Date of Thesis

Spring 2026

Description

The first three chapters of The Strong follow Frank, a 10-year-old girl who gains superhuman strength and rips her father’s arm off trying to save him. The story follows Frank's family as they cope with their father’s disability and Frank’s hyper-abilities. Superstrength erupts in children faced with traumatic situations, like a mother suddenly lifting a car off her child, but the strength remains for the rest of their lives. The novel is told from Frank’s perspective, as well as that of her older sister, Lala, who must take care of the family in the aftermath. The Strong is a family drama that asks how people come together and push apart under the intersection of many failing systems.

The Strong explores how individuals blame themselves and one another for systemic failures, and how children (particularly girls) are forced to grow up too fast as a result. The novel showcases how neoliberalism creates economic precarity and how values of personal responsibility and individual strength legitimize modern failing systems. Through the speculative element of superstrength, The Strong exposes the weakness in strength and the strength in weakness. All of the characters are strong and weak in various ways. For example, Frank is physically superhuman, while Lala carries the emotional and domestic burden of her family. The novel challenges the distinction between strength and weakness, questioning why society valorizes certain kinds of strength. The novel explores how value is defined by strength, and how this intersects with gender, disability, and race.

Keywords

Fabulism, speculative fiction, family drama, disability, neoliberalism, novel

Access Type

Honors Thesis (Bucknell Access Only)

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

English- Creative Writing

Second Major

East Asian Studies

Minor, Emphasis, or Concentration

Economics

First Advisor

Joseph Scapellato

Second Advisor

Robert Rosenberg

Download

Share

COinS