The Grave That Knows My Bones

Abstract

The Grave That Knows My Bones focuses on the relationship between a WWII and Vietnam veteran and his son. The story is of my grandfather, a hardened and disciplined soldier, my father, a boy who grew up troubled by confusion and whose many difficult life circumstances still bewilder him to this day, and me, the daughter who attempts to better understand the family legacy that I've inherited. Through vignettes of creative nonfiction interspersed with poetry, this thesis examines generational shifts in ideas of the purposes of family structure as well as how the family structure is affected by a post-war patriarch and the burdens he carries.