Date of Award
Spring 2021
Thesis Type
Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Liberal Studies
Advisor(s)
Dr. Matthew Forsythe
Second Advisor
Dr. Jana Mathews
Abstract
The Death-song of g-man is a coming of age story. More specifically, it is a collection of short stories that tell the tale of a generation Xer who came of age during the latter half of the 20th century in America. Half the collection takes place in a decayed New York City during the 1970s and 80s. The second half is situated in the green, clean and pristine city of Seattle in the early 1980s. The Death-song of g-man is transitional in that it reveals aspects of American life as one century waned and another was soon to be ushered in. One benefit of having a memory is that we can recall both the good and the bad. The point of recalling the good is celebration, and the point of recalling the bad is not to make one depressed, but rather, to remind us of what we have learned along the way and how we have grown into the people we are today. The bad came with the good, and the good can’t be separated from the bad. I think that summarizes The Death-song of g-man. It is a homogenization of the evil and the good that g-man experienced while coming of age in the latter 20th century. And the concept of good and evil in my recollection of the western canon brings me to Milton’s Paradise Lost. And Milton always brings me to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. Did g-man need the bad to achieve the good? As The Steve Miller Band sang, “You know you got to go through hell / before you get to heaven.”
Recommended Citation
Franqui, Gil, "The Death-Song of g-man" (2021). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 97.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/97
Rights Holder
Gil Franqui