It’s Still You

Abstract

This thesis is a metafictional collection of art and words created by the author between the ages of twelve to eighteen, and edited as a novel documenting roughly seven year’s worth of self-reflection and growth. Diary pages, writing journals, and miscellaneous doodles are woven together to tell the coming-of-age story of a young girl trying to record and understand her passions, relationships, and dreams. In this reworking of true events, Madison writes about major changes in her life, starting with entering a new school, and ending shortly after her graduation from the same institution six years later. Her story shares direct insights into her mental health and true ambitions for writing and art as she faces intense social and familial pressures to change almost every aspect of herself for the sake of fitting in or finding success.