Thomas W. Bean and Karen Moni’s article “Developing Student’s Critical Literacy: Exploring Identity Construction in Young Adult Fiction” addressed how the identities of characters are formed in popular young adult fiction. Bean and Moni make it a point that “Because they deal with issues that are relevant to teens, including racism, pregnancy, divorce, substance abuse, family conflicts, and political injustice, young adult novels provide a roadmap of sorts for adolescents coping with these issues in real life.” (638). The identity of a main character is focused around the relatable nature of teens in our modern society. It is then further structured around “This critical life episode, or series of episodes, produces a feeling of disequilibrium (Wurzel, 1988). Previously held attitudes and beliefs about others and oneself are brought into question.” (Bean and Moni 642). This type of character construction is clearly evident in “The Fault in Our Stars” and the main character Hazel Grace. Hazel is an American teenager whose “critical series of episodes” are due to her ever going struggle with her cancer and her loss of love after she falls in love with Gus and has to deal with the loss of him as well. The relatable factor coming from TFIOS is the theme of love and loss. Every teenager experiences a time in which they experience a heartbreaking loss which makes it easy for the reader to relate to Hazel’s pain.
Work Cited
Bean, Thomas W., and Karen Moni. “Developing Student’s Critical Literacy: Exploring Identity Construction in Young Adult Fiction.” JSTOR. N.p., May 2003. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
This article presents a much more thoughtful way of discussing “relatability,” which can often be a vague catch-all term. But I’m not yet convinced by what you’re saying about TFIOS – most teens haven’t experienced heartbreaking loss like Hazel has. Doesn’t that muck up the issue of relatability?