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Young Adult: Universal Themes Take Two 341 Views
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Description:
If you classify yourself as a "young adult," then you'll probably identify with a lot of these themes. If you don't...well, grow up already, won't you?
Transcript
- 00:04
Universal Themes, Take Two, a la Shmoop. Remember back when we finished talking about
- 00:10
Universal Themes…
- 00:11
…and you cordoned off that section of your brain, certain you’d never need to use it
- 00:15
again?
- 00:16
Well, it’s time to dust off those brain cells and bring ‘em back out of storage…
Full Transcript
- 00:19
…because it’s time for Universal Themes… the revenge.
- 00:26
Back in Unit One, we talked about two universal themes…
- 00:28
…Individual versus Society…
- 00:31
…and Individual versus Self. Remember when Junior from The Absolutely True
- 00:38
Diary of a Part-Time Indian had to fly in the face of his community and seek his education…
- 00:43
off the reservation?
- 00:46
For his senior prank, we wonder if he… TP’d his teepee…?
- 00:53
Or the way that Esperanza from The House on Mango Street had to work so hard to avoid
- 00:58
being trapped in one of her culture’s typical… women roles?
- 01:03
Those are both examples of the Individual versus Society.
- 01:06
They’re both fightin’ the Man. And then there’s the universal theme of
- 01:13
Individual versus Self.
- 01:15
We see that one rear its head when Junior has doubts about where he belongs…
- 01:18
…or what choices he should make.
- 01:21
And in Speak, when Melinda has to deal with the shame she feels for being raped.
- 01:26
We have also discussed the theme of Individual versus Individual…
- 01:29
…where one person is pitted against another.
- 01:32
Face to face. Mano a mano. Live on Pay per View.
- 01:41
We see this theme when Melinda goes against Andy in Speak…
- 01:44
…and when Junior finds himself at odds with his best friend, Rowdy.
- 01:49
All these guys are missing is a mud wrestling ring.
- 01:52
Well, wouldn’t you know it…
- 01:55
…there is yet a fourth universal theme centering on the struggles of an individual…
- 02:00
…Individual versus Nature.
- 02:05
Like when Moby Dick continually thwarts Captain Ahab’s attempts to capture him…
- 02:10
…or when Robinson Crusoe runs into a slew of problems on a desert island…
- 02:15
…or when those nasty trees start throwing apples at Dorothy.
- 02:21
Okay, so they feel she could use more fruit in her diet. There’s a nicer way to get
- 02:26
the point across. But nature isn’t limited to physical elements.
- 02:29
Sometimes a person’s biology can cause just as many headaches as a great white whale.
- 02:36
Plus, your biology is much trickier to… harpoon.
- 02:40
This is the type of struggle Shawn undergoes in Stuck in Neutral.
- 02:45
It’s a battle royale between his consciousness and his biology.
- 02:49
It seems a little like Individual versus Self…
- 02:51
…and yeah, there’s a little of that thrown in there, too…
- 02:54
…but it’s not just a moral, ethical or spiritual dilemma he’s dealing with.
- 02:58
Shawn really has no choice… his biology, i.e. his condition of cerebral palsy, is an
- 03:04
obstacle for him…
- 03:05
…and prevents him from talking to his father.
- 03:07
He may not have to track his biology for months on end in a whaling boat…
- 03:11
…but, in the end, his ordeal can result in just as much… blubber.
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