Awake and Blind: A Novella

In my thesis, a fictional narrative, I have created a fantasy story that explores the philosophies of Descartes, Hobbes, and Plato with regard to the question of reality. Awake and Blind follows Liam through a journey when he wakes to a world where he cannot trust what he sees. He must seek to uncover the source of the illusion and rediscover the truth of reality for the world. In addition to the works of Hobbes, Descartes, and Plato, this story draws upon ideas from many sources, including Utopia, The Prince, 1984, and Tolkien’s On Fairy Stories. My thesis project is centered on the exercise of writing a long piece of fiction, and it also contains an analysis to explain my sources and artistic decisions within the work. Ultimately, within the work, I try to grapple with the concept of interacting with reality and to determine what matters most when we cannot trust anything.