English 485: Expedition Adolescence

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a controversial yet important novel for adolescents to read.  In light of the controversy surrounding the Netflix adaptation of the novel, Thirteen Reasons Why has initiated global discussions regarding teenage depression, suicide, and bullying.  However, the Netflix series drew a great amount of criticism due to the sensitive subject matter.  For me, though, the Netflix adaptation could not have come at a better time.  The first episode of the series aired just one month after one of my classmates committed suicide.  It came as a massive shock to everyone who knew him.  He was funny, sweet, and he always seemed cheerful in our shared German class.  He was an actor, playing parts in many theatre productions, but he used those skills to hide his struggle with depression.  None of us saw the signs, and when Thirteen Reasons Why came out, it initiated a conversation that helped my friends and I who were struggli...

Thirteen Reasons Why is the story of Clay Jensen, who is one of the final recipients of a set of tapes made by a classmate who committed suicide, Hannah Baker. Throughout the day or so time it takes Clay to listen to all of the tapes, he finds out new tidbits and events that happened to Hannah during her time at their high school, which ultimately led to her demise. This was my second time reading this book, and this time I skimmed (because not only have I read the book, but I've also seen both seasons of the Netflix adaption of the book, and this time I read with the differences between cinematic version versus original copy in mind. The biggest, and most criticized difference between the book and the show is the way Hannah kills herself, where the text says she "took a handful of sleeping pills" () but the last scene in the Netflix series shows Hannah slicing open her arm. I would assume that when Jay Asher wrote the novel back in the early 2000s that suicide wasn'...

When I first began to watch the Netflix series  13 Reasons Why,  I had no idea that there was a book out until my peers around me informed me. My overall reaction to the book was that it was a good story and one that needed to be told. What I liked about the book was that a few of the scenes, characters, and situations in the book were different from the TV show. One of the main things that stood out to me that was so different in the book compared to the show was the way that Hannah killed herself. In the show she slits her wrist and dies in the bathtub surrounded by all her blood compared to the book where she takes a numerous amount of sleeping pills in order to kill herself. My question to the author would be “Why do you think Netflix displayed different scenes and personalities in the show compared to the book?”. There is no doubt in my mind that Jay Asher displayed the life of adolescents perfectly. In high school you have to deal with overly aggressive boys, rumors, te...

I have to say first that I have never watched the Netflix series of this novel, and that was done so very intentionally. It is not easy for me to so readily emerge myself into content this deep and emotional if I can help it. Apart from my bias of not particularly enjoying this topic of reading I thought that the novel was written very well. The author was clever in her style and craft and I think it made it extremely effective. One way she did that, that stood out to me was her differentiation between Hannah and Clay's voice. Using italics to specify Hannah's voice was a smart move because the fact that Hannah has commentary within her own stories, it would be very confusing to follow. Besides, in the Spanish language, it uses italics to specify quotations all the time, not quotation marks.  As far as the flow of the story is concerned, I felt Asher knew what she was doing. The story flowed and never seemed like it was too much for me to take. Having Clay's thoughts and s...

      In the beginning, I was a little hesitant to read Thirteen Reasons Why . I purposely did not watch the Netflix series because of the content matter. While I was reading the book I realized that it was not as bad as I thought. I was feeling odd while reading what her tapes entailed but, this book is not what the Netflix series has stirred up in pop culture. Additionally, I love the language that Jay Asher uses in his novel. When Hannah is speaking and describing how she has felt in some of the reasons why she completed suicide, I can relate to those emotions in some ways. The quote that stuck out to me the when has dealings with Zach and Marcus. She begins, " I pretended not to notice him. Not because I had anything against him, but because my heart and my trust were in the process of collapsing. And that collapse created a vacuum in my chest. Like every nerve in my body was withering in...(85)." I can recall two boys whom I can pinpoint have made me feel the w...

Suicide is a tough subject no matter what the age group that's it's targeted towards. I think 13 Reasons Why  is an effective look at the effect that suicide can have on your peers. Personally, I have trouble connecting with this book because I feel that Clay and Hannah are not reliable narrators and often have conflicting interests. The most important part of this novel is explaining how the events slowly lead Hannah to her final decision and how much social image can have an impact on an adolescent. I think that this would be a difficult book to teach because there isn't an age that suddenly makes this book less shocking and horrific making it difficult recommend to a teenager. Suicide is a difficult subject to teach because most adolescent novels contain the idea of dealing with death and how to come to terms with it. I think the part where Clay listens to the final tape leaves a lasting impact on the reader simply to the raw emotion that comes through the page. This s...

