Narrative Prosthesis and Complex Embodiment: A Critical Analysis of Disability Narrative in Two Young Adult Fiction Novels

This thesis will analyse representation of disability in young adult fiction (YA). YA literature is a blooming genre, that could challenge readers' views about controversial topics. However, instead they often reinforce pre-existing stereotypes and literary tropes, upholding portrayals of disability as "other." David Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder argue in Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse, that, even though there are many fictional characters with disabilities, instead of accurate representation, disability is most often used as 'narrative prosthesis', a crutch on which the narrative depends. For example, if Captain Ahab had not lost his leg, his desire to kill Moby Dick - and thus the narrative - would not have existed. Analysing disability representation in YA shows that disability is still mostly used as a narrative device, despite a growing demand for more complex representation. By presenting the reader with marginalised, depressed, cured, dead,...Show moreThis thesis will analyse representation of disability in young adult fiction (YA). YA literature is a blooming genre, that could challenge readers' views about controversial topics. However, instead they often reinforce pre-existing stereotypes and literary tropes, upholding portrayals of disability as "other." David Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder argue in Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse, that, even though there are many fictional characters with disabilities, instead of accurate representation, disability is most often used as 'narrative prosthesis', a crutch on which the narrative depends. For example, if Captain Ahab had not lost his leg, his desire to kill Moby Dick - and thus the narrative - would not have existed. Analysing disability representation in YA shows that disability is still mostly used as a narrative device, despite a growing demand for more complex representation. By presenting the reader with marginalised, depressed, cured, dead, unmentioned and villainous disabled characters in the interest of driving the plot, the texts present disability as an encompassing characteristic instead of presenting disabled characters as complex people who happen to have a disability. Disability is a broad term that covers a scope of physical and mental conditions. Some novels, for example Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, include multiple forms and functions of disability, depending on the relation between the author and the disability. This thesis shows that there is a relation between authors' close familiarity with a specific disability and accurate representation, and that authors unfamiliar with their subject matter, often treat disability as a crux around which the story develops. Although, authors can have characters voice views which are not their own, close familiarity seems to avoid certain pitfalls in disability representation occurring in novels by authors less familiar with their subject matter. In other words, there is a link between the extent of authors' knowledge of a disability and its representation by the author. Using Mitchell and Snyder's critical theory of narrative prosthesis, I will analyse Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.Show less

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Narrative Prosthesis and Complex Embodiment: A Critical Analysis of Disability Narrative in Two Young Adult Fiction Novels