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- All Subjects: Fiction
- Creators: McNally, T. M.
- Creators: Dean, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- Status: Published
You have heard this story before, you think, or one like it—listen again. It is never the same twice.
The following creative project defends that, whether intentionally or not, mental illness and substance abuse are inevitably romanticized in young adult media and discusses the dangers of this romanticization. This project is divided into three parts. The first part consists of psychological evaluations of the main characters of two popular, contemporary forms of young adult media, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger and Euphoria by Sam Levinson. These evaluations use textual evidence and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) to determine what symptoms of psychopathology the characters appear to display. The second part consists of a self-written short story that is meant to accurately depict the life of a young adult struggling with mental illness and substance abuse. This story contains various aesthetic techniques borrowed from the two young adult media forms. The final part consists of an aesthetic statement which discusses in depth the aesthetic techniques employed within the short story, Quicksand by Anisha Mehra.
The main character, Princess Alexandria, must navigate a world where the all magic is controlled by a power-hungry ruler, King Mordred. After he decides to pursue the Ruins of Kronos in order to gain control over time itself, the princess decides to intervene. Alexandria escapes the palace with her childhood best friend James, to stop him, nearly dying in the process, and finds a group of fairies who have lost their wings. The fairies help her discover the true origins and capabilities of magic, making her realize that she must restore it to the realm in order to stop King Mordred. Alexandria disguises herself as a man and joins the King’s Knights, befriending a rebel in disguise named Keith along the way, as she discovers her brother Noah may be on the King’s side. Together, they work to liberate lands oppressed by King Mordred’s rule, and by the Black Plague that Morgana has set upon them, all while uncovering the corruption present in their society.
“The Garden and Her Secrets” is a young adult novella focused on creating a fantastical world using ASU buildings as inspiration for the key landmarks in this magical landscape. The story centers around a giftless woman, Fiona, striving to make herself extraordinary by breaking hundreds of years of rules and wielding the musical talent of Belle, the unmagical woman who plays at the local piano bar. Fiona’s quest for both love and unlove means finding where the Secret Garden is hiding within her university, the Philomathian, and exploring her newfound feelings for Belle. Should the Secret Garden choose to remove her hood, there are certainly gifts to be had and secrets to rebury.