Understanding Young Adult Literature and Identity Formation
Young Adult literature caters to readers aged 12-18, exploring themes of adolescence, individuation, and identity formation. This genre faces challenges due to evolving definitions and adult readership. Characters navigate the journey of self-discovery, integrating self and community while examining power dynamics and identity construction. Key to YA literature is the exploration of individuation and the development of a lasting sense of self.
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Every Day and Young Adult Literature Kent Baxter
What is Young Adult (YA) literature? By young adult literature, we mean anything that readers between the approximate ages of 12 and 18 choose to read (as opposed to what they may be coerced to read for class assignments). (Donelson and Nilsen, Literature for Today s Young Adults)
Problems with definition: 1. The segregation of publishing a 20th century phenomena. YA section/category popularized in 1960s. 2. Young Adult novels written by adults. 3. Many books sold as YA read by adults. 55% of YA books purchased in 2012 were bought by adults between 18 and 44 years old, according to Bowker Market Research Study. 4. Many books now categorized as YA (or considered classics in the genre) were originally published for adults.
Contexts for Every Day: 1. The Coming of Age Story 2. The Bildungsroman ( novel of formation ) 3. The Postmodern Novel of Adolescence
General characteristics of literature about adolescence: 1. Protagonist is youth/adolescent/teen 2. Plot follows individual development/integration of self and community 3. Physical/mental journey entails separation from childhood 4. Knowledge of power relations and identity construction
Individuation and identity formation: A pervasive sense of identity brings into gradual accord the variety of changing self-images that have been experienced during childhood [ ] and the role opportunities offering themselves to young persons for selection and commitment. [ ] [A] lasting sense of self cannot exist without a continuous experience of a conscious I, which is the numinous center of existence. (Erik Erikson, The Life Cycle Completed)
Individuation and identity formation in Every Day: 1. Every day, A is forced to find the context that identifies the person inhabited. So the plot itself is based upon the notion that identity is contextual, which facilitates an examination of what constitutes identity. I wake up. Immediately I have to figure out who I am. It s not just the body [ ] It s the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp (1). In my experience, desire is desire, love is love. I have never fallen in love with a gender. I have fallen for individuals. I know this is hard for people to do, but I don t understand why it s so hard, when it s so obvious (142).
Individuation and identity formation in Every Day: 2. If there is a coming of age in this text, central to it is when A falls in love. A s attempt to connect with Rhiannon is the foundation for the identity A develops outside of the bodies inhabited every day. So it is the connection with community that facilitates the individuation, because community is central to the development of self identity. I am learning that a life isn t real unless someone else knows its reality. And I want my life to be real (91). If you want to live within the definition of your own truth, you have to choose to go through the initially painful and ultimately comforting process of finding it (253). Every person is a possibility. The hopeless romantics feel it most acutely, but even for others, the only way to keep going is to see every person as a possibility (309).
