Reparative Justice as Literary Methodology: Confronting Criminality in Contemporary American Fiction
Date of Award
5-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
English
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Jeffrey Gonzalez
Committee Member
Adam Rzepka
Committee Member
Art Simon
Abstract
This thesis presents an approach to literary analysis centered on dismantling one’s conscious or unconscious biases by engaging in reparative justice practices with fictional characters. It stems from the belief that America’s criminal justice system is a white patriarchal system that serves to support and uplift systems of white power. I argue that we must advocate for its abolition with a wide lens. Doing so requires a recognition of one’s biases and a radical shift in empathy to those who have directly and indirectly survived and continue to survive oppression by the criminal justice system. I argue conducting reparative readings on fiction prison and prison adjacent characters who survived the criminal justice system will increase our empathy towards actual survivors of the system. Analyzing Colson Whitehead’s 'The Nickel Boys', Jesmyn Ward’s 'Sing, Unburied, Sing', and Rachel Kushner’s 'The Mars Room', this thesis aims not only to aide in identifying appropriate literature for an abolitionist and reparative reading, but also to model such an approach to be applied to fiction.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Paulson, Diane, "Reparative Justice as Literary Methodology: Confronting Criminality in Contemporary American Fiction" (2024). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1410.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1410