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M c B r o o m , G e r a l d in e L y n n

YOUNG ADULT REALISTIC FICTION, 1967-1977: IMAGES OF ADOLESCENT MALE PROTAGONISTS

The Ohio State University PH.D. 1979

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University; M io o iim s International 300 N. ZEES RD.. ANN ARBOR. Ml A8106 1313) 761-4700 YOUNG ADULT REALISTIC FICTION 1957-1977

IMAGES OF ADOLESCENT MALE PROTAGONISTS

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Geraldine Lynn McBroom, B. S., M. A.

****

The Ohio State University

1979

Reading Committee: Approved By

Dr. Frank Zidonis

Dr. Donald Bateman

Dr. Maia Pank Mertz

Adviser Department of Education: Humanities ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Greatest thanks and appreciation to:

my family for their love;

Ken Donelson for his faith in me;

Phyllis, Kathy, Bob, and all my friends for their support;

Nomie for the tables;

Lonny for his understanding and encouragement.

ii VITA

May 17, 1943...... Born - Defiance, Ohio

1966...... Ayersville Local School, Defiance, Ohio

1970...... B.S. in Education, English major, speech minor, Kent State Univer­ sity, Kent, Ohio

1975...... M.A., literature and linguistics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1970-1973...... Eighth grade language arts teacher, Copley-Fairlawn Junior High School, Copley, Ohio

1973-1975...... Teaching Assistant: composition, linguistics, writing clinic, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio

1975-1977...... Teaching Associate: composition, Language arts and reading methods, English-education student teacher supervision, The Ohio State Uni­ versity, Columbus, Ohio

1977-1979...... Lecturer: linguistics, composition Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona PUBLICATIONS

"Boys and Girls Together: Their Relationships in Adoles­ cent Novels." The ALAN Review 6 (Spring 1979): 5, 12, 13.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: English Education

Studies in Methods of Teaching English. Professors Frank Zidonis, Don Bateman, Maia Pank Mertz, The Ohio State University

Studies in Adolescent Literature. Professors Ken Donelson, Arizona State University; Charlotte Huck, The Ohio State University

Studies in Linguistics. Professors David Stamp, David Dowty, The Ohio State University

Studies in Early and Middle Childhood Education. Profes­ sors Martha King, Charlotte Huck, The Ohio State University

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... ii

VITA...... iii

LIST OF TABLES...... vii

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION...... 1

Goals of the Dissertation...... 3 Specific Areas of Investigation...... 4 Definition of Terms...... 4 Text Selection...... 5 Characteristics Selection...... 8

II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE...... 12

A Brief History of Young Adult Literature... 12

Introduction...... 12 1700-1900: Precursor...... 13 1900-1965: Awareness and Growth...... 15 1965-1978 : Controversy...... 19

Male and Female Images in Literature...... 22

Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes...... 24 Picture Books...... 25 Readers and Texts...... 29 Females in Adolescent Novels...... 34 Males in Adolescent Novels...... 38

Significance of this Study...... 41

v Page III. RESULTS OF CONTENT ANALYSIS...... 50

Introduction...... 50 Characters...... 50 Major Characters...... 52 Minor Characters...... 54 Color and Economic Categories...... 56 Family Structures...... 58 Authors...... 61 Publishing Divisions...... 62 Settings and Time Spans...... 62 Narrative Styles...... 65 Topics and Themes...... 66

IV. RESULTS OF DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS...... 74

Introduction...... 7 4 Ages...... 75 Physical Descriptions...... 76 General Personality Characteristics...... 78 Overview of Attitudes andRelationships ...... 90 Peer Relationships...... 90 Attitudes Toward Sexual Activity...... 96 Relationships with Parents...... 102 Relationships with Other Adults...... 105 Goals...... 107 Emotions...... 112 Embracing and Crying...... 118 Activities...... 12 2 Resolution of Topic; Effect of Theme on the Major Character...... 12 5 Conclusion...... 131.

V. SUMMARY...... 141.

Introduction...... 141 The Young Adult Novel...... 142 The Major Male Character...... 146 Suggestions for Further Research...... 155

APPENDIXES

A. Suggestions for Grouping Novels...... 162 168 B. Suggestions for Related Activities...... 173 WORKS CITED......

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 175

vi LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Recommended Novels of Realistic Fiction with Major Male Character...... 7

2. Characteristics...... 9

3. Content Analysis: Sex, Color, Economic...... 51

4. Relationships of Major and Minor Characters...... 5 3

5. Specifics of Novels...... 59

6. Distribution of Characteristics...... 79

7. Ages and Characteristics of Major Characters...... 81

8. Peer Group Relationships...... 92

9. Adult Relationships...... 106

10. Resolution of Topic, Effect of Theme...... 127

vii CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

As a separate area of book publishing and educational interest, the field of young adult literature is a relative­ ly new development. The religious tracts of the 1700' s and the dime and domestic novels of the 1850's, both written for adults but read by adolescents, were the forerunners of the adolescent novel of today.'*' As publishers recognized the young adult audience, the numbers of books published for it increased greatly. In 1940, for example, there were propor­ tionally more books published in the juvenile divisions of 2 publishing houses than in any other divisions. As the num­ bers of adolescent or young adult novels increased, so did the interest in this area by writers and educators. In 1973, a group of twenty-five organized the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of

English. At the 197 8 meeting, the membership of this organi­ zation had grown to over 1200.^

With the ever-increasing interest in the field of young adult literature, there has also been increased controversy.

Many questions are asked: What is young adult literature?

Should it be called young adult, adolescent, iuvenile,

junior, or teenage literature? Is an adolescent novel 1 2 different from an adult novel? If young adults read this what do they gain from it? Should it be taught in the classroom? Will it replace "the classics"? If it should be taught, what methods are to be employed; what students should be encouraged to read it; and which novels should be 4 selected?

These questions have always been difficult to answer, but the difficulty increased in the late 1960's. At this time, some writers and critics of adolescent literature ex­ pressed the view that adolescent literature was too didactic and did not deal with issues of real importance to the adol­ escent reader.^ In 1967, the taboos on topics that had pre­ viously existed in the field of young adult literature were ignored, and novels of new realism began to appear, causing even more disparate views within the field and attack from outside.^

At about the same time, another controversy arose; this one not limited to young adult literature. Attention was called to the limited and stereotyped images of females that exist in literature and how these limitations presented a restricted view of reality to young readers. In children's and adolescents' stories, texts, and novels, it was found that women were portrayed in fewer numbers than men and with limited vocational and avocational interests. Likewise, girls were presented as passive, easily frightened, and very dull.7

This research on the images of females was quite ex­ tensive, but some studies were discredited because the 3 populations were selected with little concern for scientific investigation of a specific segment of children's or ad- g descent literature. Since in many cases the boohs selected were not limited in any way, statements could be made about individual works, but few generalizations could be drawn.

These studies were significant, however, since they en­ couraged researchers to consider the images of females that texts and novels presented to children and adolescents. Even though many of the studies also pointed out the need for investigation of the images of males, only a few such studies 9 have been undertaken.

This dissertation, therefore, springs from two needs: the need for research of the contemporary young adult novels of new realism and the need for further investigation into the images of males.

Goal of the Dissertation

The goal of this dissertation is to examine young adult novels of realistic fiction published between 1967 and 1977 which contain major adolescent male protagonists.

The novels are restricted to those judged by journals and professors in the field of adolescent literature as a recom­ mended or notable novel for young people.A two-part analysis will be conducted: a content analysis of the novels themselves and a descriptive analysis of the major adolescent male characters presented in these novels. 4 Specific Areas of Investigation

The specific areas to be investigated in the content analysis are :

1. numbers of major male characters, adolescent and adult; 2. numbers of major female characters; 3. numbers of minor male characters; 4. numbers of minor female characters; 5. relationships of characters; 6. color groups represented; 7. economic categories represented; 8. family structures; 9. authors; 10. numbers of novels published for adolescent and for adult audiences; 11. time span of the novels and settings; 12. narrative styles of the novels; 13. topics and themes of the novels.

A descriptive analysis of the major adolescent male characters will focus on the characters'

1. ages; 2. physical descriptions; 3. personality characteristics; 4. attitudes about: a. peers b. females c. parents d. other adults 5. goals; 6. emotions; 7. activities; 8. ability to resolve conflicts.

Definition of Terms adolescence: period of development between childhood and adulthood. 12 adolescent: person in his/her teens; person aged thir­ teen to eighteen. content analysis: a quantitative description of the parts of the whole. descriptive analysis: a qualitative ^Inscription of the nature of the parts of a whole. 5 junior or juvenile novel: fictional prose narrative written specifically for adolescents with known adolescent activities.or interest as the central elements of the plot. major character: a well-developed fictional person who is vital to the development of the plot. minor character: a character, not as well developed as a major character; one whose presence is significant but not absolutely essential to the development of the plot. realistic fiction; invented depiction of^hat is possible and plausible in contemporary life. theme: underlying or unifying idea of the novel. topic: subject of the novel. young adult or adolescent novel: fictional prose narrative written for or read primarily by adolescents.

Text Selection

Novels for this study were selected from the paper and book list entitled "Towards a Description of the Best Adoles­ cent Literature 1967-1977" compiled by Alleen Pace Nilsen for a book on adolescent literature co-authored by her and

Kenneth L. Donelson. Since it is difficult to find agreement on the definitions of adolescent literature,^ young adult literature, and other such terms, Nilsen and Donelson "de­ cided to find a body of books representative of what the profession considers the best literature for readers in their teens." To compile this corpus, nearly two hundred "college teachers of adolescent literature in English, education, and library science departments" were surveyed to see what books they "required their students to read as touchstone examples" of adolescent literature. In addition to the boohs suggested by professors, the list included: "Best Books for Young

Adults" by the American Library Association Young Adult Ser­ vices Division, printed in Ton of the pfews. the annual list of recommended books for teenagers in The New York Times, and the School Library Journal's list of the books recom­ mended for young adults and readers in grades six and above.

Beginning with 1972, the University of Iowa poll printed in the English Journal was also included. To give the books published between the years 1967 and 1971 equal representa­

tion, when the Iowa poll was not available, the books on the

list "Still Alive in 1975" by the American Library Association

Young Adult Services Division were included. "Towards a

Description of the Best Adolescent Literature 1967-1977"

contains those books which were listed by three or more of 17 these sources. Selected for this study from the corpus

described above which contained all genres of adolescent lit­

erature are the twenty-five novels of realistic fiction with

a major adolescent male character. (See Table U

1967 was chosen as the demarcation date because the

books published during and after that year display major

differences in the themes from earlier adolescent novels.

1967 is the publishing date of novels that deal more openly

with previously taboo topics; Ann Head's Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo

Jones. a novel about pre-marital' pregnancy and a teenage

marriage, and The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton which centers

around the lives of young delinquents making a good life on

their own. TABLE I

RECOMMENDED NOVELS OF REALISTIC FICTION WITH MAJOR MALE CHARACTERS ft - ftHnlt j _

PUBL. HARDBACK PAPERBACK STILL “ STOffr m r ~ CNO. A b o i: NO. TITLE AUTHOR YEAR LI8. LIB. NY. LIT. OIV. PUBLISHER PUBLISHER AUVf- ASSOC. j o i m . JOUR. TIME8 PROF.

I HARD FFFLlNGS &!•<#•», D. T7 A A theneum B antam XX X

P HOME BEFORE DAI7K Brldgere, 9. 7 6 J Knopf Banfum XX X

3 A HERO AIN’T NOTHIN' OUT Childrens, A. 73 J Coward Avon X X X X 10 A SANDWICH

4 CHOCOLATE WAR Cormier, R. 74 J Ponlheon Dell XXX S3

0 1 AM THE CHEESE C orm U r, R. 7 7 J Pantheon Dell XX X X

f’LL GET THERE. If BETTER 6 Donovon, J. 6 0 J H arper Dell XX 4 PE W onTII t h e TRIP

r WILD IN THE WORLD Donovon, J. 71 J Harpor Avon X X ?

0 ORDINARY PEOPLE G u e e f, J. 76 Viking Ballantlne XX X 4

p STICKS a n d STONES H olt, L. 72 J Follott Dell X X X t

10 M. C. HIGGINS THE GREAT Homllfon, V. 74 J Macmillan Dell X X X 1

ti MR. AND MRS BO JO JON ES Heod» A. 07 Putnam Slgne? X X a

12 THE OUTSIDERS Hinton, S.E,, 67 J Viking Dell X X ■ a

13 r u m b l e FISH Hinton, 94, 78 J D olaoorle Dell X X s

14 t h a t w a s T H E N , THIS IS NOW Hinton, 8.4. 71 J VIMng Dell XX s

10 MAN WITHOUT A FACE Holland, X* 72 J Lfpplnooff Banlam X XX e

10 HIS OWN WHERE Jordon, J. 71 J Crow ell Dell X X X s

17 DINKY HOOKER SHOOTS SMACK? K err, M-6. 72 J H arp er Dell X X 6

10 IF 1 LOVE YOU, AM 1 TRAPPED K err, M-t-i 7 3 J H arper Dell x, X e FOREVER ? IP TEACUP FULL OF ROSES M othl«, 9. 7 2 J Vlktng Avon X X X t

2 0 ARE YOU IN THE H0U9E ALONE 7 Peok, R. 76 J Viking Dell X X X t

2.1 MY NAME IS ASHER LEV PotoK , C. 72 Knopf Fowooff World X X X

2 2 TRYING HARD TO HFAR YOU Soopp^fcnd, 9. 7 4 J Harper B an tam X X t

23 THE LION'S PAW Rhermdn, D. 7 8 A Ooubleday --- X X X

2 4 B L E33 THE BEA 9T9 AND THE Sworthout, G. 7 0 A Doubleday Pocket Book* X X X t CHILOREN X 2 0 THE PIGMAN Xlndol, P. 08 J H arper D ell X at 8

Characteristics Selection

In order to describe the characteristics of the adol­

escent males in the novels of this study, the adjectives 18 listed in the Bern Sex Role Inventory and the Williams and 19 Bennett Adjective Check List were combined and divided into

five general categories. (See Table 2J By combining

these specific adjectives under general characteristics

headings, it will be possible to determine if similarities

exist among the major male characters of the novels of this

study. If the character is described with any of the adjec­

tives listed, or synonyms, or if he displays these character­

istics through his actions or thoughts, he will be considered

to possess the general characteristic of that group of adjec­

tives. The major headings are:

I confidence in and/or exercising own powers or judgments

II physically strong and uses strength

III sensitive and often yields to others.

IV overly emotional or gives way to emotions

V pleasant in social interaction. TABLE 2. CHARACTERISTICS

1 . HAS CONFIDENCE IN AND EXCERCI9ES OWN POWERS OF JUDGEMENT IV. IS OVERLY EMOTIONAL; GIVES WAY TO EMOTIONS

Aota ot l#od#r 8 Enterprlting A Af footed A Hfgh-efrung A

Adv#nturou# A Indtptndtnf AB B o astfu l AB J ta la u t B

A m blliout AB Indlvldualltllo B Childlike B Moody B

Aa«#rtlv# AB Stlf-oonfldtnf A Complaining A Nagging A

Couragoout A S#lf-rellant B D rtom y A Seoretive B

Daring A Solf-auf flcltnf B Emotional A Talkative A

D#f#nda own b#ll#fa B Willing to tali# tfand B E xcitable A Theatrical B

FIolil# A Unprtdiolabl# A

II. HAS PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND USES IT Flafltrobl# B Un*ytf#matio A

AB Forceful AB Frlvolout A Whlny A

Alhlatio B Loud A F u tty A

C o art# A Robuet A

Compatltiv# B Strong A V- PLEASANT IN 90CIAL INTERACTIONS

Dominant AB Tough A A daptable B R eliable B

At factional# B Strong personality B

III . IS SENSITIVE AND OFTEN YIELDS TO OTHERS'FEELINGS, OPINION8 AND NEEDS Choar ful B Taotful b

Appr#oiafIv# A S#nflm#nfdl A Friendly B T ruthful B

Compattionaf# B Shy AB Happy B W arm B

Contoltntiout B Slno#r# a Llkoabl# B

Gentl# AB 8 o f l- h # a r t# d A

Helpful B S olem n B

Lovtt ohildrtn B Submit tiv# A A. AD JECTIV E CHECK LI3T, JOHN E. WILLIAMS, SU9AN M. BENNETT, DCBORAH H. B E S T ,’’AWARENESS AND EXPRESSION OF SEX Loyal B B Sympathetic STEREOTYPES IN YOUNG CHILDREN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY II (Stpltmbor 1975)* 657. MttN A T#nd#r B

Mild A Yielding B B BEM SEX ROLE INVENTORY. SUSAN U BtM, "THE MEASUREMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ANDROGYNY, " JOURNAL OF CONSULTING AND CLINICAL S tn tlflv # AB PSYCHOLOGY 42 (April 19741: 106. FOOTNOTES

Monica Mary Kiefer, American Children Through Their Books 1700-1835 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1948) passim. 2 Leo Lerman, "An Industry Within an Industry," Saturday Review of Literature 24 (November 8, 1949): 3-7. 3 Alleen Pace Nilsen, President of A.ssembly on Litera­ ture for Adolescent of National Council of Teachers of English Conversation, September 12, 1978. 4 Two examples of a discussion of these controversies are: Dwight L.Burton, "The Role of the Junior Novel: The Teacher's Stake," Ideas for Teaching English: Grades 7-8-9, Successful Practices in the Junior High School (Champaign, Illinois: NCTE, 1966; and Literature Study in the High School, 3d ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970). Also See Chapter II, below.

^Two examples are: Nat Hentoff, "Tell It as It Is," New York Times Book Review, 7 May 1967, sec. 7, pp. 3, 51; and Susan Hinton, "Teen Agers Are for Real," New York Times Book Review, 27 August 1967, sec. 7, p. 26. See Chapter II.

^One example: John Rowe Townsend, "It Takes More Than Pot and the Pill," New York Times Book Review, 9 November 1969, sec. 1, p. 2. Discussed in detail in Chapter II below. 7 Two extensive surveys are: Lenore J. Weitzman, et ai. "Sex-Role Socialization in Picture Books for Preschool Children," American Journal of Sociology 77 (May 1972) : 1125-1150; and Women on Words and'Images, Dick and Jane as Victims: Sex Stereotyping in Children's Readers (P.O. Box 2163, Princeton, N.J., 1975). Also See Chapter II, below.

g One such attack came from Bernard W. Lukenbill, "Fathers in Adolescent Novels: Some Implications for Sex- Role Reinterpretation," Library Journal 99 (15 February 1974) : 536-540. See Chapter II, below. 9 Jean McClure Kelty, "The Cult of Kill in Adolescent Fiction," English Journal 64 (February 1975) : 56-61; and Luckenbill, 536-540. Discussed further in Chapter II, below. 10 11 ^Alleen Pace Nilsen, "Towards a Description of the Best Adolescent Literature 1967-77," paper prepared for American Library Association Young Adult Services Division (Chicago, June 28, 1978).

^David Matteson, Adolescence Today: Sex Roles and the Search for Identity (Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, 1975) pp. xi, xii. 12 Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, 2d College ed., edited by David B. Guralnik (Cleveland, Ohio: William Collins World Publishing Co., 1976) p. 18. 13 Webster's New World, p. 49. 14 Burton, "The Role of The Junior Novel," p..233.

"'"^Rhoada Wald, "Realism in Children's Literature," Language Arts 52 (October 1975) : 940. 16 In a speech delivered at ALAN Pre-Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, (November 1978), Robert Carlsen main­ tained that the fact that there is no common agreement on terms is one of the major obstacles in establishing a theory of adolescent or young adult literature. 17 Nilsen, "Towards a Description," p. 3. 18 Sandra Lipsitz Bern, "The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 42 (April 1974): 156. This experiment was further explicat­ ed by Bern in "Androgyny vs. The Tight Little Lives of Fluffy Women and Chesty Men," Psychology Today 9 (September 1975) : 58, 61, 62. 19 John E. Williams, Susan M. Bennett, and Deborah H. Best, "Awareness and Expression of Sex Stereotypes in Young Children," Developmental Psychology II (September 1975) : 637. CHAPTER II

A BRIEF HISTORY OF YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

Introduction

The literature that young adults of the United States have been reading has gone through great changes from the

religious tracts of the 1700's to the novels of new realism of the 1970's. Unlike today, literature from 1700 to 1900 that teenagers read was written primarily for adults.^ Its themes seem very moralistic and didactic by today's standards, but the novel of that period was the beginning of the field of adolescent, young adult, literature. As publishing and

education grew, so did the field of adolescent literature.

While publishers saw adolescent literature as a profitable market, educators saw it as significant to the development

of young people, but there was disagreement whether it was

a constructive or destructive development. From the 1900's

the literature of young adults continued to experience con­

siderable growth. During this growth period, the controver­

sy within the field also increased. The primary disputes

centered around the value and the use of adolescent litera­

ture. Those who agreed that it was valuable still argued

its purpose, a transition to adult literature or valuable

in its own right. As educators continued to discuss how 12 13 and if this literature should be used in the classroom, writers of novels for voung adults added another dimension to this dispute; after 1967, they wrote about topics that had previously been taboo. This change to more realistic subject matter in young adult literature has further com­ plicated the question of the value and use of these novels.

Young adult literature has gone through changes of many kinds; this metamorphosis is not yet complete, however. As it developed because of changes in the attitudes of adult writers, publishers, and educators, it will undoubtedly develop even further. As it has created controversy in the past, it will continue to give rise to further educational discussions in the future. Young adult literature is a 2 dynamic field that continues to grow and to influence young adults.

1700-1900: Precursor

During the 1700's, children began to be recognized as an audience for literature. Colonial children's books were

"meant either to preach to, or to teach to, young minds.

This attitude still existed in the 1800's when such organiza­ tions as the American Sunday School Union and the American

Temperance Society published religious and moral pamphlets.

These were intended to instruct young people about the importance of religion, temperance, patriotism, and living 4 an upstanding life. 14

By the 1850's, two other genres were added to the literature young people read, the domestic novel and the dime novel.^ Still written for adults, very religious, and highly moralistic, the domestic novel became very popular with girls. The plots centered around a young girl's maturation and often involved an inherently evil man who

is reformed by a good woman. While the girls were reading these domestic novels, boys were reading the dime novels, the first American paperbacks. Sometime during the 1870's, publishers decreased the cost of the dime novels to a nickel because they realized that their real audience was composed of boys, not men. These novels about the wild West, mystery,

sports, science fiction, war, and comics were highly con- 7 demned by the clergy and many parents and educators even though they seem today as didactic and as supportive of the

American way and an upstanding life as earlier writings.

Like the domestic and dime novels, many of the novels of the late 1800's extolled the American dream and the worth of living a good life. In addition, many took the lead of

the domestic and dime novels, focusing on the lives of young

adults. In 1868, for example, Louisa May Alcott published her still popular Little Women; in 1880, Margaret Sidney

published Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. The publi­

cation of these and others novels "set the stage for a new

kind of literature, one that dealt with children and young

g people as an audience which deserved notice." 15

1900-1965: Awareness and Growth

As more books about adolescents were being published, attitude changes in the fields of publishing and education transformed the field of young adult literature. The themes of the novels remained the same, but the field was growing by hugh proportions.

It was during the early 1900's that the series book became very popular with adolescent readers. The Stratemeyer

Literary Syndicate, for example, was responsible for publica­ tion of some of the most popular adolescent books ever written, series about: Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and the Bobbsey Twins. The Nancy Drew series alone has sold 9 sixty million copies and continues to sell today. These and many other series books emerged about a flawless hero or heroine who did everything perfectly. This is not to say all novels published during the early 1900 ' s contained fault­ less characters,^0 but 1900-1930 saw publication of many novels about daring individualism and the positive results of the Protestant ethic.

In addition to the series books, the publishing in­ dustry made another contribution to the history of young adult literature. In 1933, the label "junior novel" was created by the publisher of Rose Wilder Lane's Let the

Hurricane Roar even though it had for years been published as an adult book. Within a few years after 1933, publishing houses were producing junior novels. Harcourt organized its entire junior division around The Iron Duke by John Tunis 16 who is the author of many sports stories. Tunis writes that

the "odious term juvenile is...the product of a merchandis­

ing age." He also explains that the assigning of the term

"juvenile" or "junior" to a book is purely arbitrary by the

publishers, based on each individual publisher's own stan- 12 dards." Sylvia Engdahl, another writer of adolescent

novels who asked the question "Do Teenage Novels Fill a

Need?" agrees with Tunis that "the raison d 1etre of that

category (teenage) is not literary but commercial." She

also suggests that the "book's maturity, as judged by

readers after publication, has nothing to do with its classi- 13 fication, which is based mainly on marketing considerations."

Another major publishing influence on the growth of young adult literature was the rise of paperbacks from the 14 late 1930's through the 1960's. The 1960's saw many novels

for adolescents published in paperback editions. Paperback

book clubs were organized, and many schools made paperbacks,

if not used in the classroom, at least available in school

book stores.^

With the increase in the availability of novels in

paperback came more information about these novels in news­

papers and professional journals. Newspapers carried book

reviews and lists of recommended or notable books for young

people, and journals devoted articles to the importance of

and use of these novels in the classroom.^

In addition to the changes in publishing that affected

young adult literature, there were changes in the educational 17 community between 1940 and 1960 that equally affected the

attitudes about adolescents and the importance of the liter­

ature written about them.

Dora V. Smith, concerned by the gap between teachers'

knowledge of young adult literature and the growing amount of

quality literature in this field, developed at the University 17 of Minnesota the first course on adolescent literature.

Other such courses were developed throughout the United States.

Some, like Smith's course, involved adolescent literature ex­

clusively while•others, like Lou La Brant’s free-reading

course at The Ohio State University, incorporated adolescent 18 literature and other types of literature.

Two other significant developments in the field of

education were reading interest inventories and studies of

psychological tasks. Because of reading interest inven­

tories, it was established that chronological age and sex

affect what young people like to read, not their geograph­

ic location, history, I.Q., or the recommendations of

English teachers or librarians. Since certain interest pat­

terns paralleled chronological age, knowledge about ado- 19 lescence became valuable for the teaching of reading.

Added to the knowledge of what adolescents like to read were

the results of the studies of the developmental tasks that 20 they need to accomplish during adolescence. Literature

as a vicarious experience would help young adults ac­

complish those tasks that society demands be completed

in adolescence. Influenced by these courses and studies, other 13 educators, Robert Carlsen and Dwight Burton, became more aware of the importance of adolescent literature and encouraged further investigation in the field.

The topics of the novels of 1900 to 1950 continued to avoid "anything remotely controversial or subversive or dangerous." The moral stance of these books was conserva- 21 tive, safe, and traditional. "These books repeatedly emphasized that life is inherently good for the diligent 22 worker who takes school and work and athletics seriously."

Burton agrees with this evaluation and adds that in the novels of this period "basic realism is avoided and...a 2 3 rounded view of life is not given."

In the 19501s and 1960's taboo topics were well es­ tablished. Such topics as pregnancy, sexuality, divorce, drugs, smoking, profanity, or death were seldom discussed in the literature of adolescents. The few exceptions to these taboos were related in order to establish "the evil or lamentable state of someone" involved in these topics as 24 an object lesson. In two surveys of popular adolescent novels, both Davis and Muller report that "adolescent novels characteristically endorse traditional values and standards."^

Thus by the mid-sixties, publishers and educators had, for different reasons, become aware of the importance of the literature for young adults. Even though the topics were little changed from earlier young adult literature, this field had grown from a label attached to an adult book to 19 a major industry that reached millions of young people each year.

1965-1978: Controversy

As the field of young adult literature grew so did the controversies that surrounded it- There were and continue to be differences of opinion over its function and its topics.