I think Asher was pretty accurate when it comes to his portrayal of adolescence. Rumors happen in every high school. In my experience, I can remember being part of the group that spread rumors but also on the end that rumors were made about. When you are young and naive, you don't realize the impact rumors can actually have on people's confidence and perception of themselves. I know for me personally, the rumor that was made about me made me angry and affected how I acted around certain people. Asher portrays the rumors as lighthearted, particularly with the list that Alex Standall made. This is how most of the gossip in high schools are in my opinion. People think they are just jokes and don't have much impact, but Asher shows just how impactful they can be. The first rumor that Justin Foley helped spread changed the way people saw Hannah. Slut shaming is a problem because of the hypocrisy that it entails. The jocks applauded Justin for supposedly having sex with Hannah,...

      Especially in the wake of the Netflix series, 13 Reasons Why  is an important novel for adolescents or anybody who's been in Hannah's situation before.  One of the striking parts of Hannah's struggle is the fact that there's never one specific incident that makes someone suicidal, "It's one thing on top of another...It's too hard (273)."  Certainly, anybody has last resorts when they feel like Hannah does, but it's important to understand the suicide and depression are processes rather than events.      Another part of the book that I found interesting was the fact that Clay seems very resistant towards Hannah's story.  He's constantly arguing with her, saying things as simple as "Yes, I've noticed it, Hannah (199)," about a classmate's habits, to "No.  You hid it.  You never told me what it was, Hannah (215)" when she discusses her struggles with depression.  Although these serve to characterize Clay and ...

For my final research paper, I plan on examining the role of sexual violence towards children and adolescents in the development of mental health disorders during a particularly vulnerable time of life.   I also want to consider where our society fails in helping bring abusers to justice, and what measures can be taken to prevent this.   I am very passionate about fighting against violence towards marginalized groups, and this past semester I have read a large number of texts between my Women and Gender Studies class and my Adolescent Literature class that have further increased my passion regarding the subject. I plan on examining the sexual violence faced by adolescents, particularly in the novels Speak , Sold , Crank , Thirteen Reasons Why , and We are the Ants .   In addition to these novels, I have acquired a large number of factual, nonfiction sources regarding the subject matter through my Women and Gender Studies class.   There are a shockingly large num...

Crank by Ellen Hopkins was another novel that was very difficult for me to complete, but that I feel is a very necessary work to read.   I greatly enjoyed Hopkins’ writing style, and the artistry involved in the structure of the poems astounded me.   However, the topic matter was once again very challenging, and I grew very frustrated with Kristina while reading the novel.   I do believe that Crank has a very important message to convey to adolescents, but the subject matter is very challenging, and the topic could be potentially damaging for adolescents who are survivors of drug addiction or rape.   Because of this, Crank is a novel that must be taught very carefully. What I found perhaps the most troubling was the lack of intervention by Kristina’s parents when they suspected that their daughter was in danger.   Like in many of the adolescent literature novels we’ve read this semester, the parental roles depicted in Crank left a great deal to be desir...

For my final paper I am going to discuss how young adult literature tends to focus on and sometime seven glorify the troubled teen. It has been my experience that literature for young adults tends to primarily portray protagonists who are struggling with a particular "thing." I believe that this leads the young readers to feel like they are only special and worth talking about if they have some sort of defining attribute that makes them worth while. For example, in Speak the main protagonist is a girl who was raped and therefore the whole novel has to do with her finding the will power to speak up. In Curious Incident , the protagonist focusses on a boy with autism who struggles to make sense of the world, and in 13 Reasons Why we focussed on a girl who describes in detail all of the reasons why she decides to commit suicide. The main questions that I will be addressing are "why do we feel like it is of utmost importance to discuss such hard and depressing matters to ...

For my final research paper, I am going to look at the role of parents in adolescent novels. My research question is, "How does the teen-parent relationship affect the main character's ambition in adolescent novels?". I want to look at how the actions, or inactivity, among parents affects the characters in Part-Time Indian, Speak, Curious Incident, The Hate U Give, and 13 Reasons Why. I already know that teen-parent relationships can play a big role in adolescent development. I'm interested to read some academic journal articles on that topic and then see how those relationships are depicted in the above texts. I chose this topic because it feels evident that authors are trying to say something about parental support in various novels. Parents seem too busy to notice what is going on in their child's lives. I think this is true in all the above novels, except The Hate U Give. The parents are very supportive in that book, so I wanted to use it to show how differe...

