Transcript Young Adult Dystopia

YOUNG ADULT DYSTOPIA
CENTERED ON A FEMALE
THE NEW WOMAN
In the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries, Henry James coined a
phrase, the New Woman, a phrase meant to indicate women of
affluence and sensibility who exhibited an independent spirit and
acted according to their own wishes, in short, women who resisted the
traditional patriarchy. Although they tended to resist the societal norms,
the did so in what many would deem a more passive or submissive way;
while refusing to marry and follow traditional female roles, they did not
seek to redefine the roles of women as a whole, rather seeking to focus
on their own independence within the spheres they normally inhabited.
Not until the 21st century did young women protagonists show a more
conscious attempt to explore their liminality (being between states, a
state of transition).
THE NEWER NEW WOMAN
Reviving Ophelia
As a therapist, Mary Pipher was becoming frustrated with the growing
problems among adolescent girls. Why were so many of them turning to
therapy in the first place? Why had these lovely and promising human beings
fallen prey to depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and crushingly
low self-esteem? The answer hit a nerve with Pipher, with parents, and with the
girls themselves. Crashing and burning in a “developmental Bermuda
Triangle,” they were coming of age in a media-saturated culture preoccupied
with unrealistic ideals of beauty and images of dehumanized sex, a culture rife
with addictions and sexually transmitted diseases. They were losing their
resiliency and optimism in a “girl-poisoning” culture that propagated values at
odds with those necessary to survive.
Told in the brave, fearless, and honest voices of the girls themselves who are
emerging from the chaos of adolescence, Reviving Ophelia is a call to arms,
offering important tactics, empathy, and strength, and urging a change
where young hearts can flourish again, and rediscover and reengage their
sense of self.
Riot grrrl is an underground feminist hardcore punk movement that originally
started in the early 1990s, in Washington, and the greater Pacific Northwest,
noticeably in Olympia, Washington. It is a subcultural movement that
combines feminist consciousness and punk style and politics. It is often
associated with third-wave feminism, which is sometimes seen as its starting
point. It has also been described as a musical genre that came out of indie
rock, with the punk scene serving as an inspiration for a musical movement in
which women could express themselves in the same way men had been
doing for the past several years.
Riot grrrl bands often address issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality,
racism, patriarchy, and female empowerment. In addition to a music scene
and genre, riot grrrl is a subculture involving a DIY (do it yourself) ethic, zines,
art, political action, and activism. The Riot grrrl movement quickly spread well
beyond its musical roots to create vibrant “zine” and World Wide Web-based
movement, complete with local meetings and grassroots organizing to end
ageism, homophobia, racism, sexism and, especially, physical and emotional
violence against women and girls. Riot grrrls are known to hold meetings, start
chapters, and support and organize women in music.
DYSTOPIAN CHARACTERISTICS
Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.
• Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.
• A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
• Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.
• Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality/dissent are bad.
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/jclapp/Children's%20Literature/Discussion%20Questions/Dystopias%20
Characteristics.htm
What they left out:
Dystopias feel familiar to us but also offer a sense of hope.
An ordinary person, the protagonist is the one to provide the hope.
Dystopias are preceded by an apocalyptic event.
There is an oppressive government.
THE DYSTOPIAN PROTAGONIST
•
often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.
• questions the existing social and political systems.
• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in
which he or she lives.
• helps the audience recognizes the negative aspects of the dystopian
world through his or her perspective.
http://facweb.northseattle.edu/jclapp/Children's%20Literature/Discussion%20Questions/Dystopi
as%20Characteristics.htm
CONFLICTS YOUNG WOMEN IN
DYSTOPIA FACE
• As young people stand up and rebel, they learn their own limitations; it is
questionable to them and to others whether they have the power and
strength to lead a larger rebellion.
• They struggle between the larger concerns facing them and their sexual
feelings. Adult femininity no longer means the awakening of the sexual self.
• The risks and the rewards are not clear. Patriarchal rules no longer apply.
The protagonists must make up their own.
• They are simultaneously faced with the development of identity and an
identity thrust upon them by the demands of the dystopia. But they also
must sacrifice their own needs with the needs of others.
• In a situation in which there seems to be little or no hope, they are looked to
to provide the hope for those closest to them and for the society.
BLOOD RED ROAD
Discuss and answer these questions in groups:
What do we know about the story so far? Characters?
Relationships between them?
Setting?
Time period?
Events?
Conflicts?
What should we know in order to understand the beginning of the story?
TYSON’S QUESTIONS?
In the same groups:
How can we answer the three questions that Tyson has posed
(lavender sheet), according to what we have read in the
novel so far? If you have read ahead, please do not reveal
any further information. Discuss these questions only insofar
as they relate to pages 1 – 39. Find evidence from the text to
support your answers. Make sure you highlight or mark the
text the quotes you have found that support your answers.
HOMEWORK
• Read Dustlands: Blood Red Road, to page 148
•
1st short paper due