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Year of Graduation
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MA: Children's Literature
Directing Professor
Dr. Karen Coats
Abstract
This thesis analyzes how two young adult (YA) novels, Silas House’s Eli the Good (2008) and Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012), represent relationships between fathers who have served in the Vietnam War and their sons. I draw upon psychoanalytic theory, affect theory, and relevant psychological and sociological studies to argue that emotional numbing that stems from post-traumatic stress disorder causes the fathers in these two books to be non-communicative with their sons, which stunts the protagonists’ processes of identity development. Too, I look at how the mothers and other female family members in Eli and Aristotle and Dante both support and destabilize constructions of masculinity the boys encounter. I use the term “familial awareness” to show how Eli’s and Ari’s identity formation is part of them becoming more active and knowledgeable members of their family units. I argue, too, for nuanced readings of their agency as sons within their larger cultural contexts.
Recommended Citation
Auten, Kylee, ""He wouldn't tell me nothing": Developing Familial Awareness in Eli the Good and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" (2025). Children's Literature (MA) Theses, Hollins University. 9.
https://digitalcommons.hollins.edu/matheses/9
Contact Information
kyleeauten@gmail.com
Purpose Statement
The purpose of preserving this thesis document is to provide a definitive record of student progress upon completion of the degree. This text will not reflect any revisions to the manuscript made after degree completion. For the most current version of the work, please contact its author.