Publication Date
Fall 2015
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
English and Comparative Literature
Advisor
Cathleen Miller
Subject Areas
English literature
Abstract
This is a memoir – a narrative work of creative nonfiction. This story takes place over a single day, during the summer of 1992, when the life of a thirteen-year old boy falls apart. Years of misbehaving culminate into something so devastating that his world has no other options but to explode. The day starts with his mother selling off his beloved pigeons, followed by his father’s stealing of a famous painter’s painting, all the while the boy is terrified by the possibility of having impregnated one of his cousins, who is five years his senior. During this transformative day, he experiences, like never before, the distress of living and an intense passion for the life yet to come. In this memoir, A Sentimental Pigeon Keeper, the narrator not only captures the life of a thirteen-year old boy in Jessore, Bangladesh, in the early 1990, but also sketches the beliefs and lifestyle of a complex and liberal family within the conservative social and cultural norms of the time. It is a glimpse into a boyhood consumed by extraordinary circumstances. This is ultimately a memoir of a grand transformation.
Recommended Citation
ALAM, ADNAN, "A Sentimental Pigeon Keeper" (2015). Master's Theses. 4618.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.9eu3-wzs4
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/4618
