Whisnant, LukeLoonam, John2013-06-062013-06-062013http://hdl.handle.net/10342/1791This short story collection, LAST WILLS, portrays four individuals' transitions into late adulthood. "Dan's Man Otto": an aging, socially estranged man attempts to cope with later-life struggles due to another man's fatal decision. "Yardsticks": a solitary woman confronts aging, for whom late adulthood becomes a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility for parole. "Balance Notification Nine": a career man encounters young buck against old stag workplace competition. "Deathbed Testament": an aging daughter's struggle to develop, at last, a way to cope with a lifelong identity crisis.  65 p.dissertations, academicLiteratureModern literatureAgingFictionIdentityInitiationLate adulthoodLife complicationsShort story collectionsAging in literatureMaster's Thesis