AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

The genre of the personal essay in creative nonfiction affords the writer an opportunity to explore identity, not only by depicting the various roles that the writer plays in life, but also through the literary device of persona, a version of the writer specifically created to narrate the essay. Identity is ever-changing and impossible to render completely. Despite the elusiveness of identity, writers and artists still attempt to recreate it on the page. In this collection of essays, I explored my own identity through both the experiences that have shaped me and the personae I have created to express those experiences.