Bibliotherapy and OCD: The Case of Turtles All The Way Down by John Green (2017)

• Authors: Michael Hall
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This case study uses three different frameworks of inquiry to examine Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (2017) with a disability lens. The analysis extends beyond the traditional medical/social dichotomy and considers how disability is tied to both agency and identity. Narratives and counter-narratives of disability are also investigated, as well as disability markers used in previous scholarship. The discussion concludes with an argument to include the novel in secondary English classes to create mental health allies.  A consideration for medical humanities scholars is also included to use Green’s text with patients with OCD, as a way for readers to find an identifiable protagonist.

Keywords

EN

young adult literature; mental illness; obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej
• Journal: New Horizons in English Studies
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 5

Dates

published

2020

online

2020-09-04

Contributors

author

Michael Hall

• Arizona State University

editor

Aneta Okuń-Jaśkowiak

editor

Adam Głaz

editor

Lidia Kniaź-Hunek

editor

Anna Bendrat

editor

Ewelina Prażmo

editor

Przemysław Terejko

editor

Piotr Szczypa

editor

Grzegorz Czemiel

editor

Ewa Antoszek

editor

Justyna Galant

editor

Marta Komsta

editor

Edyta Frelik

editor

Agata Waszkiewicz

editor

Anna Oleszczuk

editor

Agata Waszkiewicz

other

Aneta Okuń-Jaśkowiak

References

• Adomat, Donna Sayers. “Exploring Issues of Disability in Children’s Literature Discussions.”
• Disability Studies Quarterly 34, no. 3 (April 2014): 1-17.
• https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v34i3.3865
• Curwood, Jen Scott. “Redefining Normal: A Critical Analysis of (Dis)Ability in Young Adult
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• https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-012-9177-0.
• Green, John. Turtles All the Way Down. New York: Penguin Books, 2017.
• Hughes, Chloe. “The ‘Words inside’: ‘Disabled’ Voices in Contemporary Literature for Young People.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies11, no. 2 (2017): 187 203.
• Kurtts, Stephanie A., and Karen W. Gavigan. “Understanding (Dis)Abilities through Children’s Literature.” Education Libraries31, no. 3 (May 2017): 23. https://doi.org/10.26443/el.v31i3.259.
• Monaghan, Alison. “Evaluating Representations of Mental Health in Young Adult Fiction: The Case of Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Enthymema16 (2016): 32 42.
• Petrone, Robert, Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides, and Mark Lewis. “The Youth Lens: Analyzing Adolescence/Ts in Literary Texts.” Journal of Literacy Research46 (2015): 506–33.
• Richmond, Kia Jane. “Using Literature to Confront the Stigma of Mental Illness, Teach Empathy, and Break Stereotypes.” Language Arts Journal of Michigan30, no. 1 (January 2014). https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149x.2038.
• Richmond, Kia Jane. Mental Illness in Young Adult Literature: Exploring Real Struggles through Fictional Characters. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2019.
• Siebers, Tobin. Disability Theory. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2011.

Identifiers

DOI

10.17951/nh.2020.5.74-87