Beyond Divisive Categorization in Young Adult Fiction: Lessons from Divergent

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-445
Author(s):  
Darren Cronshaw
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Border Control ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Mind Control ◽  
Youth And Young Adults ◽  
Politics Of Fear ◽  
Resisting Oppression

Abstract Veronica Roth’s Divergent is a young adult fiction and movie franchise that addresses issues of political power, social inequity, border control, politics of fear, gender, ethnicity, violence, surveillance, personal authenticity and mind control. It is possible a large part of the popularity of the series is its attention to these issues which young Western audiences are concerned about. The narrative makes heroes of protagonists who become activists for justice and struggle against oppressive social-political systems. What follows is a literary analysis of Divergent, evaluating its treatment of public theology and social justice themes, and discussing implications for Christian activism, especially for youth and young adults. It affirms the ethos in the books of resisting oppression, and questions assumptions about gender and abuse, violence and imperial control, personal authenticity and categorization, and difference and sameness.

Resisting the Empire in Young Adult Fiction: Lessons from Hunger Games

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darren Cronshaw
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Hunger Games ◽  
The Status ◽  
Politics Of Fear ◽  
Resisting Oppression

AbstractHunger Games are young adult fiction and movie franchises, which address issues of Empire, border control, politics of fear, human rights, gender, ethnicity, refugees and global inequity. The narrative of Hunger Games echoes the dilemmas of balancing personal sovereignty and self-fulfillment with the struggle that goes on for advocacy for social and political change. They make heroes of protagonists who rebel against the status quo and make a stand for justice in oppressive social-political contexts. The basic plot is ancient, but it is striking a chord with a generation of westerners who are disaffected with current societal and political trends. This article is a literary analysis of Hunger Games, analyzing its treatment of public theology, sovereignty and justice issues, especially for younger adults. It affirms the appeal of the books for resisting oppression, but questions unchallenged assumptions about ethnicity, gender, retributive violence and personal authenticity.

From `Capping' to Intercision: Metaphors/Metonyms of Mind Control in the Young Adult Fiction of John Christopher and Philip Pullman

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Philip Pullman ◽  
His Dark Materials ◽  
Mind Control ◽  
Open Address ◽  
Marked Tendency

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of two trilogies written for a young adult readership: the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher (1967-8) and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (1995-2000). Both trilogies can be described as science fiction/fantasy Bildungsromans which centre on attempts by adults or surrogate adult figures to thwart the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood for their young protagonists. Contrary to what one might expect, the figurative language used in the texts which comprise the trilogies comes relatively high on Goatly's cline of 'metaphoricity' (Goatly, 1997: 11), partly because of the incorporation of an `open' address in Pullman's case and partly because of the wide-ranging intertextual allusions employed by both writers. In addition, I argue that in common with other dystopian architexts both trilogies exhibit a marked tendency to blur the boundaries between the metaphorical, the metonymic and the literal and, more specifically, that the `cognitive estrangement' intrinsic to the genre of sf leads readers to interpret metaphorically objects and processes that are literal in the world(s) of the text. Finally, I conclude with the view that both Christopher and Pullman offer empowering subject positions to their young protagonists and, by extension, to their young adult readers, with the clear aim of encouraging them to move beyond the circumscribed world of childhood inexperience.

Reenvisioning space, mobilities and public engagement with young adult literature

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Hamilton-McKenna ◽  
Theresa Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Spatial Analyses ◽  
Literature Instruction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Teachers And Students

Purpose In an era when engagement in public spaces and places is increasingly regulated and constrained, we argue for the use of literary analytic tools to enable younger generations to critically examine and reenvision everyday spatialities (Rogers, 2016; Rogers et al., 2015). The purpose of this paper is to consider how spatial analyses of contemporary young adult literature enrich interrogations of the spaces and places youth must navigate, and the consequences of participation for different bodies across those spheres. Design/methodology/approach In a graduate seminar of teachers and writers, we examined literary texts through a combined framework of feminist cultural geography, mobilities and critical mobilities studies. In this paper, we interweave our own spatial analyses of two selected works of young adult fiction with the reflections of our graduate student participants to explore our spatial framework and its potential to enhance critical approaches to literature instruction. Findings We argue that spatial literary analysis may equip teachers and students with tools to critically examine the spaces and places of everyday life and creatively reenvision what it means to be an engaged citizen in uncertain and troubling times. Originality/value While we have engaged in this work for several years, we found that in light of the global pandemic, coupled with the recent antiracist demonstrations, a spatial approach to literary study emerges as a potentially even more relevant and powerful component of literature instruction.

