The Age of Influence: Society and the Young Adult: Heartbreak, Death, and Sometimes a Rainbow: Young Adults and Literature

In this course, we will explore where adolescence and society cross, clash, mesh. The young adult life, like the central path of almost any novel, is about wanting something, probably desperately. It's about the countless and seemingly insurmountable obstacles that get in the way. About the choices made from indoctrination, experience, or anxiety. About happily-ever-after or exit-followed-by-a-bear. Penn's own Dr. Frances Jensen, neurologist and expert on the adolescent brain, tells us our decision-making capability doesn't go fully "online" until our mid-twenties. It's no accident, then, that youth stands as metaphor for irresponsibility, recklessness, resistance. But then, what about Resistance? Influence? It's a metaphor for those, too. We will read and watch across era and genre, including works by such figures as Jane Austen and Jason Reynolds; Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and Carmen Maria Machado. Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Acevedo, Taylor Swift, Malinda Lo, Ocean Vuong. Penn's own David Eng and Frances Jensen. We will explore media of the long adolescence through three centuries: prose narrative to graphic novel to television and more, with frequent forays into Instagram and TikTok. Assignments will include several short essays, a presentation on your literary passion, and a final project of either critical analysis of your term study or a more creative representation of where that study has taken you. Class participation mandatory. Melodrama optional.