Date of Award

2015

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Master's Paper

Degree Awarded

Master of Arts (MA)

Program

English

Department

English

College

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Faculty Advisor

Mara, Miriam

Description

The didactic impact of Young Adult Literature is a haunting question in the field. Therefore, this paper anchors its analysis of Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant on Foucault’s concept of panopticism to demonstrate the containing nature of the trilogy. The trilogy engages with identity and potential questions that concern young readers. Seemingly, it proposes radical solutions, while in reality it retains layers of surveillance and control that obliterate any attempts for change. Reading the trilogy from Foucauldian lens demonstrates how no one can escape from the prison-with-prison world it offers. The paper illustrates how the trilogy foregrounds the destructive consequences for any form of rebellion against the totalitarian and panoptic rule of the government through the use of fear appeals and penalty. Hence, as a YA text, the trilogy represents a repressive ideological agenda that reinforces certain social order and identity on its characters.

Rights

NDSU Policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/25508

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