"Jem told me I was being a girl, that girls always imagined things" : female narrative voice and the young adult literary canon, 2018

Item — Call Number: MU Thesis Whi

Identifier: b7877197

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection consists of theses written by students enrolled in the Monmouth University graduate English program. The holdings are primarily bound print documents that were submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees.

From the Collection:

Students become eligible to pursue the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree if they have obtained a Master of Arts (M.A.) in English from Monmouth University and demonstrate a proficiency for creative writing through a thesis or equivalent work.

From the Collection:

After completing their 30-credit M.A. in English with a Creative Writing concentration, Monmouth’s M.F.A. students take an additional 18 credits of intensive creative writing study that includes the completion of a book-length Creative Thesis.

From the Collection:

During the fall 2022 semester (in instances where the requisite waivers were received from consenting student authors), the Monmouth University Library, together with the University's Graduate School and Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences, began providing open access to select full-text digital versions of current theses and dissertations through links to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global website in the Library's Online Public Access Catalog. Links to these open access digital publications can also be found in the "External Documents" section under any conforming titles that are listed among the holdings itemized in the collection inventory for this finding aid.

Dates

Creation: 2018

Creator

White, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Ann) (1993- ) (Author, Person)
Bluemel, Kristin, 1964- (Thesis advisor, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Access is by appointment only.

Access to the collection is confined to the Monmouth University Library and is subject to patron policies approved by the Monmouth University Library.

Collection holdings may not be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

Research appointments are scheduled by the Monmouth University Library Archives Collections Manager (723-923-4526). A minimum of three days advance notice is required to arrange a research appointment for access to the collection.

Patrons must complete a Researcher Registration Form and provide appropriate identification to gain access to the collection holdings. Copies of these documents will be kept on file at the Monmouth University Library.

Extent

1 Items (print book) : 39 pages ; 8.5 x 11.0 inches (28 cm).

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Introduction [excerpt]

The use of the first person in narrative fiction indicates agency -- meaning that the character is free to tell their story in the form that they would like. This is what makes this form of storytelling unique; it presents an intimacy with characters that third-person does not often give. Novels that are geared towards young adults and children do not give female characters this form of narrative agency. Either the male protagonist serves as narrator, or the novel is told from the third-person point-of-view, removing the appearance of agency from any of the characters. Since its publication in 1960, Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird had defied this trend, the narrator of the novel being a young woman looking back on her childhood. Not only is Lee's novel noteworthy for its call for empathy and equality in the world, but this novel is one of the few instances in which the female narrating voice has broken through to become an influential part of of [sic] American young adult literary history. On the other hand, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most widely recognized YAL novels in the first person. While both of these novels are identified as classics of American children's literature and both follow the structure of what is now known as a typical YA novel (very similar to that of a bildungsroman), they are esteemed differently. Through these texts, I intend to investigate the distinction between "classic" novels and "popular" novels and determine how the gender of the narrator of the novel influences the distinction between the two. In today's society, both women and men are given agency and choice and it is the responsibility of educators to expose their students to art and literature that reflects this societal truth. The purpose of this paper is to challenge the value system that dominates literary culture and explore how gender plays an intrinsic role in the construction of this value system. It also examines, with skepticism, how scholars, professors, and teachers choose which works are considered "classic" literature worthy of study and therefore "canonical."