Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
19-4-2019 10:45 AM
End Date
19-4-2019 12:00 PM
Keywords
Appalachia, Identity, Nonfiction
Biography
Sophie Ezzell is a Tennessee born writer. She has received multiple Maier Writing Awards for her works in fiction and poetry. Her poems and essays have been published or are forthcoming in Still: The Journal, Pidgeonholes, The Dead Mule, and many others. Currently, Sophie is persuing a degree in Creative Writing from Marshall University where she serves as Poetry Editor for Et Cetera.
Major
Creative Writing
Advisor for this project
Dr. Rachael Peckham
Abstract
"Mamaw's Dress" is a personal essay that explores themes of performance and identity in an Appalachain setting. In this piece, I examine my relationship with my grandmother, specifically our mutual need to suppress our natural selves for fear the other will disapprove. In doing so, I reveal an irony that much of what we feel the need to hide is actually the same. Much of this essay is also a commentary on Appalachian culture. While the essay centers on themes of identity, I also incorporate Appalachia's intricate relationships with class, family, and death. "Mamaw's Dress" speaks to the complex relationships and identities that can be found in the colorful Appalachian landscape.
Mamaw's Dress
"Mamaw's Dress" is a personal essay that explores themes of performance and identity in an Appalachain setting. In this piece, I examine my relationship with my grandmother, specifically our mutual need to suppress our natural selves for fear the other will disapprove. In doing so, I reveal an irony that much of what we feel the need to hide is actually the same. Much of this essay is also a commentary on Appalachian culture. While the essay centers on themes of identity, I also incorporate Appalachia's intricate relationships with class, family, and death. "Mamaw's Dress" speaks to the complex relationships and identities that can be found in the colorful Appalachian landscape.
