Kim, DavidThe stories in my thesis explore race politics, the American Dream, the influence of hip-hop in suburban society, and the role of academia in identity formation. The stories feature a Korean-American narrator whose speech undergoes significant transformations, which mirror the constantly shifting circumstances of his life. Change is the overarching theme of my thesis - the kind of change that transpires unconsciously - and the narrator's primary conflict is the struggle to reconcile the multiple identities that have been created as a result.ThesisAmerican literatureAsian American studies