Traditional Cultural Values in Young Adult Fiction: Cultural Critique of The Secret Garden and To Kill a Mockingbird

Abstract

This article aims at demonstrating the selected texts as Cultural texts due to their key characteristics comprising, polysemy, cultural materialism, popular culture, discourse representation, hegemony, identity, ideology, subjectivity, and politics. Within this designated objective, the present article argues that The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee serve as cultural texts rooted in the specific social setups, where textual representations are polysemic. This characteristic brings multiple meanings that are accomplished by actual readers of the text since they create meaning while they engage with the text. The study uses the characteristics of cultural texts given by Chris Barker as lens to analyse the given texts through close reading. This study is pertinent due to its novelty as cultural readings of the texts is not widely read and researched arena. Thus, the article proves that young adult literary texts while serving as zeitgeist of their times can be read as cultural texts due to representation of multiple cultural artefacts. The study suggests that while serving multiple purpose – social, cultural, or religious, young adult texts have a wide scope to be read and researched under diverse theoretical angles.