MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive Library



    “’Little Girls are Even More Perfect When They Bleed”’: Monstrosity, Violence, and the Female Body in Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Trilogy”


    Kennon, Patricia (2015) “’Little Girls are Even More Perfect When They Bleed”’: Monstrosity, Violence, and the Female Body in Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Trilogy”. Bookbird, 53 (1). pp. 52-61. ISSN 0006-7377

    [thumbnail of PK-Monstrosity.pdf]
    Preview
    Text
    PK-Monstrosity.pdf

    Download (190kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    This article examines concepts of humanity, monstrosity, and female agency in Kristin Cashore’s recent Graceling trilogy of fantasy novels for young adults. In particular, the teenage protagonists of Graceling (2008), Fire (2009) and Bitterblue (2012) struggle to resist and reconfigure their societies' conservative systems of prejudice, fear, desire, difference, and violence regarding “natural” and “unnatural” female bodily experience. Cashore’s trilogy interrogates traditional concepts of normal and aberrant female embodiment and offers thought-provoking opportunities for personal and collective transformation.
    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: Kristin Cashore; Graceling; trilogy; female agency; young adult fiction; fantasy fiction; feminism; female body;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Social Sciences > Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
    Item ID: 7028
    Depositing User: Dr Patricia Kennon
    Date Deposited: 16 Mar 2016 17:41
    Journal or Publication Title: Bookbird
    Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
    Refereed: Yes
    Related URLs:
    URI: https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/7028
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

    Repository Staff Only (login required)

    Item control page
    Item control page

    Downloads

    Downloads per month over past year

    Origin of downloads