Trites Begins With a Definition of the YA Novel - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 27
About This Presentation
Title:

Trites Begins With a Definition of the YA Novel

Description:

Trites Begins With a Definition of the YA Novel Growth is defined by how well a protagonist understands the power relationships that define his/her life. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:55
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 28
Provided by: bookcandy
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Trites Begins With a Definition of the YA Novel


1
Trites Begins With a Definition of the YA Novel
  • Growth is defined by how well a protagonist
    understands the power relationships that define
    his/her life.
  • Characters learn how to deal with institutional
    power that resides in schools, government,
    religion, family, etc.

2
Adolescent Lit vs. Childrens Lit
  • Childrens literature often affirms the childs
    sense of Self and her or his personal power (3).
  • in the adolescent novel, protagonists must
    learn about the social forces that have made them
    what they are (3).

3
Webers (1864-1920) Definition of Power
  • Power is the possibility of imposing ones will
    upon the behavior of other persons which can
    emerge in the most diverse forms (4).

4
Althussers (1918-1990) Definition of Power
  • Althusser builds upon Webers definition by
    specifying exactly HOW power works within
    society.
  • He notes that in the modern world,
    super-structures such as governments and
    corporations use ideology to maintain control
    over populations. Thats why he calls such
    institutions Ideological State Apparatuses.
  • In fact, Althusser and others have pointed out
    that ISAs view their basic mission as the
    maintenance of their own existence. It takes a
    HUGE blunder to make people want to tear down an
    ISA.

5
Foucaults (1926-1984) Definition of Power
  • Foucault refined Althussers ideas by arguing
    that there were really two basic types of power
    relationships, the contract-opposition schema
    and the domination-repression schema.
  • Schema is another word for model.

6
The Contract-Oppression Model
  • This model suggests that all people hold a
    certain degree of power that they voluntarily
    give up in exchange for the benefits of living in
    a structured society.
  • For instance, Im willing to accept that I have
    to follow the speed limit and pay my taxes. In
    exchange, the government assures that almost
    everyone follows the speed limit and that roads
    are well-paved. Because the government is
    meeting my infrastructure needs and is insuring
    that I have a relatively decent experience on the
    roads, Im willing to give up my power to drive
    100 mph on US-131.

7
The Domination-Repression Model
  • This model suggests that economic institutions
    really have the power and that we only possess
    power when we are engaged in the act of spending.
  • For example, many government policies are the
    direct result of the wishes of corporations. As
    a result, we can view politics in the US as a
    struggle between accommodating the desires of
    corporations and accommodating the desires of
    the people. The current economic crisis
    illustrates quite effectively the power that
    economics hold over our lives.

8
Trites Applies Foucaults Models
  • Trites shows how each theory might apply to
    Cormiers The Chocolate War
  • The Contract-Oppression Model Jerry breaks his
    contract with the governing power in his refusal
    to sell chocolates, and he is oppressed by that
    institution (represented by The Vigils)
  • The Domination-Repression Model Jerry actually
    exists in a chain of power, a chain that involves
    the selling of education as a commodity that
    results in the commodification of chocolates.
    Their sale is a means of production for the
    students. Jerrys power in the situation is
    fluid he both has and does not have power,
    depending upon his relationship to the market
    forces (5). His attempt to influence the
    market leads the market to retaliate.

9
Trites Begins to Insert Her Own Ideas into the
Discussion
  • At this point, Trites enters into the discussion,
    noting that there are problems with both of
    Foucaults models because neither takes into
    account the idea that individuals can use power
    for positive reasons.
  • Instead of viewing power only as a force that
    dominates people from outside, Trites argues that
    people can be transformed internally by their use
    of power.

10
Subjectivity
  • Lets take a moment to consider the word
    subjectivity, as it is a very important part of
    contemporary discussions of power.
  • Subjectivity refers to the ways that we end up
    viewing ourselves as individuals in the world. A
    persons self-knowledge is what determines how
    he/she acts in the world.
  • For instance, I have a sense of myself as a
    professor, which means that when I walk into the
    classroom, my behavior is dictated by that
    construct.

11
Subjectivity
  • Of course, not every professor has the same
    internal understanding of what it means to be a
    professor.
  • Keep in mind, too, that my power as a professor
    is controlled by external factors, as well. For
    instance, if I were teaching at a university that
    emphasized a religious worldview, I might be
    expected to put forward that point of view in the
    classroom. Thats one form of power that might
    help to construct my persona in the classroom.
    Or, I might teach in a part of the world where
    women were rarely in positions of power and
    that fact my constrain how I behaved.

12
Butlers (1956-) Definition of Power
  • When Butler argues that a person is at once
    formed and subordinated by power because power
    not only acts on a subjectbut enacts the
    subject into being, she means that I am both
    influenced by the power structures around me AND,
    in a way, I am powerful because of the
    institution I inhabit.
  • Huh? Well, if there werent universities, I
    wouldnt have been able to earn the education
    that enabled me to rejoin a university as part of
    its power structure. As such, I exert power over
    my students as PART of a power structure.
    However, if my students didnt like my teaching,
    they could appeal to the power structure to strip
    me of my power. Moreover, I am now able to help
    form the universitys policies, so I can exert
    power in that way. See how fluid power can be?

13
Butlers Definition of Power
  • Butler thus concurs with Foucaults analysis
    that power is a process, but her definition
    allows for an internally motivated subject who
    can act proactively rather than solely in terms
    of taking action to prevent oppression or
    repression (5).
  • In other words, Butler believes that not every
    action is related to deflecting the power of
    institutions. Sometimes, people act in support
    of their own interests, independent of
    institutions.

14
Lacans (1901-1981) Definition of Power
  • Lacan asks us to be self-conscious in our
    understanding of how we are part of the power
    structure. Lacan describes individual power in
    terms of assomption the individuals active
    assumption of responsibility for the role into
    which society casts her or him (5-6).
  • For instance, my grandpa strongly focused on his
    membership in the UAW. He was both DEFINED by
    his class status and employment and he EMBRACED
    his class status and employment. At the same
    time, he hoped that I would transcend this status.

15
Lacans Definition of Power
  • Trites then applies Lacans ideas, noting that
    adolescents must reckon with both their sense of
    individual power and their recognition of the
    social forces that require them to modify their
    behaviors (6).
  • Trites mentions Karen Coats use of Lacan to
    interpret The Chocolate War, noting that Jerrys
    decision to permanently inhabit the role of rebel
    that is first thrust upon him is an example of
    someone coming to define himself with a role that
    he comes to accept.

16
Frenchs (1929-) Definition of Power
  • French argues that traditional ways of viewing
    power, from Weber on down to Lacan, assume that
    power always has to do with domination of others.
    She points out that we might want to view power
    a bit differently There is power-to, which
    refers to ability, capacity, and connotes a kind
    of freedom, and there power-over, which refers to
    domination. (6).

17
Trites Applies Frenchs Theory
  • Trites observes that I am interested in how
    adolescents are empowered (and disempowered) in
    terms that French uses when are teenagers in
    young Adult literature allowed to assume
    responsibility for their own actions and when do
    dominating adults refuse to acknowledge their
    capacities? (6).

18
What happened here?
  • This section of Trites essay provides a perfect
    illustration of what it means to be a scholar.
  • A scholar learns what previous thinkers have
    written about a particular subject.
  • Then, the scholar enters into DIALOGUE with those
    previous thinkers, as a way of coming to his/her
    own conclusions.
  • Once the scholar has established his/her opinions
    about previous thinkers ideas, the scholar can
    put forward his/her own set of beliefs (at that
    point).

19
Trites Now Puts Forward Her Own Definition
  • Adolescent characters exist in a perpetual
    relationship of force (Foucault, Power 92)
    created by the institutions that constitute the
    social fabric constructing them. Because they
    are defined within perpetual forces of power,
    power enacts them into being (Butler, Psychic
    13). That is, the social power that constructs
    them bestows upon them a power from which they
    generate their own sense of Subjectivity. As
    acting subjects, they assume responsibility for
    their position in society (Lacan, Science and
    Truth 7), whether they engage their power to
    enable themselves or to repress others (French
    505).

20
Trites Definition
  • Power is a force that operates within the
    subject and upon the subject in adolescent
    literature teenagers are repressed as well as
    liberated by their own power and by the power of
    the social forces that surround them in these
    books. Much of the genre is thus dedicated to
    depicting how potentially out-of-control
    adolescents can learn to exist within
    institutional structures (7).

21
What Defines the Genre of YA Lit?
  • Adults create these books as a cultural site in
    which adolescents can be depicted engaging with
    the fluid, market-driven forces that characterize
    the power relationships the define adolescence
    (7).
  • After all, publishers set the terms for this
    genre, not kids.
  • Trites notes that Young Adult literature shares
    many characteristics with books marketed to
    adults about adolescents (9). Most importantly,
    both focus on development.

22
The History of the Bildungsroman
  • Trites refers to a number of literary historians,
    as she develops her definition of the
    Bildungsroman. The key insight she derives is
    that the protagonists growth is neither
    accidentalnor simply a matter of normal
    developmental growth rather, the hero
    self-consciously sets out on a quest to achieve
    independence. The Bildungsroman is therefore an
    inherently Romantic genre, with its optimistic
    ending that affirms the protagonists entry into
    adulthood (11-12).

23
The History of the Entwicklungsroman
  • Trites contrasts the Bildungsroman with the
    Entwicklungsroman, noting that many of the YA
    novels that emerged in the 1970s that have
    subsequently been referred to as problem novels
    are Entwicklungsromane the character grows as
    s/he faces and resolves one specific problem
    (14).

24
Why This Emphasis on Growth?
  • On some implicit leveladolescent literature is
    at its heart a romantic literature because so
    many of us authors, critics, teachers,
    teenagers need to believe in the possibility of
    adolescent growth (15).
  • Trites goes on to note that contemporary authors
    may be calling this romanticism of individual
    growth into question the postmodern era
    influenced authors to explore what it means if we
    define people as socially constructed subjects
    rather than as self-contained individuals bound
    by their identities (16).

25
From Romanticism to Postmodernism
  • During the Romantic Era, social institutions
    were viewed as forces that bolstered the
    individual and his/her development.
  • During the Modern Era, social institutions were
    viewed as the opponents of an individuals desire
    to define him or herself apart from the influence
    of those very social institutions.
  • During the Postmodern Era, individuals have
    come to recognize that they are defined by the
    economic forces that exist around them in every
    institution.

26
Shifts in the Way the Purpose of Adolescence is
Defined
Era Adolescents Relationship to Society
Romantic Era (1800-1900) Individual grows into an adulthood of autonomy and self-determination (18). Focus on the transformative power of maturity (18).
Modern Era (1900-1960) Maturity often takes the form of a conscious rejection of society (18).
Post-modern Era (1960-Pres) An individuals growth is marked largely in terms of his/her increased participation in capitalism (18).

27
The Contemporary YA Novel
  • Rather than transcending or separating from ones
    environment, the Postmodern Self recognizes how
    one EXISTS WITHIN society.
  • In the contemporary world, growth is defined as
    an increasing awareness of the institutions
    constructing the individual (19).
  • The YA novel teaches adolescents how to exist
    within the (capitalistically bound) institutions
    that necessarily define teenagers existence
    (19).
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com