Care don't care

This thesis consists of a novel manuscript called Care Don’t Care. The story is told by Barb Overton as she dies. She recounts her final years, from the day her family moved her out of her house and into long-term care, though many layers of neglect and abuse, to the day she leaves this world by a death of her own choosing. Although Barb was disabled, locked-in by ALS, and voiceless in her last years, in this novel she speaks with a clarity and cutting wit that lays bare the challenges of care, caregiving, familial love and responsibility, and what it is to live well. Ultimately, she confronts an epiphany that comes too late. In the background of Barb’s personal journey all things natural seem askew, an extended metaphor for the ways that humanity’s lack of care leads to ruin. Research to develop this novel included a survey of literature with a disabled narrator or protagonist, with special interest in characters living with ALS, to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges of being locked-in and/or severely disabled. Additionally, non-fiction texts about death and dying, with a particular focus on what it means to have a good death were used to gather ideas for the final scenes of the novel. Research about the relevant ecosystems in Alberta and the details of the causes and implications of the flood of 2013 were thoroughly considered. Lastly, with caregiving, both paid and familial, driving the novels central conflicts, pertinent articles and statistics about caregivers, caregiving, caregiving programs, and caregiver abuse in Canada were examined. Care Don’t Care offers readers a choice: will you care, or won’t you? In her final moments Barb realizes that a good life consists primarily of caring and she calls on her readers to react, to know now what she learned too late. There lies Barb’s answer: we must care about the right things, or we risk spoiling our world and our collective potential.Arts, Faculty ofGraduat