College Honors Program
Date of Creation
5-17-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Abstract
This thesis discusses the problematic ways in which male authors write about female mental illness, and the damage that these portrayals can have on adolescent girls who read them. My first two chapters discuss, respectively, Looking for Alaska and Turtles All the Way Down, both by John Green, with reference to two of his other young adult novels, Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars. In these chapters, I explore Green’s depictions of female characters who suffer from mental illness. My third chapter focuses on It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, addressing their male protagonists’ experience of mental illness, as well as the female characters’ roles in each narrative. Last of all, in chapter 4 – as an answer of sorts – I analyze We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, a book that I feel succeeds in its nuanced portrayals of mental illness, grief, family, and love. I argue that male authors glamorize and sexualize female characters, using mental illness as a narrative tool; a depiction which alienates – and sometimes traumatizes – the female reader.
Recommended Citation
McDonough, Diane G., "She Has Green Eyes & Trauma: Problematic Depictions of Mental Illness in Young Adult Novels" (2024). College Honors Program. 133.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/honors/133
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons
Comments
Reader: Paige Reynolds