Representations of Gender in Young Adult Literature, 1960-2010
A Dissertation Presented
by
Mária I. Cipriani
to
The Graduate School
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements
for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Comparative Literature
Stony Brook University
May 2014
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Copyright by
Mária I. Cipriani
2014
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Abstract of the Dissertation
Representations of Gender in Young Adult (YA) Literature, 1960-2010
by
Mária I. Cipriani
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Comparative Literature
Stony Brook University
2014
This dissertation focuses the lens of queer studies and trauma studies on YA literature published in the United States between 1960 and 2010 to demonstrate that authors embed cultural messages in YA texts. Those messages for YA readers intend to model behavior considered appropriate and teach about normative sex and gender roles. Individuals between the ages of 10 and 20 comprise YA readership, and the means of teaching these readers cultural norms include imagery and cautionary tales. The content of the literature inculcates views of acceptable behaviors with respect to sexuality and gender roles and generally conflates sex and gender. The ways in which queer characters are treated constitutes an aspect of the normative behavior presented to YA readers.
This dissertation begins with a close textual analysis of selected YA novels pairing a novel written between 1960 and 1985 with one written in the twenty-five years after 1985 in four categories—normativity, androgyny, gender ambiguity, and gender fluidity. Its overall purpose is to reveal normative messages, to determine whether cultural definitions of sex and gender roles have changed over time, and to demonstrate the rewards that characters who conform to the norms receive for their conformity. Once the norms and recognizable patterns are established, the dissertation considers the literary treatment of characters who transgress the norms and demonstrates the applicability of trauma studies to YA novels' messages about sexuality and gender roles. In addition, the dissertation illustrates that as the culture's conceptualization of trauma has developed, depictions of painful events and their effects, whether or not considered traumatic at the time of their writing, are in alignment with current understandings of trauma. Although only YA novels are considered in this dissertation, the sociohistorical examination of the cultural models provides a way to determine the underlying messages imparted to YA readers in all media.
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Dedication Page
I dedicate this dissertation to my partner, Joan Woodbridge, who read through many drafts, commented and questioned to keep me thinking, and whose unfaltering enthusiasm and interest from the first day to the last got me started and kept me going.
I also dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Frank and Judith Cipriani, without whose support and encouragement it would not have been completed.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge with gratitude Dr. Ruth (Sue) Bottigheimer, without whose many hours of time and seemingly boundless energy I would not have known how to begin, much less find a way to complete, this dissertation. My learning process with her has helped me to become a better thinker and writer, and I now have the best example of an effective mentor that I could hope to have. In addition, the level of care and painstaking attention to the details of my project, while she was in the midst of her own, is something that I have been aware of throughout this process, and for which I continue to be grateful.
I would like to acknowledge the other members of my Committee: Dr. Ann Kaplan, Dr. E.K. Tan, and my outside reader Dr. J. Jack Halberstam, for their discerning insights and direction.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank Joan Woodbridge, Dr. Jane Tainow Feder, and Sarah Paruolo for their thorough readings and their careful comments and suggestions which helped me to complete this dissertation; and Bonnie Thivierge, whose enthusiasm for literature, young adults, and teaching have a positive impact on me every day.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Histories, Methods, and Assumptions for the Study of Young Adult Literature and Gender Representation ................................................................ 1
Chapter 2: The Outsiders and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
Normativity in YA Literature..................................................................................44
Chapter 3: Jade, Middlesex, Harriet the Spy, and What Happened to Lani Garver:
Gender Ambiguity, Androgyny, and Gender Variants in YA Texts..........................74
Chapter 4: The Left Hand of Darkness and Nearly Roadkill:
Genderqueer Characters and Gender Fluidity....................................................116
Chapter 5: Trauma in Queer-Themed YA Novels................................................151
Appendix 1: Bem Sex-Role Inventory Characteristics........................................
Appendix 2: Gender Ambiguity and Androgyny in Cover art..............................
Appendix 3: DSM-V Criteria for PTSD..................................................................
Bibliography--Children's Literature