| abstract |
The Vanishing Gardener is a creative dissertation consisting of a contemporary
novel of realistic fiction and a critical introduction. The Vanishing Gardener is set in the
current time period and told in first-person, present-tense narration by the main character,
Lynn Holcomb. Lynn's story is a mother's account of her experience over the course of
one school year raising two teen-aged daughters, one who is neurotypical and the other
who has Down syndrome.
The fact that Cassie, the older daughter, has Down syndrome is a catalyst for
many of the conflicts in the story, but not the central problem. Lynn faces the same
challenges that all mothers face: how to be a good mother to each of her children, AND
be a good and supportive wife, AND be valuable and effective in her career, AND be a
supportive sister, AND maintain some sense of herself as an individual and as a woman
in the midst of all of this.
The Vanishing Gardener speaks to all women. It is certainly a mother's story, but
even women without children will relate to the female tendency to put the needs of others
before her own. Thus The Vanishing Gardener is an interdisciplinary work of fiction in
that it is relevant to sociological, psychological, and even anthropological studies on
family dynamics and relationships in general, and especially when faced with the
challenge of a disabled family member. It also explores gender-related topics in terms of
the concept of motherhood and the feminine tendency to put others before herself and
what that tendency does, over time, to a woman's definition of herself as an individual
and to her psychological well-being.
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