Research Proposal

By -
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 different the representations are between the books.

I plan to look at academic journal articles about adolescent development and how parent relationships can play a role. I have an article about alcoholism that I think connects to Part-Time Indian. Another article I plan on reading is one from the New York Times that talks about how parents are represented in teen novels in different decades. It signals that there has been a change in the way authors represent parents, so I am interested in looking for that. I'm most worried that I won't find articles that are specific enough to the point I am trying to make. I feel the most challenging part will be narrowing my focus from the broad topic and trying to make a specific argument. I plan to argue that a lack of involvement from parents can lead to negative effects of development in teens. I also want to argue that representations of parents in young adult novels are slightly exaggerated but also pretty realistic. My argument may change depending on what I find throughout my sources.

 Some of my focus questions are:
-What effects can communication have on the teen-parent relationship?
-Is the amount of support given by parents depicted realistically in adolescent novels?
-How have the illustrations of parents in adolescent novels changed over time? Is it becoming more realistic or more far-fetched?
-How often do parents seem involved in their child's lives, as shown in adolescent novels?
-What other factors (alcoholism, divorce, etc.) can have an impact on the teen-parent relationship?
-Is the character's ambition directly affected by the level of support from the parent?



Comments

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