Skip to main content

YA Lit.: Dumplin'



Nowadays, young adult literature covers a wide range of themes, offering commentary on everything from self-image and confidence to abuse and death. While the recent release of the Netflix series (based on the novel) 13 Reasons Why  has arguably created a negative association between young adults and literature, there are plenty of YA novels that deal with teenage realities beyond suicide.

Julie Murphy's Dumplin', a novel full of southern charm and the narrator Willowdean's no non-sense sarcasm, provides the reader with a classic battle between feeling good in your own skin and wanting to fit in with society's bodily expectations. Willowdean, an overweight 11th grader in a town obsessed with an annual beauty pageant, can't seem to get away from the local pressures to be a beauty queen. Usually comfortable in her skin, Willowdean starts to question her confidence when a co-worker shows romantic interest. Although dealing with a serious topic that could easily turn into a downward spiral of self-harm and eating disorders, Murphy's protagonist handles her struggles in a way that is more empowering than depressing.

Currently, I am halfway through Dumplin', and while I have trouble buying into the realism behind some of Murphy's characters and their choices, I have enjoyed Willowdean's journey in rebuilding her self-confidence thus far. Exhibiting a gradual increase in risky behavioral choices, it is clear that Willowdean is struggling with a desire for risk and reward that stems from cognitive changes during adolescence. As a result, it is easy for a young adult reader to relate to her thought process and reasoning.

However, the main love interest, Bo, is sometimes less than believable. With an aggressive past, creepy tendencies, no respect for boundaries, and a stereotypical bad-boy heartthrob appearance; Bo is otherwise a mystery to Willowdean and the reader. Bo tends to make choices I would never associate with a popular-ish teen male, and his pursuit of Willowdean despite her larger size seems unrealistic for high school. Unfortunately, societal standards have conditioned Willowdean to be just as skeptical as the reader.

With half the novel to go, I look forward to seeing how the rest of the story unfolds. Will Murphy's characters take a more realistic turn? Hopefully so. The story is full of positive messages about respecting yourself, and if the characters take on more realistic traits by the end, I will not hesitate to recommend the novel for use in a secondary classroom.

Comments

  1. Very interesting and thoughtful perspective. I especially appreciate your critical perspective. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like that you are open to being critical about the novel, as well as finding aspects that you enjoy. I wonder how you would use this novel in the classroom if it is not entirely realistic? Would this have an effect on the students?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, Allie! As you know, I also read Dumplin', so it was nice to hear your perspectives in greater depth. I, too, thought that the book lacked a sense of realism. After finishing the novel, does your opinion on this issue stand or has it changed? Do you think that Julie Murphy purposefully made the reader view the characters and circumstances as unrealistic to push preconceptions?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Multimedia and Westward Expansion - ST Week 2.3

Happy Thursday! As the first week of my student teaching semester comes to a close, I thought I would take some time to reflect on the introductory lessons to our Westward Expansion unit. Although most of today’s class time was absorbed by Vermont’s STAR reading exam (I will post my thoughts on the STAR as I learn more about it in the coming days), students had an opportunity to continue their westward expansion work during whatever class time remained after they turned in their exams. By tomorrow (Friday, 1/10), students are expected to have completed the work for the three introductory lessons reviewed earlier this week. From my observations, most students appear to be on track for tomorrow’s due date, but only time will tell! For now, I’d like to focus on the multiple forms of media employed in these opening lessons, and I will note some major points of consideration that I am still pondering after four days of learning. The introductory lessons for the Westward Expansion unit a...

The Five Cs of Learning That Inspires

Throughout my undergraduate career, almost all of the courses in my education major started the semester with some type of reflection on philosophies in education. Since my courses on child and adolescent development (running in my second and fourth semesters respectively), I have identified most strongly with John Dewey’s Theory of Progressive Education. Progressivism has therefore been a common theme in my blog posts, and today’s reflection will continue my growth and strengthen the philosophical foundation I have built for myself as a progressivist teacher. Of course, other theories in education are worth consideration: behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism all offer insight on how we learn from various perspectives of study. However, I find that progressivism (if adopted fully) takes the best points of these theories and blends them together, creating a student-centered learning environment where student needs and interests are at the forefront of their educationa...

On Teaching and Reflection

Somewhere on my bookshelves, sandwiched between worn copies of literary classics and young adult novels, rests my collection of the title On Writing and other memoirs focused on the craft. Several authors have attempted to make sense of their adopted art, and even more have tried to guide others through their creative processes: Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, Sol Stein, Ray Bradbury, and George Orwell, to name a few. While many of the memoirs composed by those who have found great success in their writing highlight similar themes when discussing the elements of their work, each writer also offers a sort of defense for his or her own approach in connecting a pen to paper. That, of course, is the beauty of writing: an author has freedom within some set conventions, and even these boundaries can be broken if the right time presents itself. After four years of undergraduate study, I think the biggest takeaway from my experience as a pre-service teacher is that education ...