Female Rebellion in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction

225 Pages·2014·1.98 MB·English

by  Sara K. Day

Female Rebellion in
Young adult dYstopian Fiction
Responding to the increasingly powerful presence of dystopian literature for young
adults, this volume focuses on novels featuring a female protagonist who contends
with societal and governmental threats at the same time that she is navigating the
treacherous waters of young adulthood. the contributors relate the liminal nature
of the female protagonist to liminality as a unifying feature of dystopian literature,
literature for and about young women, and cultural expectations of adolescent
womanhood. divided into three sections, the collection investigates cultural
assumptions and expectations of adolescent women, considers the various means
of resistance and rebellion made available to and explored by female protagonists,
and examines how the adolescent female protagonist is situated with respect to
the groups and environments that surround her. in a series of thought-provoking
essays on a wide range of writers that includes libba bray, scott Westerfeld,
Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Roth, Marissa Meyer, Ally Condie, and Suzanne Collins,
the collection makes a convincing case for how this rebellious figure interrogates
the competing constructions of adolescent womanhood in late-twentieth- and
early twenty-first-century culture.
ashgate studies in childhood,
1700 to the present
Series Editor: Claudia Nelson, Texas A&M University, USA
This series recognizes and supports innovative work on the child and on literature
for children and adolescents that informs teaching and engages with current
and emerging debates in the field. Proposals are welcome for interdisciplinary
and comparative studies by humanities scholars working in a variety of fields,
including literature; book history, periodicals history, and print culture and the
sociology of texts; theater, film, musicology, and performance studies; history,
including the history of education; gender studies; art history and visual culture;
cultural studies; and religion.
topics might include, among other possibilities, how concepts and
representations of the child have changed in response to adult concerns; postcolonial
and transnational perspectives; “domestic imperialism” and the acculturation
of the young within and across class and ethnic lines; the commercialization of
childhood and children’s bodies; views of young people as consumers and/or
originators of culture; the child and religious discourse; children’s and adolescents’
self-representations; and adults’ recollections of childhood.
also in the series
Contemporary Adolescent Literature and Culture
The Emergent Adult
edited by mary Hilton and maria nikolajeva
Genre, Reception, and Adaptation in the ‘Twilight’ Series
edited by anne morey
Children’s Games in the New Media Age
Childlore, Media and the Playground
edited by andrew burn and chris Richards
The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation
From snow White to Wall-e
david Whitley
Female Rebellion in
Young adult dystopian Fiction
edited by
saRa K. daY
Southern Arkansas University, USA
miRanda a. gReen-baRteet
University of Western Ontario, Canada
and
amY l. montz
University of Southern Indiana, USA
© Sara K. Day, Miranda A. Green-Barteet, Amy L. Montz and the contributors 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Sara K. Day, Miranda A. Green-Barteet, and Amy L. Montz have asserted their right under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
published by
ashgate publishing limited ashgate publishing company
Wey court east 110 cherry street
union Road suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
surrey, gu9 7pt usa
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the british library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Female Rebellion in Young adult dystopian Fiction / edited by sara K. day, miranda a.
Green-Barteet, and Amy L. Montz.
pages cm. — (ashgate studies in childhood, 1700 to the present)
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-3149-3 (hardcover: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4724-3150-9 (ebook)
— ISBN 978-1-4724-3151-6 (epub)
1. Young adult fiction, American—History and criticism. 2. Young women in literature.
3. Dystopias in literature. 4. Adolescence in literature. I. Day, Sara K., editor of compilation.
II. Green-Barteet, Miranda A., editor of compilation. III. Montz, Amy L., editor of
compilation.
PS374.Y57F46 2014
813.009’9283—dc23
2013047663
ISBN 9781472431493 (hbk)
ISBN 9781472431509 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472431516 (ebk – ePUB)
V
To all the unnamed and unrecognized young women performing
acts of rebellion, we dedicate this collection.
This page has been left blank intentionally
contents
List of Figures ix
Notes on Contributors xi
Acknowledgments xiv
introduction: From “new Woman” to “Future girl”: the Roots and
the Rise of the Female protagonist in contemporary Young adult
dystopias 1
Part I Reflections and Reconsiderations of Rebellious Girlhood
1 girl power and girl activism in the Fiction of suzanne collins,
scott Westerfeld, and moira Young 17
Sonya Sawyer Fritz
2 “i’m beginning to know who i am”: the Rebellious subjectivities of
Katniss everdeen and tris prior 33
Miranda A. Green-Barteet
3 of scrivens and sparks: girl geniuses in Young adult
dystopian Fiction 51
Rachel Dean-Ruzicka
4 docile bodies, dangerous bodies: sexual awakening and social
Resistance in Young adult dystopian novels 75
Sara K. Day
Part II Forms and Signs of Rebellion
5 gender Rolls: bread and Resistance in the “Hunger games” trilogy 95
Meghan Gilbert-Hickey
6 Rebels in dresses: distractions of competitive girlhood in
Young adult dystopian Fiction 107
Amy L. Montz
7 the three Faces of tally Youngblood: Rebellious identity-changing in
scott Westerfeld’s “uglies” series 123
Mary Jeanette Moran
8 “perpetually waving to an unseen crowd”: satire and process in
beauty Queens 141
Bridgitte Barclay
viii Female Rebellion in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction
Part III Contexts and Communities of Rebellion
9 Rebellious Natures: The Role of Nature in Young Adult Dystopian
Female Protagonists’ Awakenings and Agency 157
Megan McDonough and Katherine A. Wagner
10 Real or Not Real—Katniss Everdeen Loves Peeta Melark:
The Lingering Effects of Discipline in the “Hunger Games” Trilogy 171
June Pulliam
11 The Incompatibility of Female Friendships and Rebellion 187
Ann M. M. Childs
Index 203
list of Figures
3.1 (left) a large clank, (middle) Jägermonsters, and (right)
a mimmoth (1: np, 4: 114, and issue 11: np). 58
3.2 a future version of europe seen in Girl Genius (7: 002). 59
3.3 The major scientists from the first issue of Girl Genius (1: 038,
1: 011, 1: 017). 65
3.4 Agatha’s first adventure as a Spark (1: 052). 66
3.5 Agatha’s second adventure as a Spark and one of her creations
(2: 085). 67
3.6 A group of officially recognized Sparks (2: 055). 68
3.7 A group of renegade Sparks, including underwear-clad Agatha
at the far left (4: n.p.). 69
3.8 Agatha and her clanks fix the perfect cup of coffee (7: 049). 70
3.9 Agatha fixes Castle Heterodyne (11: 075). 71