Keywords

Women, Needles, Mother, Holes, Maternal, Daughter

Abstract

Women of Needles and Holes is a hybrid memoir focusing on the immigrant story of the speaker's lineage through the lens of mother-daughter relationships. Through a collection of lyrical essays, prose poems, journal entries, and poems, the narrative explores the concept of curing or succumbing to generational curses. There is an emphasis on the importance of female relationships and the complicated nature of motherhood. The speaker's maternal line is explored by framing the grandmother's and mother's stories through needle and sewing motifs. The family's Cuban and Spanish heritage is considered through the perception of each woman's relationship with both countries. The speaker's matriarchal history binds together when shifts in point-of-view occur such as in "A Cuban Cockroach," "The Burning Street," and excerpts from the speaker's mother's journal. Women of Needles and Holes explores what it means to pass down customs, female roles, traumas, and fears.

Completion Date

2024

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Bartkevicius, Jocelyn

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

English

Degree Program

Creative Writing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028349

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0028349

Language

English

Rights

In copyright

Release Date

May 2029

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

Accessibility Status

Meets minimum standards for ETDs/HUTs

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Restricted to the UCF community until May 2029; it will then be open access.

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