I am still interested in looking at young adult literature that addresses topics that are often seen as taboo or censored. I am shifting my focus to look at the role of trauma in these texts and the function that this role has for readers of these texts. I would still like to use this focus to allow readers to better understand where the line between representation and activism falls in young adult literature.

X: Young adult literature that addresses topics that are often seen as taboo or censored.

Y: What is the role of trauma in these texts and what function does that role have for readers of censored young adult literature?

Z: There is a point at which representation in a text shifts to become activism.

I still think that a combination of reader-response theory and psychoanalytical theory will be most useful for my project. Using psychoanalytical theory, I can analyze the ways in which the characters in the text cope with their trauma. Making a distinction between the author as activist and the reader as being inspired to engage in activism, reader response theory could be beneficial in analyzing where a text falls between representation and activism. Specifically, I can use affective stylistics to further look at how the reader responds to how the text is written.

Another article that could be useful is Power in Our Words: Finding Community and Mitigating Trauma in James Dashner’s The Maze Runner by Amy Elliot.

Works Cited

Elliot, Amy. “Power in our Words: Finding Community and Mitigating Trauma in James Dashner’s the Maze Runner.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 2, 2015, pp. 179-199. ProQuest, https://washcoll.idm.oclc.org/docview/1686768135?accountid=14892.