Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Adol. Female lit.
Adol. Adventure must have: difference, conflicts, change. It must be complicated enough to see patterns in literature - like an incident parallels to another incident = theme. The YA (Young Adult literature) teaches a moral lesson.
This book has been on ban lists because
- Ideology that there exists no religious problems in society.
- Religion and school is in the book.
- Margaret has issues with trying to identify with God p140 but resolves at end.
- Jewish/Christian marriage pries into societies standards.
- Candor of bodily functions, i.e., Margaret looks at herself in mirror and sees hair, talk of menstruation, details about pads. Too many specifics was offensive - forward - creates tension. Was debasing -society felt like people should not read about this sort of thing.
- Note: the sexuality and processes in books are not as offensive about boys as about girls.
Successful Elements
- Good observations.
- Laura - Margaret comes into a progressively understanding of her - adults notice Laura's plight: anatomy=destiny - she is developed, so she is considered a slut.
- Didactic ("teaching") = a YA book teaches a moral lesson. It teaches a situation and then how to handle it.
- Intimacy between creature (Margaret) and creator (God) - example, when Margaret prays to God to fill her bra.
- One of the themes in the book is difference.
- Transition from city to suburbs. Shows difference in growing up in the city like Margaret did and growing up in the suburbs.
- Blume is good at establishing boy/girl relationships.
Themes
- READING A SITUATION - how to read the world independently from what school/society teaches - to evaluate and develop an understanding thus see patterns.
- Mother
- Father
- Self
- Teacher
- Society
Margaret makes original, unauthorized perceptions - new information on her own - her personality is emerging - she is getting a perspective on the world that is different from how she thought a few years ago. She is changing mentally and physically. She is developing critical thinking skills.
For example, the first party situation. First party is significant - pg. 2. In big city, you are not known - in the suburbs it is a bureaucratized constructed community. This culture has different level of organizational expectations - peer pressure - but big city kid can get in and out of patterns. In suburbia, there is one pattern - for example, are you going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. There is organizational life of community/suburbs/business world. Margaret's been put on a sort of production line - she sees herself as limited. Larger issue = business dominated power structure of the country. High value placed on similarity not difference (Mom is artist, no religion).
Mother/Father
P2 - Mother really wants to get away from her mother-in-law. Margaret is critiquing her mother's behavior. She is questioning - which is important in order to grow.
P13 - Margaret sees thru them.
P14 - Moment of not relying on Mom and Dad knowing everything. It is important that she construct, evaluate, and test things herself.
P24 - She sees into adult's techniques and vulnerabilities.
Self
P25 - How kids are uneven in their development stages.
P36 - She is criticizing her mother's technique of "when I was a girl..."
P17 - She analyzes herself. She is recognizing her patterns which is an important step in order to grow.
Teacher
P27 - Through the likes and dislikes list, the mentor helps her see her own patterns.
Society
P54 - She sees connection. Advantage of city life. The city offers the glimpse and she takes advantage of it.
P97 - She is beginning to understand society.
books