Some educators see this field of literature as a vital tran­ sition vehicle in the literary education of young people who 2 6 are moving into adult literature. Some feel young adult literature should be used with poor or unmotivated readers only; others feel literature, whether it is adult or adol- 27 escent, should be enjoyed; and still others see no use for it whatever. Some in the latter group feel that this literature is simply not needed because teenagers "are quite 2 8 ready to move into the world of adult fiction." Others, however, state that young adult literature is both unnec­ essary and a hindrance to young people;, "the junior novel, used to satisfy poor readers and as 'pap' for bored students, has helped to produce more poor readers and bored students.

The junior novel is its own cause and effect, producing 29 mediocrity in its finest hour."

In addition to this disagreement over the function of young adult literature, there was, in the mid-sixties, dis­

cord among the supporters of this field over the topics of these novels. Many felt the topics were, "for the most part...mealy-mouthed, gutless, and pointless."^ Many of 20 the writers of realistic fiction encouraged a new approach, using more realistic subject matter; this came to be known

as the new realism, "telling it as it is."^ S. E. Hinton, herself a teenager at this time, wrote in 1967, "Teen-agers today want to read about teen-agers today. The world is

changing, yet the authors of books for teen-agers are still 32 fifteen years behind the times." Many educators and writers wanted to see an end to the "simplistic, unrealistic,

sticky, even saccharine exercises in devising puerile plots with stick figures marching inevitably and dully through 3 3 them." They wanted authors to deal more realistically with life in novels for young adults.

This change occurred with far-reaching results. The

novels published prior to 1965 "would have prepared almost

no one for the books that would follow that date. ...Innocu­

ous adolescent literature... still came off the presses-, but

adolescent literature paralleled much of adult literature

becoming more controversial, more dangerous, more honest, 34 more real." There were no longer taboos in the topics of

adolescent novels; "all the deadly sins, plus sex, death,

drugs, drunkenness, divorce, poverty, hunger" were present.^

Reaction to this new subject matter in young adult

novels ranged from those who considered it harmful to young

readers to those who thought even more realism was needed.

Some of those who objected to the change felt that writers

had sought to enlighten young people with a realism that left

little to the imagination, creating "in some instances... a 21 3 6 sordid and tawdry work...." John Rowe Townsend, a British author and critic, underscored this view when he wrote

"...you can't turn a bad novel into a good one by filling it 37 with pregnancy, pot and the pill."

Others, on the other hand, felt it was time for adults to stop trying to protect their children from experiences 3 8 and situations that were affecting all of them. Isabelle

Holland, a writer of adolescent and adult novels agreed that change was needed; she wrote that "...there is no question but that the children of today -- hearing nightly on television and daily in the classroom of the problems of war, race, and poverty -- require of their books a social depth that the young people" of earlier generations never dreamed of.^

A third view of this new realism is voiced by other writers of adolescent literature and educators. They see that the topics are different, but they feel the changes are neither as harmful nor as beneficial as suggested. Barbara

Wersba, for example, maintains that "...the so-called New

Liberalism in books just isn't there." She believes that

"what is. there is the Old Morality disguised as the New 40 Sex." Similarly, Richard Peck criticizes the new realism

not because of what it contains but because of what it still

lacks. He writes that "in the name of political, racial, or

sociological realism, too many novels leave their characters where they find them, seething in a static landscape." He

argues there is a need for even more change because "too 22 few books are reflecting" adolescents' need "to grow inde­ pendently. Too few books are fulfilling their need for solace and even friendship. There is sex -- violence — social problems on the one hand, Tolkein fantasy on the 41 other. And not enough middle ground."

Although many question the topics and function of young adult literature, the field has "gained a kind of 42 educational respectability" in the last ten years. No one is able to predict the future of this literature; but if its dynamic state continues, it will certainly develop even fur­ ther, meeting the challenges set for it by educators, authors, and young people themselves.

Male and Female Images in Literature

At the same time that educators and novelists were dis­ cussing the change in the young adult novels to more realistic topics, other writers were disturbed by the images of females and males that were being presented to children and adol­ escents .

Much of the research conducted has been on the images of females presented in literature. Some of these reseach- ers have also commented on the images of boys and men, but only two studies have examined closely the male roles pre- 43 sented to readers. Since this particular work is concerned with adolescents, the research reviewed will be limited to that literature to which adolescents have been exposed: fairy tales, nursery rhymes, picture books, readers, texts, 23 and adolescent novels.

The image of females, sometimes referred to as "The 44 Little Miss Muffet syndrome," depicts females as passive, easily frightened, and dull. It has been shown that in much of the literature presented to children and adolescents limited characterizations of females exist, giving an un­ natural view of the world. In fairy tales, girls sleep their lives away or are locked in towers waiting until a handsome prince comes to rescue them. Nursery rhymes, too, present females who are afraid of spiders, are kept in pumpkin shells, and lose their sheep. This kind of character is perpetuated in the readers, texts, and novels for elementary and adolescent readers. In these, if girls exist at all, they are often totally dependent on men or boys for their identity, worry about their figures and dates, and see marriage as their ultimate goal. Likewise, adult females are portrayed as wives and mothers; few are seen working out­ side the home in a career other than nursing, teaching, or being a librarian.^

This research suggests that males, on the other hand, are often portrayed as strong, active, unemotional, and engaged in dangerous and adventurous activities. Men and boys are seldom shown as being friends with or engaging in 46 sharing conversations with females. Fathers, if they appear at all, are the breadwinners and seldom take part in 47 nurturing the children or in any of the household activities. 24

Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes

From the beginning, hearing fairy tales and nursery rhymes, children are exposed to a limited image of females.

In a workshop on "Sex Role Myths We Teach," Dr. Renee

Queen, professor of Education at Fordam, points out that girls especially "have few role models in children's litera­ ture." What they have are mostly "mythical creatures— like 48 witches, fairies, godmothers, or Mary Poppins." Dan Donlan

agrees that there is a negative image of females in folk

tales and nursery rhymes. He cites as evidence two recur­ ring character types, both lovably incompetent"; one is the

sweet, little, old lady who is characterized by eccentricity, befuddlement, and imperceptiveness which indicate her in­

effectuality; Old Mother Hubbard's intelligence, for example,

"is dwarfed by the dog's." The beautiful, young heroine, the second type, is portrayed with disguised condescension.

She is dull-witted, spiritless, naive, amoral, or passive.

The only independent woman Donlan finds in his survey is an 49 evil witch, a hateful housewife, or a wicked stepmother.

Marcia Liebermann underscores this two-sided alterna­

tive structure of the fairy tale, explaining that there are

ill-tempered and ugly girls or good-tempered, meek, and

beautiful girls but "no examples of a crossed-pattern, that

is, of plain but good-tempered girls." In addition, she

maintains that neither are there older women in fairy tales

that are "examples of powerful women with whom children can

identify as role models; they do not provide meaningful alternatives to the sterotype of the younger, passive hero­

ine. "^ The career choice for girls in this early literature

is marriage. A princess who refuses to marry is portrayed

as reprehensible. The alternative construction, that she wished to preserve her freedom and "identity is denied and disallowed." Unfortunately, however, the state of marriage

is seldom shown as a real condition. In the few marriages

that do appear, the domineering wife is regarded as abhor­

rent while the passive, helpless, threatened wife is uncriti- 51 cally viewed and thus implicity approved of.

Picture Books

The females in picture books are similar to those in

fairy tales and nursery rhymes. In "Sex-Role Socialization

in Picture Books for Preschool Children," Lenore J. Weitzman

et aL, report the results of a 1972 survey of Caldecott Medal winners since 1938 with a concentration on winners and run­ ners-up for the five previous years. They report that

"women are simply invisible." In illustrations, for example, there are 261 males to 23 females a ratio of 11:1; in titles, the proportion of males to females is 8:3. In one-third of

the books, there are no females at all. Despite the atten­

tion given images of females in literature, comparison be­

tween Caldecott award winners of 1967-1972 and those prior

to; 1967 shows that at that time, the situation was becoming worse, not better; male main characters outnumber female 52 11:9 prior to 1967 but 7:2 in the years between 1967 and 1972. This few number of females is not compensated for by the characterization or plots. "When there are female char- 53 acters, they are usually insignificant or inconspicuous."

Girls are passive, performing service activities in the home while boys are active. Women are "loving, watching, and helping." In most of the stories, the "sole adult woman is identified only as a mother or a wife." Not one woman in the Caldecott sample had a job or a profession. "The one nonstereotyped woman is clearly not a 'normal' woman— she is a mythical creature," a fairy godmother who is the "only adult female who plays an active leadership role." In the books of this survey, the plots are generally some form of male adventure in which boys rescue girls and helpless 54 animals and male comaraderie is encouraged.

These unrealistic images are perpetuated in the role of the fathers who "never help in the mundane duties of child care" nor share in the housekeeping duties. These research­ ers claim that "...no effort is made to create a social awareness which encompasses the wider society.

In addition to suggestions for changing female images, they suggest that "picture books could also present a less stereotyped and less rigid definition of male roles by en­ couraging boys to express their emotions as well as their intellect. ...Stereotypes could be weakened by books showing boys being rewarded for being emotional and supportive and girls being rewarded for being intelligent and adventure- ,,55 some. The findings of Elizabeth Fisher in "The Second Sex,

Junior Division," Alleen Pace Nilsen in "Women in Children's

Literature," and Stewig and Higgs in "Girls Grow Up to be

Mommies: A Study of Sexism in Children's Literature" all

show similar results to Weitzman et al.'s survey. Males

outnumber females in a degree unproportionate with the

population which is fifty-one percent female. Females are

"pictured as looking out at the action"and engaging in

passive activities such as watching and sitting. Adult

females are usually mothers who wear aprons; those who do 57 work are either nurses, teachers, or librarians.

Men, according to Stewig and Higgs' survey of 154

picture books, "are portrayed more frequently, and in a wider

array of professional roles than are women." Some fifty-six

different occupations are reported for the male characters

of these books. Stewig and Higgs make a valid point often

overlooked by other researchers that "while it is undoubted­

ly true that men's options are wider than those of women,

the representativeness of these is uncertain. The two most

frequent portrayals of men were in occupational roles re­

lated to water and to farming. These are hardly representa­

tive." In addition, "the nonprofessional roles in which

men are depicted are not as wide-ranging as are the profes­

sional roles shown, but the variety does exceed that for

women." Many of these activities are active as opposed to

the sedentary activities depicted for women. However, "the

books seldom show men involved in the household tasks that 5 8 many of them perform today...."

More recent surveys of picture books, which attempt to verify any progress that has occurred in these books, show that there has been little change. John W. Stewig repli­ cated his 1972 study with the help of Mary Lynn Knipful.

Their comparative study between the earlier sample and one hundred books published between 1972 and 1974, "Sexism in

Picture Books: What Progress?", shows that there has been some progress but that women are still"portrayed primarily in one of two ways: as housewives and mothers, doing dull and uninteresting tasks, or as professionals engaged in a limited range of occupations, most of which are typically 59 considered appropriate for women."

In these more recent surveys, it is reported that men continue to be portrayed more frequently than women and in a wider variety of occupations. In a comparative survey of

"Occupational Roles in Children's Literature," Judith S.

Hillman reports that in books published in the 1930's male occupations outnumber female 5:1 and in books published in the 1960 's and 1970 's, the proportion is 4:1. This shows 6 0 little difference over a thirty-year period. In the Stewig and Knipful survey, "the two most frequent male roles were related to the circus and farming." This, like the 1972 61 sample, is "hardly representative of life today." Another comparative study, "An Analysis of Picture Books," done by

Thomas D. Yawkey and Margaret L. Yawkey, shows that there are statistically significant differences between the old 29

(before 1965) and the new (after 1965) books using the variable of race and socio-economic status of the main character and the story location, but there still is no significant difference on the variable of sex. Less than ten percent of the new books in that survey have a dominant female character; women are shown as "servile, submissive, 6 2 and essentially completing tasks related to homemaking."

Readers and Texts

Disproportionate numbers and limited images of males and females also exist in elementary texts and readers. From

1946 to the present many studies have surveyed the contents 6 3 of these books, all reporting similar findings. The

1946 survey by Child, Potter, and Levine, "Children's Text­ books and Personality Development: An Exploration in the

Social Psychology of Education," reports numbers and charac­ teristics of females nearly identical to all of the later surveys. In the 914 third grade stories selected from thirty books, 73 percent of the main characters and 63 percent of the supporting characters are male. The girls and women in these stories are "sociable, kind and timid, but inactive, unambitious and uncreative." In addition, they found

"several striking instances where females were shown as being definitely inferior from a moral point of view." They con­ cluded over thirty-two years ago, that "if the content of these readers is typical of other social influences, it is a small wonder that girls might develop for this reason alone 30 64 an inferiority complex about their sex."

A most comprehensive and often cited study of elemen­ tary texts is Dick and Jane as Victims: Sex Stereotyping in

Children's Readers by Women on Words and Images. The second edition (1975) gives both an indepth look at the elementary readers published between 1961 and 1971 from their first survey and an up-dated evaluation of readers published be­ tween 1972 and 1975. In their earlier study, they surveyed one hundred thirty-four elementary school readers containing

2760 stories from fourteen publishers. The boy-centered stories outnumber girl-centered 5:2; adult male main charac­ ters to female main characters 3:1. There are also six male biographies to every one female biography; four male folk or fantasy stories to every one about a female. In the fiction stories, boys are much more clever, persistent, and heroic than girls, but it should be noted that adventure stories about "girls are severely limited in quantity— 68 instances— and constricted in space." Besides not having adventures,

"girls are not even shown excelling in school work, something they actually do better than boys." In addition, the authors feel that there is an unrealistic representation of emotions;

"neither girls nor boys in the readers exhibit any realistic range of human emotions." The few emotions that are "per­ mitted are off-limits to boys. Emotions belong to the lesser sex, something that weak, foolish people alone experience.

Boys must fight back fears and tears, while girls succumb without a struggle to irrational terrors and foolish "weep­ ing." The authors comment that "it is cruel to urge young 31 boys to suppress all feelings and to stunt little girls by 6 5 urging them to vent immature ones."

In these stories, "boys are stimulated to feel pride and self-worth at the prospect of becoming an adult. ...Boys are shown how to grow up and become men, not fathers....

When a girl masters a grown-up skill, it is usually a domes­ tic one...." This is not surprising since the adult males in the books "are job holders and fathers" while "adult females are either job holders or mothers, rarely both. Only direct necessity drives mothers to work, never mere desire or special skills or burning talent."

In the home environment, mothers work inside and

fathers outside. Marriages are portrayed with "no closeness between husband and wife"; all of the interaction is between the parent and child. There are also no parental conflicts or disagreements even though the wife sometimes nags. The

authors state that missing from these stories are one-parent

families, "family moments of mutual appreciation, of love * < between parents, and non-romantic affection between people."

In these texts, the number of career choices for adults is

greatly disparate between men and women; mer. engage in one

hundred forty-seven different kinds of jobs but women in 6 6 only twenty-six occupations. According to Buford Steffler,

these figures are incongruent with reality. In "Run, Mama,

Run: Women Workers in Elementary Readers," he compares adult

female characters in first through sixth grade readers with women in the real work force of the U.S. He maintains that 32 there are seven times as many women working at factory type jobs and three times as many in secretarial jobs than are shown in the readers.^7

Because of this unreal picture of the adult working world, Women on Words and Images feel that little "attempt is made to build up the expectations of girls, to create esteem and optimism about their future possibilities." Even though the limitations placed on girls is their primary con­ cern, Women on Words and Images point out that boys, too, can be harmed by this unrealistic view of the world. In many of the stories in readers, "males bend nature to their wills. Yet it is clear, in this new age of environmental awareness, that men and women will have to learn to live in harmony with nature rather than run roughshod over it." In addition to this environmental criticism, Women on Words and Images maintain that boys must never give in to "the so-called feminine component" of themselves since "the readers contain a stronger taboo against boys being depen­ dent (sissies!) at any age than they do against young girls 6 8 breaking out of their mold (tomboys) a little bit."

Weitzman and Rizzo who conducted a three year study of texts agree that "in the same way that girls are constrained by images which stereotype them as pretty and passive, boys are constrained by images which stereotype them as strong and unemotional. The textbooks thereby encourage both sexes 69 to limit their development."

The 1975 survey of texts published between 1972 and

1975 conducted by Women on Words and Images reports that an overall imbalance of the sexes still exists. There are seven boy-centered stories to every two about girls; illustrations of males outnumber females 2:1; male occupations outnumber female 3:1; and there are twice as many male biographies as female. They did discover differences, however. They feel that "the most encouraging difference...is in the realistic and human qualities depicted in some of the new stories.

Some females were found who are clever, competent, and ini­ tiating, as well as a few males who are able to honestly 70 express emotions." These findings are different from the findings of Marten and Matlin, though. In the latter com­ parative study between textbooks published before 1971 and from 1971-1975, they note that, despite the fact that there are slightly more illustrations and stories about females in the newer editions, females made no progress in being repre­ sented as active rather than passive. Males, on the other hand, are shown as being even more active than they had been 71 in the older texts.

There have been fewer surveys of junior and senior high texts than of elementary readers and texts, but the reported results are similar for both. Again, males greatly outnumber females. From Gayle Hurst's survey of junior high literature anthologies, she reports that only nirre percent 72 of the stories have female main characters. Susan Wiik's analysis of fifteen junior high literature anthologies reports 440 main male characters and only 88 female main 73 characters. Macleod and Silverman's survey of senior high social studies texts found that "from 70-88% of the 34 illustrations show men only or men dominant over women in status, authority, or numbers." The roles of the females presented are also limited. In the social studies texts, women are usually stereotyped either as men's wives or as housewives. The few working women shown are in "traditional

'female' jobs, such as nursing, teaching, and secretarial 74 positions." Wiik cites teachers, nurses, and principals, all spinsters and all self-supporting because of their un­ married status. Even in the biography sections, if there are any females, they are shown overcoming a physical handicap 75 or being help-mates to their husbands.

Females in Adolescent Novels

Of all the areas of children's and adolescent texts and novels, the only one that shows a significant improve­ ment in the image of females is the young adult novel. Sur­ veys of novels that were published before the late 1960's show that the women and girls are presented in a limited 7 6 way. The studies of novels published after the late 1960's and early 1970's, however, point to some changes in the 77 image of females. Although no author has indicated reasons for this significant change, it seems apparent that it closely parallels the change in the topics of young adult novels. As the topics became more realistic so did the por­ trayal of females in these novels.

Earlier novels of the late 1300's began "the happiness/ hopelessness" syndrome of the American female. First 35

published in 1868, the novels about Elsie Dinsmore, for ex­

ample, show how she "wept and fainted her way through twenty- 7 8 six volumes, from girlhood to marriage and widowhood."

This type of heroine was juxtaposed with Jo in Little Women;

she "was the ringleader, the energetic girl," the girl who,

at the end of the novel, "found her own true love."

The females in the novels published until the middle 79 1960 ' s appear to come from this same mold. "For the most part, they were passive females from the upper-middle class, with super-egos.... These girls cared about their friends' opinions and attitudes. They all wanted to become independent 8 0 of parents and other adults."

Other researchers agree with this evaluation of females

in adolescent novels published before the mid-sixties.

Diane Gersoni Stavn analyzed the female stereotypes presented

in novels about boys. Covering publication dates over an

eighteen year period, her article maintains that the vision

of females in these novels is "a maxi-mess" In the novels

surveyed, "girlfriends and mothers are almost always un­

realized or unpleasant characters — one-dimensional,

idealized, insipid, bitchy, castrating -- while sexually

neutral characters, such as little sisters and old ladies, 81 are most often well conceived and likeable."

In other surveys of a small number of novels with

female main characters, both Carolyn G. Heilbrun and Gayle

Nelson find similarly limited female images. Heilbrun

points out that the female characters are "like slaves...

acted upon. There is not one of them with the smallest 36 sense of destiny, about herself as a specifically valuable human being rather than a host of female organs, not one of 8 2 them who could imagine herself as an autonomous being."

Like these, Nelson's survey reports major female characters in conflict with their parents because of a boy; their con­ cerns center around weight control,'clothes, dates, proms, and whatever makes them attractive to boys." All of the characters in Nelson's survey submit begrudgingly to their boyfriends' demands for sexual relations, but none takes a decisive move to use a contraceptive device. Nelson says all are eventually "punished for violating the etiquette of 8 3 womanhood. Heilbrun, too, feels that this double standard is displayed in adolescent literature and that the 'virginity mystique'...must be discussed and appraised in the light of 84 a new world and new knowledge."

As the topics of young adult novels became more realis­ tic, however, the characterization of females was "appraised" and in many cases began to be altered. The October 1973 issue of Elementary English which is devoted entirely to sexism in literature examines these changes. Articles in this publication suggest that the image of girls in litera­ ture for adolescents is changing and becoming more positive.

Janice M. Tate points to changes in science fiction for upper elementary grades. She says that genre is no longer entirely for boys. There are not only male-dominated books but also books which are female-dominated; others which have both sexes in equal roles or which have a male main character 37 in addition to "clearly and realistically portrayed" female 8 5 characters. Selma R. Siege analyzes heroines of notable books published between 1960 and 1970. About these, she writes "the new female protagonist does not conform to the traditional heroine concept physically, intellectually, or psychologically. Nor does she correspond to the popular feminine-stereotype version of a heroine. She is, for the most part, an uneasy, independent, critical, nonconformist; she behaves as she feels and does not try to fit into the 8 6 conventional life patterns around her."

In Ruth Stein's survey of females in adolescent novels which were published between 1964 and 1973, somewhat dif­ ferent results are reported. She recognizes a difference between the books of the 1960's and those of the 1970's, but her overall evaluation is that although "stereotyped patterns of thought and behavior" continue in this sample,

"new concerns, attitudes, and expectations on the part of 8 7 young women find their way into print." According to Stein, heroines continue to "have negative images of themselves.

They are dissatisfied with their looks, their bodies, their characters, and their dispositions." In the earlier books of the survey, these short-comings are resolved by the end of the novel. In the seventeen books in which things are not resolved for the heroine, thirteen were published in the seventies. In addition to this change, the heroines of the most recent books "find that they are allowed to be 'brains' without suffering dire consequences." It is also only in 38 the books published in the 1970's that girls are found who reject the idea of marriage or do not think of it as an answer to their problems. The major change Stein cites is the lack of happy endings; she states that "the heroine's 8 8 future is not only uncertain, but (it appears) hopeless."

In addition to these changes, Stein feels that the image of the older woman in young adult novels improved.

Even though traditional occupations are still the rule, some women are photographers, magazine editors, and public relations experts. Despite the fact that these occupations and some activities have been changed, however, Stein sug­ gests that women still often appear lovably incompetent.

"In a good proportion of these books, the mother's activities pave the way for conflicts ranging from the semi-comic to the disastrous."^

Males in Adolescent Novels

Few analyses of the males in adolescent novels have been conducted. Jean McClure Kelty examines male maturation in "The Cult of Kill in Adolescent Fiction," and Bernard W.

Lukenbill researches "Fathers in Adolescent Novels." Kelty describes "the stereotype initiation of the male character who persistently becomes a man when he performs an act of violence against an animal and/or the natural world." She maintains that "such a pattern is hardly consistent with 90 the ecological revolution of our age." To support her contention, Kelty gives an example of a boy's killing a pet he loves as in Rawling's The Yearling or Robert Peck's 39

A Day No Pigs Would Die and of the male's killing of a wild animal as in Wier's The Loner, Melville's Moby Dick, and

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Kelty's generaliza­ tions seem distorted, however. Since books with historical or poor agrarian settings do not represent all of American society and, of course, are not 'consistent with the ecological revolution of our ages"; given the time and set­ ting, they are not meant to be. It is true that remarks on these books and others like them should include discussion of the need for boys to realize that becoming a man is an internal struggle and that they do not need "to externalize that trouble and to foist it on nature or any of nature's creatures," but Kelty does not show that these books present what she calls a situation that is "untrue to the very 91 deepest meaning of the nature of life itself."

Unlike Kelty,Lukenbill in his analysis of fathers in adolescent novels attempts to be scientifically systematic.

His primary reason for using systematic research techniques is a legitimate criticism since he states that many earlier studies "are too emotional" and are based on "data rarely 92 gathered through sound systematic procedures." Luckenbill's correlation of sociopsychological tenets and the contents of adolescent novels,however, lacks documention from the novels themselves. His findings are interesting and perhaps true; but without specific references from the texts, the reader is left with only generalizations. In his study, a random sample of fifty novels published from 1931-1971 was 40

selected for reading and analysis. Lukenbill describes the

fathers in these novels in terms of occupation, socio­

economic and ethnic class, and, if applicable,reasons for

father's absences. He also examines interpersonal relation­

ships and behaviors between fathers and families.

Although he never states the criteria used to dif­

ferentiate within these groups, Lukenbill says that the

fathers are "primarily white, middle class, and profession­

ally or business-career oriented" with 74 percent "drawn

from rural, suburban, and small-town environments." Half

of the fathers who are absent from the home are divorced or

separated. In 68 percent of the families, the father is the head of the household, and 71 percent of these men are the

sole breadwinner. They are seldom involved in any other major role activity except the authoritarian. Lukenbill

notes that "half of the fathers analyzed performed their

fatherly roles in an expressive, emotional way" and that

the "fathers were usually... dependent upon their families

for emotional support." Lukenbill reports that in this sur­

vey there were good relationships between husbands and wives, but "relationships between fathers and their sons and daughters...were not positive." Lukenbill finds the fathers 93 in the sample emotionally stable. It is unfortunate that

neither criteria used to judge the characters nor specific passages on which these judgments were made were given by

Lukenbill. It is unclear without this support how a char­

acter was determined to be emotionally stable or to have 41

good or bad relationships. For a writer who insists on

"sound, systematic procedures," this omission is a surpris­

ing disappointment. Despite the fact that Lukenbill1s

survey lacks definitions and examples, it remains a contri­

bution to a better understanding of the images of adult

males presented in young adult fiction.

Significance of This Study

It is evident from the research on the images of males

and females in the literature available to young people that

more research is needed on the images of males. How females

are portrayed has been explored in all areas of literature;

but research on the male characters has been primarily

limited to a comparison with females. Previous studies show

that males appear in greater numbers than females; they are

portrayed in a wider variety of occupations, many of which

are equally as unrealistic as the female occupations; males

are discouraged from expressing emotions while females are

often rewarded for this expression; females are portrayed as

pretty, passive, and emotional; males are strong, active,

and unemotional.

One genre in which researchers have found changes in

the females is the young adult novel. Since the topics of

these novels and the characterizations of girls and women i | have been studied, attention now should shift to how the

male characters are portrayed in the novels. Questions

arise : Is the adolescent male character always strong and 42 spirited? Does he display emotions? Does he force his will on nature as Kelty and Women on Words and Images suggest?

What are his attitudes toward females, his peers, and adults?

Is the future as hopeless for him as the females' futures in

Stein's survey? Is he as active as the female is passive in the resolution of the conflict of the novel?

The answers to these questions will offer insights not only into the image of the adolescent male presented in novels of realistic fiction but also into the changing field of young adult literature. Of course, these answers will not end the controversies over the value and the use of the young adult novel. It is intended, however, that this study will give a better understanding of male characterization and more information on which to judge young adult novels of new realism. FOOTNOTES

See Kiefer, passim; Anna Scott MacLeod, A Moral Tale: Children's Fiction and American Culture, 1820-1960 (Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1975) passim; and Bernard Wishy, The Child and the Republic: The Dawn of Modern American Child Nurture (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968) passim. 2 In "Towards a Description of the Best of Adolescent Literature 1967-77," Alleen Pace Nilsen states that whether the field of adolescent literature is called "dynamic" or "unstable" depends "on whether one is an optimist or a pessimist." p. 1.

