Breaking
the Mold: Teen Girls versus Stereotypes in Young Adult Literature
What traits embody the appearance and personality of the average
young adult fiction heroine? Is she the
graceful and lithe sylph, with a simpering expression and voice of a
nightingale? Or is she the powerful,
lean, statuesque champion of the dystopian novel? Fiery haired yet chubby Eleanor of Eleanor and Park and the pale,
perpetually hungry Gabi of Gabi: a Girl
in Pieces shatter the mold of the traditional female heroine. Both girls battle enormous odds to overcome
society’s expectations of what a teenage girl should be, bucking the
constraints of race, gender, and romance.
While the ideal of the perfect teenage girl is a societal construct that
few teenage girls can realistically obtain, characters in the Young Adult genre
such as Eleanor and Gabi allow girls to reconcile their differences with society’s
view of perfection.
To understand the population reading novels such as
these, it is important to gather information on the age levels and maturity of
the Young Adult (YA) literary
genre. The Young Adult Library
Association (YALSA), “defines young adults as people ranging from 12-18 years
of age…these are generally middle and high school students” (Latham &
Gross, 88). Students in this age group
will be the most likely to empathize and relate to the characters and
situations conceptualized in this category.
Books such as the two discussed in this paper may seem written with females
in mind yet the content and characters meet the information needs of both sexes
as the topics described within are common with all teenagers. Also reading such
works of realistic, contemporary fiction are adult women amenable to using YA
novel as a form of reflection upon their own experiences as young adults.
It is obvious from the beginning of Gabi, a Girl in Pieces that race and ethnicity are going to play roles
in this novel. With the western world
acting as a melting pot for all races and ethnicities, very few teenagers are
any one race but rather a blend which may or may not be evident in their
features. Author Isabel Quintero explains
that her goal was to examine the life of a teenage girl who lives not within
one ethnic culture but stuck “living on the hyphen” as “we’re often pulled in
many different directions where allegiance is always demanded” (Arredondo, p.
2). Within the first twenty pages of the
book, Gabi expresses what it is like for her to present herself as a
Mexican-American teenager stating: “The other problem with being me—and my
Mexican ancestry—is that people don’t believe that I am any kind of
Mexican. They always think I am white,
and it bugs the shit out of me” (26).
Gabi needs to identify in this manner with her friends, Cindy and
Sebastian in particular, who are of the same ethnicity. The character is in a crisis of identity as
well between her mother being Mexican yet not wanting her to perpetuate the
stereotypes of neither the white nor latin race. Gabi’s own mother was unwed when she became
pregnant at age 25 and Gabi’s best friend Cindy inspires the ire of both Gabi
and her mother when she finds herself pregnant.
Although race seems more an issue of discontent for the
character of Park in Eleanor and Park,
Eleanor still feels the pain of not living up to the expectations of her peers
in her appearance and way of life as a teenage girl. She is certainly not the pampered princess
type portrayed by many a Lindsay Lohan flick.
Her race can be seen within the novel as an expectation she feels she
can never fulfill. Rowell juxtapositions
Eleanor another girl at her school, Kim, described as “she had bobbed blond
hair and hard, curled bangs, and she was the only kid in the school with a
Swatch…Kim was one of those people who never wrinkled” (Rowell, p. 30). Later in this scene, Eleanor is describes as
perhaps having “jungle fever”. While it
is unclear whose racial difference is being pointed out: Eleanor or Park’s,
Park responds “That isn’t even the right kind of racist” (30).
Eleanor’s ethnicity becomes a brighter light for her when
her new teacher, Mr. Stessman, mentions the possible regal Nordic ancestors who
spawned someone with a name like Eleanor asserting “What a powerful name. It’s a queen’s name, you know” and later
remarking “Ah. Queen Eleanor of
Aquitaine” meant in jest but more notably points out the girl’s inadequacies to
her peers (Rowell, 14). Eleanor herself
marvels her shortcomings as she muses how she looks like her mother but not
enough because her mother is beautiful as “you’d look at Eleanor’s mom and
think she must be carved into the prow of a Viking ship”….yet “Where her mother
was statuesque, Eleanor was heavy. Where
her mother was finely drawn, Eleanor was smudged” (17). Young women who feel that they do not stack
up to their peers and those who do not think they stack up to the beauty of
their mothers will certainly empathize with these observations.
Author Rainbow Rowell gives the first glimpse of gender-bendingly
attired Eleanor through the eyes of Park as she enters the school bus for the
very first time as a new student.
Eleanor is described as “not just new—but big and awkward. With crazy hair, bright red on top of
curly. And she dressed like…like she wanted people to look at her. Or maybe she didn’t get what a mess she was”
(Rowell, 7). Eleanor is untraditional in
every sort of way and stands out like a sore thumb in her 1980’s Midwestern
town. Not only is she considerably
overweight, dwarfing both male and female peers, she is over the top with the
grunge-style apparel, wearing men’s clothing in a sea of pink Forenza shirts
and acid washed jeans. Her red hair and
doughy white skin are further testament to her flouncing of the feminine ideals
of beauty. Likewise, the character of
Latina girl, Gabi, is written by her creator Isabel Quintero to be overweight,
much like Eleanor, yet eager to gorge herself on hot wings as she ponders
“could you possibly have a heart attack from ingesting so much capsaicin? DEATH BY INGESTING THE FIERY WING” (Quintero,
2). She knows the she feels
uncomfortable about her size and appearance as she acknowledges in her journal
“lose some weight. It is senior year,
after all” (3). How can these girls
possibly be role models for the modern teenage girl?
One of the draws of the Young Adult genre is the ability
for these novels to meet the information needs of the average teenager. Teenagers universally struggle with their
body image and with the perception their peers have of them. Eleanor and Gabi embody the insecurities of
both teen genders within the context of realistic fiction as “students demand
books that deal with any topic in a believable way” (Heller&Storms,
p.25). Contrary to the teen models and
heartthrobs depicted on teen magazine covers, the average size of the American
woman is twelve, with 15 percent of young women wearing plus size attire. The struggle with body image is real and both
of these characters bring this battle home to their target audience.
It is no secret that the Western ideal body type for a
young woman is thin and athletic. As a
result, “being fit, toned, and slender equates to success and social
acceptance” with thinness symbolizing “self-discipline, personal order and
assertiveness” (Tuffin & Hamid, p. 36).
Both of our heroines have issues with their appearance, classifying
themselves as overweight. Because of
this, they also see themselves as undesirable beings that must hide their
shapes within clothes not considered stylish by their peers. Eleanor’s self-loathing is so strong that she
remarks that her peers hated her “before they’d even laid eyes on her. Like they’d been hired to kill her in a past
life” (Rowell, 10). Her feelings may
seems extreme, dramatic some may say yet her insecurity over her weight and
appearance affect close to 29 percent of girls aged 10-14 who are dieting. An important fact to consider for Eleanor is
that she does not seem to have a choice in whether or not she is
overweight. It is debatable if it is the
inexpensive, unhealthy food she is forced to eat (when she is able to eat) or a general predisposition
for being overweight which is causing this issue. For girls such as Eleanor who are in this
seemingly inescapable position, “negative body image is a predictor of
depression, obesity, and disordered eating and the increasing numbers
experiencing distress surrounding body image is disturbing” (Tuffin &
Hamid, p. 36). With many teen girls
feeling the sting of rejection due to their weight, it is no wonder that
characters such as these become role models to girls who empathize with and
root for her as she is just like them.
Gabi, the heroine of Gabi,
a Girl in Pieces, also faces hardships because of her weight yet because
she has a strong network of friends, she is able to cope better with this
perceived flaw than loner Eleanor. She
is not devastated by the fact that she is overweight and views her chubbiness
as more of an inconvenience than a hardship.
Gabi also knows that her weight is a topic of conversation in some
circles but as book reviews point out, “she realizes that women’s bodies are
public—that people talk about them, objectify them, and do things to them”
(MacGregor, p.3). Her best friends Cindy
and Sebastian, dealing with troubles in their own right, are happy to accompany
Gabi to Pepe’s House of Wings even though all concerned know that she does not
need this indulgence. It is indeed
worrisome that one of the main reasons she does not want the school year to
start is because “It’s not like I don’t want to go back to school (because I
do), but I also want to lie around and do nothing for a bit longer. Eat some tacos. Eat a few more Rocky Road ice cream cones from
Rite-Aid…” (Quintero, p. 34). As Gabi
laments her weight and acknowledges that her obesity is not healthy, overeating
allows her to deal with her problems in life and love in binging. As Eleanor does not choose to be overweight,
it seems that Gabi does since she chooses to overindulge when many different
food options are available to her even as she struggles with the guilt to the
point of hiding food under her mattress.
Expectations regarding what is means to be a certain race
and whether or not one’s appearance is acceptable are not only a concern for
teens within their peer groups but also at home with parents or guardians. These beliefs, when not fulfilled can result
in negative parenting which affects the psyche of the child, affecting life at
home and at school. In “The Effects of
Positive and Negative Parenting Practices on Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes
in a Multicultural Sample of Rural Youth”, social workers studied how parents
influence the mood and self-identity/esteem of adolescents. Gabi and Eleanor had similar family units
with at least one sibling and an abusive father figure which dampen their
perception of self-worth. Eleanor’s
mother was a model of female beauty despite her poverty and abuse, yet her lack
of involvement in her daughter’s life, especially leaving her daughter at the
abusive hands of stepfather Richie, caused low self-esteem and depression. Contrastingly, Gabi’s mother has a greater
influence on her identity has a Mexican American and the expectations of her as
a Latina young woman living in a White world.
The problems encountered within the homes of these girls spill out into
the relationships each girl seeks with the opposite sex as their entire social
beings are harmed by their home lives.
Eleanor’s mind, as narrated by Rowell, is a textbook
example of the results of living in poverty, especially in a rural area, and
having at least one parent who is abusive as “the stress of rural living is
compounded when poverty levels are high and low-income parents in rural areas
are at risk of providing in adequate support to adolescents and often use over
controlling discipline techniques, such as responding to problems in an abusive
or neglectful manner” (334). The trails
endured by the neglect of her mother and the mental/possibly physical abuse of
Richie, will fulfill the information needs of teens who may be enduring similar
hardships. When Eleanor is first
introduced, it becomes obvious that she was kicked out of the family home
previously because of a disagreement with Richie and ended up sleeping in the
living room of a neighbor’s house (35).
This is only the beginning of Eleanor’s abuse at her stepfather’s hands
as it worsens upon the revelation that Richie is the one who is writing
obscenities on the covers of her textbooks.
While these teens may not feel comfortable outing themselves to their
teachers or administrators, they will be hopeful and strengthened when Eleanor
is finally able to remove herself from the household with the assistance of
Park.
Gabi also comes from a less than perfect home life filled
with an overbearing mother, a drug-addicted father, and a brother striving to
fulfill every stereotype of the gang-banging Chicano. This character embodies the mindset of a
child with negative parenting skills as “Latino families often value and
strictly enforce rules and any adolescent deviation from these rules is
commonly viewed as a major transgression worthy of being shamed” (334). From the start of her narrative, Gabi
recounts her mother’s phrase “Ojos abiertos, piernas cerradas” or eyes open,
legs closed (5). Her mother casts a
shadow upon her as she was an unwed mother herself and does not want her fate
to be that of her daughter’s.
Confusingly enough, her mother taunts her as wanting to be a “white
girl” because she wants to go out on dates, which in her mother’s eyes means
she wants to get physical with boys.
The story of Gabi’s father is a sad one and the admission
that her father is a drug addict is even sadder because he is a man who is
loved by his family yet is “afflicted” by addictions (23). It is almost with an air of forgiveness that
Gabi’s mother can be viewed because it appears that she is trying to make do as
both a father and mother figure in light of her husband’s absenteeism. Teens embarrassed of their own parents who
also feel smothered will feel relief that they do not have a father who is
“walking around like a homeless person, looking through garbage cans and
hanging out with other people with the same “affliction””(Quintero, 23). It is enough to make are reader wonder who
has it worse—Eleanor or Gabi in the father department. Predictably, many may see Eleanor as the
winner of this horrible competition as it is evident that Gabi has the love of
her mother and father while all Eleanor has is the neglect of her mother/father
and the abuse of Richie.