Young adult literature as a mirror of the society

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-175
Author(s):  
N. S. Zelezinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
Specific Problem ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Young Adult Novel ◽  
Special Children

The article discusses contemporary young adult and post-adolescent literatures, which respond to the modern world with its catastrophes and challenges in a more acute manner than fiction for adults. A new literary genre, the problem young adult novel needs a comprehensive literary analysis. The age bracket of the genre, which is still open for discussion, is examined by the author in detail. While young adult fiction has a different agenda from children’s literature, it often surpasses ‘grown-up’ books in terms of issues raised and their relevance, which is especially true for the problem young adult novel, typically centred on a specific problem of modern society and featuring a teenage protagonist fighting for his/her survival. The main themes of the genre include deadly diseases, trauma, adaptation of special children in the society, suicide, abuse, murder, drugs, terrorism, and others. Little discussed and often tabooed in class or at home, these topics are raised by young adult literature, while teenagers get a chance to examine them and relive their anxieties with protagonists.

Creating a ‘Masala’ Self: Bicultural Identity in Desi Young Adult Novels

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Superle
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Young People ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Small Body ◽  
The United States ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Bicultural Identity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Cultural Identity Development

In the past two decades, the previously silent voices of diasporic Indian writers for young people have emerged, and a small body of texts has begun to develop in the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the major preoccupations of these texts is cultural identity development, especially in the novels published for a young adult audience, which often feature protagonists in the throes of an identity crisis. For example, the novels The Roller Birds of Rampur (1991) by Indi Rana, Born Confused (2002) by Tanuja Desai Hidier, and The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (2005) by Mitali Perkins all focus on an adolescent girl coping with her bicultural identity with angst and confusion, and delineate the ways her self-concept and relationships are affected. The texts are empowering in their suggestion that young people have the agency to explore and create their own balanced bicultural identities, but like other young adult fiction, they ultimately situate adolescents within insurmountable institutional forces that are much more powerful than any individual.

Developing UK and Norwegian undergraduate students’ conceptions of personal social issues in young adult fiction through transnational reflective exchange

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Ghazal Kazim Syed ◽  
Amanda Naylor ◽  
Hege Emma Rimmereide ◽  
Zoltan Varga ◽  
Lykke Harmony Alara Guanio-Uluru
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Young Adult Fiction

Sources of flavoured e-cigarettes among California youth and young adults: associations with local flavoured tobacco sales restrictions

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2020-056455
Author(s):  
Shivani Mathur Gaiha ◽  
Lisa Henriksen ◽  
Bonnie Halpern-Felsher ◽  
Todd Rogers ◽  
Ashley L Feld ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Age Group ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tobacco Sales ◽  
Youth And Young Adults ◽  
Local Law ◽  
Online Sources

PurposeThis study compares access to flavoured JUUL and other e-cigarettes from retail, online and social sources among underage and young adult e-cigarette users who live in California jurisdictions that restrict sales of flavoured tobacco with the rest of the state.MethodsAn online survey used social media advertisements to recruit participants (n=3075, ages 15–29) who lived in one of nine jurisdictions that restrict sales (n=1539) or in the rest of state, and oversampled flavoured tobacco users. Focusing on past-month e-cigarette users (n=908), multilevel models tested whether access to flavoured JUUL and other e-cigarettes from retail, online and social sources differed by local law (yes/no) and age group (15–20 or older), controlling for other individual characteristics.ResultsThe percent of underage users who obtained flavoured JUUL and other e-cigarettes in the past month was 33.6% and 31.2% from retail, 11.6% and 12.7% online, and 76.0% and 70.9% from social sources, respectively. Compared with underage and young adult users in the rest of California, those in localities that restrict the sales of flavoured tobacco were less likely to obtain flavoured JUUL from retail sources (Adjusted OR=0.54, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.80), but more likely to obtain it from social sources (Adjusted OR=1.55, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.35). The same pattern was observed for other brands of flavoured e-cigarettes.ConclusionAlthough local laws may reduce access to flavoured e-cigarettes from retail sources, more comprehensive state or federal restrictions are recommended to close the loopholes for online sources. Dedicated efforts to curtail access from social sources are needed.

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