| dc.description.abstract | A More Perfect Union is a realistic novel set in contemporary Oklahoma City and follows Elijah McClure, a young poker pro who wishes to ask the First Daughter of Oklahoma, Kathryn Cook, to marry him the night her father gets elected president. Eli's plans of proposing to Kate are interrupted, however, due to the assassination of Kate's father. In order to take their mind off of his tragic death, Kate and Eli vacation in St. Thomas where Eli finds the courage to propose. Kate accepts, and Eli learns that Kate may have an addiction to painkillers. His suspicions turn out to be founded as Kate struggles with addiction, causing Eli to ill-advisedly decide to not burden Kate with his own troubles, namely that he has gambled away all his assets, leaving him with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Both characters' degenerative psychological spirals continue until Kate calls off the wedding, Eli sleeps with another woman and pawns Kate's engagement ring, Kate seriously injures others in a drunken driving accident, and Eli, having come to believe that his troubles all began with Kate's father's assassination, decides to kill the President of the United States as retribution. A More Perfect Union explores the pursuit of happiness in America. For many in their twenties, happiness has become increasingly defined by popular culture, reality TV, number of friends on Facebook, designer clothing, and other status-icon symbols. Eli is a character study of such a young person, his happiness dependent on instant gratification, and fame and fortune. Because of his narrow and selfish view of happiness, he is doomed to failure, becoming so obsessed with this idea of happiness that he suffers from delusions of grandeur by the end of the novel. In so doing, I hope to make my readers feel uneasy about their own selfish ideas of happiness and also to reinforce their more healthy views. In developing this theme, I was influenced most profoundly by David Foster Wallace, Hubert Selby Jr., Irvine Welsh, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Jose?ü Saramago, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley. The thematic message of the difficulty of obtaining happiness is one that is universal, but the definition employed by Eli--making his professional mark in the world, becoming notable and desired and envied, and instant gratification by almost any means necessary--may be more relatable for a young man or woman in his or her twenties. Despite Eli's flaws and selfish actions, I believe this demographic will find an empathetic intimacy with Eli, one where my reader will be forced to reexamine and reassess what it means to be happy. | |