^Richard S. Aim, "The Development of Literature for Adolescents," The School Review 64 (April 1956) : 172,173. 4 For a general overview, see John C. Crandall, "Patriotism and Humanitarian Reform in Children's Literature, 1825-1860," American Quarterly 21 (Spring 1969) : 3-22. For more on the American Sunday School Union, see Ellen Shaffer, "The Children's Books of the American Sunday-School Union," American Book Collector 17 (October 1966) : 21-28; and for more on the importance of temperance, see John Gould Curtis, "Saving the Infant Class from Hell," Scribner's Maqazine 86 (November 1929) 564-570.

^Helen Waite Papashvily, All the Happy Endings: A Study of the Domestic Novel in America, The Women Who Wrote It, The Women Who Read It, in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Harper, 1956) passim; and Herbert Ross Brown, The Sentimental Novel -in America, 1789-1860 (Durham, North Carolina.: Duke University Press, 1940) passim. g Albert Johannsen, The House of Beadle and Adams and Its Dime and Nickel Novels: The Story of a Vanished Literature, 3 vols. (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950-62) and Edmund Pearson, Dime Novels; or Following an Old Trail in Popular Literature (Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1968; first published, 1929) passim. The best single source of information on the dime novel is the Dime Novel Roundup which has been publishing for nearly fifty years. It includes popular essays and scholarly investigations of dime novels; the current editor is Edward T. LeBlanc, 87 School Street, Fall River, Massachusetts 02720. 43 44 7 Representative examples can be found in: Theodore C. Burgess, "Means of Leading Boys from the Dime Novels to Better Literature," Library Journal 21 (April 1896) : 144- 147; Anthony Comstock, Traps for the Young, ed. Robert Bremner (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967; first published, 1883); and Ellen M. Cox, "What Can Be Done to Help a Boy to Like Good Books after He Has Fallen Into the 'Dime Novel Habit'?" Library Journal 20 (April 1895) : 118,119.

Q Aim, p. 17 3. 9 Alice Payne Hackett and James Henry Burke, 80 Years of Best Sellers, 1895-1975 (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1977) p. 45. The combined sales of the six series that Strate- meyer Syndicate still publishes "now stands at around 150 million copies since 1930 1" Richard Haitch, "Author of 165 Books— Under Several Names," "Contemporary," magazine supplement of Denver Post, 5 June 1977, p. 28. 10 Notable exceptions are the novels of Ralph Henry Barbour, author of many sports stories, and William Heyliger, author of vocational and school and sports stories. Many of the protagonists of their books were not portrayed as being perfect.

^■'"Arthur Stephenson Dunning, A Definition of the Role of the Junior Novel Based on Analysis of Thirty Selected Novels, Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, (Ann Arbor, Michigan University Microfilms, 1959) . 12 John R. Tunis, "What Is a Juvenile Book?" The Horn Book Magazine 44 (June 1968) : 309.

■^Sylvia Engdahl, "Do Teenage Novels Fill a Need?" English Journal 64 (February 2, 1975) : 49. 14 General information on the rise of paperbacks in the U.S. can be found in these: Kurt Enoch, "The Paper-Bound Book: Twentieth-Century Publishing Phenomenon," Library Quarterly 24 (July 1954): 211-225; Lewis Freeman, "Paper- Bound Books in America," Bulletin of the New York Public Library 57 (February 1953) : 55-75; and Frank L. Schick, The Paperbound Book in America: The History of Paperbacks and their European Backgrounds (New York: R. R. Bowker, 1958) passim. 15 Alexander Butman, Donald Reis, and David Sohn, eds., Paperbacks in the Schools (New York: Bantam, 1963) passim.

16Alm, p. 173. 45 17 Dora V. Smith, "Extensive Reading in Junior High School: A Survey of Teacher Preparation," English Journal 19 (June 1930) : 449-462; and "American Youth and English," English Journal 26 (February 1937) : 99-113 . 18 Lou La Brant, An Evaluation of the Free Reading Program in Grades Ten, Eleven, and Twelve for the Class of 1935, The Ohio State University School, Contributions to Education, no. 2 (1936). 19 George W. Norvell conducted the largest study in 1950, Reading Interests of Young People. (Boston: Heath, 1950). 20 Robert Hav.ighurst,. Human Development Education, (New York: Longmans, Green, 1953) passim. 21 Ken Donelson, "Censorship Comes to Adolescent Liter­ ature," Indiana English 1 (Fall 1977) : 10. 2 2 Kenneth L. Donelson, "Growing Up Real: YA Literature Comes of Age," Wilson Library Bulletin (November 1977) : 242. 23 Burton, Literature Study, p. 248. 24 Donelson, "Censorship," p. 11. 25 James E. Davis, "Recent Trends in Fiction for Adoles­ cents," English Journal 56 (May 1967): 722; and A1 Muller, "Thirty Popular Adolescent Novels: A Content Analysis," English Journal 63 (September 1974) : 98. 2 6 Burton, Literature Study, p. 2 39. 27 Ken Donelson, "The Trouble with Read Only The Very Best," Media and Methods (March 1978) : 70. 2 8 Natalie Babbitt, "Between Innocence and Maturity," The Horn Book Magazine 48 (February 1972) : 36. 2 9 Carol Ann Lang, NCTE Student Member Newsletter, Maia Bank Mertz, ed., (Spring 1976) : 2. Other similarly negative views can be found in: J. Donald Adams, Speaking of Books and Life (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965) pp. 250-252; Harvey R. Granite, "The Uses and Abuses of Junior Literature," Clearing House 42 (February 1968) : 337-340; Vivian J. MacQuown and Virginia Westphal, "The Teenage Novel: A Critique, A Defense," School Library Journal (April 1964): 34-37. 30 Frank G. Jennings, "Literature for Adolescents-Pap or Protein?" English Journal 45 (December 1956) : 526.

^"'‘Hentoff, p p. 3 , 51. 46

32 Hinton, Teen-Agers Are for Real," p. 26.

3 3Donelson, "Censorship," p. 11. 34 Ibid., p . 12.

^Jane Yolen, "It's Not All Peter Rabbit," The Writer 12 (April 1975): 12. 3 6 Helen G. Koss, "Relevancy and Children's Literature," Elementary English 49 (November 1972) : 991 37 Townsend, p. 2.

3 8Nancy Larrick, "Divorce, Drugs, Desertion, The Draft: Facing Up to the Realities in Children's Literature," Publisher's Weekly 201 (February 21, 1972): 91. A similar view is presented by John Neufeld in "The Thought, Not Necessarily the Deed: Sex in Some of Today's Juvenile Novels," Wilson Library Bulletin 46 (October 1971) : 147. There, he writes that "this shielding of children was only an attempt at shielding ourselves (adults) from experiences and language that troubled us."

■^Isabelle Holland, "Tilting at Taboos," The Horn Book Magazine 49 (June 1973) : 303. 40 Barbara Wersba and Josette Frank, "Sexuality in Books for Children," School Library Journal 19 (February 1973): 46. 41 Richard Peck, "In the Country of Teenage Fiction" American Libraries 4 (April 1973): 206, 207. 42 Robert C. Small, Jr., "The Junior Novel and the Art of Literature," English Journal 66 (October 1977) : 56.

^See discussion below. 44 Mary Ritchie Key, "The Role of Male and Female in Children's Books-Dispelling All Doubt,” Wilson Library Bulletin 46 (October 1971) : 167-176 passim. 45 Representative examples are: Marcia R. Liebermann, "Some Day My Prince Will Come: Female Acculturation Through the Fairy Tale," College English 34 (December 1972) : 385-388, Alleen Pace Nilsen, "Women in Children's Literature," College English 32 (May 1971) : 918-926. Weitzman et al., 1125-1150; Women on Words and Images, (1975) pass.im. Each of these areas is discussed further below. 46 Representative examples are: Weitzman et al., Women on Words and Images. See the discussion below. 47 Representative examples are: Weitzman et al.; John Warren Stewig and Margaret Kiggs, "Girls Grow Up to be Mommies: A Study of Sexism in Children's Literature." School Library Journal 19 (January 1973) : 44-49. Lukenbill, pp. 5 3 6-54 0. 48 Judy Klemesrud, "Some New Views in an Old Subject at a Conference on Sex Stereotyping," New York Times (9 April 1973) p. 43. 49 Dan Donlan, "The Negative Image of Women in Children's Literature," Elementary English 49 (April 1972): 604-609.

^Liebermann, pp. 385-388.

51Ibid., pp. 393,394. 52 Weitzman et al., pp. 1125-1150.

53Ibid., p. 1129.

^ I b i d . , pp. 1130-1141.

55Ibid., pp. 1141-1147.

Nilsen, "Women," p. 919.

D7Elizabeth Fisher, "The Second Sex, Junior Division," New York Times (24 May 1970) p. 44. 5 8 Stewig and Higgs, pp. 48, 49. 59 John Stewig and Mary Lynn Knipful, "Sexism in Picture Books: What Progress?" Elementary School Journal 76 (December 1975): 154. 6 0 Judith Stevinson Hillman, "Occupational Roles in Children's Literature," Educational Digest 42 (December 1976) 61. 61 Stewig and Knipful, p. 153. 6 2 Thomas D. Yawkey and Margaret L. Yawkey, "An Analysis of Picture Books," Language Arts 53 (May 1976) : 547. 48 6 3 Irwin L. Child, Elmer Potter, and Estelle M. Levine, "Children^ Textbooks and Personality Development," Psycho­ logical Monographs 60 (1946): 46; Anne Stevens Fishman, "A Criticism of Sexism in Elementary Readers," Reading Teacher 29 (February 1976): 443-445; Ramona Frasher and Annabelle Walker, "Sex Roles in Early Reading Textbooks," Reading Teacher 25 (May 1972) : 741-749; Key, jp. 167-176; Enid Nemy, "Sex Stereotyping Persists in Schools," New York Times (12 June 1973),pp. 1, 50; Thomas R. Schnell and Judith Sweeney, "Sex Role Bias in Basal Readers," Elementary English 52 (May 1975) : 737-742; Marjorie E. Taylor, "Sex-Role Stereotypes in Children's Readers," Elementary English 50 (October 1973) : 1045-1047; Marjorie U 1Ren, "The Image of Woman in Textbooks," Woman in Sexist Society, eds., Vivian Gornick, Barbara K. Moran (New York: Basic Books, 1971), pp. 318-328; Women on Words and Images, passim. 64 Child et al., pp. 46-49. 6 h 'Women on Words and Images, pp. 8-38, passim. 6 6 Ibid., pp. 16-37, passim. 6 7 Buford Steffler, "Run, Mama, Run: Women Workers in Elementary Readers," Vocational Guidance Quarterly 18 (December 1969): 101. 6 8 Women on Words and Images, p. 39. 69 . . . . Lenore J. Weitzman and Diane Rizzo, "Sex Bias m Textbooks," Today's Education 64 (January-February 1975) : 49. 70 Women on Words and Images, p. 66. 71 Laurel A. Marten and Margaret W. Matlin, "Does Sexism in Elementary Readers Still Exist?" Reading Teacher 29 (May 1976): 764-767. 72 Reported by Jennifer S. Macleod and Sandra T. Silver­ man , 'You Won't Do': What Textbooks on U.S. Government Teach High School Girls (KNOW, Inc., 1973) p. 95. 7 3 Susan L. Wiik, "The Sexual Bias of Textbook Litera­ ture," English Journal 62 (February 1973): 224, 228. 74 Macleod and Silverman, pp. 9, 62.

^Wiik, pp. 225-228. 7 6 Representative examples are: Ruth Stein, "From Happiness to Hopelessness: A Decade of Adolescent Girls," Arizona English Bulletin 18 (April 1976); 144-150; Diane Gersoni Stavn, "The Skirts in Fiction About Boys: A Maxi 49

Mess," School Library Journal 17 (January 1971) : 66-70; Carolyn G. Heilbrun, "All Pregnant Girls Have Boy Babies," New York Times Book Review, 8 November 1970, sec. 7, pp. 8, 32; Gayle Nelson, "The Double Standard in Adolescent Litera­ ture," English Journal 64 (February 1975) : 53-56. Dis­ cussed further below. 77 Stein, passim; Selma R. Siege, "Heroines m Recent Children's Fiction-An Analysis," Elementary English 50 (October 1973) : 1039-1043; Janice M. Tate, "Sexual Bias in Science Fiction for Children," Elementary English 50 (October 1973); 1061-1064. Discussed further below. 7 8 Stein, p. 144. 79 Stein says Maureen Daly's Seventeenth Summer (1942) is a literary milestone because its heroine Angie suffered with adolescent problems realistically and painfully but “found no pat answers or solutions. Girls did not get Boy and love did not find a way." (p. 145).

80 . i 4i— Stein, p. 145. 81 The point is well made that the images of all females need to be more realistic and less negative; Stavn, however, does not clarify why she calls little sisters and old ladies "sexually neutral characters." They are females, like mothers and girlfriends, regardless of their age.

^Heilbrun, p . 8 . 8 3.. . Nelson / P . 59.

^Heilbrun, p . 32 .

85Tate, p. 1061. 860 • Siege, P- 1039.

S t e m , P- 149.

Ibid., PP . 145-14

89Ibid., P- 148.

9°Kelty, P- 57.

91Ibid., P- 60. 92 Lukenbill, p. 26.

Ibid., PP . 27-29. CHAPTER III

RESULTS OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

Introduction

A content analysis was conducted to quantitatively describe the parts of the whole, to examine various ele­ ments of the novels that comprise this sample. The sample was analyzed by stating the numbers and types of its parts.

The first section of the analysis focuses on the major and minor characters: their numbers, sex distributions, rela­ tionships to the major adolescent male characters, and color and economic backgrounds. The second deals with the novels themselves: their authors, publishing divisions, settings, time spans, narrative styles, topics,and themes.

Thus, the young adult novel of realistic fiction with a major male character can be better understood by the delin­ eation of similarities and differences of the parts of the whole.

Characters

In the sample of twenty-five novels of realistic fiction with a major male character, there are a total of one hundred eleven major and minor characters. This includes forty-eight 50 TABLE 3 51

CONTENT ANALYSIS: SEX, COLOR, ECONOMIC

PERCENT OF % OF TOTAL PERCENT MAJOR/ NO. OF TOTAL NO. OF OF TOTAL MINOR NOVELS NO. OF CHARACTERS CHARACTERS CHARACTERS NOVELS

CHARACTERS 1 1 1 — — — —

MALE CHARACTERS 70 63 — 2 5 100 MAJOR MALE 36 83 25 100 CHARACTERS 4 0 ADOLESCENTS 35 31.5 8 7 .5 2 5 100

ADULTS 5 4 .5 12.5 5 2 0

MINOR MALE 30 2 7 4 8 17 68 CHARACTERS ADOLESCENTS 2 2 20 7 3 14 56

ADULTS 8 7 2 7 8 3 2

FEMALE CHARACTERS 41 3 7 -- 21 8 4 MAJOR FEMALE 8 7 17 7 28 CHARACTERS ADOLESCENTS 8 7 100 7 28

ADULTS 0 0 0 0 0

MINOR FEMALE 3 0 5 2 15 6 0 CHARACTERS 33 ADOLESCENTS 18 16 5 4 .5 12 4 8

ADULTS 15 14 4 5 .5 I 1 4 4

WHITE (MQjor 3 0 -- 8 6 2 0 8 0 Characters)

BLACK 5 — 14 5 20

WEALTHY 5 — 15 2 8 .3

AVERAGE INCOME 19 -- 5 6 14 5 8 .3

POOR 10 2 9 8 3 3 .3 52 major and sixty-three minor characters. Of these forty- eight major characters, forty are male, thirty-six percent of the total number of characters, eighty-three percent of the total number of major characters; eight are female, seven percent of the total number of characters and seven­ teen percent of the total number of major characters. There are thirty male minor characters, twenty-seven percent of the total number of characters; thirty-three female minor characters, thirty percent of the total number of char­ acters and fifty-two percent of the minor characters. Thus, there are a total of seventy male characters, forty major and thirty minor, comprising sixtv-three percent of the total number of characters in the sample. A total of forty-one females are contained in the survey, eight major and thirty- three minor characters, thirty-seven percent of the total number of characters in the sample. (See Table 3.)

Major Characters

Thirty-five of the major male characters are adoles­ cents. Six novels contain more than one major adolescent male. Five of the novels also have adult males as major characters. In two novels, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a

Sandwich by Alice Childress and My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim

Potok, these adults are the main character's father or step­ father.^" (See Table 4.) Two of the adult males are not fathers even though it could be argued that they are father figures; they are the title characters of the novels: TABLE A 53 RELATIONSHIPS OF MAJOR AND MINOR CHARACTERS

MALE CHARACTERS FEMALE CHARACTERS

MAJOR MINOR MINOR MAJOR MINOR MINOR NO. TITLE MAJOR ADULT ADOL. AOULT ADOL. ADOL. ADULT AOOL. 4* REL. 4= REL. 3S REL. REL. 3P REL. REL.

1 HARD FEEUNG3 F riend 2 Girlfriend

2 HOME BEFORE DARK 2 I Girlfriend

M other 3 A HERO AIN’T NOTHIN1 S te p fa th e r Friend 2 G rand­ m other

4 T H E CHOCOLATE WAR 2 3 Foe 1 Foe

5 1 AM T H E CHEESE 1 Father Gt'rlfriend 1 M other

M other i ' l l g e t T H E R E . Friend 1 F ath er 2 6 IT BETTER... G ran d ­ m other

7 WILD IN T H E WORLD I

8 ORDINARY PEOPLE 1 1 Friend 1 F ath er 1 Girlfriend 1 Mother

Friend Friend 2 1 M other 9 STICKS ANO STONES I 2 Foe Foe

M.C. HIGGINS, 1 I F riend 1 F a th e r I F riend I M o th er 10 T H E GREAT

MR. AND MRS. 1 Girlfriend 1 I BO JO J0NE3 I

1 F riend 12 THE 0UTSIDER3 2 3 2 B ro th ers 1 F riend

I Friend 1 13 RUMBLE FISH 2 1 B rother ,

THAT WAS THEN. 2 F riend 14 T H IS IS NOW . . . 2 2 F rie n d

13 MAN W ITHOUT A FACE 1 1 T e a a h e r 2 S isters 1 M other

16 H IS OWN W HERE I 1 Girlfriend

DINKY HOCKER 17 SHOOTS SMACK! 1 * 1 F riend 2 Friend

IF 1 LOVE YOU, . F rien d M other 18 1 Foe 2 2 AM 1 TRAPPED ...? 1 Girl Friend

TEACUP FULL OF M other 19 1 2 B ro th ers 1 Fother 1 Girlfriend 2 ROSES G r a n d ­ m other

ARE YOU IN THE 2 0 1 1 Friend 1 Friend 1 G irlfriend HOUSE ALONE j*

MY NAME IS 21 1 F a t h e r 1 Ti/tor 1Mother A SHER LEV 1

TR Y IN G HARD TO 2 2 2 I F riend H EAR YOU

2 3 L IO N 'S PAW 1 1 Foe 1 F ather 2 G irlfriend 1 M other

BLESS THE BEASTS 2 4 6 AND THE CHILDREN

2 5 T H E PIGMAN 1 I Friend i Friend 54

Justin McLeod in The Man Without a Face by Isabelle Holland, and Mr. Angelo Pignati in The Piqman by Paul Zindel. The fifth major adult male character is Jannie, the white hunter in D. R. Sherman's The Lion's Paw.

In addition to these major male characters, seven of the novels contain major female characters, all adoles­ cents. Six novels contain one major adolescent female char­ acter, and one, Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 by M. E. Kerr, contains two, Dinky and her cousin Natalia. Twenty-eight percent of the novels, therefore, have a major female char­ acter. These major female characters appear as either the adolescent male protagonist's girlfriend of his very close friend. (See Table 4.) Dinky and Natalia, in Dinky Hocker

Shoots Smack 1 and Lorraine in The Pieman are friends of the adolescent male; the girls in Mr. and Mrs. 3o Jo Jones by

.Ann Head and His Own Where by June Jordan are girlfriends.

Stella in Sue Ellen Bridger's Home Before Dark and Camilla in Sandra Scoppettone's Trying Hard to Hear You, both novels with two major male characters, represent a girlfriend to one boy and a best friend to the other. The major female character in Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck is first the adolescent's friend then his rape victim.

Minor Characters

There are a total of thirty minor male characters, twenty-seven percent of the total number of characters; these are in seventeen novels, sixty-eight percent of the total 55 number of novels. Twenty-two of these minor male characters are adolescents; eight are adults. (See Table 3.) Of the twenty-two male adolescent minor characters, twelve are portrayed as the best friend of the major male character; five are brothers to him, and three are the main character's rival. (See Table 4.) Representative examples of these portrayals of minor male adolescent characters are Lee,

Bernie's friend in Hard Feelings by Don Bredes; Dick and Paul,

Joe's brothers in Teacup Full of Roses by Sharon Bell Mathis; and Obie and Carter, members of Archie's gang, in Cormier's

The Chocolate War. Six of these minor characters, whether a friend, a brother, or a rival, are the cause of conflict for the protagonist. (See Table 4.) Floyd, the friend turned rival, in Lynn Hall's Sticks and Stones, for example, starts the rumors about Tom's supposed homosexual relation­ ship with Ward. M. C.'s friend, Ben Killburn, is the con­ flict between M. C. and his father in M. C. Higgins, The

Great by Virginia Hamilton.

Six of the eight minor male characters are the main character's father. In the two instances in which he is not the boy's father, he is a man who has a great effect on the major male character whether it is negative, Brother

Leon in The Chocolate War, or positive, Jacob Kahn in My

Name Is Asher Lev.

A total of thirty-three minor female characters are present in fifteen novels. Eighteen are adolescent girls and fifteen women. The eighteen minor adolescent characters 56 appear in twelve novels, forty-eight percent of the total number of novels. (See Table 3.) Like the major female characters, these girls are generally the major adolescent character's girlfriend or best friend. In only one novel,

The Man Without a Face, are the protagonist's sisters in­ fluential in his life. In that novel, one sister's decision to stay home forces Chuck to reconsider going to private school, and the younger sister suggests that he ask Justin

McLeod to tutor him and helps him keep this tutoring a secret from his mother and older sister. Even though there are few sisters, fourteen of the fifteen minor adult female characters are the protagonist's mother or grandmother.

The single exception to this is Mrs. Stein in If I Love You,

Am I Trapped Forever? by M. E. Kerr. It is interesting to note, however, that she is the mother of the major charac­ ter 's rival.

Color and Economic Categories

Eighty percent of the major characters are white. Only five of the twenty-five novels, or twenty percent, contain black major characters. No other racial groups are repre­ sented. The thirty white main characters comprise eighty- six percent of the total number of characters while the five black major characters comprise the other fourteen percent.

(See Table 3.) Included in the number of white main charac­ ters is the major character of My Name Is Asher Lev, the one 2 Jewish major character. Although it is difficult to precisely determine an

adolescent's economic status, either information is given

in the novel about his parents or it is stated that the

character is very much above or below an average income. It

is assumed for purposes of this general description that if

the economic category is not explicit in the novel and if

the character does not undergo hardships because of lack of money, he is of average income. The Lion's Paw is omitted

from this part of the analysis since it is set in the

Kalahari Desert of Africa and the novel is not explicit

enough to determine how wealthy the adolescent Bushman and

his family are in comparison to other nomads of that area.

Of the thirty-four characters, then, fifteen percent,

five characters, are wealthy; fifty-six percent, nineteen

characters, are of average income; twenty-nine percent, ten

characters, are poor. (See Table 3.) The two novels which

present wealthy adolescents are Glendon Swarthout's Bless

the Beasts and the Children and Richard Peck's Are You in

the House Alone?. Four of the six boys in the former are from

wealthy families, and Phil Lawvers, in the latter, is the

son of the town's wealthiest family.

The adolescents in the average income category range

in wealth from the level of Bo Jo Jones in Mr . and Mrs. Bo

Jo Jones to the level of Conrad in Ordinary People by Judith

Guest. Although he was not wanting in his physical well­

being, Bo Jo has to work for a scholarship because his

parents can not afford to send him to college. Conrad, on 58 the other hand, is able to have almost anything he wants or needs, even a psychiatrist. All of the boys of this category are well taken care of but are not described as wealthy.

(See Table 5 for specific novels.)

There are ten characters in eight novels who are label­ ed as poor by their authors, a total of twenty-nine percent of the characters. Three of these poor characters are black^ and seven are white. Five of them are from the three novels by S. E. Hinton; these boys either live with one parent who has little money(Rumble Fish?That Was Then, This

Is Now) or are on their own (The Outsiders). Other poor characters have parents who work but never acquire savings.

M. C. Higgins' mother, for example, is a housekeeper and his father works part-time in a nearby factory. To M. C. and his four brothers and sisters, a cake for their birthdays or a meal of potato soup is a special treat.

Family Structures

The parents of the major male characters form four dis­ tinct categories: both parents together, divorced or sepa­ rated parents, one deceased parent, and both parents deceased.

Eighteen characters live with both of their parents; ten have divorced or separated parents and live with only one of them; three live with only one parent because of the death of the other; and three have no parents, both being deceased.

Of the eighteen sets of parents who live together, some appear to have marital difficulty; Mr. and Mrs. Jarrett in TABLE 5 59

SPECIFICS OF NOVELS

ECONOMIC TIME NARRATIVE FAMILY THEME NO. TITLE CATEGORY SETTING SPAN STYLE TOPIC

2 P a ren t* Suburb* 2 - 3 1 HARD FEELINGS M iddle 1 Growth Facing Problem* 2 Sietere N. Y. Months

1 Poor C ountry S u m m er - Girl - Boy 2 HOME BEFORE DARK 2 Parent* 3 Love, Friend 1 Middle N. Carolina Thanksgiving Relationship

A HERO A IN 'T 3 Poor 2 Parent* City -- I Love, Parents Drug* n o t h i n '

Mother Town Accepting 4 CHOCOLATE WAR Middle Fall 3 Peer Pressure Deceased New England Consequence*

Both Town Hopelessness, i» 3 3 1 AM THE CHEESE Middle P aren t* Massachusetts Fall Alienation, JooJotiort Decoaaed New Hampshire Tape# Death Divorced i' l l g e t THERE. O ctober - Death; 6 M iddle Living N.Y. City 1 Growth IT BETTER . . . w /m other Spring Homosexuality

WILD IN THE C ountry Sum m er - D eath, 7 Poor D eceased 3 Isolation WORLD New Hampshire F all Survival

2 Parent* September - Growth, Love a ORDINARY PEOPLE Middle S u b u rb s 3 D eath ( B ro th er May o f f a t h e r Dlvoroed STICKS ANO Buck Creek Senior Growth, Love Alienation, 9 M iddle LivJnj 3 STONES w /m o th e r Iowa Year for friend Peer Pressure A ccepting M. C. HIGGINS, 2 Parent* Country Conf ranting 10 Poor Sum m er 3 C onsequence*, T H E GREAT 5 Children Ohio River Love of parents F ather Love, Girl - Boy MR. a MRS. II M iddle 2 Parent* Town 9 Month# 1 Acceptanae, Relationship , 80 JO JONES Growth Pregnancy Acceptanae, Both 12 THE OUTSIDERS Poor City --- 1 Love of friend, O eath Doc eased Growth Acceptance, Living 13 RUMBLE FISH Poor City -- 1 Love of sibling, D eath w /f a ther Grow th A ccepting THAT WAS TH EN , Living 14 Poor C ity 1 Y ear Consoquences, Drugs T H IS IS NOW w /m o fher Love • Divorced MAN W ITHOUT A Country S um m er - O eath, 13 Middle Living 1 Growth FACE w / mother N. E. S o a Novom ber Homosexuality Boy - Girl M other 16 HIS OWN WHERE M iddle Manhattan Summer 3 Love Relationship Deceased Survival Acceoting Facing DINKY HOOKER Fall - Consequence*, 17 Middle 2 Parents Brooklyn 3 Adolescent SHOOTS SMACK .’ Som m er Love of friend, Growth IF 1 LOVE YOU* D ivorced Town Senior Boy - Girl AM 1 T R A PPE D M iddle Living 1 Growth ia Year Relationship FOREVER . ? w /m o th e r Cayuta p N.Y.

TEACUP FULL 2 P aren t* W ash in g to n , 19 Poor 1 W eek 3 Love of sibling Drugs, Oeath OF ROSES 2 B rothers D. C.

A R E YOU IN TH E Town School 2 0 W ealthy 2 Parent* 1 No Growth Rape HOUSE ALONE? Connecticut Year A ccepting MY NAME IS B ro o klyn, Conf rontfng 21 Middle 2 P arent* 16 Year* 1 Consequences, ASHER LEV N.Y. Love F ath er D e a th , TRYING HARO TO S ub u rb s S um m er - 2 2 Middle 2 Parents Long Island, 1 Grow th H o m o sex u ality , HEAR YOU N.Y. O ctober Peer* Boy - Girt K alahari L ove, 2 3 LIO N 'S PAW -- 2 P arent* -- 3 Relationship, D esert S u rv iv al Survival Divoroed BLESS THE BEASTS Country Crow th, Alienation, 2 4 W ealthy and S u m m er 3 . AND THE CHILDREN Rem arried Arizono Love of friend Death, P eer s Accepting School 2 3 THE PIGMAN M iddle 2 P a ren ts S uburbs 1 Consequences, Death Year Growth 60 Ordinary People, for example, separate at the end of the novel, and Mr. and Mrs. Hergruter in Hard Feelings have stayed together, but they sleep in separate bedrooms and fight throughout the novel. Banina and Jones, M. C. Higgins' parents, on the other hand, represent the couple who seems most comfortable and happy together.

In the ten novels which show divorced or separated par­ ents, the character lives with one and spends at least some time during the plot of the novel with the other. Seven of the protagonists live with their mothers and three with their fathers. Alan Bennett, one character who lives with his mother, goes to see his father during the novel but re­ turns immediately, unable to like the man who deserted him.

Davy Ross in I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip has lived with his beloved grandmother since he was four, but because of her death he must go to New York to live with his mother. After he is there, he also spends time with his father.

Six novels present families with at least one parent who has died. Of the three novels in which one parent is deceas­ ed, two are the character's mother, The Chocolate War and

His Own Where, and one is his father, That Was Then, This Is

Now. If the parents are both deceased, the characters live on their own, John in Wild in The World, or with their brothers, The Outsiders. The third character whose parents have been murdered is institutionalized, Adam in Robert

Cormier's I Am the Cheese. 61 In ten novels, the thirteen major characters have sib­ lings. The family size varies from one brother in The

Piqman to five brothers and sisters in M. C. Higgins, the 4 Great. The other twenty-two major characters are only

children.

Authors

In the sample of twenty-five books, four authors have more than one book represented. These are Robert Cormier

(The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese), John Donovan (I'll

Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip and Wild in the

World), S. E. Hinton (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish,and That

Was Then, This Is Now), and M. E. Kerr (Dinky Hocker Shoots

Smack 1 and If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?) .

Of the twenty authors represented, eight are male, forty percent, and twelve are female, sixty percent. Five of the

seven novels which contain both a major male and a major

female character are written by female authors: Bridgers,

Head, Jordan, Kerr, and Scoppettone. The other two, Are You

in the House Alone? and The Piqman, are by males, Richard

Peck and Paul Zindel respectively. With the exception of one, S. E. Hinton's Rumble Fish, the novels containing only male characters are written by males: Cormier, Donovan,

and Swarthout. (See Table 4.)

Four of the authors are black: Childress, Hamilton,

Jordan, and Mathis. These authors are responsible for the

four novels in the sample which contain black major 62 characters.

The author of the one novel which is not set in the

United States, The Lion's Paw, is D. R. Sherman who was born in Calcutta, India, and lived in South Africa, the setting of the novel.

Publishing Division

Six of the twenty-five books in the sample were pub­ lished by the adult division of a publishing company; the other nineteen were published by the juvenile or adolescent division of the company. The six books published by adult divisions are: Hard Feelings, Ordinary People, Mr. and Mrs.

Bo Jo Jones, Bless the Beasts and the Children, My Name Is

Asher Lev, and The Lion's Paw. (See Table 1.) Three of these novels, Hard Feelings, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, and

Bless the Beasts and the Children, although published in the adult division, have neither a major nor a minor adult char­ acter. Of the five books in the sample that do contain a major adult character (A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich,

The Man Without a Face, My Name Is Asher Lev, The Lion's

Paw, and The Piqman) , only two were published in an adult division, My Name Is Asher Lev and The Lion's Paw.

Settings and Time Spans

With the exception of the one novel set in the Kalahari

Desert of South Africa, The Lion's Paw, the remainder of the novels take place in the United States. While the location 63 is not specific in some of the novels, the general location can be determined by using the categories: large city, sub­ urb, small town, and rural area.

Nine of the novels take place in large cities, four in suburbs of major cities. Six of these thirteen novels men­ tion specifically boroughs or suburbs of New York City as the setting. Davy, for example, in I'll Get There. It

Better Be Worth the Trip must leave his grandmother's home near Boston after her death to live with his mother in New

York. Like him, Tucker Woolf in Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 moves from Manhattan toBroooklyn, which his father insists be called Bcoooklyn Heights to make a better impression.

Brooklyn is also the setting of My Name Is Asher Lev and

Manhattan for His Own Where. Another large city, Washington,

D.C., is the setting for one novel in the sample, Teacup

Full of Roses. One of the novels which is set in the sub­ urbs, Trying Hard to Hear You, takes place outside of New

York on Long Island. Hard Feelings, Ordinary People, and

The Pigman also have suburban settings.

Of the remaining eleven novels set in the U.S., six take place in small towns and five in a country or rural area. Four of the six in a small town are in the north­ eastern part of the United States. If I Love You, Am I

Trapped Forever? has for its setting a small town in up­ state New York, Cayuta; The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese take place in small towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts; and Are You in the House Alone? is set in a small town in 64 Connecticut. Unlike these northeastern settings, Sticks and

Stones takes place in the small town of Buck Creek, Iowa.

The setting of Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones is not given, but it appears to be in a small town with one high school,

Trilby High, where most people know the other families in that town. Unlike these, the five novels set in a rural area represent broader geographic settings. Wild in the

World and The Man Without a Face take place in the Northeast,

Home Before Dark in North Carolina, M. C. Higgins, The

Great in the Ohio River valley, and Bless the Beasts and the Children near Prescott, Arizona.

Nine settings then are large cities, thirty-seven per­ cent; four are suburbs, seventeen percent; six are small towns, twenty-five percent; and five are rural areas, twenty-one percent. It is interesting to note that in the total sample twelve novels take place on the northeastern seaboard of the United States, nearly half of the sample.

The length of time covered in the novels^ shows great­ er similarity than the settings. If flashbacks are excluded, only one novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, covers more than one year. While that novel gives the story of Asher Lev's life over a sixteen year period, the others range from only one week to one year. Teacup Full of Roses is the shortest, spanning the week before Joe's graduation from high school.

Four of the novels occur during summer vacation from school; eleven during the school year. Sticks and Stones and If I

Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? cover the entire senior year 65 of high school while the others are only a part of a school year. (See Table 5.)

Narrative Styles

The two narrative styles used most frequently are first person, using the voice of one main character, and third person omniscient. In the sample, there are eleven using each of these two styles.Three of the novels written in first person are from the point of view of the major female character: Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, Are You in the House

Alone?, and Trying Hard to Hear You. The other eight first person narrators are the major adolescent male character.

Three novels employ a type of flashback technique. In Mr . and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, the novel ends with July, the major female character, telling the audience that the events of book had taken place three years earlier. Rumble Fish and

My Name Is Asher Lev both begin in the present and flashback to the events of the past.

Two of the novels, Childress's A Hero Ain11 Nothin1 But a Sandwich and Zinael1s The Pigman, use first person with more than one speaker. In Childress's novel, the story of

Benjie Johnson is told not only by Benjie but also by mem­ bers of his family and people from his neighborhood and school, a total of eleven speakers. In The Pigman, the two major characters, John and Lorraine,alternate writing chapters which tell of their experience with Mr. Pignati. 66 The most interesting and unusual style used in the sam­ ple is Robert Cormier’s in I Am the Cheese. The plot of the novel gradually unfolds with alternating passages of first person narration by the major character, Adam, taped con­ versations between Adam and T., and sections in third per­ son omniscient. The sometimes confusing, near stream of consciousness, style of Adam's first person narration is juxtaposed at the end of the novel with a precise summary tape of the authoritarian activities of T. This is follow­ ed by the repetition of the novel's first paragraph, thus revealing Adam's inescapable dilemma.

Topics and Themes

The theme of a novel is often defined as both the topic or subject discussed in the novel and as the underlying or unifying idea of that novel.^ For a clearer, more precise analysis of the novels, these two aspects of theme will be given distinct labels. The topic or subject of the novel, what the novel is about, will be called the topic. The un­ derlying idea or meaning of the novel will be called the theme.

In this sample, the topics of the novels, which lead to the revelation of the themes, primarily concern problems faced by the major male adolescent. From these topics, four major themes emerge: growth, accepting consequences, isolation, and love. The theme of love has various dimen­ sions: the love for a parent, sibling, boyfriend or girl­ friend, and a male or female friend. (See Table 5.) 67 One topic that is common to ten novels of this sample is the death of someone close to the protagonist. Five of the novels present the death of the character's friend: two friends who are homosexual lovers in The Man Without a 7 Face and Trying Hard to Hear You, an older friend, Mr.

Pignati, in The Pigman, a peer in Bless the Beasts and the

Children and The Outsiders. In three novels, the major character's brother has died or does die during the novel:

Wild in the World, Ordinary People, and Rumble Fish.

Deaths of other family members are in I Am the Cheese in which Adam's mother and father both are killed and I'll Get

There. It Better Be Worth the Trip in which Davy's grand­ mother and then his dog die.

With the exceptions of I Am the Cheese and Wild in the

World, the one theme that arises from these novels about death is growth toward adulthood or maturation. In some cases, this growth develops because the character learns to accept the consequences of his actions: in some he simply changes his actions or thoughts. In The Pigman, for example,

John accepts the consequences of his involvement with

Mr. Pignati. He states that "There was no one else to blame anymore." He had grown to realize that "our Life would be what we made of it — nothing more, nothing g less." Ponyboy in The Outsiders also grows; he decides to get good grades and be as successful as his dead friend

Johnny thought he could be. Likewise, Jeff in Trying Hard to Hear You grows less hateful toward his peers, the people 68 he feels are responsible for Phil's death. Jeff has learned that Richard, his new lover, can never take Phil's place but that no one ever should. Conrad in Ordinary People not only grows by accepting that he is not responsible for his brother's drowning but he also becomes closer to his father.

In I Am the Cheese and Wild in the World, however, the death of loved ones causes the major male protagonist to withdraw into isolation. In the former, Adam is kept in an institution; and in the latter John tries to survive alone but he, too, dies.

Another topic discussed by six of these novels is boy- friend-girlfriend relationships. Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, in the novel by the same name, Buddy and Angela in His Own

Where, and Pxui and Xhabbo in The Lion's Paw are adolescent couples who work through the hardships of teenage relation­ ships and decide to have a life together. Stella and Toby, younger adolescents, in Home Before Dark, on the other hand, become better friends, but Toby decides to lead a separate life. In If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?, a third approach to this topic appears. Alan changes from an adol­ escent who is sure of himself and his future with his girl­ friend to a young man who realizes things may not work out as he has planned them. Another book with the general topic of boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, Are You in the

House Alone? , presents an aspect of this topic that was taboo in earlier novels and still very controversial. In this novel, Richard Peck portrays the relationships of two 69 adolescent couples and the effect that rape has on them and their parents.

The themes that emerge from the novels about boyfriend- girlfriend relationships are: a better understanding of love, a sense of growth to adulthood, and in some cases accepting the consequences of a relationship. Toby and Alan both try to gain a better understanding of love— love for a friend,love for a girlfriend. Toby is successful; he de­ cides on friendship with Stella. Alan, however, becomes more confused about love by his relationship with his girl­ friend, with Doomed, and with Doomed's mother, Mrs. Stein.

In this sample, three couples who decide on marriage or making a life together are reaching for adulthood. For

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, this means accepting the conse­ quences of their pre-marital intercourse, a pregnancy fol­ lowed by the loss of the infant. A similar acceptance is shown by Gail, the rape victim; because of her previous sexual relationship with Steve, she cannot seek legal re­ venge on her rapist. In that novel, however, it is unclear if the major male character, Phil Lawver,accepts the conse­ quences of his actions or grows from this acceptance.

The four novels with the topic of peer pressure all show the alienation that can be caused by an adolescent's peers. In three of these, Sticks and Stones, Trying Hard to

Hear You, and Bless the Beasts and the Children, the theme is positive growth for the characters because they have over­ come the negative peer pressure. In the fourth, The Chocolate War, however, Jerry must accept the negative con­ sequences of going against his peers. Tom Naylor, the major character of Sticks and Stones, is alienated from his peer group because it is rumored that he is a homosexual.

He combats this rumor, overcomes it, and grows from the ex­ perience. In addition, he loves his friend even more but still does not have a homosexual affair. Phil and Jeff of

Trying Hard to Hear You are also ostracized by their peers because of their homosexuality. Phil is forced by peer pressure to prove his heterosexual manhood and subsequently dies in a car crash; Jeff learns to accept this and matures because of it. In Bless the Beasts and the Children, all six of the major characters are social outcasts of a dif­ ferent kind, each having a different problem. Because of their common bond of not belonging, they find each other and form their own group, the Bed-Wetters. Together they find the strength to perform a heroic act, an act they would not have had the courage to do individually. After this, each sees the value in himself; they love their friends and learn to love themselves. Unlike the growth caused by a reaction to peer pressure seen in these novels, the peer pressure in The Chocolate War does not benefit the major character, Jerry. The end of the novel presents a bleak view of the future; Jerry accepts the consequences of refus­ ing to sell candy for the school, but Archie and his gang continue to have power over their peers. 71 There are three novels in the sample whose topic is drugs; A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich; That Was Then,

This Is Now; and Teacup Full of Roses. In all three, there is love shown to the adolescent who is taking drugs and very negative effects of those drugs on the adolescent and his family and friends. In A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a

Sandwich, Benjie is loved by his mother and step-father; they encourage him to continue to stay off drugs after he is rehabilitated. Whether Benjie resists drugs though is left unanswered at the end of the novel. In That Was Then, This

Is Now, the love shared by two friends, Bryon and Mark, is destroyed when Bryon turns Mark in to the police for pos­ session of pills. Byron must accept the consequences of his action; he has done what he thinks is right but has lost his best friend. Bryon's suffering is similar to that in

Teacup Full of Roses. In this novel, an entire family suf­ fers because one of three sons, Paul, is on drugs. After returning from a rehabilitation center, Paul steals the money that the oldest brother Joe has given to the youngest and most promising brother for college. As Joe and David try to get back the money from the drug dealer, David is killed.

The family suffers the death of David because of his brother's habit.

The topics of the remaining novels of the sample ex­ amine other problems faced by adolescents in addition to death, boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, peer pressure, and drugs. The themes that emerge show how the adolescent 72 must accept the consequences of his actions and in most cases how he matures because of acceptance. In Dinky

Hocker Shoots Smack 1, the three adolescent characters over­ come their problems of being shy and overweight with the help of each other. In the novels about Asher Lev and M. C.

Higgins, both confront their fathers who have caused prob­

lems for the adolescent. Each stands up to his father and accepts the results of this act. Asher pursues a career in art even though his father objects; they part at the end of the novel because Asher has displayed sacrilegious paintings.

M. C. tells his father that he is going to be friends with

Ben, who is considered a "witchy" person. Unlike Asher's father, though, M. C.'s father does not question his son's judgment, and they continue to be close. The major charac­ ter in Hard Feelings must confront his problem in much the same way; his problem is a rival at school. After running away, Bernie returns and faces his enemy. Like the majority of the other major characters, Bernie makes a decision and acts on it. He faces the consequences that arise and matures because of this experience. FOOTNOTES

Benjie's mother is not married to Butler Craig, the man she lives with, but both he and Benjie feel as if he is Benjie's step-father. 2 Duncan in If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? is "of the Jewish persuasion," but since he is a minor charac­ ter, not a major character, he is not included in this sec­ tion. (p. 6) .

^The other black character is Buddy in June Jordan1 s His Own Where. He gives up a comfortable house to run away with his girlfriend. 4 In Wild in the World, John had six brothers and four sisters, all but two of whom have died before the beginning of the novel. During the novel, his surviving two brothers also die. 5 Four novels are excluded since they give insufficient indication of the time span: A Hero Ain11 Nothin1 but a Sandwich, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, and The Lion1s Paw. It does seem that these take place in less than one year, however. £ Webster's New World, p. 1474. 7 For interesting discussion of homosexuals in young adult novels, see "Can Young Gays Find Happiness?" It should also be noted that for some readers, Justin and Charles, in The Man Without a Face, do not have a homosex­ ual encounter. It is my opinion, however, that even though the details of their relationship are not explicit, the guilt Charles feels implies a sexual encounter with Justin. 8 Paul Zindel, The Pigman,(NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1968;> Dell, 1970), p. 159.

73 CHAPTER IV

RESULTS OF DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

Introduction

The intent of this chapter is to describe the similar­ ities and differences among the major adolescent male char­ acters of this sample; their ages, physical descriptions, personality characteristics, attitudes, goals, emotions, activities, and actions in resolving the novels' conflicts.

Ages and physical descriptions are limited to their appear­ ance in the novels unless enough information is given for logical assumptions to be made. The personality charac­ teristics of the major characters are based on the adjec­ tives listed by the Bern Sex-Role Inventory and the Williams and Bennett Adjective Check List. (See Table 2.) In addition to their characteristics, each will be described in terms of life and occupational goals and the ways they display the emotions of love, hate, fear, anger, jealousy, and guilt.

Specific attention is given to the display emotions through touching and crying and to how active the character is in resolving the conflict of the novel. For each of these areas, generalizations will be drawn where possible with representative examples given as support. For the 74 75 exceptions to the generalizations, only illustrative exam­ ples will be cited.

Ages

Specific ages are given for thirty of the thirty-five

characters.'*' (See Table 7.) They range from twelve to eighteen. The majority of the characters are either four­ teen or sixteen; nine of each age are in the sample. There

is only one twelve year old, Billy Lally, in Bless the Beasts and the Children and one eighteen year old, Phil Chrystie, in Trying Hard to Hear You. These two novels also contain other adolescent characters; in the former, the characters' ages range from twelve to fifteen, and in the latter, the other major character is seventeen.

In the novels in which specific ages are not given, it is clear that the characters are adolescents. In The Choco­ late War, Jerry Renault's age is given as fourteen, thus es­ tablishing that Archie Costello, the other major character, is at least fifteen since he is an upperclassman in the school and the leader of the school's gang, the Vigils.

John Gridley's age in Wild in the World is also unspecified, but he, like Archie, must be fifteen or sixteen because the novel takes place after he has completed one year of high 2 school. A character who appears to be younger than Archie and John is M. C. Higgins (10), a boy who enjoys activities of his childhood like pole-sitting but who also becomes in- 3 terested in a girl for the first time. Setting indicates 76 John Conlan's age in The Pigman since it takes place at

Franklin High School where John is a student.

Physical Descriptions

Not all of the novels give a specific physical descrip­ tion of the major character with the exception of his color. 4 Of those that do, height and the color of his hair and eyes are the primary descriptors. If height is given, it usually indicates that the character is tall; in no novel in the sample is the major character described as short. Likewise, if the color of eyes is given, it is usually blue. Tucker

Woolf (17), for example, is described as "...tall for his age.... He was blue-eyed and bespectacled, with chin length straight black hair."^ Tom Naylor (9) "...was as tall as a man but narrow with long bony hands and feet, and the knees, g elbows, and wrists of a Don Quixote caricature." Like

Tucker and Tom, Phil Lawver (20) "...was tall and athletic 7 with ice-blue eyes. His hair was blond...." John Conlan

(25) and Jeff Grathwohl (22) are also tall and blue-eyed;

John is "six feet tall already, with sort of longish brown hair and blue eyes. He has these gigantic eyes that look g right through you...", says Lorraine. Camilla describes

Jeff similarly; "Jeff is very handsome, if you like the type.

He's tall and thin and has sort of chin-length blond hair and g his eyes are very blue."

Several other characters are described as being hand­ some. Phil (18) is "gentle and sweet and intelligent and 77 certainly handsome..." according to Camilla, his best friend^

Alan Bennett (18) even describes himself this way; "I'm the most popular boy at Cayuta High. Very handsome. Very cool.

Dynamite."

Others are more modest than Alan and use comparative descriptions of their looks, comparisons to their family members and friends. Charles (15) says, "I look like my father, with blond straight hair, kind of greenish eyes and what my last stepfather, The Hairball, used to call a stupid 12 expression." Asher Lev (21) compares himself to both of his parents; "it was from him (father) that I inherited my red hair and dark eyes. My slight features and thinness of 13 build I inherited from my mother." Bryon Douglas describes both major characters of That Was Then, This Is Now as he compares himself to Mark, the other major character. "In looks, we were complete opposites; I'm a big guy, dark hair and eyes.... Mark was small and compact, with strange 14 golden eyes and hair to match."

None of the characters is described as bad-looking.

Only Sammy Shecker, one of the outcast characters in Bless the Beasts and the Children, is described as somewhat un­ attractive because "he nibbled compulsively at his nails, he ate compulsively...."^ It seems unusual that few descrip­ tive details are given about the four black characters in the sample. General Personality Characteristics

The general personality characteristics of each major character are based on the adjectives of two personality inventories.^ (See Table 2.) The major headings used are

I confidence in own powers or judgments

II physically strong and uses this strength

III sensitive and often yields to others

IV overly emotional or gives way to emotions

V pleasant in social interactions, popular.

If the major character is described with any of the adjec­ tives listed under these general headings, or synonyms of these adjectives, or if he displays these characteristics through his actions or thoughts, he is considered to posses the general characteristic of that group of adjectives.

The results indicate that characteristics I, II, and

III are possessed by over half of the major characters in the sample. (See Table 6.) Twenty-two of the thirty-five characters, sixty-two percent, display characteristic I; they have confidence in themselves, act independently or as leaders, or stand up for their beliefs. Fifty-one percent, eighteen characters, show evidence of characteristic II, having and using their physical strength. This manifests itself primarily in either athletics or street fights.

Characteristic III, sensitivity, is displayed by twenty-one of the adolescent males, sixty percent of the total number of characters; this is especially common in those novels dealing with the theme of love. Thirty-five percent, 79 TABLE 6 i) i S 1‘ HiBI)i‘10 iS UF CHARACTER!. iTi US

CHARACTERISTIC I 11 IIIIV V

TOTAL NUMBER OF MAJOR CHARACTERS 22 18 21 12 10 POSSESSING THE CHARACTERISTIC

i ! i

PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF MAJOR CHARACTERS IN THE 62 51 60 35 28 SAMPLE POSSESSING THE CHARACTERISTIC

TOTAL NUMBER OF N O ’/ELS CONTAINING • 1 3 AT LEAST ONE — - 19 1 19 8 10 CHARACTER POSSESSING CHARACTERISTIC

PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NOVELS 76 56 76 32 ko CONTAINING AT LEAST ONE CHARACTER POSSESSING CHARACTERISTIC 80 twelve characters, are shown to be overly emotional, charac­

teristic IV, and only ten, twenty-eight percent, are por­

trayed as pleasant in social interaction, characteristic V.

(See Table 6.)

The distribution of personality characteristics in the

total number of novels in the survey parallels the distribu­

tion among characters. Nineteen of the twenty-five novels

in the sample contain at least one major character who pos­

sesses characteristic I, independence; nineteen novels also have characters which possess characteristic III, sensitiv­

ity; thus, seventy-six percent of the novels have a major

character who is independent in his actions and thoughts

and/or sensitive to others. Fourteen novels, fifty-six per­

cent, contain at least one major character who has physical

strength and uses it, characteristic II. Fewer than half of the novels have characters who are overly emotional, char­

acteristic IV, or pleasant in social interaction, charac­

teristic V. Only eight novels, thirty-two percent, have a

character with IV and ten novels, forty percent, with V.

(See Table 6.)

Characteristic I is displayed by major characters in

at least one of the following ways: the major character is

a leader, acts independently, is adventurous or daring, or willingly defends his beliefs. (See Table 7 for the complete

listing of characters and novels.) Cotton in Bless the

Beasts and the Children and Archie in The Chocolate War are

representative examples of leaders. Cotton organizes the TABLE 7 81 AGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF MAJOR CHARACTERS

1 II III IV V NO. TIT L E NAMEAGE PHYSICALLY SELF SENSITIVE EMOTIONAL SOCIABLE STRONG

1 HARO FEELINGS Bernie Hergruter 16 ¥ ¥ 0 + ¥

Toby Brown 14 0 0 ¥ 0 ¥ 2 HOME BEFORE DARK Rodney Bigger® 16 -- 0 0 -

3 A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN1 Benjle Johnson 13 + 0 0 ¥ o

Jerry Renault 14 ♦ ♦ + 0 o 4 T H E CHOCOLATE WAR 19 o r ♦ 0 ¥ Arohie Costello 16 a o

5 1 AM THE CHEESE Adorn Former 14 - 0 0 ♦ -

i' l l GET THERE. Davy Roe® 13 0 ¥ ¥ 0 ♦ 6 IT SETTER . . . 13 or 7 WILD IN TH E WORLD John Gridley IS ♦ 0 ¥ 0 -

8 ORDINARY PEOPLE Conrad Jorrett 17 - ¥ ¥ ¥ o

9 STICKS AND STONES Tom N aylor IQ ♦ 0 ¥ 0 ¥ J r. 10 M. C. HIGGINS, TH E GREAT Mayo C. Higgins High ¥ ¥ ¥ o ¥

I 1 MR. 3 MRS. BO JO JONES Bo Jo Jones 17 ¥ ¥ C 0 o

Ponyboy Curtis 14 ¥ ¥ 0 0 o 12 THE OUTSIDERS Johnny 17 c ¥ ¥ 0 0

13 RUMBLE FISH Rusty James 14 o ¥ ¥ 0 0

Bryon Douglas 16 ¥ ¥ ¥ 0 0 t4 THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW M ark 13 ¥ ¥ c o 0

19 MAN WITHOUT A FACE Chariot Norstadt 14 ¥ O ¥ ¥ ¥

18 HIS OWN WHERE Buddy Rivers 16 ¥ 0 ¥ 0 ¥

DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS Tucker Woolf ¥ 0 17 SMACK! 15 - C 0 IF 1 LOVE YOU, Alan Benneft 18 ¥ + O ' 0 ¥ 13 AM 1 T R A PPE D ? 19 TEACUP FULL OF ROSES Joe B rooks 17 ¥ 4 ¥ 0 o ARE YOU IN TH E 0 2 0 HOUSE ALONE ? Phil Lawver 16 ¥ ¥ - o

21 MY NAME 13 ASHER LEV A sherel L av 4 -+ ¥ C ¥ 0 o

TRYING HARD TO Phil Chrystie 18 O c ¥ 0 o 2 2 H E A R YOU Jeff Grathwohl 17 ♦ ¥ ¥ 0 Q

23 L IO N 'S PAW Pxui 16 ¥ c ¥ 0 o

John Cotton 13 ¥ + ¥ ¥ ¥ G erald G oodenow 14 - 0 ¥ ¥ o Law renoe BLESS THE BEASTS T o ft 111 14 * ¥ 0 0 o 2 4 AND THE CHILDREN Sammy Sheaker 14 - a 0 + o

Stephen Lolly 14 - c 0 + 0

Silly Lolly 12 - c 0 ¥ 0 s r . 2 9 T H E PIGM AN John Conlan High ♦ 0 ¥ ¥ ¥

¥ =* possess characteristic*

O ~ Does not possess characteristics

- « Extreme absence of characteristics 82 five outcasts of Box Canyon Boys' Camp to undertake a mis­ sion of saving buffalo, an act none of the other boys would have had courage enough to attempt individually. Cotton is 17 a fighter, an individual with "red-headed Stoicism."

Archie, on the other hand, leads the Vigils, a high school gang, to perform violent acts against their classmates, the 18 last of which, a boxing match, nearly kills Jerry Renault.

Three characters who show independent action but are not leaders in the way Cotton or Archie are, are Chuck

Norstadt (15), Joe Brooks (19), and Bo Jo Jones (11). All of these young adults act on their own without family support to receive an education. Chuck finds a tutor to help him pass the entrance exam for boarding school; Joe, who has dropped out of school, returns to night school for two years and receives his high school diploma. Bo Jo goes to college but will not accept money from July's parents. She says, 18 "He's much too proud and independent."

Two of the major characters display characteristic I by being adventurous: Bernie Hergruter who runs away from 19 home in Hard Feelings and Buddy Rivers in His Own Where who leaves his comfortable home to live with his girlfriend 20 in the boarded-up workhouse of a cemetery. All of these characters, in one way or another, defend their beliefs, but several of them must confront someone they love very much in order to establish their independence; this loved one is usually the young man's father. M. C. Higgins (10), Asher

Lev (21), and Pxui (23) must stand up to their fathers 83 because of someone or something else they love. M. C. de­ fies Jones, his father, and works with his best friend, Ben 21 Killburn, whom Jones does not like; Asher continues in his artistic pursuits despite his father's estrangement,-22 and Pxui refuses his father's demand that the lion he has 23 saved be killed during the drought.

Several characters are developed by their lack of characteristic I; they have no self-confidence and are un­ able to be independent or assertive. Adam Farmer in I Am the Cheese is an extreme example of an adolescent who feels powerless to act because of his past experiences; he is 24 fearful and paranoid. Like Adam are the boys that Cotton leads in Bless the Beasts and the Children. One of them,

Billy Lally, for example, has withdrawn "into a world of fantasy, self-created, into an isolation to which he admit­ ted no one." Because of Cotton's leadership and the boys' love for each other, Billy and the other Bed-Wetters find 25 confidence to act. This is similar to Tucker Woolf in

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1; at the beginning of the novel he is very self-conscious, "He was aware that a male cat-lover, who was also a lover of libraries, was better off keeping all that to himself." Tucker finds confidence through the help of the other adolescent characters. He realizes that 2 6 he should enjoy life and not try to be the same as others.

Like Tucker, Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People undergoes extreme changes in the novel. Before he has dealt with his problems, he shows the lack of characteristic I. He has no 84 self-confidence; he feels that "all connections with him re­ sult in failure. Loss. Evil.... Only he, Conrad Jarrett, outcast, quitter, fuck-up, stands outside the circle of safety...." At the end of the novel, however, he has found 27 confidence in himself.

Eighteen adolescent males have physical strength and use it, characteristic II. This is generally displayed through athletic competition. Bo Jo Jones (11), Alan Bennett

(18), and Jerry Renault (4), for example, play football.

Bernie (1) plays tennis; Conrad (3) swims; Davy Ross (6) plays baseball; Phil Lawver (20) plays squash; and Jeff

(22) is of Olympic quality in gymnastics. (See Table 7.)

Many of these boys are equally aggressive when not partici­ pating in a sport. Like Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People who gets into a fight as he leaves swim team practice, Bernie in Hard Feelings has a fight in the lunch room. The aggres­ sive, squash champion in Are You in the House Alone? , Phil

Lawver, is also the rapist of two young females.

Other characters who do not play sports but who do use their physical strength for fighting are the characters in

S. E. Hinton's three novels: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, and That Was Then, This Is How and Joe Brooks in Teacup Full of Roses. All of these adolescents are or have been members of street gangs. Mark, for example, (14) has grown up around violence. "His parents had killed each other in a drunken fight when he was nine years old and he saw it all.

He had been arrested for auto theft. He had seen Charlie 85 shot and killed. He had nearly been killed himself by some 2 8 punk kid he had never seen before." Unlike Mark, Joe (19) has given up fighting, but when he needs to, he can. "He hadn't been warlord of the Royals for nothing, and he knew that even though his last fight had been two years ago, he hadn't forgotten how. When he needed that kind of strength 29 again, it would come."

The third characteristic, sensitivity to others, is displayed by sixty percent of the major characters. Most of the novels that have a theme of love for a friend or family member contain a major adolescent character who is sensitive and gentle to those he loves.^ The novels that develop 31 friendships between males or homosexual relationships each has a character who displays sensitivity to his friend or lover. Even though their affection is not overt in many cases, the characters receive joy and strength from loving.

Gerald Goodenow in Bless the Beasts and the Children real­ izes that his friends need an open display of affection to reinforce their confidence. He suggests "bumping," gather­ ing together and hugging. Each time any one of the group 32 feels insecure, the group comes together and "bumps."

Chuck in The Man Without a Face also learns about love and understanding from Justin, his tutor. By trying to under­ stand Justin's feelings, Chuck finds a love that fulfills 33 a need in'him, a father's love he never knew.

The novels with the theme of love for girlfriends also show major characters who are conscientious and helpful 86 because they are sensitive to another's feelings. Buddy in

His Own Where does what he thinks■is the best way to help

Angela escape from her unhappy home and school life; he 34 takes her away with him to start a life of their own. ' In

Home Before Dark, Toby Brown also realizes a need in Stella and helps her. He knows that the simple act of painting her tenant-farmer's house is important to Stella because he is sensitive to her desire for stability. He, therefore, 35 yields to her wishes and helps to paint her house.

In addition to these actions which display the charac­ ter 's sensitivity to others, the novels about love in fam­ ilies often contain a character who is helpful and sympa­ thetic to his family members. M. C. Higgins (10) cares for his parents and siblings. He wants his mother to become a famous singer so that the family will be able to leave their poor life on the mountain that is being destroyed by mining, but he comes to realize that the mountain is an important part of his father's life, a part he can not and should not 3 6 relinquish. In Teacup Full of Roses, Joe is the only member of the family who understands his younger brother's desires to go to college; Joe denies his own goals of marriage and gives David all of the money he has saved so 37 that David can fulfill his goals.

Unlike characteristics I, II, III which are possessed by adolescents in over half of the novels, characteristic

IV and V are less common. Only twelve characters are overly emotional or give way to their emotions, characteristic IV; 87 these characters are in eight novels, thirty-two percent of the total number of novels. Ten adolescents each in dif­ ferent novels appear to be pleasant in social interactions, only twenty-eight percent of the total number of characters in the sample. (See Table 6.)

Major characters who possess IV, being overly emotional, are usually trying to cope with a difficult situation in their lives. The major characters in Bless the Beasts and the Children illustrate this; each has emotional problems caused by his family situation: John's mother has been married three times; Gerald suffers from an Oedipus complex and is accused of being "queer" by his step-father; Lawrence and Sammy are both under pressure from their wealthy fathers to be like their fathers; and Stephen and Billy Lally suffer from sibling rivalry, resorting to temper tantrums, bed­ wetting, and thumb-sucking to get attention from their parents 3 8 who are seldom with them. Like Lawrence and Gerald, John in The Piaman does not meet his father's expectations; he displays his feelings of inadequacy by lying, by drinking and smoking excessively, by pretending he cares for nothing, 39 and by being theatrical. Unlike the Bed-Wetters, however,

John is not overly emotional at all times. This is true of other characters as well; they display characteristic IV in parts of the novel only. Chuck in The Man Without a Face is one such character. He becomes extremely emotional when- 40 ever his older sister is around him. Conrad in Ordinary

People reacts similarly to his mother because he feels that 88 she blames him for his brother's death and hates him for his own suicide attempts.^

Most of the ten characters who are pleasant in social interactions, characteristic V, display their popularity and adaptability in the school setting. Alan Bennett (18) is a typical example of a major male character who is hand­ some and popular in school. He loses his popularity, how­ ever, when Duncan Stein, a lanky nonconformist, enrolls in • the school and causes the other students to change their 42 minds about the important things in life. Like Alan, Tom

Naylor (9) is very popular at his new school until rumors 43 are spread that he is a homosexual. Davy Ross (6) also changes schools. Unlike Tom, though, he works through the difficult times of being accepted by his peers and becomes well-liked because of his warm and friendly attitudes to all 44 of the students, especially those younger than he.

Rodney Biggers (2), Adam Farmer (5), and John Gridley

(7) are the three characters who are developed by their ex­ treme absence of characteristic V; they are neither friendly, warm, nor likable. Rodney, for example, tries to gain

Stella's affection by having Toby beat up, but that fails. 45 He is rejected not only by Stella but also by his peers.

Different from Rodney who wants people to like him is Adam, who fears people. This fear of people is evident in his day dreams of a bike trip. It is revealed that the people whom he fears most, although strangers in his daydreams, 46 are his peers in the hospital to which he is confined. 89 Like Adam, John Gridley is anti-social, but he does not fear people as much as Adam does. He remains alone after his brothers have died, somewhat fearful to answer questions 47 about them because he does not trust what others might do.

There are very interesting combinations of character­ istics in the books with more than one major character. Each major character is developed by different characteristics.

In Home BeforeDark, Toby is a sensitive adolescent who be­ comes even more popular after Rodney, who lacks self-confi­ dence and the ability to interact socially, hires others to beat him up. Another approach to the sensitive-versus- physically aggressive characters is used by Hinton in The

Outsiders. Johnny, the sensitive character who fights only because he is forced to, dies but becomes the reason Pony- boy, the independent character, decides to give up fighting.

In The Chocolate War, Jerry stands up for his beliefs but is overcome by Archie, the leader who reacts emotionally and encourages others to behave violently.

Another interesting approach to parallel character development is used by Scoppettone in Trying Hard to Hear

You. Phil, the character who lacks confidence and follows the crowd, is killed while Jeff, who suffers an equal amount of peer pressure but refuses to succumb to it, lives. The opposite situation develops in Bless the Beasts and the

Children. The major character, who is the leader who under­ stands, loves, and encourages the Bed-Wetters to accomplish the freeing of the buffalo and ultimately of themselves, is 90 the only character who dies. Swarthout seems to say that death does not always happen to the weak and indecisive.

Overview of Attitudes and Relationships

Further insights into the major male characters can be gained by looking at the character's attitudes toward other people. These attitudes can be discovered through an analy­ sis of the character's thoughts about and relationships with his peers, parents, and other adults. There are only four characters who have no peer group relationships at the time of the novel. (Rodney 2, 5, 7, 21.) The other thirty-one characters have at least one good friend who is usually male.

Eleven characters have girlfriends, but only three have a good friend who is female but is not a girlfriend. (17, 22,

25.) Most of the boys have good relationships with and positive attitudes toward their parents. Seventeen have good relationships with their mothers, fourteen with their fathers.

Unpleasant relationships or negative attitudes toward par­ ents are seen in twenty situations, eight with mothers, twelve with fathers. Generally where relationships with adults other than parents are developed in these novels, they are positive for the adolescent. Brother Leon (4),

Brint (5), and Benjie's teachers (3) are the only adults with whom the characters have very negative experiences.

Peer Relationships

Peer relationships are developed in the novels in three ways: those characters who have no friends; those who are 91 popular with a group; and those who have one best friend.

(See Table 8.) The last group is, by far, the largest.

The characters who have no friends are: Rodney (2),

Adam (5), John (7), and Asher (21). Rodney is the only one of this group who would like to be popular with his peers.

The others are like Adam; he has no friends and does not want any. "He preferred reading a book or listening to old jazz records in his bedroom than going to dances or hanging around downtown with the other kids. ...anyway, he had never felt left out; it was his choice. To be a witness, to observe, to let the events be recorded with himself on some personal film in some secret compartment no one knew about, 48 except him." Despite the fact that Conrad says the same thing about himself in Ordinary People, he does have friends whom he shuts out of his life. "About friends. I don't have any," Conrad tells his psychiatrist. Conrad feels so guilty about his brother Buck's death that he convinces him­ self that no one cares for him and that everyone was Buck's 49 friend, not his.

The characters who are popular with a group of their peers are often those who also possess characteristic V, are pleasant in social interaction. Buddy in His Own Where, for example, knows that Angela, his new girlfriend, will hear good things about him because "Buddy have a lot of friends hanging out with him at school. They stick together pretty tight....One character who seems popular with a group but is not pleasant in social interactions is Archie, the TABLE 8 92 PEER GROUP RELATIONSHIPS

BEST BEST NO. TITLE • NAME GROUP FRIEND FRIEND GIRLFRIEND FEMALE MALE

1 HARO FEELINGS Bernie Hergruter 0 0 L ee B arbara

Toby Brown X 0 0 StoSto 2 HOME BEFORE DARK Rodney Biggors 0 0 0 o

3 A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN' Benjie Johnson 0 0 Jim m y L ee o

Jerry Renault 0 0 G o o b er o THE CHOCOLATE WAR Archie Costello X 0 0 a

5 1 AM T H E C H EESE Adam Farmer 0 0 0 o

6 I'LL GET THERE. IT BETTER... Davy R oss X 0 A ltsc h u le r 0

7 WILD IN THE WORLD John Grldloy 0 o 0 o

3 ORDINARY PEOPLE Conrad Jarrett 0 0 L azen b y Jean nine

9 STICK S AND STONES Tom Naylor X 0 Ward O

10 M .a HIGGINS, THE GREAT Mayo C. Higgins * 0 0 Ben Luhretta

II MR. a MRS. BO JO JONES Bo Jo Jones 0 0 C h a rlie Ju ly

Ponyboy Curtis X 0 J o h n n y 0 12 THE OUTSIDERS Jo h n n y X 0 Ponyboy 0

13 RUMBLE FISH Rusty James 0 0 S te v e P o tty

Bryon Douglas X 0 M ark 0 14 THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW Mark X 0 B rycn O

13 MAN WITHOUT A FACE Charles Norstadt X o 0 o

IS HIS OWN W HERE Buddy Rivers X 0 0 Angela S u san 17 DINKY HOOKER SHOOTS SM ACK! Tuckor Woolf 0 N atalia P. Jo h n O IF 1 LOVE YOU, 18 AM 1 TRAPPED . .. f* Alan Bennett X 0 0 Leah

19 TEACUP FULL OF ROSES J o e Brooks 0 0 Phil Elite

20 ARE YOU IN TH E HOUSE ALONE P Phil Lawyer 0 0 0 A lison

21 MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Asherel Lev 0 0 0 O

Phil Chrystie 0 0 J e f f O 22 TRYING HARD TO HEAR YOU Jeff Grathwohi 0 Camilla Phil o

2 3 LIO N 'S PAW Pxul 0 0 0 X habbo

John Cotton X 0 . 0 0

Gerald Goodenow X O o 0

BLESS THE BEASTS AND L aw rence X 0 0 0 2 4 T e f t Ml THE CHILDREN Sammy Shecker X 0 0 0

Stephen Lally X 0 0 o

Billy tally X 0 0 o

2 3 T H E PIGMAN John Conlan X L orraine 0 o

X = Existent Relationship

0 - Nonexistent Relationship 93 Vigil's leader, in The Chocolate War. He is respected and

feared but neither pleasant nor well-liked. Obie, the

secretary of the Vigils, reveals this while viewing the

scene of the fight arranged by Archie to destroy Jerry.

Obie describes Archie with distaste but respect, "...that bastard, that clever clever bastard, has done it again.

Look at him down there near the fight ring, like he's king of all he surveys. And he is, of course.

Twenty of the major characters have one best friend.

Seventeen have a male friend; three have a female friend.

In the novels, the characters often discuss their best

friend, why they are so close, and how valuable friendship

is to them. Rusty (13) talks about his best friend Steve;

"Steve was fourteen, like me. He looked twelve. He acted

forty. He was my best friend, though...." Rusty often wondered why Steve was his best friend since they were so different, but finally he understood. "I didn't have to keep on being the toughest cat in the neighborhood for 52 Steve." Other characters, too, realize why they have a

certain best friend. Tom Naylor (9) is quite different from

Ward, his best friend, but "in spite of the probable half- dozen years' difference in their ages and experience, in

spite of the fact that he had to order pop instead of beer,

Tom felt absolutely equal. He felt appreciated. He felt

the communion of another mind that worked the way his did."

Tom grew to value this friendship even though it caused

rumors that he and Ward were homosexuals. At one point in 94 the novel, Tom "had a sudden vision of himself as a middle- aged man caught in the sinkhole of an everyday existence, but remembering one night of his- youth when he sat with a friend, in a clearing in a woods, and felt both supreme 53 exhilaration and extreme peace."

Tucker Woolf is one of the characters whose best friends are girls. Before he meets Susan Hocker, an overweight adolescent nicknamed Dinky, and her shy cousin Natalia, Tuck­ er feels he has never had a good relationship with his peers;

"I have trouble with relationships in general.... I have parents and I have a few friends, but I don't have relation­ ships." He grows closer to Natalia though because of the

Balloon Game. "At first, Tucker felt self-conscious playing the Balloon Game.... There was something weird about sitting in the same room alone with a girl, passing a notebook back and forth and writing down things without speaking. But after a while there was not anything he would rather do."

At the end of the novel, Tucker is unsure whether he and

Natalia will have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, but he has learned the value of friendship. He says, "I'm glad 54 Natalia and Susan are my friends...."

Girlfriends play a part in the lives of eleven major characters. (See Table 8.) Characters display both nega­ tive and positive attitudes toward girls and girlfriends by their statements, by their actions, and by their lack of actions; some go through changes in attitudes about girls during the events of the novels. 95 Tom Naylor (9) demonstrates his negative attitude toward girls by implying that girls cannot be a boy's friend; "girls 55 are a lot easier to find than friends are." Bryon (14) voices a similarly negative attitude toward his girlfriend.

He confesses, "I'd also lie if I really thought I could get away with it, especially to girls. Like telling them I loved them and junk, when I didn't. I had a rep as a lady- killer— a hustler. I kept up the old Lord Byron tradition

in one way. Sometimes I'd get to feeling bad thinking about how rotten I treated some of these chicks, but most of the 5 6 time it didn't bother me." An extreme example of a nega­ tive attitude toward girls is seen in Are You in the House

Alone?. Phil feels Gail is unclean because she is having a sexual relationship with her boyfriend Steve. In fact, he uses this as his excuse when he rapes her; "I'm in very good

shape, Gail. It comes from clean living, which you wouldn't 57 know anything about."

Unlike these characters whose negative attitudes under­ go no change in the novels are some characters who behave quite differently toward a girl if they begin to think of her as a girlfriend. Toby in Home Before Dark is a good example. Until he gets to know and love Stella, Toby (2) has a very limited view of what girls can do. When he first meets her, he is amazed that she would want to help pick

tobacco. "Girls don't truck tobacco. You'd have to drive

a mule." He also lets her know immediately that he will not be seen with her when school starts. Shortly, his attitude 96 changes, however. He feels "responsible for Stella, whose strong-mindedness seemed likely to override his judgment.

Sometimes she seemed to know so little, even less than he 5 8 did." Another kind of change is apparent in the relation­ ship that John and Lorraine have in The Pieman. When John starts thinking of Lorraine as his girlfriend rather than his best friend, he changes. She describes the signs of change, "...suddenly we had become slightly awkward in front of each other. Of course, I had always been clumsy around him ; but at least I knew I had been in love with him for months. I also knew he liked me a lot but only as a friend or a dreamboat with a leak in it. But now suddenly he was wearing shaving lotion, combing his hair, and fighting with 59 me." M. C. Higgins (10) also is different after Luhretta comes into his life. She has made a difference. "He knew he would never be the same."^

Attitudes Toward Sexual Activity

Examination of the characters 1 attitudes toward sexual activity leads to further information not only about atti­ tudes toward females but also about the characters' sexual fears, thoughts, and actions. The degree of involvement in sexual activity is quite varied among the major characters of this survey. Twelve do not mention thoughts about sex or any sexual activities. In the remaining thirteen novels, some of the characters want to have sex with someone other than their girlfriends; some only have fantasies about 97 sexual activities; the remaining characters have hetero­ sexual relationships with their girlfriends or a homosexual relationship with their best friend or an older man.

One attitude of several of these characters is that sexual activity is appropriate with certain kinds of girls but inappropriate with others. One character that exempli­ fies this double standard is Bernie in Hard Feelings. He wants to experience sex, but he feels that he cannot have this experience with his girlfriend. He says, "She's the first girl I ever kissed, not that that's so special, but it gives up a certain idea. ...I make out with her, but I wouldn't try anything that might scare her or offend her...."

"With your girlfriend you don't take chances, you just 61 don't." Although Bernie protects his girlfriend, he does not think that it is necessary to protect all girls. He feels differently about Leslie, though, since she is not his girlfriend and eventually has his first sexual encounter with her.

Phil Lawver (20) feels as Bernie does about intercourse with his girlfriend, Alison. In fact, she describes him to

Gail, the girl he later rapes, as aggressive on the squash court but a "New England puritan" when he is with her. This description is much different from the boy who follows Gail, makes obscene phone calls, and rapes Gail one evening while she is baby-sitting. Another side of Phil is revealed by his act of sexual aggression toward Gail. "He was nearer than I knew when he lunged at me, hooking his ankle around 98 mine. I fell flat on my back in front of the fire screen.

Then he dropped down and pinned both my wrists about my head with his hands." With her trapped in this manner, he says,

"And don't worry. I don't want you to do anything you haven't already done. Just look at it this way, Gail.

You've had more experience in certain matters than I have. 6 2 And this is your chance to share it."

Many of the other major characters are not experienced sexually. For the most part, they reveal their lack of experience and share with the reader their fears of being inadequate or simply of not knowing what to do. Bernie (1), for example, worries about what will happen with Leslie;

"...what I began to fear is that I will, as my mother says, 6 3 flub the deed before I really get started...." Camilla in

Trying Hard to Hear You describes her best friend's fears about sexual inadequacy; "I knew that Jeff was still a virgin.

Everyone thought that he and Tina had made it but I knew the truth. They had tried but Jeff couldn't. He felt awful about it but I told him that that happened to lots of boys 64 and not to worry about it."

Several of the major characters never experience the worries of Bernie or Jeff, but their fantasies and mastur­ bation cause them to suffer guilt. As Conrad (8) talks to his psychiatrist, he relates his problem, "...female bodies; the fact that the world has suddenly become overpopulated with them and their individual parts— breasts and legs and round-apple asses that he would like to fit his hands around. 99 ...Violent urges that entrap him each morning and each night

and for which he knows only one cure. Afterward, he suffers S 5 the most intense spasms of raw and painful guilt."

Jerry (4) has similar kinds of thoughts and fears; "the one devastating sorrow he carried within him was the fear that he would die before holding a girl's breasts in his hand."

He bought "a girlie magazine" but "finally, tired of smuggl­

ing it into the bathroom for swift perusals, and weary of his deceit, and haunted by the fear that his mother would

find the magazine, Jerry had sneaked it out of the house and 6 6 dropped it into a catchbasin." Rodney (2) has a different way of dealing with the guilt of his fantasies; "...he pro­

tects himself from the sin of unclean thoughts— his own

fantasies— by attributing them to what he'd heard rather than 6 7 to any originality on his own part."

Of the four characters who do have sexual relations

(1, 8, 11, 16), only one couple suffers, not from guilt but

from an unwanted pregnancy. The plot of Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo

Jones develops the interference of the couple's parents, the

loss of the child, and the eventual success of their marriage.

In two of the novels in which the major character has inter­

course with his girlfriend, Ordinary People and His Own 6 8 Where, the result is positive for both the boy and the

girl. The male characters feel needed and loved after this

experience. Conrad (8) describes' the events and. feelings he

has with Jeannine. As they are sitting on the couch, he

suddenly realizes "...she is not laughing. Instead she is 100 looking at him with a solemn, wide open expression. His mouth is suddenly dry, his head feels queerly light. A highway is moving toward him and he is on it, traveling with such force and speed, all of his senses open again." They kiss, make love; then"they lie drugged and submerged, facing each other on the bed." Because of this experience, Conrad begins to grasp his life again, "feeling the sense of calm, of peace slowly gathering, spreading itself within him. He

is in touch for good, with hope, with himself, no matter what."^

The three novels which contain homosexual relationships

(6, 15, and 22) do not have outcomes as hopeful as this, how­ ever. They follow similar patterns; a homosexual encounter, guilt, then avoidance of the partner by the major character.

This is followed by the death of one of the partners in The

Man Without a Face and Trying Hard to Hear You. In I '11 Get

There. It Better Be Worth the Trip, neither partner dies; but Davy loses the one thing he loves very much , his. dog

Fred who had been playfully involved in the sexual encoun- 70 ter. As Davy describes this incident, he and Altschuler

are romping, laughing, and playing on the floor with Fred.

"I think that this unusual feeling that I have will end, but in a minute the three of us are lying there, our heads together. I guess I kiss Altschuler and he kisses me.

...We sat up, and we avoided looking at each other. When our

eyes meet, we laugh, but not like before." Davy feels guilty

and avoids Altschuler at school. Later, Fred is killed, and

Davy suffers greatly, feeling it is his fault because he and 101 Altschuler were together. In the end, both boys decide to

respect each other, the word Davy uses for the two creatures 71 he has loved most in the world, his grandmother and Fred.

The major characters may think of themselves in sexual

encounters and even find themselves involved in a situation they had not expected, but several admit that they can not

imagine their parents 1 having a sexual relationship or being in love. Bernie (1), whose parents sleep in separate rooms, describes his parents, "Once years ago, my parents were deeply in love, I know from letters I found and from other evidence like the photos in our family album. ...Now they get along about as well as two people on the subway, and I can hardly find in my memory more than maybe two times 72 I've ever seen them smooch." The same attitude is evi­ denced in Alan Bennett's (IS) discussion of love; "'Love'

isn't a word that conjures up a vision of one's own parents.

If you think of love at all, in connection with their feel­ ings about each other, you think of it as something that 73 might have had something to do with them a long time ago."

Adam Farmer is the only character who talks about his par­ ents' having sex. "He always liked to listen at night.

Often he heard his mother and father murmuring in their bed­ room, the bed making a lot of noise, and there were the nice sounds of his father and mother together, making soft sounds as if they were furry animals like the stuffed ani- 74 mals he always slept with...." 102 Relationships With Parents

Despite the fact that- these young adults seldom think of their parents being in love or having sexual relation­ ships, they do display realistic attitudes toward their parents in other areas. Often they are able to see their parents' strengths as well as their weaknesses.

Some have a positive appreciation of their parents, like Ponybqy in The Outsiders. Even though he loved his two brothers very much, he felt that neither "could take Mom and 75 Dad's place." Others, like John Conlan (25), view their parents negatively and feel that they do not belong together.

