Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: ABSTRACT \nThe aim of this research was to explore how literature can be utilised to help \nadolescents better understand themselves and the world around them. I focused the \nresearch on the issue of beauty. The research was conducted with a group of three \nfemale Grade 10 learners in a school in a North East suburb of Johannesburg. \nThe research centred on a study of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye and a \nworkbook created to employ the novel as a catalyst for discussions and activities \naround aspects of beauty. This novel was selected because of the presence of the \ntheme of unattainable beauty. Throughout the research period the learners explored \ntheir own notions of beauty as they read the novel and used the workbook. \nThe theoretical framework of this research draws on reader response theory as \noutlined by Louise Rosenblatt in order to explore how the reading of literature has the \npotential to help learners understand the world around them. The research also draws \non the theory of feminist poststructuralism as theorised by Chris Weedon in order to \nexamine how the learners have come to understand beauty and how they react to the \ntext. The theory of critical literacy is used to shed light on the possibility of the \nlearners rejecting any new constructs of beauty. The theoretical framework also \nprovides a survey of various theories of beauty that illustrate how adolescents are \ninfluenced by a socially constructed Gaze and by the media. The framework also \nexplores alternatives to the dominant construct of beauty. Lastly, the theoretical \nframework discusses how race has influenced constructs of beauty. \nThe content of the data revealed that the learners were profoundly impacted by peer \ngazing. Comments and looks from their peers caused the participants to judge \nthemselves according to a standard of beauty created by their peers, in turn affecting \nthe learners’ self esteem. The analysis of the data showed that the media was another \ndetermining factor in the participants’ construct of beauty. The participants, through \na variety of media, absorbed the notion of the ‘beautiful’ female body as the ideal to \nwhich they should aspire. Furthermore the participants expressed a feeling of being \ndifferent under the racist Gaze which caused them to question the validity of their \nskin colour, their noses and their hair in relation to white normative constructs they \nhad internalised. \nBy the end of the research programme the participants seemed unable completely to \nmove away from the influence of the dominant construct of beauty. They still judged \nthemselves according to the standards projected by the media and their peers. \nHowever, the analysis of the data also shows how the participants, by the end of the \nresearch, were able to demonstrate some attitudinal change towards their bodies and \nto articulate an alternative concept of beauty that included positive personality traits \nand objects of non-visual beauty. The participants also exhibited a heightened \nawareness of a dominant construct of beauty and actively resisted the dominant \ndiscourse of beauty projected by the media and their peers. \nThis research proves that the literary experience, as described by Rosenblatt, plays an \nimportant part in the teaching of literature, providing readers with the opportunity to \nlive through the experiences of the characters in the novel. This research shows that, \nto a limited extent, literature can affect the learners’ worldview.
Author: Samantha Kur
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2117906317