Journal Article

Transcending the Group, Discovering Both Self and Public Spirit

Redford, Steve

2006

Overview

In this analysis of Paul Fleischman's Whirligig and Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, Steve Redford explores the ways in which Fleischman's protagonist, Brent Bishop, and Spinelli's protagonist, Stargirl, serve as \"near perfect exemplifications of Takeo Doi's theoretical model of the Western psyche. In The Anatomy of Dependence, Doi's discussion of Japanese and Western psyches focuses on the Japanese verb amaeru: to forge relationships with others in a way that allows one to indulge, like an infant, in passive dependence. Doi argues that Japanese culture encourages individuals to amaeru throughout their lives, whereas Western culture encourages them to outgrow the desire to amaeru as quickly as possible--the end result being an emphasis on the group in Japanese society and on the individual in the West. Public spirit can flourish in the Western world, Doi concludes, because the individual is not stifled by restrictive group loyalties.\" (ALAN Review) According to Redford, \"the western psyche that Doi describes seems alive and well in Brent and Stargirl, but it is hardly observable--or fleetingly observable--in other characters.\"

• Subject: Fiction, Themes, motives / Fleischman, Paul / Group identity / Peer pressure / Peer pressure in adolescence / Social groups / Spinelli, Jerry / Stargirl (Book) / Teenagers in literature / Whirligig (Book) / Young adult literature