MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Critically analyzing Young Adult literature provides both theorists with a new and exciting plethora of works to research and the genre with scholarly respect. Despite contemporary efforts at viewing YA Literature through a scholarly lens, resistance still occurs. Many stereotype YA as containing predictable story lines and elementary plotline; however, rich stories, detailed characterizations, and an energetic and loyal audience define YA literature and offer a fertile ground for critical theory. The portrayal of gender, specifically femininity, in the genre brings with it either hindrances or advances for adolescent readers. The depiction of females in YA books offers a powerful example for impressionable readers. Implementing risky female stereotypes not only hamper the literary work in which they appear, but they also offer a harmful ideological blueprint readers feel they must follow. A deeper look into what female characterizations reveal about cultural conventions and ideology provides readers with an ability to decipher the metaphorical wheat from the chaff in order to arrive at a more reliable depiction of females in fiction. Third-wave feminist literary criticism proves necessary when examining the different methods of characterizing femininity in postmodern literature, and John Green’s Looking for Alaska and Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park act as dual subjects for the approach. Both Alaska and Eleanor represent two females struggling with their environment because of their intersectional identities. Through delving into third-wave feminism and then applying it to Alaska and Eleanor, readers can then understand the significance of YA literature and its presence in critical theory, and in doing so, realize how Alaska and Eleanor’s multifaceted characterizations promote depth and necessary flaws that are necessary for the YA readership.