Young adults are continually confronted with instability and crises, as well as traumatic events at large. Considering that literature, and Young Adult literature specifically, can be seen as a...Show moreYoung adults are continually confronted with instability and crises, as well as traumatic events at large. Considering that literature, and Young Adult literature specifically, can be seen as a reflection of the lived experience, it is expected that the existence of such trauma influences the novels written. The ability of Young Adult literature to reflect the lived experience, and the necessity for it to do so, is also discussed by columnist and author Michael Cart in 2016, literature researcher Bruce Carrick in 2017 and literature studies researcher Amy Elliot in 2015. However, they do not specifically note on the place of trauma in this reflection. This thesis considers how trauma affects the narrator’s voice. To do so, Canadian author Sebastien de Castell’s fantasy Young Adult novels Way of the Argosi and Spellslinger were taken as a case study. Ferius and Kellen, the respective protagonists of the aforementioned novels, are confronted with traumatic experiences, such as torture and genocide. Due to perceived commonalities in the situations of the protagonists, and their communities, to that of Indigenous communities, knowledge of the latter is used to make sense of the former. Similarly, knowledge of the Holocaust was used to contemplate the fictional narrative. Knowledge on trauma in these real world communities was gained from articles by, among others, psychologists Sarah Panofsky et al. (2021) and social worker Elizabeth Fast and psychologist Delphine Collin-Vézina (2010). Due to the influence trauma can have on the lived experience, there was a need for discussing the reliability of the narrator of each novel. As a result, this thesis looked to the articles on unreliable and fallible narrators by religious studies professor Catherine Caufield, published in 2021, and cultural studies researcher Greta Olson, published in 2003. A close reading of the novels found trauma to affect not only the narratorial style, such as through narrative fragmentation, but also the narrator’s reliability and tone of voice. Though the narrators of Way of the Argosi and Spellslinger were not affected similarly in narratorial style, with the former’s narration being more fragmented as opposed to the linear narration of the latter, the tone of voice is comparable. In both cases, there is a clear influence of fear and resentment on the narrator’s voice. The reliability of the respective novels narrators is also similarly fallible, though due to different reasons. The insight provided by the novels to the readers allow for a fostering of understanding between different real-life cultures, histories and life-journeys.Show less
