UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Houston, Jeane Keynsian
Dept./Program:
English
Year:
2009
Degree:
MA
Abstract:
My thesis project focuses on the problem of alienation in contemporary society, particularly as portrayed in adolescent fiction. I operate on a working definition of alienation as both the state of estrangement from society and the loss of connection with one's own deepest feelings and needs, and I argue that these situations have a cyclical, interconnected relationship, wherein one state causes the other, which in turn increases the intensity ofthe other, and so on. More than the causes and effects of alienation, however, I am interested in the possible ways of overcoming or coping with it, and to that end I will argue that engagement with narrative provides both an escape from alienation and an arena in which to work through the feelings associated with it.
My thesis consists of two chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion. The first chapter deals with two adolescent novels that feature protagonists whose alienation stems from an identifiable traumatic event and whose manifestations of that alienation resemble Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To begin, I will analyze the character of Holden Caulfield, from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, which I believe to be the foundational adolescent novel of alienation. Secondly, I will discuss a character I argue is Holden's contemporary counterpart: Charlie, from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Chapter I establishes the nature of an alienated person as similar to that of a PTSD survivor and'renders Holden and Charlie archetypal examples of the trauma of Alienation Syndrome.
In Chapter II, I will focus the main characters from Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind and Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War. These protagonists suffer from Alienation Syndrome that does not have an easily identifiable source; in this way their life experiences are different than those of Holden and Charlie, but their manifestations of processing alienation are strikingly similar. By the end of Chapter II, I intend to show that Alienation Syndrome that is allowed to exist unchecked will undoubtedly lead to catastrophic ends, both internally and externally. Throughout both chapters, I will refer to the work of narratologists Richard Kearney and Frank Kermode to assert that the most promising solution to Alienation Syndrome is narrative engagement, and that these four novels all thematize that kind of narrativization. In the conclusion I will discuss Stephen King's Dark Tower series as an example of a narrative saga that explores both internal and external alienation and further thematizes narrativization.
Here I will expand on David Riesman's theories in The Lonely Crowd and Georg Lukacs's ideas from The Theory of the Novel, arguing that King's septology is version of Lukacs's "renewedepic" that provides us with a workingexample of how to implement narrative direction into our contemporary society and the positive effects of doing so.
My thesis consists of two chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion. The first chapter deals with two adolescent novels that feature protagonists whose alienation stems from an identifiable traumatic event and whose manifestations of that alienation resemble Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To begin, I will analyze the character of Holden Caulfield, from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, which I believe to be the foundational adolescent novel of alienation. Secondly, I will discuss a character I argue is Holden's contemporary counterpart: Charlie, from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Chapter I establishes the nature of an alienated person as similar to that of a PTSD survivor and'renders Holden and Charlie archetypal examples of the trauma of Alienation Syndrome.
In Chapter II, I will focus the main characters from Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind and Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War. These protagonists suffer from Alienation Syndrome that does not have an easily identifiable source; in this way their life experiences are different than those of Holden and Charlie, but their manifestations of processing alienation are strikingly similar. By the end of Chapter II, I intend to show that Alienation Syndrome that is allowed to exist unchecked will undoubtedly lead to catastrophic ends, both internally and externally. Throughout both chapters, I will refer to the work of narratologists Richard Kearney and Frank Kermode to assert that the most promising solution to Alienation Syndrome is narrative engagement, and that these four novels all thematize that kind of narrativization. In the conclusion I will discuss Stephen King's Dark Tower series as an example of a narrative saga that explores both internal and external alienation and further thematizes narrativization.
Here I will expand on David Riesman's theories in The Lonely Crowd and Georg Lukacs's ideas from The Theory of the Novel, arguing that King's septology is version of Lukacs's "renewedepic" that provides us with a workingexample of how to implement narrative direction into our contemporary society and the positive effects of doing so.