Rejecting the myth : characterizations of emerging adulthood in three contemporary novels
- UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Rebekah K. Costin (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW )
- Web Site: http://library.uncw.edu/
Abstract: Due to changes in the labor force in late-capitalist nations, the years of the late teens and
twenties are increasingly being devoted to identity exploration. Three novelists have recently
focused their works on the struggles of these emerging adults. RM Johnson?s Dating Games,
Molly Jong-Fast?s Normal Girl, and Mohsin Hamid?s Moth Smoke examine the problematic
relationship these young people have with society. While the works present characters who
attempt to reject the myths that have subdued others in their marginal positions in the past, the
authors ultimately indicate that such rejection is impossible. Even their attempts to create their
own unique identities are tied to the cultural and national myths of their postcolonial countries,
and they are defined and limited by them. The very mythologies that promise individual
freedom and choice, but that usually only provide a respite from the hegemonic structures of
society, in the end offer a chance of redemption, though. For the marginalized individuals who
have turned to dissipation in the face of the inevitable power structure are never truly subaltern.
Each of these novels outlines at least one character?s dissipation and eventual obliteration from
mainstream society, the society that both gives power and its conditions; however, they also all
include at least one character who finds a way to avoid self or societal annihilation as well as
avoiding accepting totally the systemic power structure that attempts to have them follow its
rules. Their interpretations of cultural myths as well as their own flexibility have allowed an
identity at least partially self-chosen. True there are boundaries of possibilities sanctioned by
society; however, it is the reconciliation of self and society (note neither are entirely sacrificed or
victorious) that psychologists have defined as the necessary gateway to maturity and adulthood.
Rejecting the myth : characterizations of emerging adulthood in three contemporary novels
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Created on 1/1/2009
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- A Thesis Submitted to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Englishq
- Language: English
- Date: 2009
- Keywords
- Hamid Mohsin 1971- Moth smoke--Criticism and interpretation, Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature, Johnson R. M. (Rodney Marcus) Dating games--Criticism and interpretation, Jong-Fast Molly 1978- Normal girl--Criticism and interpretation
- Subjects
- Johnson, R. M. (Rodney Marcus). Dating games -- Criticism and interpretation
- Jong-Fast, Molly, 1978- Normal girl -- Criticism and interpretation
- Hamid, Mohsin, 1971- Moth smoke -- Criticism and interpretation
- Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature