Come on Barbie, Let’s Go Rebel: Sexual Maturity and Rebellion in Julianna Baggott’s Pure (Catherine C. and Jasveen S.)

Pure by Julianna Baggott undoubtedly represents docile bodies in regards to the wretches who have been physically manipulated by the Detonations which caused items to be fused to them against their will. Pressia feels that her feminine potential in terms of her desirability is limited due to the physical object imprinted on her body.  As …

Whose Social Empowerment? The Impact of Normative Constructions of Girlhood in Pure (Amanda I. & Adam R.)

In “Docile Bodies, Dangerous Bodies: Sexual Awakening and Social Resistance in Young Adult Dystopian Novels”, Sara Day argues that Western culture presents girls as “simultaneously desirable and dangerous”, requiring strict regulation of their sexuality and physical agency (75). While traditional literature contains warnings against girls exploring their physical desires, young adult dystopian literature seeks to …

Cyborgs as Racialized Others in Marissa Meyer’s Cinder (Angelika E., Amber R.)

In Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, human life is surrounded by cyborgs and androids, who are classified as subhuman and treated as less important than fully human people. There are strong parallels between the cyborgs in Meyer’s universe and American people of colour. The cyborgs are treated as the “racialized other” because of bodily differences, in ways …

Cinder vs. Cinderella (Margaret G. and Zoe D.)

While Disney was not the first one to tell the story of Cinderella this version of events has, arguably, become a classic. For the duration of this paper it is the Disney version of the tale that we will be discussing in reference to Marissa Meyer’s Cinder. When comparing the two works it is evident …

An Ordinary Girl: Delirium and Female Stereotypes (Marin L. Starr L. May M.)

Lena is a self-proclaimed ordinary girl. She follows the rules, navigates through an overbearing parent figure, lack of self-esteems and fights with her best friend. It’s possible to see ourselves in her since she doesn’t need to worry about dying at any moment. Although she lives under an oppressive government, Delirium is not about a …

From Passive to Less Passive: Lena’s Transformation in the Panoptic Society of Delirium (Alex L. & Emma L.)

Girlhood is often associated with passivity. The notion of girls as passive beings can lead to many issues, including oppression, conformity and in the case of Delirium, a lack of free will. This repressive state is created out of a panoptic society where surveillance is a constant factor in everyday life.The society in Olivia Butler’s …

Why #15 is the Breakthrough Chapter in Delirium (Kylie S., Sunny W., Ainslinn D.)

Delirium, by Lauren Oliver, follows the life of Lena Haloway as she prepares to be cured from Amor Deliria Nervosa, love. In the beginning of the novel, Lena is counting down the days until she is to be cured, however after meeting Alex things change. While this is not the action packed section of the …

Constructing a Self-Regulated Dystopian Society Through Fear in Lauren Oliver’s Delirium (Purva M. and Ariana K.)

Usually in dystopian societies, the government establishes rules in order to control the targeted population with more ease. These rules and regulations are without much factual support or reasoning and thus are not difficult to question. The residents of District 12 from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for example, are “often manipulated and lied …

Non-Existent Unnaturalism: Queer Co-optation in Lauren Oliver’s Delirium (Emma B. and Allyson S.)

In Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, love is treated as a disease. Anyone who acquires the love disease, known as amor nervosa deliria, is punished in one of three ways: they are quickly cured, placed in a psychiatric hospital, or executed. This pathologization of love echoes the way queer people have been and continue to be oppressed …

Gaining and possessing power in Parable of the Sower (Brittany J. and Sarah P.)

Inside the dystopian setting of Los Angeles that Lauren describes within her journal entries, citizens who possess a degree of power have paid jobs, guns, money, a family, and home within a walled-community. The reader can identify the novel as dystopian through Butler’s descriptions of Lauren Olamina’s environment, as well as the conditions of the …