By Cruz, F. & Gallardo, M.
Longevity pills and clonation could be, in the near future, commonly used expressions due to the medicine advances. Nowadays, these terms appear, among others, in some pieces of writing, as in the case of “Sundiver day”, a short science fiction story written by Kathleen Ann Goonan. The story takes place in the Florida Keys and tells the life of an adolescent, Eelie, who cannot accept her brother’s death. He has gone missing in a Middle East War. Eelie lives with her mother in a house, near to the beach. She spends her time between the school and the Science Institute; she wins a science prize because of her knowledge about clonation. She was able to clone a parrot and some plants and she is working secretly on cloning her brother. The story depicts a science fictional world where clone people are very common but illegal.
Kathleen Ann Goonan, the author is well known for winning many awards for her work in “ Queen city jazz” , “The bones of time”, “Mississippi blues” and “In war times”, among others. She also is well known for writing Young Adult Literature (YAL). YAL is characterised by containing certain topics and features that are directly related to adolescents’ life. “Sundiver Day” seems to be an instance of YAL since most of these topics and characteristics are developed.
Robert C. Small, dean at Radford University, points out some characteristics that help understand when a text can be considered YAL (Herz & Gallo, 1996). These characteristics expose certain elements that may be present in Young Adult Literature:
•“the main character is a teenager”,
•“events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers”,
•“the main character is the centre of the plot”,
•“dialogue reflects teenage speech”,
•“the point of view presents an adolescent´s interpretation of events and people”,
•“the teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent”,
•“the novel is short”,
•“the actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict”.
Small, also explains YAL should not avoid certain controversial topics such as sexuality, substance abuse, pregnancy, identity and death. In “From Hinton to Hamlet”, Herz & Gallo, (1996) mention these controversial topics as “universal themes”. The authors explain that universal themes are related to existential questions “Who am I?” and “Where do I fit in?”, and point that these are topics that “all students can benefit from reading and discussing...” Herz & Gallo also explain universal themes as topics that are common in certain group or society.
As regards Small’s characteristics, one of them claims “The main character is a teenager”: Eelie is the main character because the story is based on her life and she is an adolescent because she is sixteen-year-old as she tells the readers in the story “I just turn sixteen”. According to Erik Erikson (1902-1994), a German-born American psychoanalyst, one of the stages of the life cycle is adolescence and it comprehends the ages 12 to 18.
“Events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers”: The story tells Eelie’s life, an adolescent who has to deal with common issues related to her age such as “school problems”; she neglects the school to go to the Science Institute to find the way to clone her brother, “pregnancy”; she decides to inoculate her brother’s ovum, and “death”; she cannot accept her brother’s death.
Another characteristic points out that “the main character is the centre of the plot”; in the story, Eelie, is the centre of the plot since her life is depicted. From the beginning to the end the story is about Eelie’s happiness, concerns and intentions. The following characteristic indicates; “dialogues reflects teenage speech”, in “Sundiver day” Eelie provides many instances of teenage speech; “ they used to make fun of me and call me ‘Miss Smarty’, but I beat up the ringleader of that crowd, Marcy Phipps, when I was fourteen, and after that nobody bothered me.”
Eelie is not only portrayed as mature and independent when she decides to have a baby and to clone a person, but also intelligent and sensitive when she comprehends her mother’s loneliness. These appreciations about Eelie seem to coincide with the Small’s feature that says: “the teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent”.
As regards the size of the story, Small explains that adolescents are reluctant to read a story of more than two hundred pages, so to catch the attention of adolescents the story has to be short. “Sundiver Day” is a story of no more than twenty pages and can be appreciated by adolescents.
In relation to “universal themes”, some examples are present in the story. One of them and apparently the most important is death. The whole story is based on the problem that Eelie has to accept her brother’s death; “no matter what Mom says, I will never say he´s dead until they show me a body. And that might be never”.
Another universal theme is pregnancy, clearly present in the story; Eelie needs a uterus to complete Sam´s clonation but her mother refuses the proposal. Eelie gives a thought about being a mother at her age but finally she decides to inoculate the egg into herself.
The science fictional word and the topics present in the story seem to comprehend adolescents’ expectations. As experts say, YAL has to develop certain features and has not to avoid crucial topics common in adolescents’ life. Considering “Sundiver Day” as an instance of YAL, is appropriated to say that adolescents may feel identified with some situations of the story which make them feel interested in reading it.
REFERENCES
-Erikson’s Stages of Development: Learning Theories. Accessed 25/06/2013 http://www.learning-theories.com/eriksons-stages-of-development.html.
-Herz, S. & Gallo, D. (1996) From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
-Longman Language Activator: Helps your write and speak natural English. New Edition. Pearson Education Limited 1993, 2002
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