Date of Thesis

Fall 2025

Description

This thesis explores how modern young adult (YA) fairy tale retellings can act as interventionist works as part of the mythopoeic YA fantasy sub-genre, where they enfold traditionally excluded identities into the archetypal role of the fairy tale female protagonist who is expected to embody an idealized form of girlhood. Fairy tales have a profound impact on self-image and how individuals create expectations of their role in the world. By fracturing the archetypes maintaining restrictive and exclusionary expectations, mythopoeic YA fairy tale retellings affirm the young adult girl to embrace her own individual identity and determine her role in the world according to her beliefs, not others’. Specifically, I focus on the inclusion of homosexual, disabled, and Black identities that deny conformity and that embrace their individual identities to destabilize the perpetuating Western ideology that only certain bodies or identities can be validated and empowered. These identities interact with and revitalize the assigned moral lesson conveyed by the tale to present a truly universal fairy tale that does not expect a caveat of transformation to access the story’s message. As part of the mythopoeic YA genre’s origin, I also include discussion about how these new fairy tale female protagonists become heroes and represent their heroism through both actions that defeat oppressive forces and activism that empowers their identities as well as others belonging to that community. Ultimately, this thesis asserts the legacy of our foundational, timeless tales and how authors use retellings to incorporate inclusivity and move away from ideology that embraces uniformity over universality. The primary texts I analyze are Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (2020), A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer (2019), Cinder by Marissa Meyer (2012), Winter by Marissa Meyer (2015), and Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (2020).

Keywords

Mythopoeic YA, fairy tale retellings, childrens and YA fantasy, intersectionality, archetypes, identity, Young Adult

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

English- Literary Studies

Second Major

Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies

First Advisor

Virginia Zimmerman

Second Advisor

Elena Machado

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