Blog F0r Masters Thesis

This week I began Anna and I decided to work on separate projects. I chose to go with one of my previous ideas I had developed with Rex.

The idea is a reinterpretation of a H.P. Lovecraft short story from the 1930s. I enjoyed the setting but thought the story and its themes were incredibly dated. In the original story a man goes to a strange village of fish worshiping fish-people and in the end it is revealed that he was born there and will become a fish himself. The themes are other cultures and people are “scary” and finding out you are one of them is horrific. I always hated that message. The story I am writing a version that changes the setting and characters so that the theme is the complete opposite. The set up is similar and the man starts the story being afraid of them but in the end he realizes that they are simply trying to live and the imperial colonizers he serves are the real monsters.

The main character Thomas the design for which I included is a Surveyor for the British military. He has notice in a time of famine that one fishing hamlet on the Irish coast is doing particularly well. He thinks British occupation of the area could be very lucrative. He hopes to raise in status in the navy so he will be treated with more respect and status. Thomas is an Irish native who against his families wishes joined the navy. His town was suffering because of British taxation and there acquisition of farm land. The navy offered an opportunity for him to avoid starvation and improve his families lives. They did not see it that way and disowned him as a traitor his father breaking his nose the last time the spoke. This alienation pushed him deeper into his goal to achieve success to prove them wrong. But he has not had a sense of true community since and deals with discrimination from his superiors constantly.

We begin the story with his journey to the village by sea. He is being guided by a sailor he met at a near by port Delmar. Delmar is a large kind Irishman who is always light hearted. A sketch of him is included to the left. Thomas sees people like Delmar as below him so Delmar can not easily ingratiated himself to him. Upon arrival Thomas notices the village is strange. The people are odd looking and are behaving quite strangely.

Add your own content here. Click to edit.