Another interesting similarity experienced by these lead
characters is, while missing paternal love, they find affection with male love
interests that help fill the gap left by their missing father figure. More surprisingly, these relationships are
with young men strikingly unlike themselves or the fathers they lack. The flaws exhibited by Eleanor and Park’s Richie and Gabi’s father can be summed up by the
boys will be boys mentality which pervades Gabi:
a Girl in Pieces which provides an excuse as to why the male gender has a
propensity for ill behavior.
Gabi’s boyfriend Martin is the antithesis to any other
boy she has had a crush on. He is also
everything that her father and brother are not as he is honest, kind, and only
wants the best for Gabi. Martin takes
her at face value which is obvious as soon as they bond over Gabi’s favorite
snack: gourmet beef-jerky “flown in from Mexico” (107). This young man also does not follow the
recipe of “boys will be boys” as he encourages Gabi to better herself by
jogging and working on her poetry. He
does this not to have her lose weight or to become a famous poetic lyricist but
more for the catharsis which will help Gabi become the person she wants to be.
Eleanor and Park’s
love affair between Eleanor and Park is unexpected, proving that opposites to
indeed attract. Eleanor lives a life
where her real father abandoned her and her mother is content to be the doormat
to serial abuser, Richie. Young adult
genre author John Green lauds Park’s parents as “two of the best-drawn adults I
can remember in a young adult novel” (Green, p.3). While Park is insecure over his Korean slim
build and floppy straight hair, he embodies the very traits that his girlfriend
lacks. It is almost as if Rainbow
Rowell’s two main characters fulfill different gender roles when becoming each
others, other half. When Eleanor eschews
eyeliner, Park adopts it as part of his own Emo persona. Park cannot get over how Eleanor is larger
than life, equating touching her with “holding something complete, and
completely alive” which is a feeling they only have with each other (70). Richie lurks in the shadow, hoping to destroy
Eleanor who feels “like he’ll get around to me.
When there’s nothing and no one else to destroy” (288). Park only desires to deliver Eleanor to
asylum in Minnesota, accomplishing the task of driving the challenging stick
shift of his father’s truck just to get her to safety.
Young
adult novels such as Eleanor and Park and
Gabi: A Girl in Pieces meet the
information needs of readers between the age of twelve and twenty because,
while their stories are not the norm in America, they are the truth for many
teens every day. Whether they are
struggling with appearance and body issues, race and ethnicity, or abusive or
neglectful relationships with family or a significant other, many teens will be
able to identify themselves in the characters of Gabi and Eleanor. These novels are not fairy tales but
realistic portrayals of teen girlhood that inspire those facing challenging
hardships can find reconciliation with who they are inside as well as outside as
they travel the road to adulthood.
References
Diaz,
S. (2014). Gabi, a girl in pieces. School
Library Journal, 60.8, 104. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2014/12/resources/slj-reviews-and-resources-for-yalsa-2015-morris-and-nonfiction-finalists/.
Green,
J. (2013). Two against the world: ‘Eleanor & Park’, by Rainbow Rowell. The New York Times, March 8, 2013.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/books/review/eleanor-park-by-rainbow-rowell.html?_r=0.
Heller,
M.J. (2015). Sex in the library. Teacher Librarian,
42.3, 22.
MacGregor,
A. (2014). Book Review: Gabi, a girl in pieces by Isabel Quintero. School Library Journal, November 4, 2014. Retrieved
from http://www.slj.com/best-books-2014/young-adult/quintero-gabi-a-girl-in-pieces/.
Quinterro,
I. (2014). Gabi, a girl in pieces. El
Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press.
Rowell,
Rainbow. (2013). Eleanor & Park.
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Tuffin,
K., Hamid, J. (2014). Balancing act: The relentless tyranny of monitoring and
evaluating body image concerns. Women’s
Studies Journal, 28:1, 34-46.