For my research paper and presentation, I am choosing the topic of isolation and loneliness in adolescence. I already know that loneliness in adolescence can shape a child's character for the rest of their lives. I selected my topic because I have experienced loneliness in my childhood. I can relate to the lonely protagonists we have read about this semester. This topic relates to  House on Mango Street , Speak, Feed  and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. I plan on using these books in my research as well as academic sources from one of the library's databases. My argument for this topic is that a certain length of time of being lonely in an adolescents life is beneficial and not detrimental in the long run. My essential research question is "Does this time of being alone increase creativity and intellect?" Some of my focus questions are: 1. Does it hurt more for an adolescent to be rejected by family or peers? 2. What is unique about being alone? ...

The topic I chose to go with for this research paper is how culture and race is used within adolescent literature. I think that this is such an important topic to talk about because many ethnic groups have come so far and have such an important story to tell.  Essential Question: How do certain beliefs or values influence the way an author tells a story through writing? Focus Questions: 1. How does our culture shape who we are as humans? 2. How can certain beliefs or views effect our society? 3. How can certain protests or movements impact society? 4. Are certain organizations and movements making progress towards what they are trying to achieve? 5. How do we first develop our values and beliefs? This topic of culture and how it reflects within our lives and writing is something that I chose to write about because it is a necessity in our world today. I think that is an important topic for adolescents to read and discuss on because it may help them navigate...

How does suicide in adolescents affect their peers?  Focus Questions: 1. How does it affects one's family and peers 2. What role does the increase of advanced technology and cyber bullying play on the rate of teen suicides? 3. Does suicide of another classmate affect the other students of the school and in what ways? 4. What legal actions typically occur after a suicide 5. What changes occur to a schools policies or curriculum take place after a student's suicide? I have selected this topic because of the increased rate of which we hear about teen suicides; whether we have heard about them on the news or seen them in other media. How does this affect the other students that went to the same school as the suicide victim and what other issues could it potentially lead to? I plan on using both Looking for Alaska  and 13 Reasons Why  as books for related topics. I plan on using case studies of students that have recently had a suicide in their student body and how th...

     For my Critical Research Project, I have chosen to analyze the role and portrayal of adults and educators in adolescent literature.  My Essential Research Question is as follows:  How are adults and educators portrayed in adolescent literature, and how does this portrayal compare and contrast to reality and the adolescent experience?      Focus Questions: Is the portrayal generally positive or negative? What trends emerge under analysis? How true are these trends to reality? How reliable are adolescent narrators? How might this portrayal influence adolescents? How might this portrayal influence adults and educators? Are there reasons for any trends that emerge?      I know that, in general, adults are typically portrayed as cruel incompetent, or simply ignorant.  Some novels present them as meaning well, but it is rare that they ever know what is truly happening in the story.  I selected this topic becaus...

     When reading Crank , one of the most striking parts I found was how it gets you in the head of somebody who starts completely rational, then falls down the path of drug use and addiction.  I think it's helpful to have Kristina start as somebody who's perfectly normal, aside from familial and identity problems, because it shows how the smallest thing can lead to a downward spiral.  She shows how addicts rationalize their lifestyle by the very first poem, saying that "Life was good / before I / met / the monster. / After, / life / was great. / At / least/ for a little while (1)."  Although her drug use starts from trying to get closer to her father in any way she can, and eventually trying to get closer to Adam, I think an important part of her addiction is her "alter ego" of Bree.  Bree is part of Kristina even before the meth, her impulsive side that she lets take over when she feels mismatched to a situation.  This quality shows how drug add...

I initially read this book over the summer when the required book list for each class was registered. Upon seeing it, I thought, "Dear God, this is an entire tree." Hoping to get a long read out of the way, I began reading, only to find out that it was going to be one of the quickest reads of my life. Crank is full of free verse poems that tell the story of Kristina/Bree and her rollercoaster ride with the monster, meth. Although most wouldn't like it too much, I love the structure of some of the poems, like Flirting' With the Monster or the chapter about the tattoo. Based on the reader's interpretation, you can read certain poems in different ways that correlate to either Kristina or Bree. Also, I love how you can read Kristina/Bree's stream of consciousness alongside another character's dialogue or her own dialogue. This shows readers the character dynamic and development of Bree/Kristina as she forms her addiction and dependency towards meth. Before e...

Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a novel filled with strong messages about the problem of drug abuse. I think she does this in an extremely effective way with her use of literary styles. Every "chapter" and story is written like a poem in verse allowing it to flow in an "easy to read" fashion. Furthermore, the majority of these poems are structured in a away in which there two messages being told, often they relate one another and sometimes they don't. In addition to this, those double-meaning poems are often shaped on the page in the form of an image that reflects the essence of that poem, for example, a house or a cross. The complexity of this writing goes such a long way for reaching a broad audience. Even reluctant readers will be interested in this novel due to the intriguing designs in which the words are strategically placed on the page. In addition, having the novel written in verse makes the read go much faster giving the reader a higher sense of accomplishme...

Crank follows the story of a young girl that becomes addicted to drugs while visiting her father and when she comes back home she is having to deal with her addiction. I think this is both a good novel to teach students and a bad one. One one side, the novel is written in verse which could be helpful in getting students to be more open minded towards reading and writing poetry. But on the downside, this book deals with many complicated subjects ranging from sexual frustrations and parental issues to hard drug addiction and rape. This is one of those novels that could potentially 'trigger' someone is the worse kind of way. While I think this book would be difficult to teach, I think that exposing the harm that drugs can inflict on one's life could help turn many students away from them.  I think that one issue that is prominent is Kristina's life is the complicated relationships she develops with male characters throughout the novel. First, she goes to visit her fathe...

I did not personally enjoy reading Crank. While it was a quick read, I found the structure hard to get through. Overall I think it is a meaningful text and one that is worthy of consideration for teaching in a high school classroom. The most interesting aspect of this book to me was how Kristina's life spirals out of control because of her search to fit in. A lack of resources and support around her is what ultimately takes her life from the right track to completely off the tracks. I could be naive about it, but I do not feel that meth is a big issue among adolescents. I think it's a problem that reaches the adult population more, but I do think there are parallels between drug use and young adult readers. I feel that drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and pain pills are the ones that impact teens more, so I wonder why the author chose to use meth in this story. I agree with her portrayal of drug use, but I didn't feel that meth was the best drug choice to use for a young...

     The monster is first presented to the audience on the first page. It is represented opposingly as a monster in the common term that would be described today. Monsters to the reader before reading Crank are scary figures or even items that haunt an individual. As for Kristina, the monster in her life is a drug. She mentions it in the poem titled "Flirtin' with the Monster," "Life was good before I met the monster. After that, life was great. At least for a little while (1)." Kristina, as well as the monster, is being introduced naively to the audience. We do not have any insight into what is going to happen nor do we know what the monster explicitly is until further reading into Crank . Kristina gives her drug of choice the generic name of 'monster' because she knows it is terrible for her but, that is the best name she can give it without possibly admitting she is in the process of becoming a drug addict.      Further, into the book, we see that t...

I went into reading Feed with the exact intentions I have every time I try reading a science fiction text: ugh. "Ugh" is exactly how I felt while trudging through this novel. I did, however find a few points in the text of interest personally. The language that the characters used caught my attention early on in the text. Written in the early 2000s about the future, words like "meg" were used in almost every paragraph of the text. Anderson's idea of futuristic talk in the text was not exact, but is pretty close to how speech is changing, even today. We are shortening words to shorten conversation even over ten years after this book was written. The characters in this text have shortened conversations to become a mere thought that travels through their Feed. Another topic of interest in this text was how reliable these kids were to the technology in their mind. On page ___ when the kids are in the hospital after being hacked, they are bored out of their minds and...

      Feed  was another novel that I went into reading feeling fairly hesitant.  From the synopsis, I was worried that it would be about the author's lack of understanding about technology that makes progress into some kind of boogeyman.  I was pleased to find that this wasn't the case, especially considering the role of advertising in the story.  I think this was a very smart choice, and although advertising is certainly prevalent in lots of science fiction, I feel like it's not discussed much in the YA field of sci-fi.  Because we're surrounded by so many ads every single day, it's easy to forget just how many there are.  I really enjoyed the stylistic choice to put "commercial breaks" after every few chapters to show how integrated the feed is with Titus' life, and I think it helps reinforce the parallel experience.  The way the ads are phrased also really helps to hammer home how inane society has gotten, such as "It's dance.  I...