Research Proposal-- Victoria

By -
For my research paper, I am leaning towards the topic of bullying and how it is reflected in YA literature. I chose this topic because it is an issue that has always been present in society, and is only recently coming to the light. I think that it is important to emphasize the impact that bullying has on kids, and the roles that authority figures play when it happens.

Some questions that will drive my topic are:

1. Why does bullying occur? Is it age sensitive? Or can it be a various range of ages.

2. Are there resources truly available for the victims of bullying?

3. Is there a way to prevent bullying? Is there a way to be totally proactive against it?

4. How (generally) do we handle the bullies? How do we help the victims in school settings?

5. As a figure of authority in education, what is the response to bullying? Which is the best stance? Can it be too involved? Can one be not involved enough?

6. What are the repercussions for bullies? Are they substantial? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?

7. What are the results/effects of bullying? Long term and short term? Are any of these curable or able to be alleviated and resolved efficiently?

8. How can we prevent bullying from happening in the future? As a school, how can they dissolve the issue?



I think I'm going to pull from several different books.

The Absolute Diary of a Part Time Indian- as the main character, Arnold, is bullied. Discuss the parental role's in the book in bullying, discussing the teacher's reactions (or lack there of), how it impacted Arnold.

Speak- I will focus on parental, school involvement, peer involvement, and the impact it had on her as well.


Comments

  1. EduFitNovember 27, 2017 at 8:08 AM

    I really like this topic, Victoria. It is very relevant still today and we read about it a lot in our adolescent literature books. You could also incorporate cyber bullying and the effects that bullying has on adolescents. Great topic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 27, 2017 at 8:10 AM

    I like your topic, and I think that your questions are great in addressing the causes of bullying. I wonder if there is a way for you to incorporate the effects that bullying has on those being bullied. I imagine that a lot of the textual evidence from the books would really show what happens when someone is bullied. Also, I think your first research question is interesting. I hadn't really thought about bullying being exclusive to a particular age group. I wonder if bullying progresses, for both the bully and the victim, as they get older?

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 27, 2017 at 8:14 AM

    I also believe that this is a topic that needs to be talked about even more. Although we have more awareness, we need more solutions. I love how your questions kind of map out how your paper is going work. 13 Reasons Why is another book that deals with bulling, but if you are going for more of a close reading of the two books than you picked the right ones! Gook luck on your paper!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more