anne Gregg

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Anne Gregg is a Senior English Writing major, Honor Scholar, and Media Fellow at DePauw. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of A Midwestern Review. If you go looking for Anne Gregg, you will not find her. She has learned how to become incorporeal and spends her time singing in the breeze.

Rhetorics Of Motherhood In Fiction:Motherhood As Identity And Status-Quo, Brea A. Hudson

All Theses

Motherhood has become a highly politicized and dominant topic in public discourse, with it often being a beacon of good-will and the building block of feminine identity. Lindal Buchanan’s Rhetorics of Motherhood demonstrates how motherhood has been used by all types of political ideologies to make women more palpable in public spaces. Miranda July’s All Fours explores an identity shift in an aging mother. In my collection, I explore these different identities and facets of motherhood and what that looks like for characters who struggle with infertility, loss, and addiction. My collection shows motherhood in a realistic and messy view …

Angel Infestation, Gabby Beury

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Gabby Beury is a Senior English Writing major with minors in Film and Italian Cultural Studies at DePauw University. She enjoys reading and writing comedic and absurdist works.

Dispatch To Alby Industries Ceo Mark Newberry, Anne Gregg

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Anne Gregg is a Senior English Writing major, Honor Scholar, and Media Fellow at DePauw. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of A Midwestern Review. If you go looking for Anne Gregg, you will not find her. She has learned how to become incorporeal and spends her time singing in the breeze.

Window Light, Abigail Fathauer

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

"Abigail Fathauer is a Senior English Literature major with minors in Art History and World Literature. When she’s not writing papers or reading the next book on her TBR, she’s working at the local animal shelter and not shutting up about it. In another life, she was a medieval scribe."

Box Of Criminals, Jenna Reynolds

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Jenna Reynolds is a Senior English Writing major. She has written for AMWR in the past and has also written for the DePauw stage (Romeo and Juliet at Bridgerton).