John says, "I don't know exactly what year I noticed it, but then all of a sudden Bore (John's father) and the Old Lady

(his mother) got old. They didn't fight anymore. They didn't do anything anymore, which is why I guess I nicknamed them the way I did. They just seemed tired, and I seemed out of place in the house. I had become a disturbing in- 7 6 fluence, as they say." Twelve characters, like John, have negative or unhappy relationships with their fathers while fourteen have positive or happy relationships. Seventeen have a positive relationship with their mothers, and eight 77 have negative relationships with her. (See Table 9.)

The characters develop negative relationships with their fathers primarily because of a lack of affection or a conflict about activities or goals. While Jerry's (4) mother was dying, for example, "his father was a stranger."

They were never able to regain a relationship, never able to 103 7 8 share their grief. Jeff in Trying Hard to Hear You nick­ names his father "affectionate Al" because of his lack of affection. Jeff "couldn't remember his father ever touch­ ing him." Jeff and his father also have a conflict over

Jeff's participation in a theater group since his father 79 thinks actors are "a bunch of queers." Like Jeff, John

(25) argues with his father about becoming an actor when his 8 0 father wants him to work on the Coffee Exchange with him.

Bernie's Father in Hard Feelings feels that Bernie is unmanly not because of acting but because of not fighting his rival at school. He is furious with Bernie because Bernie does not accept his advice "...to hit the bastard. Belt him with 81 a stick. Knee him in the colyoons."

Some characters have conflicts with their fathers but still love and respect them. Asher Lev (21) and his father disagree about Asher's art. His father "was indifferent to my drawing; he thought it something children did when they 8 2 were very young and then outgrew." Asher did not outgrow his love of art, however. The final scene of the novel shows the result of Asher's continuing to draw and to paint, the act which finally destroys his relationship with his father.

Asher describes his father at his art show; "He had..that same expression on his face. Who are you? the expression said. Are you really my son? ...He did not speak to me....

He looked straight ahead through the crowd, walking with deliberate slowness."^ 104 Some characters, however, maintain positive relation­

ships with their fathers throughout the novels. The main

reason Conrad (8) wants to regain personal control of his 84 life is so that his father can quit worrying about him.

Toby (2) is also close to his father; he does not want to

lie to his father because "somehow he knew a lie, even a

little one, would break a link between them that could 85 never be repaired." Even though Adam's father had caused turmoil in young Adam’s life, Adam was able to say, "What­

ever had happened, he trusted him completely." Adam was 8 6 proud of him; "he had done what he believed was right."

Equally loving remarks are made by characters about their mothers, Bryon (14) says, "She was my mother and I 8 7 loved her...." Ponyboy describes his mother; "...beauti- 8 8 ful and golden, ...wise and fun...." Alan Bennett (18) wants his mother to know how much he respects her being a

single parent when he says, "I didn't want her to ever think

she was a loser in my eyes. She was anything but; she was what kept me together, and everything she'd done for me 8 9 she'd done by herself." There are also those characters who love their mothers but still see their faults. John

Conlan (25) displays this attitude about his mother,"...I

like my Mom and all that, but she runs around like a chicken 90 with its head cut off."

Extremely negative attitudes toward mothers are posses­

sed by several other characters. Conrad in Ordinary People

tries to describe his lack of a relationship with, his 105 Mother; "My Mother is a very private person.... We don't 91 ride the same bus." Billy Lally (24) has negative feel­ ings for his mother, too, because she "had inherited 'old money,'" which was used to jet "off to ski at Chamonix or somewhere." Billy reveals his feelings of loss to his horse Sheba. "'If you had babies,' he asked her, 'did you 92 stay with them or go galloping away and leave them?'"

Davy (6) also has a poor relationship with his mother, not because of her leaving, but because of her drinking. "My mother, she's really something. I can never tell whether she's going to be my big buddy or a regular witch. She's either slobbering all over me or ready to boot me out of 93 the house. How she feels depends on liquor mostly."

Relationships With Other Adults

Most of the attitudes and relationships of the charac­ ters toward other adults besides their parents are positive.

(See Table 9.) Alan (18) who has a good relationship with both his grandfather and Mrs. Stein is representative. Alan found it easier to talk to Mrs. Stein though; "I guess it's always easier for me to talk to a woman than a man, even my grandfather. I listen to my grandfather more than I talk to him." Alan may have become too involved with Mrs. Stein, but it was because of her that he became determined to be a 94 writer. Another example is the relationship between Davy

(6) and his grandmother. He decides he wants to be like

"...guys like my grandmother. There was a great old girl.

She was real stiff by nature, but she had respect for me, TABLE 9 106

ADULT RELATIONSHIPS

OTHER OTHER NO. TITLE NAME FATHER MOTHER ADULTS ADULTS MALE FEMALE

1 HARD FEELINGS Bernie Hergruter - a 0 0

Toby Brown e 0 0 0 2 HOME BEFORE DARK Rodney Biggers 0 a 0 0 T e a c h ers 3 A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN' Benjie Johnson a a 0 Brother Leon Jarry Renault - 0 0 4 TH E CHOCOLATE WAR Brother Leon Archia Costello 0 0 a 0 Brint 5 1 AM THE CHEESE Adam Farmer a a 0 Grandmother G l'LL GET THERE. IT BETTER... Davy Ross a - 0 a

7 WILD IN THE WORLD John Grldley 0 0 0 0 Berger Grandmother Conrad Jarrett 8 ORDINARY PEOPLE a - a a Principal 9 STICKS AND STONES Tom Naylor 0 a 0

10 M. C. HIGGINS, THE GREAT Moyo C. Higgins a a 0 0

tl MR. & MRS. BO JO J0 N E 3 Bo J o Jonas a a 0 0

Ponyboy Curtis 0 0 0 0 12 THE OUTSIDERS Jo h n n y - - o 0

13 RUMBLE FISH Rusty James a 0 o 0 C harlie Bryon Douglas 0 a a 0 14 THAT WAS TH EN , TH IS 13 NOW C harlie M ark 0 a a 0 Ju stin 10 MAN W ITHOUT A FACE Charles Norstadt 0 - a o

16 HIS OWN WHERE Buddy Rivers a 0 0 0

17 DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK! T uoker Woolf - a 0 0 Grandfather Mrs. Stein 18 IF 1 LOVE YOU, AM 1 T R A P P E D ? Alan Bennett - a a a

19 TEACUP FULL OF ROSES Joe Brooks a - 0 0

2 0 ARE YOU IN TH E HOUSE ALO N E? Phil Lawver a a 0 o Store Owner Zl MY NAME 13 A SHER LEV Asherel Lev a - a 0

Phil Chrysfie - 0 0 o 2 2 TRYING HARD TO HEAR YOU Jeff Grothwohl - a 0 0

2 3 LIO N 'S PAW Pxui a a 0 o .

John Cotton 0 - 0 o

Gerald Goodenow - a 0 0 Lawrence BLESS THE BEASTS AND - 0 0 0 2 4 T a f t 111 THE CHILDREN Sammy Shecker a 0 0 0

Stephen Lolly - - 0 0

Billy Lolly - - 0 0 Mr. Pignoti 2 9 THE PIGMAN John Conlan - a a o

a = Poaitrv* Relotionship

- = Negotive Relationship

O 3 Nonexistent Relationship 107 95 and I respected her." The deaths of Justin in The Man

Without a Face and Mr. Pignati in The Pieman reveal the powerful impact these adults had on the male protagonists.

In both cases, the boys are moved to accept responsibility for their actions, to make their own decisions, and ulti­ mately to mature.^

The negative attitudes toward adults very often come from the adolescent's relationships with teachers, princi­ pals, or counselors. (See Table 9.) Benjie (3), who is hooked on heroin, is the focus of an argument between teach- 97 ers rather than the recipient of their aid. Likewise, it is because of Brother Leon's single-minded drive to sell chocolates in The Chocolate War that the Vigils are able to stage the boxing match that nearly kills the one student who 98 refuses to sell the candy. Another equally negative inci­ dent occurs in Sticks and Stones. Because the principal at

Tom's high school believes the unfounded rumors about Tom's supposed homosexual relationship with Ward, he refuses to let Tom go to the state music finals, an event that would have been the highlight of Tom's senior year and a step 99 toward his goal of becoming a professional pianist.

Goals

Other characters, like Tom Naylor in Sticks and Stones, have goals for their lives. An examination of the major male character's attitudes toward his future gives insight into the character development of young adult novels. 108

Nineteen novels have a major character who has a goal for either his life in general, or more specifically, his education or occupation. The life goals usually involve general plans for being married, being more like another character, or being less like a character. Educational goals center around both high school and college degrees. Occupa­ tional goals range from being in a circus to becoming a pro­ fessional artist.

Of the eleven characters who have goals for their lives, Toby in Home Before Dark is the most convinced that despite his tenant farmer background, he will control his future. "He'd... never doubted that he could change his life when he was old enough and smart enough. He believed with angry determination that economic and educational pov­ erty (that's what his civics teacher called it without look­ ing at him) were all that stood in his way. ...He would be seen and heard someday. " Other characters are less determined than Toby but do have an idea about their futures.

Tom, for example, in Sticks and Stones describes his indefi­ nite plans for a future marriage, "Figured I 'd be getting married someday, having a home. I never thought I especi- 102 ally wanted children unless my wife really wanted them."

Buddy in His Own Where does not mention plans for marriage, but he and Angela both hope for a future together, wanting her to be pregnant as "a new day of the new life" begins for« ^them. 103 109 Another life goal is a character's wanting to be like another character in the novel. The plot of Hinton's

Rumble Fish centers around Rusty devoting his life to being like his older brother, Motorcycle Boy. Rusty says, "I wanted to be like the Motorcycle Boy. I wanted to be tough like him, and stay calm and laughing when things got danger­ ous. I wanted to be the toughest street-fighter and the most respected hood on our side of the river. I had tried everything, even tried to learn to read good to be like him.

Even though nothing had worked so far, that didn't mean nothing ever would.

Rather than being like another character, Jerry Renault in The Chocolate War watches his father after his mother's death and decides he does not want to be like his father.

"Was this all there was to life, after all? You finished school, got married, became a father, watched your wife die, and then lived through days and nights that seemed to have no sunrises, no dawns, and no dusks, nothing but a gray drabness." He knew "he didn't want to be a mirror of his father. The thought made him cringe." Even though he knows what he does not want to be, Jerry has trouble stating what his goal is. "I want to do something, be somebody. But 105 what? But what?"

Although Jerry never discusses this dilemma with his father, John Conlan in The Pieman reveals his future plans to his father, plans to be an actor instead of a business man like his father. John's father is outraged by this rejec- 110 tion of his occupation. As they argue, John says, "I just

don't want to wear a suit every day and carry an attache

case and ride a subway. I want to be me. Just me. Not a

phony in the crowd." His father replies, "I'm asking you

to try working for a change. At your age I was working

hard, not floundering around in a fool's dream world." The

argument remains unsettled, but John maintains he will not

become like his father.

Other characters have goals for their occupational 107 futures. Some of the goals seem very unrealistic while others are based on talents or interests that the young male possesses. Tom Naylor (9) wants to become a concert pianist. Adam in I Am the Cheese wants to become a writer.

Since he has always been a quiet observer, he wants to use

these observations. He discovers this desire in eighth

grade "when he knew irrevocably that he wanted to be a writer. He realized he had stored up all his observations, 108 all his emotions, for that purpose." Like Tom and Adam,

Tucker Woolf has a goal based on his interests and talents;

he wants to be a librarian. This, he feels, he must not

admit until he was older since it is not considered manly.

"He figured he'd announce it one day in college, after he'd

scored the winning touchdown in a football game or won high 109 honors on some course like Outer Space Cartography."

Asher Lev (21) wants to use the talent he has always had for drawing and painting to become a famous artist. He is will­

ing to pursue this even though it causes the end of-the Ill relationship between him and his father.

The most unrealistic occupational goal appears in Wild

in the World. John Gridley, who had wanted an education,

changed this educational goal. "John thought he would

finish high school and go to Durham to the University and

become a teacher. But then Eben (an older brother) died in

Boston." John decided that if "you went away, you died. So

John quit high school after the first year and stayed home

to help Amos and Abraham." After these two brothers also

die and John is left alone, he decides to join the circus

with his dog. He thinks "it's good to see places that way

because people don't mind your business, the way they do in

a single town. You can see everywhere and all they want

from you is entertainment." John appears to be thinking

about this but not as a serious goal, rather as an attempt

to escape the town's people. John never escapes to the

circus, but he escapes the town's people eventually, but

only by his death.

Five novels contain characters who have educational

goal s. The Man Without a Face, Teacup Full of Roses, and

Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones each has a major character working

toward an educational goal. Charles (15) wants to pass the

entrance examination for a private school not because he iI • wants an education there but because he wants to move away ! i from his older sister. Joe (19) has an educational goal

for himself as well as for his younger brother, David. He

receives his high school diploma from night school and 112 gives David all of his savings to help him enter college.

Bo Jo (11) is like both Joe and David; he wants to finish high school even though he and July are married and then go to college so that he will not have to work for July's father. At the end of the novel, Bo Jo has successfully completed three years of college; his goal is nearly attained. Only one of Joe's goals is reached, however; he graduates, but David is killed before he has a chance to go to college.

Emotions

The argument that male characters do not reveal emo- 112 tions prompts an in-depth description of the emotions displayed by the male protagonists in this sample. Despite several characters 1 stating that it is difficult for them to reveal emotions, a wide range of emotions is displayed.

The characters express love, anger, guilt, fear, loneliness, and jealousy. These emotions are usually revealed through the authors' or characters' comments. Several characters' actions also show their emotions.

A few characters have difficulty with their emotions.

Conrad in Ordinary People maintains that he feels no emo­ tions. He tells his psychiatrist, "I don’t feel anything."

He discovers, however, that his problems are caused by his 113 denial of emotions. This is similar to Lorraine's description of John in The Piqman. She says, "Not that he really doesn't have any compassion, but he'd be the last one 113 on earth to show it. He pretends he doesn't care about any- 114 thing in the world...." Different from Conrad and John

is Bryon in That Was Then, This Is Now; he feels emotions but is unable to talk about these feelings. "...I never have been able to say things like that, to tell people I loved 115 them...." Most of the characters do feel their emotions, however, and are able to talk about them and show them to others.

The emotion of love is displayed by characters for their parents, siblings, peers, girlfriends, and pets. Since

each of these except pets has been discussed in the sections

above on relationships, they will not be duplicated here.

It is imperative to note, however, that a total of twenty-

two novels show characters who love someone or something

very much. The Chocolate War, I Am the Cheese, and Are You

in the House Alone? are the only novels which have a major

character who, at the time of the novel, does not display the emotion of love. It is clear that the characters of

The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese, though, did love

their parents.

The characters who display love for their pets are:

Bernie (1), Davy (6), John (7), and Pxui (23). In all four novels, the animals are either killed or die. Bernie1s dog

in Hard Feelings is killed by Richard, Bernie1s rival from

school. To revenge this, Bernie, after first running away, 117 returns to take action against Richard. Fred, Davy's dog, 118 is run over while Davy's mother is taking him for a walk. 114 In Wild in the World, a dog arrives on the farm after John

Gridlev's brothers have died. The dog, whom John calls

Son, is the only thing left for John to love. Like other 119 people in John's life, Son dies protecting John. Just as

Bernie, Davy, and John become attached to their dogs, so does Pxui become attached to a lion whose life he has saved.

Pxui must eventually kill this lion, however, because of a drought. This is an act that his family and tribe members see as growth toward maturation and acceptance of responsi­ vebxlity. i -4. 120 121 Anger is an emotion that thirteen characters display.

This emotion is shown through yelling or violent actions.

As M. C. (10) and his father argue, M. C. yells, "'Noi1

...with a desperate anger and love for his father welling 122 inside him." Like M. C., Bo Jo (11) is angered and yells at July even though he loves her. " 'You hate marriage! How . the hell do you think I react?. . . ' He flung around and 123 slammed out of the front door." Bo Jo's slamming the door is similar to other violent actions which reveal characters' anger. Rusty (13) describes his angry actions; "I jumped up and slammed my fist down on the table so hard, the table 124 in the next booth rattled..." 12^- Anger leads to fist fights in six of the novels. The characters are moved to this anger and subsequently to a fight because of their feelings for others in four of the 12 6 six novels. John Conlan in The Piqman is a character who always tries to hide his feelings, but he reveals his love 11 5 for Mr. Pignati through anger at Norton. John describes his anger as soon as he sees Norton who has broken Mr. Pignati1s prized collection of pigs while he is looking for money.

"Several other broken pigs were laying all over the floor, and the only think I could think of at that moment was the proud and happy look on Mr. Pignati's face when he had shown us the pigs that first day. I felt like killing Norton as

I plowed into him, punching his face like it was a sack of ,,127 flour."

Other emotions are not as widespread in the sample as love and anger. Five characters feel guilty; five are fear- 12 8 ful; four are jealous; and four are lonely or sad. Of the five characters who feel guilty, four feel they are 129 responsible for the death of someone they love. John in

Wild in the World feels guilty about the deaths of his mother, sister, and brother. He says, "My ma was country people. I didn't know her because I killed her when I was born." Trying to save John from a fire, John's brother and sister were both killed. John feels guilty because, as he says, "I didn't mean harm to anyone. I wonder why people die 130 on account of me." Similarly, both Conrad in Ordinary

People and John in The Pigman feel guilty about deaths.

Conrad harbors guilt because he thinks he should have saved his brother Buck from drowning. Even though Buck was a better swimmer than Con and Con could have done nothing, he 131 still thinks he "let him drown." After the Pigman's death, John Conlan says that he and Lorraine "had 115 trespassed...where we didn't belong, and we were punished

for it. Mr. Pignati had paid with his life. But when he

died something in us died as well." To John, "there was no 132 one else to blame anymore." Davy's guilt in 1111 Get

There. It Better Be Worth the Trip is also because of a

death, the death of his dog Fred. He feels that he indirect­

ly caused Fred's death by having a sexual encounter with

Altschuler, his best friend. He says, "It's my fault.

Because of everything I did. It wouldn't have happened if

it wasn't for me. All that messing around. Nothing would

have happened to Fred if I hadn't been messing around with 133 Altschuler. My fault. Mine." Of these characters, only

John Gridley in Wild in the World is unable to understand his

guilt. The others realize that they must accept responsi­

bility for their actions but that they should feel guilty only if they could have prevented the incident.

Fear is an emotion triggered in the major character by

a variety of factors. M. C. (10) is afraid of the "witchy

Killburns;" Ponyboy (12) is afraid after Johnny kills a Soc; 134 Davy is afraid of being a homosexual. Adam in I Am the

Cheese displays the most fears; he wonders if it is "possi­ ble to be claustrophobic and yet fear open spaces, too."

In addition to his fears of open spaces and elevators is his 135 fear of dogs. One character who, very different from

Adam, allows few emotions to rule his life is Rusty in

Rumble Fish. He admits his biggest fear is being alone. "I

can't stand being by myself. That is the only thing I am 117 honest-to-God scared of. ...I don't mind being cut up. I 13 6 just couldn't stay there by myself...."

Some characters reveal their loneliness or sadness even

though it does not frighten them. After Luhretta has gone,

for example, M. C. (10) is hurt and sad; "...her going 137 pressed in on him, like the thinning fog." Davy (6) also

feels sad after his loved ones are gone, but his sadness is

for them. "...I feel sad, not for myself, but for the two 138 guys I loved, Fred and Grandmother." M. C. and Davy are

able to understand their sadness which is only temporary.

Rodney in Home Before Dark, however, feels lonely and sad

throughout the novel. He likes the song "Fire and Rain"

because "to him it meant feeling low and restless and that 139 was how Rodney felt most of the time."

The only time Rodney was not feeling low was when he was with Stella, but Toby was always around them, too. Rodney

often "felt a pang of jealousy" about Toby and admits that

"what really galled him was that she (Stella) seemed to have

the same kind of good time with Toby that she had with 140 him." Alan (18) and M. C. (10) feel the same jealousy

because of their girlfriends. As Alan's girlfriend Leah

becomes closer to Doomed, she draws away from Alan. It takes

time, but Alan finally understands why he makes nasty remarks

about Doomed. He admits, "I realized, suddenly, why I'd

made that remark. It brought me face to face with something

I had refused all along to admit to myself. I was jealous 141 of Doomed." M. C. is also jealous, not of a peer but of 118 the relationship between his father and Luhretta; "...the girl's eyes had been shining at Jones just as though he was her own real father, or at least one she wished she had.

Jealously M. C. watched them, his sullen eyes flicking from 142 one to the other." Jealousy also plays a part in the relationship of Benjie and his step-father in A Hero Ain't

Nothin' But a Sandwich. Benjie is jealous because his mother loves Butler. His jealousy shows as he says, "My mama is over thirty-three years old and goin on like this bout some man. Maybe she can't help bein old and lovin somebody, but look like a old woman would be satisfy just to 143 be cool and be somebody's mother." Of these four charac­ ters, only Rodney (2) is so moved by his jealousy that he harms his rival. The other characters either adjust to the change in their relationships and feelings of jealousy

(10, 16) or learn to love their rival not be jealous of him (3) .

Embracing and Crying

In addition to the characters revealing certain emotions through the authors' comments and their own statements and

actions, there are two other vehicles used to express emo­ tions: embracing and crying.

With the exception of the Bed-Wetters in Bless the

Beasts and the Children, the characters in this sample seldom

show their emotions through embracing or touching. The Bed-

Wetters use "bumping," embracing, anytime they feel insecure. 119 "...They found each other, and confirmed each other, and...

They sent one another impulses of courage and affection. 144 Bumping was what they often did in an emergancy." The other characters, however, find touching difficult or embar­ rassing. As they walk, Joe (20) tells his girlfriend Ellie 145 to "...stop hugging me in public." Like Ellie, July (11) wants "affection in public," but Bo Jo can show emotions only in private. When July confronts him with her demands, he retorts, "Aw, come off it, July. Come to bed and I'll 146 show you some affection." Embracing his father, not his girlfriend, makes Alan Bennett (18) uncomfortable; "when he embraced me, I just stood there stiffly and he soon let

* ,,147 go of m e .

Two characters who do respond physically are embarrassed by this display. In Sticks and Stones, Tom and Ward both feel uneasy about revealing emotions. "For an instant Ward's hand closed over Tom's knee; then they separated, embar­ rassed at the emotions that charged between them. Briskly, 148 Tom stood up and went to the outhouse." In the same way,

Davy (6) and his father embrace for a moment. As Davy des­ cribes the incident, he gives his explanation of their un­ easiness; "he holds me for a minute, and then I guess we decide that men don't get gushy over each other like this, 149 and he lets me go."

This attitude of how men should display emotions is evi­ denced clearly in the characters' comments on crying. They feel crying is inappropriate behavior for boys or men . If 120 they are unable to control their impulse to cry, they often feel apologetic or guilty. The young men give two reasons why they should not cry: that it will cause a negative re­ action from a family member or that it represents weakness.

.Ponyboy, for example, in The Outsiders quits crying after a fight with the Socs, the rival gang, because he does not want his brother Darry to see him. "You just don't cry in

front of Darry.Because of M. C.'s father who wants him to be strong, M. C. (10) also holds back tears and forces himself not to cry.^^ Like Ponyboy and M. C., Chuck in

The Man Without a Face refrains from crying because of a

family member, his mother, but he does this not because she would disapprove but because he feels she would enjoy it.

He describes why he does not cry; "I have not cried since I was seven years old. I know that doesn't sound possible.

But it's true. People who said I was incapable of applying myself to anything didn't know what they were talking about.

I had applied myself to not crying--no matter what... because it gave Mother some kind of queer hold on me. She loved 152 it." All of the major characters of Hinton's novels in this sample (12, 13, 14) do not cry because as one ef them' (13) 153 says, "You didn't cry if you were tough." Like Bryon,

Rusty, and Ponyboy, Benjie (3) sees crying as a weakness.

He says, "It would kill me dead for somebody to see me cry, .,154 dig. "

Despite these attitudes about crying, thirty-one of the 155 thirty-five characters cry at some point in the novel. 12 1 The amount varies from a few tears to much sobbing and often is a surprise to the major character. When Tom (9) finds out his mother is remarrying, for example, his reaction is not what he expects. "To his surprise, Tom felt tears stinging behind his eyes." Alan (18) is also astonished by his tears; he writes "...there was nothing I- could do about the tears suddenly streaming down my cheeks, or the sobs 157 beginning to punch their way out of my insides." Even

Chuck (15) who says he has not cried since the age of seven admits that he does cry, but he is careful when he does;

"...if I wanted to be really truthful, if I had any crying that could not be avoided, I made very sure I was alone and 158 unheard." Benjie (3) also tries to avoid crying, but when he does cry he is not alone; he is with the man for whom he has felt jealousy, Butler, his stepfather. Butler describes Benjie's reaction after he has saved Benjie's life; "we were sittin there in the cold wet. Benjie's cryin and holdin to me like never gonna let go, body tremblin 159 with the shiverin shakes... he 's cryin the meanness out."

Even Phil (20) who escapes punishment for raping two girls shows some remorse and also cries after the first rape.

After leaving Gail, the first victim, Phil goes to his girl­ friend who later describes the way he looked; "he looked terrible. There was something terrible in his eyes. And 160 he was kind of crying. Not really, but almost."

The reactions of the characters after they cry varies; most never mention it, but others apologize or give excuses. 12 2 Rusty (13) states very simply, "I cried for the first time

I could remember. Crying hurts like hell."^^^ Bryon, how­

ever, in That Was Then . This Is Now blames drinking; "some- 162 times rum affects me like that." After his grandmother's

funeral, Davy (6) feels he should apologize for crying. He

describes his relatives' reactions to him; "In a minute I

stop bawling and calm down a little bit, so I pull away from

Mother.... Everyone is staring at me as though I am a patient who has just come out of ether." He apologizes, "I'm sorry.

...They all No, No, No and smile encouragingly, so I begin 16 3 to feel a little dopey." It is interesting to note that

even though the characters feel they should not cry, they

do; but not one of them says he feels better as a result of

following his emotions. They usually feel compelled to

explain their behavior.

Activities

Just as the range of emotions is diverse in the charac­

ters of this sample,so are the activities in which the major

characters are involved. They are shown in their school,

home, and work environments, participating in athletic,

artistic, domestic, and entertaining activities.

Two of the thirty-five characters say that they hate

school: John Conlan in The Piqman and Benjie Johnson in A 165 Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich. No character says he

likes school, but nine like to read or study.Like

Tucker (17) whose goal is to become a librarian, Toby (2) 12 3 166 has "read hundreds of books from the school library."

Even Bryon in That Was Then, This Is now, a hustler who likes to fight, also likes to read. Jeff's character is de­ veloped throughout Trying Hard to Hear You by his inquisi­ tive attitudes and constant references to little-known facts; he is "always researching one thing or another and... spouting these obscure statistics or theories that are fas- ,,167 cinatxng....

Sports is a school and leisure activity for nine char­ acters. Conrad (8), M. C. (10), and Charles (15) enjoy swimming. All are excellent swimmers, and Conrad is on a swimming team at school. In each of these novels, swimming plays a big part in the development of the plot. Conrad must come to understand his friends on the team and his own atti­ tudes about his brother's drowning. M. C. nearly drowns his girlfriend Luhretta, and Charles's relationship with

Justin develops on a personal level as they swim and lie on the beach. In addition to swimming, three characters play football: Bo Jo Jones (11) and Jerry Renault (4) and Alan

Bennett (18). Even though Bo Jo is the school's star half- 168 back and has a chance for a scholarship, the sport itself is not significant to the plot's development. The same is true for The Chocolate War; Jerry plays football and wants very much to be strong enough to be on the team, but the sport is significant only in that Archie first sees his new

"victim" while Jerry is practicing football with amazing- 169 stamina and perseverance. Other characters are involved 12 4 in track and baseball (6), tennis (1), squash (20), and gymnastics (22); these sports are a part of the characters'

interests and activities but are not significant in the novels.

