Research proposal

Upon reading Ann M. Martin's A Corner of the Universe for our literary circle book reviews, I became intrigued with how Hattie Owen, the 13-year-old protagonist, looked upon her uncle Adam who was suffering from either Autism or Schizophrenia. Unlike her parents and grandparents who were afraid of him and what others might perceive of him, Hattie was more open-minded; she wanted to show him off. She wanted him to have the same rights as any other adult. And more interestingly, she even related to him, and questioned her own mental health.

Hattie's perspective has inspired me to take a deeper look at how mental illnesses are portrayed in child and adolescent literature. Hattie was accepting and curious, willing to learn more. But this is not always the case. Mental illness, being a stigma in society, can scare children. For instance, the children in To Kill a Mockingbird feared Boo Radley because of rumors of his insanity.

A step further from studying how adolescent characters perceive the mentally ill is looking at how many young characters are in fact mentally ill themselves. This can range from autism to self-esteem illnesses, such as anorexia or the tendency to cut oneself (both of which are unfortunately quite relevant to teenage life).

The handling of mental illness and the treatment of characters who are victimized must be difficult for the authors who decide to take on the challenge. But this difficulty is only increased when the author must consider how a young audience will react, and how their parents will feel about the material that their kids are reading. Additionally, such an element as mental illness must carry along with it particular themes that the author hopes that the reader will take away from the work, and I believe it would be interesting to research the methods in which different adolescent literature authors approach and construct these characters, stories, and themes.