Retrograde: A Novel

Abstract

The creative work in this thesis is suppressed in the UH institutional repository, Kahualike, kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu. Inquiries about the creative work should be made to Fiona Lynch. Retrograde is a Young/New Adult novel about a college freshman who gets a job writing horoscopes and quickly realizes she can use them to affect her readers' lives, specifically targeting the aspiring Instagram influencer who bullied her autistic best friend, as well as that best friend's search for autonomy and self-acceptance after years of receiving the message that her disability was something wrong with her. The story explores disability acceptance, toxic female friendships, and the helpful and harmful uses of social media. Ultimately, the novel is about the attempt to control what either cannot or should not be controlled, particularly other people, and the way that this control creates unhealthy intrapersonal, social, and societal relationships. While telling an entertaining story, the book portrays the intertwining lives of a young woman unexpectedly questioning the narrative she's been told about her autistic identity, and her friend becoming increasingly obsessed with the newfound power social media offers her. Bringing together various themes and issues, Retrograde creates a dynamic understanding of the different ways people are marginalized, while offering and promoting a way to personally reject them and seek self-acceptance.