Representations of Gender in Young Adult (YA) Literature, 1960-2010.

摘要

This dissertation focuses the lens of queer studies and trauma studies on YA literature published in the United States between 1960 and 2010 to demonstrate that authors embed cultural messages in YA texts. Those messages for YA readers intend to model behavior considered appropriate and teach about normative sex and gender roles. Individuals between the ages of 10 and 20 comprise YA readership, and the means of teaching these readers cultural norms include imagery and cautionary tales. The content of the literature inculcates views of acceptable behaviors with respect to sexuality and gender roles and generally conflates sex and gender. The ways in which queer characters are treated constitutes an aspect of the normative behavior presented to YA readers.;This dissertation begins with a close textual analysis of selected YA novels pairing a novel written between 1960 and 1985 with one written in the twenty-five years after 1985 in four categories---normativity, androgyny, gender ambiguity, and gender fluidity. Its overall purpose is to reveal normative messages, to determine whether cultural definitions of sex and gender roles have changed over time, and to demonstrate the rewards that characters who conform to the norms receive for their conformity. Once the norms and recognizable patterns are established, the dissertation considers the literary treatment of characters who transgress the norms and demonstrates the applicability of trauma studies to YA novels' messages about sexuality and gender roles. In addition, the dissertation illustrates that as the culture's conceptualization of trauma has developed, depictions of painful events and their effects, whether or not considered traumatic at the time of their writing, are in alignment with current understandings of trauma. Although only YA novels are considered in this dissertation, the sociohistorical examination of the cultural models provides a way to determine the underlying messages imparted to YA readers in all media.