ENGL 3840, Adolescent Literature

Study Guide for Trites

Spring Semester 2010

  1. In Chapter One, Trites quotes a segment of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Why does she think that this excerpt is relevant to the study of young adult literature?
  1. On page 4, Trites notes “the chief characteristic that distinguishes adolescent literature from children’s literature is ______

______.”

  1. According to Trites, what institutions must adolescents learn to negotiate during their teen years?
  1. What are the 4 topics that Trites plans to discuss in Chapter One:
  1. Trites’ discussion of the concept of power is central to the chapter and to the entire book, so you should spend some time going over this section carefully. Trites begins by quoting three philosophers who have written extensively about power: Weber, Althusser, and Foucault.
  2. What is Weber’s definition of power?
  1. What does Althusser mean by “Ideological State Apparatus”? As part of your explanation, you might want to know that “hegemony” means the consolidation of power.
  1. How does Foucault define power? In this instance, you should know that “ubiquitous” means universal or overarching or omniprescent.
  1. On page 5, Trites argues that both of Foucault’s models of institutional power fail to take into account what she calls “the individual’s potentially positive power.” Citing scholar Judith Butler, Trites notes that Butler’s definition of power “allows for an internally motivated subject who can act proactively rather than solely in terms of taking action to prevent oppression or repression” (5). How does Trites apply this idea to Jerry’s act of saying “no” in The Chocolate War?
  1. On page 6, Trites provides Lacan’s theory of power: “one is always responsible for one’s position as a subject.” She goes on to note: “When adolescents grapple with such questions ____

______

______

______

______.”

  1. On page 7, Trites sums up the way that she sees theories of power coming together. Write up a brief summary in which you discuss how Trites ultimately views power in relation to adolescents and adolescent literature.
  1. On page 8, Trites defines what she sees as “one of the defining factors of the YA novel.” What is it?
  1. Trites quotes Joseph Kett, who notes the four things that G. Stanley Hall advocated in dealing with modern adolescence. What were those four things?
  1. According to Trites, when did adolescent literature emerge as an identifiable genre?
  1. Beginning on page 9, Trites goes to great lengths to distinguish between the Entwicklungsroman and the Bildungsroman. What are the major differences?
  1. On page 11, Trites quotes Buckley’s lengthy definition of the Bildungsroman. Write a definition in your own words.
  1. According to Trites, how does gender impact one’s definition of the Bildungsroman?
  1. On page 16, Trites argues that “the tension between power and repression in adolescent novels may well be one of romanticism being reformed by postmodernism.” That’s a sentence to give one pause, isn’t it? What Trites means is that the romantic era brought forward the idea that the development of the individual was very important. However, it wasn’t until the postmodern era, when people began to question whether our behavior was as much determined by our culture as by our personality, that the YA novel began to focus so closely on institutions as power centers that might impact a young person’s development. Read the section on page 17 carefully – but know that they “money shot” occurs on page 18, when Trites suggest that “nothing escapes the capitalist institution. We are all subjects constituted by discourse, so we are all immersed irrevocably in capitalism.” All of this leads up to Trites argument at the end of page 18 regarding the postmodern nature of YA literature. Read the last paragraph on 18 and the first paragraph on 19 carefully. Now put forward Trites’ argument in your own words.