Day, IykoAlvord, EllenLawlor, AndreaMichener-Rutledge, Darwin2024-06-042024-06-042024-06-04https://hdl.handle.net/10166/6722The Bruising Acts is a work of fiction exploring late-adolescent relationships in the Midwest. The story follows Mia, a nineteen-year-old girl, as she negotiates new kinships in her hometown while recovering from sexual assault. The novel examines belonging and acceptance, bystander complicity in rape culture, and the interpersonal wounds we sustain and survive. Told in vignettes, phone calls, and dreams, The Bruising Acts attempts what Leslie Jamison calls for in her essay, "Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain," "the possibility of representing female suffering without reifying its mythos."ensexual assaultmental healthcoming of ageMidwestThesisrestricted