Several characters, on the other hand, dislike sports.

Adam (5) is forced to play baseball, saying, "I hate base- 170 ball but the school insists on one participating sport....11

Bryon (14) says he could have gone out for football because of his good build, but there are elements of the game he thinks he would not like. He says, "It didn't appeal to me.

Besides, I knew I couldn't put up with a coach telling me 171 how to play."

Both school and home are the environments in which char­ acters engage in their activities involving the arts. Asher

Lev (21) and Tucker Woolf (18) draw and paint. Jeff and

Phil (22) work in a local drama group. John Conlan (25) wants to be an actor, and Alan Bennett (18) does creative writing. Musical activities involve Conrad (8) who sings in

a choir and Tom (9) who is a talented pianist.

Several characters have limited extracurricular activ­

ities because they work part-time. Bo Jo works first in a

supermarket part-time then after his marriage full-time for

a bank. Like Bo Jo, Joe (19) must work so that he will be

able to complete high school. Tom Naylor (9) works in his mother's antique store, and Bernie (1) is a caddy at a

country club. In addition to these characters who have jobs

away from home are several who must work at home. John 12 5' Gridley (7), for example, is completely responsible for the farm after his brothers die; he cooks, cleans, gardens, and sells vegetables. Rodney in Home Before Dark is one char­ acter who enjoys cooking. M. C. (10) is another who cooks, but he does this because he must care for younger brothers and sisters. Both M. C. and Pxui (23) hunt and trap for food for their families. Another type of domestic chore is enjoyed by Buddy (16) and Jeff (22), carpentry and general fix-it work.

The young adult male characters who are not busy at home, school, or work are seen engaging in pranks or fights.

The Piqman develops John Conlan's boredom and search for en­ tertainment in the property and life of Mr. Pignati. Archie in The Chocolate War spends his time inventing pranks for others to perform. All of the characters of Hinton's novels are involved with gangs and street fights. Benjie Johnson

(3) is active only in searching for drugs or in stealing money to buy the drugs.

Resolution of Topic; Effect of Theme on the Major Character

It is important to consider the male character's active involvement in the outcome of these novels in order to reach an understanding of him and to compare with those of pre­ vious studies. Is he active in dealing with the topic or subject of the novel, or is he acted on by others? Does the theme, underlying meaning, of the novel have a positive or negative effect on him? (Refer to Table 5 for the novels' 126 topics and themes.)

Of the thirty-five characters, twenty-two are active

in resolving the topic of the novel. (See Table 10.) Bernie

in Hard Feelings, as one example, initially runs away from his problems but decides to return to face his rival and his problems. Bo Jo (11) and Buddy (16) are further illustra­ tions; they establish positive relationships with their girl­ friends by taking steps to secure their futures together.

Bo Jo allows July to live with her parents while they finish school. Buddy, on the other hand, rescues Angela from school, and they run away to live together. Tucker Woolf (17) is not as aggressively active as Buddy. He quietly and help­ fully encourages not only Natalia to understand her shyness but also Dinky's parents to help her deal with her weight problem.

Thirteen characters are acted on by other characters in the novels. Jerry Renault (4) is acted on by Archie and the

Vigils, being forced into a fight he would never have entered without their influence. Cotton (24) is as persuasive as

Archie when he encourages the other Bed-Wetters to rescue the buffalo, but the result is good for them. A contrast to these plots in which the characters are deliberately manipu­ lated by another character is seen in If I Love You, Am I

Trapped Forever? As Catherine Stein and Alan develop a friendship, she is unaware of how much her behavior influ­ ences Alan's life. Because of his love for her, he plans to give up college so he can stay near her. When she runs away TABLE 10 127 RESOLUTION OF TOPIC, EFFECT OF THEME

NO. TITLE NAMEACTIVE ACTED ON BY THEME

1 HARD FEELINGS Bernie Hergruter ✓ t*

Toby Brown v/ Rodney + 2 HOME BEFORE DARK Rodney Bigger*

3 A HERO AIN'T NOTHIN* Benjie Johnson V P

Jerry Renault ✓ Poors - 4 THE CHOCOLATE WAR Archie Coetello ✓ ♦

3 1 AM THE CHEESE Adam Farmer ✓ Adults -

6 I'LL GET THERE. IT BETTER . . - Davy Rose ♦

T WILD IN TH E WORLD John Gridlay V Death

8 ORDINARY PEOPLE Conrad Jarrett 1 / ♦

9 STICKS ANO STONES Tom Naylor V •/ P e srs ■¥

10 M. C. HISG IN 3, T H E GREAT M ayo C. Higg/no ✓ *

11 MR. AND MRS. BO JO JON ES Bo Jo Jonee V ♦

Ponyboy Curtie y 1 2 THE OUTSIDERS Johnny Death

13 RUMBLE FISH Rusty James ✓ Motorcycle Boy -

Bryon Douglas ✓ + and - 14 THAT WAS THEN. THIS IS NOW

Mark n/ • Bryon -

13 MAN W ITHOUT A FACE Charles Norstadt -/ ♦

18 HIS OWN WHERE Buddy Rivers V ■¥

17 DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK! Tucker Woolf ✓ * ♦

IF 1 LOVE YOU, Alan Bennett ✓ Catherine Stein Id AM 1 T R A P P E D ...T -

19 TEACUP FULL OF ROSES Jo e Brooks V -

2 0 ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE ? Phil Lawver V P

2 1 MY NAME 13 ASHER LEV Asherei Lev ✓ •* and -

Phil Chrystie ✓ P e e r s Death 22 TRYIN© HARD TO HEAR YOU Jeff GrothwoM ♦

2 3 l io n ' s PAW Pxuf > /

John Gotten s/ D eath

Gerald Goodenow v/ Cotton BLESS THE BEASTS Lowrence Tett 111 ✓ Cotton + 2 4 AND THE CHILDREN Sammy Shecker Cotton ■¥

Stephen Lally V Cotton

Billy Lolly Cotton ♦

2 5 THE PIGMAN John Conlan v / + and -

V 3 Applies to Major Character - s Negative Effect

♦ = Positive E ffe c t ? - Inconclusive Evidence 128 with Coach Luther, however, Alan unhappily faces the future alone. Catherine has no knowledge of Alan's unhappy situa­ tion .

These active and passive approaches to the topics of the novels affect the characters positively or negatively.

(See Table 10.) Nineteen characters show the positive effects of the theme on their lives; seven show negative; and three show a combination of the two. Omitted are the two novels in which there is inconclusive evidence about the character's later actions. A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a 172 Sandwich and Are You in the House Alone? Additionally, no judgment is made about whether those characters who die at the end of the novel have received a positive or negative effect: John Gridley (7); Johnny (12); Phil Crystie (22); and John Cotton (24).

Examples of the positive effects of the theme on the character's life can be seen in Conrad Jarret't of Ordinary

People. Conrad acts on the topic, the guilt over his brother's death, and realizes positive growth and a strong relationship with his father. At the end of the novel, "he is in touch for good, with hope, with himself, no matter 173 what." Unlike Conrad, Tom Naylor in Sticks and Stones does not act; he is acted on by the rumors of his peers.

The outcome is still positive, however, because he realizes how he has been manipulated and how he must have confidence in himself. He says, "There was nothing wrong with me at all, until I started listening to their whispers.... They 129 brought me down, and I let them. I just placidly let them tell me what I was, and then believed them, 'Them.' None of 174 those people knew anything about me, really." Tom's realization of growth is similar to the Bed-Wetters' in

Bless the Beasts and the Children. As the timid, malad­ justed boys who were never good at anything unite to release captured buffalo, "an emotion filled them, a tenderness that none of them had ever known. Peace descended on them, and they were not afraid. For a moment, or moments, it was as it had been in the beginning, before fear, before evil, before death, at the time of the creation, when the earth was 175 fair and all living things dwelt together as kindred."

A much different feeling is created at the end of those novels whose themes have a negative effect on the male char­ acter. Rumble Fish, for example, shows Rusty James, a young boy who had always wanted to be like his older brother Motor­ cycle Boy, reach part of his dream. As Rusty watches Motor­ cycle Boy die, he realizes that he is like his brother in one way, the one negative aspect of Motorcycle Boy's personality; he will be in a world of his own. "I was in a glass bubble and everyone else was outside it and I 'd be alone like that 176 the rest of my life."

With the exception of Bless the Beasts and the Children and Home Before Dark, the characters acted on by others either are negatively affected by the theme or die at the end of the novel. Rusty James (13) tries to forget his past but is unable to; Jerry Renault (4) suffers from the fight 130 arranged by Archie; Adam Farmer (5) returns to a state of oblivion in a mental institution; Mark (14) is arrested and jailed; Alan (18) is distraught because Catherine Stein has gone; and Phil Christie (22) dies in a car accident.

The two characters in Home Before Dark present an in­ teresting contrast to this lack of action being rewarded negatively. In this novel, the character who is active is negatively affected while the character who is acted on is affected positively. Rodney arranges to have Toby beat up because of their rivalry over Stella, but his plan reverses.

At the end of the novel, Rodney reflects on his attempt to capture Stella's affection; "Stella suited him fine. But somehow his one great effort to keep her had backfired on him and given Toby Brown a mysterious start. Rodney felt sure the 'accident' had resulted in Toby being able to abandon himself to whatever life offered him. Now he seemed willing to take his chances with people; a risk Rodney felt he'd 177 never be equipped to take."

Similar confusion results for the major characters who receive both positive and negative effects (14, 21, 25).

Bryon (14) acts as he feels he should and turns Mark in for possession of drugs. He realizes he has grown by doing what he thinks is right, but he also is confused about what he has done to his best friend. "I had learned something from everyone, and I didn't seem to be the same person I had been 17 8 last year. But like a mixture, I was mixed up." At the end of The Piqman, John changes, too, but he is no longer 131 confused. He has had to give up his friend Mr. Pignati in order to understand the importance of accepting consequences and being responsible. He says, "Without a word, I think we both understood. We had ...been where we didn't belong, and we were being punished for it. Mr. Pignati had paid with his life. But when he died something in us had died as well

There was no one else to blame anymore. No Bores or Old

Ladies or Nortons, or Assassins waiting at the bridge. And there was no place to hide.... Our life would be what we 179 made of it--nothing more, nothing less."

Conclusion

From the opening lines of the novels, characters are created. Their personalities, appearances, attitudes, re­ lationships, activities, and emotions are developed through­ out the novels, creating the total image of the major char­ acters. The closing lines then give the reader an indica­ tion if these characters have been changed by the events of the novels.

Through the descriptive analysis of this chapter, the similarities and differences among the major characters of this sample have been explicated. It is only after an expli cation of the specifics of these novels of realistic fiction that generalizations can be drawn and a discussion of the implications of these generalizations can be addressed. FOOTNOTES

^Mv Name Is Asher Lev covers the time beginning when the major character is four years old until he is twenty. 2 John Donovan, Wild In the World (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1969; Avon Books, 1971), p. 2. 3 Virginia Hamilton, M. C. Higgins, The Great (New York; Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974), pp. 198, 199. The number after a character's name indicates the number of the title. Refer to Table 7 for the title. 4 The novels that give physical descriptions are: 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25.

8M. E. Kerr, Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1972 ; Dell Publishing Co., 1973) , p. 14.

8Lynn Hall, Sticks and Stones (Chicago: Follett Publishing Co., 1972), p. 9. 7 Richard Peck, Are You in the House Alone? (New York: Viking Press, 1976; Dell Publishing Co., 1977), p. 16.

8Zindel, p. 13. g Sandra Scoppettone, Trying Hard to Hear You (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1974), p. 10.

■^Scoppettone, p. 121.

^ M . E. Kerr, If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1973; Dell Publishing Co. , 197.4) , p. 9. 12 Isabelle Holland, The Man Without a Face (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1972), p. 9. 13 Chaim Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), p. 9.

^ S . E. Hinton, That Was Then, This Is Now (New York: Viking Press, 1971), p. 13.

132 13 3 ^Glendon Swarthout, Bless the Beasts and the Children (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1970), p. 86. 16 Bern, p. 156; Williams, Bennett, Best, p. 637.

■^Swarthout, pp. 116-148. 18 Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War (New York: Pantheon, 1977; Dell Publishing Co., 1978), pp. 168-189.

■^Holland, pp. 21-34; Sharon Bell Mathis, Teacup Full of Roses (New York: Viking Press, 1972; Avon Books, 1973), pp. 72, 73; Ann Head, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (New York: Putnam, 1967; Signet, 1968), p. 158. 20 June Jordan, His Own Where (New York: Thomas J. Crowell, 1971), pp. 61-90.

^Hamilton, p. 272.

^Potok, pp. 175-361. 2 3 D. R. Sherman, The Lion1s Paw (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1975), p. 187. 24 Robert Cormier, I Am The Cheese (New York: Pantheon Books, 1974; Dell Publishing Co., 1975), passim.

^Swarthout, pp. 7, 12, 86, 148.

^Kerr, Dinky Hocker, pp. 26, 77, 96. 27 Judith Guest, Ordinary People (New York: Viking Press, 1976; Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 107.

^Hinton, That Was Then, pp. 112, 113. 29 Mathis, p. 25. 30 Novels which contain sensitive major characters but do not have a theme of love are Cormier's The Chocolate War, Donovan1s I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip, and Wild in the World. Jerry Renault in The Chocolate War is sympathetic toward his father after his mother's death; Davy Ross yields to his friend's decision about their friendship; and John Gridley does things for his brothers even though they are dead.

■^Novels containing male friendships are: 6, 9, 12, 14, 15, 22, 24. Novels that develop this friendship to homo­ sexual relationships are: 6, 15, 22. See also footnote 7, Chapter III. 134

32Swarthout, p. 107.

33Holland, p. 99.

34Jordan, pp. 56, 57.

33Sue Ellen Bridgers, Home Before Dark (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976; Bantam Books, 1977), pp. 23, 24.

36Hamilton, pp. 77, 111-122, 277.

3"^Mathis, p. 95. 3 8 Swarthout, passim.

Zindel, passim.

^Holland, passim. 41_ Guest, passim,

42Kerr, If I Love You, pp. 9, 187-190, 200.

43Hall, pp. 9, 42-48, 138. 44 John Donovan, I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1969; Dell Publishing, 1971), pp. 59, 60, 69, 146. 45 Bridgers, pp. 16, 100, 144. 46 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, pp. 147, 148, 214. 47 Donovan, Wild in the World, pp. 45-48. 48 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, p. 58. 49 Guest, pp. 40, 90.

3<3Jordan, p. 20. 51 Cormier, Chocolate War, p. 170.

52S. E. Hinton, Rumble Fish, (New York: Delacorte Press, 1968), pp. 9, 13, 101.

33Hall, pp. 53, 89. 54 Kerr, Dinky Hooker, pp. 77, 147, 159.

55Hall, p. 33.

3^Hinton, That Was Then, pp. 17, 18. 57Peck, p. 107. 58 Bridgers, pp. 19, 33.

^Zindel, p. 125.

^Hamilton, p. 199.

^ D o n Bredes, Hard Feelings (New York: Atheneum, 1977), pp. 26, 181.

^Peck, p. 107.

^Bredes, p. 24. 64 Scoppettone, p. 145.

^Guest, p. 126.

^Cormier, Chocolate War, p. 181

^7Bridgers, p. 30. £ Q Bernie in Hard Feelings has a sexual experience with Leslie but not with his girlfriend. See discussion above. 69 Guest, pp. 228-233. 70 See Frances Hanckel and John Cunningham, "Can Young Gavs Find Happiness in YA Books?" Wilson Library Bulletin 50 (March 1976): 528-534.

^Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 118, 144, 158.

"^Bredes, pp. 34, 35, 84.

7^Kerr, If I Love You, p. 93. 74 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, p. 17. 75 S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders (New York: Viking Press, 1967), p. 96.

7^Zindel, p. 94. 77 Negative relationships are those in which there is animosity or unpleasant feelings between the characters. Positive relationships, on the other hand, are pleasant for the characters, with the major male character expressing his love rather than hate for his mother or father. 7 8 Cormier, Chocolate War, p. 57, 13 5 79 Scoppettone, pp. 56, 57, 65. p n Zindel, pp. 66, 67.

83Bredes, pp. 12, 13. Q O Potok, p. 12.

83Potok, p. 361. 84_ . 0Q Guest, p. 39.

QC Bridgers, p. 53.

86Cromier, I Am the Cheese, pp. 125, 126, 153.

q n Hinton, That Was Then, p. 151.

Q Q Hinton, Outsiders, p. 131.

89Kerr, If I Love You, p. 25.

"zindel, p. 34.

93Guest, p. 90

9 2Swarthout, p. 13 3.

93Donovan, I 111 Get There, p. 158. Itis ofnote that alcoholic fathers are portrayed in Rumble Fish (13), The Man Without a Face (15) , and The Piqman (25) .

^Kerr, If I Love You, pp. 129, 197.

95Donovan, I'll Get There, p. 158 Of. Holland, p. 102; Zindel, p. 159.

9^Childress, pp. 34-36, 90.

98Cormier, Chocolate War, pp. 184, 188, 189. QQ Hall, p. 138.

100Novels in which the characters have goals for their lives: 2, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 19, 23, 24.

^^Bridgers, p. 87.

102Hall, p. 182. 10 3 Jordan, p. 90. 137

^^Hinton, Rumble Fish, p. 102.

^^Cormier, Chocolate War, pp. 61, 63.

■^^Zindel, pp. 67-69 107 Novels whose characters have occupational goals: 5, 7, 9, 17, 18, 21, 25. 108 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, p. 58. 109 Kerr, Dinky Hocker, p. 8.

Donovan, Wild in the World, pp. 2, 101.

^■'"Novels whose characters have educational goals: 11, 15, 18, 19, 20. 11 o “See Chapter 2.

^"^Guest, pp. 91, 209.

'*''*'4Zindel, p. 16.

^''■^Hinton, That Was Then, p. 91.

^■^See Chapter 2.

^Bredes, pp. 64, 369, 370.

^^Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 140, 141. 119 Donovan, Wild in the World, p. 67.

■'"‘^Sherman, p. 217. 121 Novels in which characters display anger: 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 25.

"''^Hamilton, p. 83.

■*"^Head, p. 114.

■^^Hinton, Rumble Fish, p. 10.

1 TC, Fights occur in: 1, 4, 8, 13, 19, 25. 1 In Hard Feelings, Bernie1s dog is killed; in Rumble Fish, Motorcycle Boy is killed; in Teacup Full ofRoses, David is killed; and in The Pieman, Pignati dies.

"^^Zindel, p. 137. 138 128Guilty: 6, 7, 8, 20, 25; fearful: 5, 6, 10, 12, 13 jealous: 2 (Rodney), 3, 10, 18; lonely: 2 (Rodney), 6, 7, 8 . 12 9 Characters feel responsible for the death of a loved one in: 6, 7, 8, 25.

"'"'^Donovan, Wild in the World, pp. 56, 57, 85, 109.

^2■'"Guest, p. 206.

■'"32Zindel, p. 159.

'■^Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 143, 144.

134Hamilton, p. 190; Hinton, Outsiders, p. 65; Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 126-128. 135 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, pp. 12, 13.

■'■38Hinton, Rumble Fish, p. 34.

■'■37Hamilton, p. 267.

'■^Donovan, I'll Get There, p. 153. 139 Bridgers, p. 28.

^"4^Bridgers , p. 51. 1 41 Kerr, If I Love You, p. 177.

■'■42Hamilton, p. 186.

143Alice Childress, A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (New York: Coward, 1973), p. 101. 144 Swarthout, p. 48. 145 Mathis, p. 33.

■'"48Head, p. 131. 147 Kerr, If I Love You, p. 117.

148Hall, p. 116. 1 49 Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 52, 53.

■'""^Hinton, Outsiders, p. 16.

^ 8 ■''Hamilton, p. 63.

152Holland, p. 19. 139

^"88Hinton, Rumble Fish, p. 101.

'''^Childress, p. 103.

^Exceptions are: 16, 17, 21, 25.

156Hall, p. 133.

^ \ e r r , If I Love You, p. 203.

^ 8Holland, p. 19.

''"^Childress, p. 110. 160 . . Peck, p. 170.

^^Hinton, Rumble Fish, pp. 117, 118.

^^Hinton, That Was Then, p. 112.

^■^Donovan, I'll Get There, pp. 7, 8. 164 Zindel, p. 7; Childress, p. 88.

^■88Characters who like to read or study are found in: 2 (Toby), 5, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 24.

166 .. Bridgers,„ p. 24. 167 _ .. Q Scoppettone, p. 9. 168„ , Q Head, p. 8. 169 Cormier, Chocolate War, pp. 7-17. 170 Cormier, I Am the Cheese, p. 12. 171 Hinton, That Was Then, p. 29. 172 The novel A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich ends as Butler awaits Benjie's arrival at a drug rehabilitation center; there is no indication whether he arrives. In Are You in the House Alone?, Gail relates the rumors about Phil Lawver1s disappearance after the rapes he has committed are made public; "There was talk he'd had a nervous breakdown and was resting in a hospital in Hartford. The last rumor had it that he was captain of the squash team in a boarding school in Vermont. That was the rumor I could believe." (p. 171). No specific indication is given, however, about how Phil is affected. 173 Guest, p. 233. 140

174Hall, P. 219 . 1 7S Swarthout, pp. 167 , 168 .

176Hinton, Rumble Fish , p . 119. 1 77 Bridgers / PP- 143, 144.

178Hinton, That Was Then, p. 155

179Zindel, p . 159 • CHAPTER V

SUMMARY

Introduction

From the content and descriptive analyses, generaliza­ tions can be drawn about the young adult novel and the major male characters presented in these novels. Since the novels were chosen because they were recommended at least three times by professional journals or experts in the field of young adult literature,'*' these generalizations will lead to a greater understanding of both the structure and the contents of a young adult novel. Additionally, because the novels of the sample were limited to publication dates after 2 the rise of new realism, after 1967, it will be possible to determine if these novels contain realistic topics.

Another limitation placed on this sample, that the novel contain a major male character, leads to an area of in­ vestigation created by previous research on sexist stereo­ types of females in literature and the discussion of male images. By limiting the characterization of the sample, it is possible to determine if generalizations can be drawn about the major male characters and if these characters are as limited in their roles, relationships, and activities as 3 are their female counterparts. 141 142 In addition to drawing generalizations about the novels and characters and relating these to previous research, this chapter contains comments on the results of this survey and suggests topics for further research. It is hoped that this will give authors and educators a better understanding of the young adult novel and major male adolescent characters and that this will generate more ideas on the writing and the teaching of young adult literature.

The Young Adult Novel

The novels of this sample were analyzed with emphasis on-the characterization, authors, publishing divisions, settings, time spans, narrative styles, topics, and themes.

The typical young adult novel with a major male protagonist contains a majority of male characters, is usually written by a white author about white characters, is published by the juvenile division of a publishing company, is set in the

United States, and spans six months. This novel, written in either first person or third person omniscient with few flashbacks, discusses previously taboo topics and develops the major male character who is facing the problem of grow­ ing up. The primary theme shows this character's growth to maturation by his accepting the consequences of his actions.

The characterization of the novels is primarily adol­ escent males. Few adult males are present in these novels, no adult females, and few major adolescent females. The

adult characters are usually parents or grandparents, and 143 the female characters are girlfriends. This limited number of females in the novels presents a somewhat unrealistic view of the world. More novels should contain both a major male and female character thus giving the readers an oppor­ tunity to examine both male and female roles without limit- 4 ing them to one or the other. In addition, it is limiting for the novels to contain so few adults and in such re­ stricted roles. Even though the adults need not be fully developed characters, young people need to read about adults and to see them in more than parental roles.

In this sample, there is equal representation of male and female authors, forty percent male and sixty percent female. If the novel contains both a major male and female character, the author is female. If the novel contains only male characters, the author is male with the exception of S. E. Hinton, author of Rumble Fish. The four novels with black characters are written by black authors, and the remaining twenty-one novels with white characters are written by white authors.^ Some may question the authen­ ticity of adults writing about the adolescent experiences or females writing about the male experience. Until re­ search might suggest otherwise, however, this seems to be unfounded criticism that could be leveled at all genres of literature.

Even though it was established in previous research that the publishing division, either adult or juvenile, seems to be an arbitrary decision by the publishing house,^ 144 only six of the novels of this sample come from the adult division of a publisher; three of these containing neither a major nor a minor adult character. Since this arbitrary division into adult and juvenile categories causes dis­ putes about the definition of a young adult novel, less emphasis should be placed on how the novel is labeled by the publisher and more on its intended or actual audience.

Therefore, if a novel is written for or taken over by young adult readers, it should be called a young adult nov­ el.

The effect of another major publishing influence on 7 the growth of young adult literature, a paperback edition, is remarkably evident in this sample. Of the twenty-five 8 novels, twenty-four are available in paperback.

The setting of these novels is the United States except for The Lion's Paw which takes place in South Africa.

The settings are evenly representative of large cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. If the story takes place in a large city, it is usually New York City. The settings of small towns also are often in the Northeastern 9 United States. This finding differs somewhat from Luken- bill's analysis since he places rural, suburban, and small towns all in one category.^ Even though this sample pre­ sents variety, more diversity of setting to include other

countries and areas of the United States would increase the vicarious experience young adults can gain through litera­ ture. This change would also benefit teachers who could 145 use novels to complement geography and social studies units.

The time spans of the novels average six months if the longest, My Name Is Asher Lev (sixteen years), and the shortest, Teacup Full of Roses (one week), are excluded.

This may be one characteristic by which the young adult novel can be labeled, but it also may limit its audience's growth by not offering greater variety.'*''*'

The narrative styles of the novels are also limited but show more variety than the time spans. An equal number of novels use first person and third person omniscient.

Only three use flashbacks, and two use first person nar- 12 ration by more than one character.

The topics of these novels are much different from 13 young adult novels published before 1967 and represent the topics of new realism. The previously taboo topics of death, hetero-sexuality, homosexuality, divorce, drugs and pregnancy all are found in this sample with death being the most common topic. Even though the topics are more realis­ tic than those of earlier young adult novels, they appear to be as moralistic and perhaps as didactic as their pre­

decessors. This sample supports and expands the comment of

Barbara Wersba that "...the so-called New Liberalism in 14 books just isn't there." Many of the same moral lessons are contained in this sample as were in earlier religious tracts, dime and domestic novels, and series novels/^

Having a homosexual relationship leads to the death of a

loved one, using drugs leads to death or unhappiness for 14-6 loved ones, giving in to peer pressure and not being an in­ dividual causes problems, and fighting is evil and causes 16 pain or death. On the other hand, standing up for beliefs and being an individual is reinforced and being kind and 17 loving is rewarded. This is not a judgment that these lessons are wrong or should not be in young adult novels.

It is, however, evidence that even though the topics have become more realistic, the moral lessons of society are still present.

The themes of the novels are generally positive, leav­ ing the reader with hope for at least one of the major characters. They do not, as Richard Peck has argued,

"...leave their characters where they find them, seething 18 in a static landscape." The novels, for the most part, show the characters growing to maturity, accepting the re­ sults of their actions, or learning to love their parents, siblings, and friends. In five novels (3, 4, 5, 7, 20) , there is little, if any, hope for the future of the pro­ tagonist, but the others show characters who, even though they have been involved in activities which society may not condone, realize their mistakes and grow from this reali­ zation .

The Major Male Character

The typical major adolescent male character of this survey is a tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired, white fourteen year old. He is good-looking, physical, confident, and 147 sensitive to others."^

Grouping the adjectives of the Bern Sex Role Inventory 20 and the Williams and Bennett Adjective Check List facilitated the analysis of personality characteristics.

