The involvement of social issues in young adult literature is no red flag to modern day society. New Realism, which first occurred around the 1960’s-1970, lead to the evolution of the appropriateness of social issues in the young adult literature genre. (Robinson) In Francesca Lia Block's Wolf, the author addresses the taboos of sexual violence and abuse in the home, and pairs this with the idea of female self-empowerment, and the age appropriateness of young adult literature for young adults.
In Francesca Lia Block's Wolf, the young, nameless protagonists, and heroine, runs away to her Grandmothers’ house after being repeatedly sexually assaulted by her Mothers’ boyfriend. "They don't believe me. They think I'm crazy. But let me tell you something it be a wicked wicked world out there if you didn't already know." (Block 40-45) From the first sentence and thereafter, the reader can infer through the thoughts, actions, and motivations of the protagonists, that something is not right. She does not come from a nuclear family, nor is she the 'Little Red' that we have come to expect. Her abuses, are no longer held under the daintily cloaked impressions of a lost little girl in a red cloak, they are explicitly stated. "I started screaming how he raped me for years..." (Block 40-45) The protagonists sees running away as her only solace, and even that is not guaranteed; as her abuse has happened for so long, she fears that it will forever haunt her as a "...red flag." (Block 40-45) An example of this is found with the boy she encounters on the bus, while running towards her Grandmother’ house; "I am freaked that if I get close to a boy he will somehow find out what happened to me-like it's a scar he'll see or smell o...
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...n the home, and the detrimental aspects of both of these. Through the protagonists’ plight, of self-empowerment, and finally the enactment of revenge on her attacker, Wolf, sheds light on the age appropriateness of this so called young adult story for the young adult literature genre. While this story has many of the characteristics of a piece of young adult literature, the content themes could be considered adult in aspect.
Works Cited
Block, Francesca Lia. WOLF. Concise. Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press, 2011. 40-45. Print.
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Donnelson, K.L. and Nilsen, A. P. (1997). Literature for Today's Young Adults. New York: Longman.
Robinson, Elizabeth. "Francesca Lia Blocks’ Wolf and Ronald Dahl." Class Meeting. Harrington 205, College Station. 28 01 2014. Lecture.
New York: Delacorte, 2001. Print. The. Pendergast, Tom, "Gary Paulsen." St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers.
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
To begin with, portrayals of death and violence in young adult literature provide essential information to
of the book. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. Fitzgerald, F. Scott.
Coming-of-age stories commonly record the transitions—sometimes abrupt, or even violent—from youth to maturity, from innocence to experience of its protagonist, whether male or female. Greasy Lake by T.Coraghessan Boyle and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates are great examples of traditional coming-of-age stories. The roots of the coming-of-age narrative theme are tracked in the male protagonist’s perspective for Boyle’s short story, while the Oates’ story captures the coming-of-age theme from Connie; a female protagonist’s perspective. In both short stories, the authors fulfill the expectations of a coming-of-age genre when they take us through the journey of rebellion and self realization, as the
Throughout history, society has been used as a means of inspiration for writers of all genres. More often then not, writers do not shine a light on the positive aspects of society, they chose to focus on the decline of the modern world. For a writer to truly capture this societal decline, they must be brave enough to accept it. For one writer in particular, her passion and style are what fuel her to create masterpieces of literature centered on that very topic. With her ability to focus on modern American society with topics such as rape, child abuse and murder, Joyce Carol Oates’s novels have been able to capture the sometimes cruel reality of American life in an unorthodox way.
With a heart-full of advice and wisdom, Dinah maturates from a simple- minded young girl to a valiant independent individual. “For a moment I weighed the idea of keeping my secret and remaining a girl, the thought passes quickly. I could only be what I was. And that was a woman” (170). This act of puberty is not only her initiation into womanhood but the red tent as well. She is no longer just an observer of stories, she is one of them, part of their community now. On account of this event, Dinah’s sensuality begins to blossom and she is able to conceive the notion of true love.
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.
Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing. 1st ed. revised. Three Rivers Press: New York, New
The idea of literature being an important aspect of life has always been greatly prevalent in my upbringing. This notion that I supported was spurred on at the cause of my obstinate parents insisting upon my reading of two books a week to benefit my vocabulary and to develop the articulate thought process of a skilled reader. As a young child, my biggest influences were my parents’ passionate and persuasive ideas regarding the correlation between
In her story, Boys and Girls, Alice Munro depicts the hardships and successes of the rite of passage into adulthood through her portrayal of a young narrator and her brother. Through the narrator, the subject of the profound unfairness of sex-role stereotyping, and the effect this has on the rites of passage into adulthood is presented. The protagonist in Munro's story, unidentified by a name, goes through an extreme and radical initiation into adulthood, similar to that of her younger brother. Munro proposes that gender stereotyping, relationships, and a loss of innocence play an extreme, and often-controversial role in the growing and passing into adulthood for many young children. Initiation, or the rite of passage into adulthood, is, according to the theme of Munro’s story, both a mandatory and necessary experience.
Salyers, Fran, and Carol McKee. "The Young Adolescent Learner." Www.learner.org, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.