High School is a unique time period life for teens. Social development, physical maturation, and academic learning can all be noted as important aspects of High School. Personally, I loved high school and learned a lot in looking back. Within Young Adult Literature, readers watch characters learn and develop time and time again. Often, protagonists are able to look back at their journey at what has happened throughout their experiences and see their own development. With high school being of big interest to me, I will compare protagonist development through three novels with male teenaged protagonists: Arnold(Junior) from The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian, Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Wade from Ready Player
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It goes somewhere with its storyline to sends a message to Adolescent reader. The protagonist is always trying to achieve something. For Junior in Absolutely, his goal was a better life for himself. To achieve this goal, he left his impoverished family, seeking a better education in the nearby town, Reardon, at the age of 14. Junior stated, “Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor” (Sherman, 13). Junior’s early maturation and intelligence was evident when he recognized severe problems on the reservation and sought to better himself. A life out of poverty. Junior’s situation compares to Wade in Ready Player One, who grew up poor just like Junior. Wade shared the desire and determination to live a better life, not through education, but through an Egg hunt that would result in a multi-billion-dollar prize and complete control of the Oasis—a heavily relied on 3D virtual world. Although Wade was four to five years older than Junior, both achieved difficult goals that would help them live a better life in the long term. By the end of each novel, Junior and Wade were able to look back at their hard work and development to see the path that led them to reaching their
It goes somewhere with its storyline to sends a message to Adolescent reader. The protagonist is always trying to achieve something. For Junior in Absolutely, his goal was a better life for himself. To achieve this goal, he left his impoverished family, seeking a better education in the nearby town, Reardon, at the age of 14. Junior stated, “Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor” (Sherman, 13). Junior’s early maturation and intelligence was evident when he recognized severe problems on the reservation and sought to better himself. A life out of poverty. Junior’s situation compares to Wade in Ready Player One, who grew up poor just like Junior. Wade shared the desire and determination to live a better life, not through education, but through an Egg hunt that would result in a multi-billion-dollar prize and complete control of the Oasis—a heavily relied on 3D virtual world. Although Wade was four to five years older than Junior, both achieved difficult goals that would help them live a better life in the long term. By the end of each novel, Junior and Wade were able to look back at their hard work and development to see the path that led them to reaching their