Growing up in two worlds – Claire Keegan’s Foster and Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give

Teilnehmerbegrenzung für Kontaktstudierende: 25

 

The family and the environment in which we grow up have a great influence on our lives, our ideas and our conception of the world. If we grow up in two worlds, they may be completely different and allow us to come into contact with completely different outlooks on life. This can be difficult but also enriching. In this seminar, we will discuss two completely different novels, but they are similar in that they immerse their respective main characters in two contrasting worlds. Foster is a coming-of-age story set in rural Southeast Ireland and narrated by an unnamed girl who is sent to live with her mother’s relatives because her parents are struggling to afford all of their children. Though the narrator lives with the Kinsellas for only one summer, she is transformed by their generosity and care. The Hate U Give, on the other hand, is set in a large American city and follows the main character Starr, who lives in two worlds at the same time. The black sixteen-year-old teenager lives with her family in a district characterised by violence from both the police and gangs. Right at the beginning of the story, she witnesses a friend of hers being killed by the police. And this is not the first loss she has had to accept in her young life. But Starr also has a second life, namely at her school. She attends school in a different district, and almost all of her classmates are white and mostly wealthy. The novel now shows how Starr manages to find herself and her own voice. We will look at the two coming-of-age stories and analyse how the contrasting worlds make their main characters grow.

Beide Romane sind auch in deutscher Übersetzung erschie­nen. Claire Keegans Foster sollte zum Seminarbeginn gelesen sein.