Bells

Graduation date: 2015Access permanently restricted to the OSU Community at author's request.Bells is a collection of six short stories exploring the lives of four different narrators living in North Florida. The humid setting stifles, and each character must find a way to push against the pressure of the location and the circumstances of his or her life. In "Commerce," an aging Vietnam vet confronts his loneliness, while "Love Letters," follows his daughter, a young woman navigating a complex adolescent relationship, her longing to escape Florida, and her conflicted feelings when she makes it out. After falling in love with a potentially dangerous man, the narrator of "Tooth" must confront the volatile man himself, as well as the dangers of living in a place where a gay relationship is not accepted. The final three stories, "Homes," "Surveillance," and "Bells" span twenty years, following Adelaide's childhood relationship with her abusive stepfather, her teenage obsession with an older woman, and her fear after she becomes the face of a military sexual assault trial