University of Southern Maine USM Digital Commons Stonecoast MFA Student Scholarship Fall 12-15-2016 The Beast Inside Steve Cave University of Southern Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/stonecoast Part of the Creative Writing Commons Recommended Citation Cave, Steve, "The Beast Inside" (2016). Stonecoast MFA. 4. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/stonecoast/4 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at USM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Stonecoast MFA by an authorized administrator of USM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Beast Inside _______________ A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE STONECOAST MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING BY Steve Cave _______________ 2016 i Abstract This thesis contains the first seven chapters of the novel Ravenous, the short story “Faithfall,” and the academic paper “From Hellhound to Hero: Tracking the Shifting Shape of the 21st Century Werewolf.” Both of the stories deal with werewolves as a common element, but use very different types of werewolves in each. The werewolves of Ravenous transform through losing control or giving in to their passions, while the werewolves in “Faithfall” change only with the full moon, and retain no control once transformed. Both stories have a gay male protagonist, though also in very different ways. Ravenous follows the story of a seventeen-year-old young man learning that he is a werewolf, and uses this to explore themes such as coming of age, hungering for belonging, and dealing with feeling like a monster.