It was discovered that the major character displays pri­ marily the characteristics of the first three categories: has confidence in and exercises own powers, has physical strength and uses it, is sensitive and often yields to others. (See Table 6.) Fewer characters display the last two categories; being overly emotional and popular in social interaction. This is interesting in that the strong, confi­ dent male image is supported, but at the same time the char­ acter is sensitive to others without being overly emotion- 21 al. He is seldom, however, the most popular boy in school.

Approximately half of the characters are from homes of average income. Three of the five black characters are from poor families. It is clear from these findings that more minorities need to be represented in young adult novels and that the stereotype of poor, black families is need­ lessly being continued.

About half of the major characters are from split homes where divorce, separation, or death has caused one of the parents to be absent. If the family is split, the adol­ escent male usually lives with his mother and sees his father occasionally. These findings agree with Lukenbill1s analysis that the family is "primarily white, middle class," 148 22 with half of the fathers absent from home. Women on

Words and Images found that marriages are portrayed "with no closeness between husband and wife" and no parental con- 23 flicts or disagreements. Lukenbill disagrees in his sur­ vey and maintains that there are good relationships between 24 husbands and wives. The findings of this study support the results of the study by Women on Words and Images.

Only three novels contain good marriages; several, however, 25 show couples arguing or disagreeing.

Even though topics of new realism, such as divorce and death, are presented here, the roles of the family members are very traditional. In only one novel does a father take care of household activities if he does not have to because 2 6 of the death of his wife. It is beneficial for students who may themselves be subject to the problems divorce, dis­ agreement, and death can cause to read about these situa­ tions, but it is unfortunate that they are not being exposed to a variety of adult roles and activities.

The relationship that the major male character has with his mother is usually good, with his father is good in a little over half of the novels. The latter disagrees with

Lukenbill's report that the "relationships between fathers 27 and their sons and daughters... were not positive." He gives no reason for this, but it seems from the novels of the present sample that bad relationships occur because of the lack of affection between father and son or because of a conflict over the boy's activities or goals. 149 Even though alcoholism is not a major topic in these novels, it is significant in the development of four parental characters. Three novels contain alcoholic fath- 2 8 ers and one an alcoholic mother.

Relationships with other adults are generally positive, especially with the character's grandparents. The charac­ ter's relationships with educators, however, is usually negative.

Justin in The Man Without a Face is the only educator who gets along well with the major character, but they are not in a school setting. Brother Leon in The Chocolate

War is by far the most reprehensible teacher in this sample as he stands and watches Jerry being destroyed. In order to combat the negative attitudes already held by many students, it might be helpful to present better images of 29 teachers to these young adult readers.

A further analysis of the relationships of the major character shows that even though he often is not popular with a large group of his peers, most of the protagonists have one good friend, a male. Three characters have friends who are female, but generally an adolescent female has the role of a girlfriend. Despite the previous re­ search which indicates that the role of females is be­ coming more realistic,^0 this study indicates that the change is slight in novels with a major male character.

It is misleading to readers to present the female adol­ escent only in the role of a girlfriend who must be 150 31 protected by the major male character.

Discussion of the characters 1 sexual activities furth­ er exemplifies certain changes that have occurred in the field of young adult literature and in the attitudes about females who are girlfriends. In over half of the novels, the boys have sexual fantasies, fears, or sexual relation­ ships, all topics that were taboo in earlier young adult novels. It is important, though, to realize that even though a taboo topic is mentioned, societal norms still are upheld. The male characters who have fantasies or mas­ turbate are often guilt-ridden. After the boys have inter­ course, they feel very protective of their girlfriend.

These feelings seem to support society's ideas of the pure living and the strong, protective male. There does seem to be a marked change in the female partners, however.

Three of the four do not support the "virginity mystique" 32 that Nelson and Heilbrun discuss. Rather, they enjoy intercourse and do not submit begrudgingly. Of the four, couples, only one uses birth control though, a situation that perhaps is realistic but warrants change in the novels and discussion by teachers.

The portrayals of heterosexual activities are in some ways moralistic, but the attitudes surrounding homosexual relationships are extreme examples of didacticism and moral lessons. One character's reputation is ruined because of rumors of his being a homosexual; he is able to stand up for himself only after he is in a serious auto accident 151 which kills his passenger. When the character does engage in homosexual activities, the ending is not pleasantly resolved. Either he, the partner, or his favorite pet is killed. The taboo has been broken, but the lesson is very clear.i 33

The characters' attitudes toward the future are not nearly as hopeless for the adolescent male as they are for 34 the adolescent female of Stein's study. Characters have plans for a better life, more education, or a career. None of the characters voices any doubt that he can get what he wants in his adult life. In addition, the career choices presented are less limited than those presented for females 35 in the readers in Steffler's study. Very often the choice

is based on talents the character displays. It is interest­ ing to note that one character who wants to be a librarian feels he must prove his manhood before pursuing the career that is considered woman's work.^ Few characters talk about marriage or about having children except to say they do not want to be like their parents. Thoughts about future roles and life styles could be developed in novels

in conjunction with more realistic portrayals of sexual relationships. These should also be discussed by teachers and can be used for classroom activities. (See Appendix B.)

Unlike previous research on boys' limited emotional 37 display, the present study reveals that the major male adolescent character shows a variety of emotions; love, 3 8 anger, guilt, fear, loneliness, and jealousy. The 152 emotion of love plays heavily in the arguments by Kelty and 39 Women on Words and Images. They maintain that the males of young adult novels are initiated into manhood by killing

something they love. Only one novel in this sample supports the initiation argument. Pxui in The Lion's Paw is forced to kill the lion whose life he has saved to help his nomad­

ic people. In this study the death of a loved one, however, often causes the character to realize he must accept the 40 consequences of his actions or stand up for his beliefs.

This appears to be positive growth, however, and not a violation of nature or nature's creatures.

When emotional situations arise in the novels, the

characters often discuss how society says they are not sup­ posed to cry, embrace, or show their emotions. Despite this, the characters do show their emotions and often cry.

It is more difficult for them to touch others, but they

are not, as researchers have said, suppressing all feelings 41 or being the stereotype of an unemotional male.

Previous studies have also indicated that boys are

active. The male characters in the present sample support

this finding; they are involved in a wide range of activi­

ties during the course of the novels with twenty-two of the

thirty-five characters actively resolving the conflict of d2 the novels." Like the characters of the novels published 43 from 1900 to 1950, these boys take work and athletics

seriously. One area that warrants improvement in the

novels is showing more adolescents involved in domestic activities. In this sample, only two boys engage in cook- 44 ing or taking care of children.

The active male role is also reinforced by these novels. If the character acts in resolving the conflict or dealing with the topic of the novel, he receives positive benefits. If he is acted on by others or takes a passive role, he either dies or is negatively affected by the 45 topic. It is unlikely that young people will be able to act on their own in all situations of their lives; there­ fore, this aspect of character development is too limiting.

It should be changed by authors and discussed by teachers to show that there can be both negative consequences to the active role and positive from the passive.

The major male character of modern realistic fiction is not much different from the male character of earlier 46 young adult novels. He is generally the all-American boy, not always as flawless as characters like Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys, but he shows the same daring individualism and the positive results of living the good life. He is usually a well-rounded, fourteen to sixteen year old. A white, only child from a family of average income, he is attractive, has confidence in his judgments, is physically strong yet sensitive to others. Even though he may not be popular with a group of his peers, he has one best male friend and often has a girlfriend. His relationships with his parents are both positive and negative and with other adults is generally positive. His future goals are hopeful 154 as he looks forward to a better life, more education, or a career. He displays a wide range of emotions and is in­ volved in a variety of activities. In the majority of the novels, he is active in resolving the conflict of the novel which is caused by the topic and is positively rewarded for taking the active role. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Since the number of studies on the young adult novel is small, much remains to be done in this area. Two im­ portant factors need to be considered when research is conducted in this area. Limiting the sample because of the tremendous number of novels published annually and differentiating between the novels published and those actually read by students and used in schools.

The novels used need to be selected according to cer­ tain criteria. Two of the ways to limit a sample are basing it on recommended novels by professional journals or experts in the field or on novels that students recom­ mend or read. The first method, used in this study, is useful because the recommendations by journals and experts are very often the books that schools will purchase, but this is no indication that students actually read these novels. On the other hand, a selection based on the novels that students recommend or read would have to be limited to a survey of readers from certain areas or on books checked from libraries.

The larger Nilsen sample on which the present sample is based would lend itself to other studies. An analysis of female roles in books with a major female character could determine whether the images are changing from those 155 156 of earlier studies. It could also be used to compare those female characters or the male characters in those novels with the major male characters of the present study. Since

Nilsen's list contains more than realistic fiction, other genres of young adult literature could be studied in order to compare the types of characters presented in realistic fiction to those in fantasy or historical fiction.

Reading interest surveys based on student recommenda­ tions of novels would be helpful in determining why certain young adult novels are popular, what the students see as the best parts of a novel. Do they, for example, read for plot or character development? In addition, it could be determined if certain writing techniques are enjoyed more or are more confusing to readers. Is first person nar­ ration, as one illustration, more interesting to them than third person omniscient?

Another type of student survey could be applied to realistic fiction in an attempt to measure authenticity

for the young adult readers. They could be asked to read

certain novels and comment on the plot, the character's development and actions, and the attitudes presented by the theme. This might lead to a better understanding about young adults' attitudes toward the topics of new realism.

Perhaps these topics are not as important or as shocking to them as they are to educators.

Another area that demands investigation is how young adult literature can be used in the schools. Colleges and 157 universities need to continue to develop courses that ad­ dress methods for using these novels in the classroom. In addition to courses, further research on effective teach­ ing methods would help educators who have not had the oppor­ tunity to take such courses. Areas to be researched include the use of young adult literature in social studies and geography classes, their use for studying such things as dialects, figurative language, slang, and writing techniques.

Ways to encourage reading could be identified if research were conducted that uses various methods of working with a novel. Do students enjoy reading more if they are allowed to work on activities related to the novel? If they are asked to respond in ways other than book reports, for ex­ ample, role playing, audio-visual displays, and newspaper 47 writing activities, do they remember the experience more and want to read other novels? (See Appendix B.)

Because the field of young adult literature is grow­ ing rapidly and is a major part of the publishing business, educators and researchers should continue their efforts to discover more about this genre and the methods of using it.

Those interested in this dynamic area should place less emphasis on lengthy discussions about its label and its definition, and whether it will replace "the classics."

Rather, the emphasis should be educating others to the importance of this literature, to the fact that it is a legitimate area of study, and to the valuable ways it can be used to help students learn more about literature and 15 S. perhaps about life. Young adult literature is one way to encourage each student "to experience to his or her full capacity the enjoyment, and the broadening of horizons 43 which can be derived from literature." FOOTNOTES

■'"See pp. 5-6, above. 2 See pp. 6, 19-2 2, above.

^See pp. 22-41, above.

^Gerry McBroom, "Boys and Girls Together: Their Fela- tionships in Adolescent Novels," ALAN Review 6 (Spring 1979): 5, 12, 13.

3See pp. 61, 6 2, above. g See p. 15-16, above. 7 See p. 16, above.

g See p...' 62-,-above. The exception to this, The Lion 1 s Paw by D. R. Sherman, is also an exception to the generali­ zation that will be drawn for setting. Because of the difference in setting and nationality of the major charac­ ter, the book was difficult to work with in this sample, but it is an interesting exception to the generalizations drawn.

9See pp. 62-64, above.

10See p. 40, above.

1XSee p. 64, above.

12See pp. 65-66, above.

13See pp. 13-19, above 14 Wersba, p. 46.

15cSee pp. 13-14, above.

■^Homosexual relationships are in: 6, 15, 22; drugs: 14, 19; peer pressure: 9, 8, 24.(Exception is 4, The Choc­ olate War); fighting: 2, 12, 13, 19. 17 Standing up for beliefs and being an individual: 1, 2, 10, 11, 16, 17, 21, 23-- Kind, loving: 2, 3, 10, 21, 25. 159 160 18Peck, "In the Country," p. 207.

"*^See pp. 75-90, above. 20 Bern, "Measurement," p. 156: Williams, Bennett, and Best, p. 637.

^'^See pp. 78-90, above. 22 Lukenbill, pp. 27-29. See discussion pp. 40, 56-58, above.

23Women on Words and Images, pp. 16-3 7. 24 Lukenbill, pp. 27-29. 25 Good marriages are found in: 10, 21, 22. 26 . , . .10 is the exception.

^Lukenbill, pp. 27-29. 2 8 Alcoholic fathers: 13, 15, 25; alcoholic mothers: 6 . 29. Paula Danziger's The Cat Ate My Gymsuit and Barbara Wersba's Tunes for a Small Harmonica are novels with good images of teachers. 3 0 See pp. 34-38, above. 3] McBroom, p. 13. 32 See p. 36, above. 3 3 See pp. 100-101,above. It is interesting to note that the details of sexual relationships are seldom explic­ it, especially the homosexual relationships. It seems that many readers might not realize the extent of the relation­ ship.

^ S e e p. 37, above. 35 See pp. 31, 32, above. 3 6 Tucker in Dinky Hocker Shoots Smacki (17). 37 See pp. 30, 3.1, above. 3 8 See pp. .112-118, above. 39 See pp. 30, 31, 38, 39, above. The deaths of Mr. Pignati in The Piqman (25), pet dogs in I '11 Get There (5), Hard Feelings (1), and Wild in the World (7) cause a change in the character. 41 See pp. 32, above. 42 See pp. 125-131, above. 43 See p. 18, above. 44 Rodney in Home Before Dark (2) likes to cook, and M. M. C. Higgins, the Great (10) takes care of his younger siblings. 45 See pp. 128-131, above. 46 See p. 15, above. 47 Joy Bernard, "An Accountability Approach to Free Reading," Media and Methods 15 (March 1979): 28, 29.

48 John Rowe Townsend, May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture April 1971, quoted by Diane Gersoni Stavn in "Feminist Criticism: An Overview," Library Journal (15 January 1974) 85. APPENDIX A

SUGGESTIONS FOR GROUPING NOVELS

The following are suggested ways to group the novels of this study for use in the classroom as free reading, thematic units, or complements to existing units:

1. BY TOPIC:

A. Death of a loved one

I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip (pet) Wild in the World (family and pet) Ordinary People (brother) The Outsiders (enemy) Rumble Fish (brother) The Man Without a Face (friend and lover) Trying Hard to Hear You (friend and lover) Bless the Beasts and the Children (friend) The Pigman (friend)

B. Dealing with peer pressure

The Chocolate War (candy sale) Sticks and Stones (rumored homosexuality) Trying Hard to Hear You (homosexuality) Bless the Beasts andthe Children (outcasts)

C. Survival

Wild in the World (alone) His Own Where (couple) The Lion's Paw (nomadic tribe)

D. Drugs

That Was Then, This Is Now A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich Teacup Full of Roses 162 163 E, Facing problems

Hard Feelings (foe) If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? (foe) My Name Is Asher Lev (father) Bless the Beasts and the Children (being outcasts) The Pigman (responsibility for death) Are You in the House Alone? (rape) (all novels listed under separate headings)

Boy-Girl Relationships

Home Before Dark (friends) Hard Feelings (sexual relationship) Ordinary People (sexual relationship) M. C. Higgins, The Great (friend) Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (pregnancy and marriage) His Own Where (sexual relationship) Dinky Hooker Shoots Smack 1 (friends) If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? (problems) Are You in the House Alone? (sexual relationship) Trying Hard to Hear You (friend) The Lion's Paw (courting) The Pigman (friend)

Alienation

I Am the Cheese (from reality) Sticks and Stones (from peers) Bless the Beasts and the Children (from peers) If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?(from peers) The Lion's Paw (from tribe) A Hero Ain't Nothin1 But a Sandwich (from peers) Wild in the World (from outside world) Trying Hard to Hear You (from peers) My Name Is Asher Lev (from father)

H. Family Relationships

Hard Feelings (parents and siblings) I Am the Cheese (parents) I'll Get There, It Better Be Worth the Trip. (divorced parents, grandmother) Wild in the World (brothers) Ordinary People (parents, brother ) M. C. Higgins, the Great (parents and siblings) Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (parents) The Man Without a Face (mother, step-fathers) Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 (parents) Teacup Full of Roses (parents, brothers) My Name Is Asher Lev (parents) The Lion's Paw (parents) The Pigman (parents, brother) 164

2 . BY THEME*

A. Growing to adulthood

Hard Feelings Man Without a Face A Hero Ain't Dinky Hocker 1 111 Get There. If I Love You Ordinary People Are You in the House Alone? Sticks and Stones Trying Hard Bo Jo Jones Bless the Beasts Outsiders Rumble Fish

B. Accepting consequences

Chocolate War That Was Then M. C. Higgins Dinky Hocker Bo Jo Jones My Name Is Asher Lev Outsiders Pigman Rumble Fish

Relationships with mother

A Hero Ain't Dinky Hocker I '11 Get There If I Love You Ordinary People M. C. Higgins Sticks and Stones Pigman Man Without a Face

D. Relationships with father

A Hero Ain't Man Without a Face Chocolate War If I Love You Ordinary People My Name Is Asher Lev M. C. Higgins Pigman Lion 1s Paw

E- Relationships with siblings

Wild in the World That Was Then Ordinary People Man Without a Face M. C. Higgins Teacup Full of Roses Rumble Fish

F. Friendship

Home Before Dark Dinky Hocker Outsiders Bless the Beasts Rumble Fish Pigman M. C. Higgins Ordinary People Trying Hard to Hear You

* Abbreviated titles are used in the ensuing sections Consult Table 1 for complete publishing information. 165 3 . BY CHARACTER

A. Only children

Home Before Dark Dinky Hocker Hero Ain't Nothin' If I Love You Chocolate War Are You in the House I Am the Cheese Mv Name Is Asher Lev I'll Get There Trying Hard To Hear You Sticks and Stones Bless the Beasts Bo Jo Jones Lion's Paw His Own Where

Divorced parents

I '11 Get There Man Without a Face Sticks and Stones If I Love You Rumble Fish Bless the Beasts That Was Then

At least one parent dead

Chocolate War Outsiders I Am the Cheese His Own Where Wild in the World Man Without a Face

Takes action in a crisis

Hard Feelinas Rumble Fish That Was Then Home Before Dark Bless the Beasts His Own Where Chocolate War Teacup Full Dinky Hocker M. C. Hiqgins Are You in House Man Without Outsiders My Name is Asher a Face Lev

Money Isn't Everything

Bless the Beasts (.rich) Are You in the House Alone? (rich) M. C. Hiagins, the Great (poor) Wild in the World (poor) A Hero Ain't Nothin' (poor)

4. BY NOVEL ELEMENTS

A. Setting: city

Outsiders His Own Where Rumble Fish I'll Get There That Was Then Dinky Hocker A Hero Ain't Nothin' Teacup Full My Name Is Asher Lev 166 B. Setting: country

Wild in the World Man Without a Face Home Before Dark Bless the Beasts M. C. Higgins

Setting: small town, suburbs

Hard Feelings If I Love You Ordinary People Are You in the House Alone? Sticks and Stones Trying Hard to Hear You Bo Jo Jones Piqman

Narrative Style: first person

Hard Feelings That Was Then Hero Ain't Nothin Man Without a Face I'll Get There If I Love You Bo Jo Jones Are You in the House Alone? Outsiders My Name Is Asher Lev Rumble Fish Trying Hard to Hear You

E. Narrative style: third person omniscient

Home Before Dark His Own Where Chocolate War Dinky Hocker Wild in the World Teacup Full Ordinary People Lion's Paw Sticks and Stones Bless the Beasts M. C. Higgins

Narrative style: variety

A Hero Ain't I Am the Cheese The Piqman

G. Flashbacks

Rumble Fish My Name Is Asher Lev Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones

H. Written in dialects

A Hero Ain't Nothin' His Own Where

I . Humorous

Hard Feelings Piqman Slang

Outsiders A Hero Ain't Nothin 1

Figurative language (throughout sample), some specific examples: simile: Piqman, p. 125 symbols: Bless the Beasts (hats and radios, buffalo) allusion: Sticks and Stones, p. 9 (Quixote) That Was Then, p. 17 (Lord Byron) APPENDIX B

SUGGESTIONS FOR RELATED ACTIVITIES

The following are suggested activities for individuals or groups of students after reading novels of this study:

1. WRITING

A. Rewrite parts of the novel from a different char­ acter's point of view. (Example: I'll Get There. from Altschuler's side; If I Love You from Duncan's eyes or Catherine Stein's.

B. Write a personal reaction to the novel, being sure to include comments on how realistic you think the characters and plot are.

C. Write a script using at least two characters that tells one incident or gives the essence of the plot.

D. Write a short book review on a 5 by 7 card that will be posted in the classroom or in the library and will be available to other students later in a card file.

E. Write a sales pitch for the novel, i.e. five reasons someone should (perhaps should not) read this book.

F. Extend the story; what happens next or in five years. (Example: What happens to Buddy and Angela in His Own Where? Do Toby and Stella ever become sweethearts? (Home Before Dark) . Does Dinky get over her weight problem? (Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1)

G. You are Benjie's step-father (A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich). What is going through your mind as you are waiting for Benjie at the end of the novel?

H. What do you think will happen to the friendship be­ tween M. C. and Ben in M. C. Higgins, the Great? 168 169 I. What happens to Jeff after Phil's death? (Trying Hard to Hear You)

J. Write news or feature stories about the events of the novel. (Example: in Trying Hard to Hear You, a story about the theater group, about the black- white confrontation, about Camilla's sister's party, about Phil's death, about Camilla's mother re-marrying.)

K. In pairs, try the Balloon Game that Tucker and . Natalia play in Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 Begin with their statements then make up your own.

L. Why do you think the relationship between Justin and Charles is so important to both of them? (Man Without a Face) How does Charles 'sdead father play a role in this relationship?

M. Write a review of Asher Lev's art show. (My Name Is Asher Lev)

ROLE PLAYING

A* If John and Lorraine met another old man like Mr. Pignati, what might their conversation be concerning whether or not to befriend him? (The Piqman)

B. You are the students in Tom Naylor's school and you've just heard the rumor that he is a homo­ sexual. What is everybody saying? (Sticks and Stones)

C. You go to school with Gail, Alison, Steve, and Phil. Did you hear that Gail was raped? Every­ one at school is talking about who did it. Some­ body even said they heard that it was Phil Lawveri What do you think? (Are You in the House Alone?)

D. You are the major character at age sixty telling about your life as an adolescent and as an adult.

E. You are John Gridley's neighbors from Wild in the World. Discuss what should be done after you've discovered his body.

F. You are Tucker Woolf from Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 Talk about what you find so fascinating about libraries. 170 G. You are cousins of Conrad Jarrett (Ordinary People). What do you think about his parents, his suicide attempt, and his brother Buck's drowning? Do you think Con was responsible for the drowning?

H. What do you think the families of the children Johnny saved were saying about him after their rescue? (Do you think their conversations would have been different before the rescue?) (The Outsiders)

I. You are part of the crowd watching Rusty James after Motorcycle Boy is killed. What's happen­ ing to Rusty? (Rumble Fish)

J. You hear that Buddy and Angela are living in that old house down at the cemetery. Are you sur­ prised? Talk about the way Buddy was at school and if you think they will survive. (His Own Where)

Miscellaneous (The following can be adapted as writ­ ing, role playing, or discussion topics.

A. Job Hunt: Pick one of the major characters and find an available job in the want ads that you think he would be qualified for. Write a letter stating his qualifications and why he should be given that job.

B. Careers Day: Choose one of the major characters and decide what job he might be pursuing when he is twenty-one years old. Write his resume and tell why he will or will not succeed at that career choice.

C. Book Talk: Prepare a book talk for the class or for a presentation in the library. Try to sell the book to others.

D. What if... : -Bernie had not faced up to Richard in Hard Feelings? -Bryon had not turned Mark in to the police in That Was Then, This Is Now? -you were Mr. Pignati and saw your pigs broken all over the floor? (The Piqman) -you had been a member of the theater group in Trying Hard to Hear You? -Rodney had not had Toby beat up in Home Before Dark? 171 -Jerry had sold chocolates after Archie’s threat in The Chocolate War? -Davy's mother had not been an alcoholic in I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip? -M. C. had taken Jone s's advice about the Kill- burns in M. C. Higgins, The Great? -Bo Jo had not married July in Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones? -Pony Boy had not run away with Johnny in The Outsiders? -you had been Dinky1s mother in Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1? -you had been Steve (or Gail's parents) in Are You in the House Alone? -you had been Catherine Stein in If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?

4. RELATED GEOGRAPHY AMD SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITIES

A. Find out more about the geography and the kinds of people who live at the setting of the story. Ex­ amples: The Bushmen of the KalihariDesert, the setting for The Lion's Paw; the tobacco farms and migrant workers in North Caroline from. Home Before Dark.

B. Where is Prescott, Arizona, the setting for Bless the Beasts and the Children? Is there a buffalo hunt near there, a boys' camp? How far is it from Las Vegas where Strecker's father is supposed to be a famous comedian?

C. Make a map of Adam's bike trip in I Am the Cheese.

D. Is there a town called Buck Creek, Iowa? (Sticks and Stones) How about Cayuta, New York, the set­ ting for If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever?

E. What are the boroughs of New York City?

F. Are the hills of the Ohio River as described by Hamilton in M. C. Higgins, The Great? Has mining really scarred the land as she describes it?

G. Draw a picture of the setting of one of the novels. (Example: the sea coast area, the setting for The Man Without a Face.) 172 5. AUDIO-VISUAL PROJECTS

A. Tape the conversations between Adam and Brint in I Am The Cheese.

B. Prepare for the Book Festival by taking the written script described in, C, above. Illustrate or use black and white photographs or slides to dramatize the tape. Present these at book festivals and save for future classes. (See p. 155, above)

C. Record any of the written activities from 1 above.

D. Collage/Montage: Select pictures from magazines that center on the characters or plot of the novel. Arrange these on poster board. (Can be used in conjunction with the tape described above, C.)

E. If you are artistically inclined, draw from your impressions of the major character, the setting, or the events of the novel. WORKS CITED

Bredes, Don. Hard Feelings. Mew York: Atheneum, 1977.

Bridgers, Sue Ellen. Home Before Dark. Mew York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976; Bantam Books, 1977.

Childress, Alice. A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1973.

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. New York: Pantheon Books, 1974; Dell Publishing Co., 1975.

Cormier, Robert. I Am the Cheese. New York: Pantheon, 1977; Dell Publishing Co., 1978.

Donovan, John. I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1969; Dell Publishing Co., 1971.

Donovan, John. Wild in the World. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 19 71; Avon Books, 1974.

Guest, Judith. Ordinary People. New York: Viking Press, 1976; Ballantine Books, 1977.

Hall, Lynn. Sticks and Stones. Chicago: Follett Publish­ ing Co., 1972.

Hamilton, Virginia. M. C. Higgins, The Great. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974.

Head, Ann. Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. New York: Putnam, 1967; Signet, 1968.

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking Press, 1967; Dell Publishing Co., 1969.

Hinton, S. E. Rumble Fish. New York: Delacorte Press, 1968; Dell Publishing Co., 1976.

Hinton, S. E. That Was Then, This Is Now. New York: Viking Press, 1971.

Holland, Isabelle. The Man Without a Face. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1972. 173 174 Jordan, June. His Own Where. New York: Thomas J. Crowell, 1971.

Kerr, M. E. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack 1 New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1972; Dell Publishing Co., 1973.

Kerr, M. E. If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1973: Dell Publish­ ing Co., 1974.

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