Young adult Gothic horror fiction acts as a coming-of-age story wherein the protagonists must confront the metaphorical and literal ghosts while simultaneously attempting to establish a sense of identity. Applying Gothic theory and ghost theory to the ghostly stories in young adult Gothic horror demonstrates how certain young adult Gothic stories represent the struggle of adolescents as they mature into adulthood and search for their identities. I use Madeline Roux’s Asylum (2013) and D.J. MacHale’s The Light (2010) as case studies to analyze how ghostly antagonists directly oppose adolescent protagonists on their coming-of-age journeys. Analyzing these young adult Gothic horror novels through the lens of the aforementioned theories allows for a different understanding of the genre of young adult Gothic, shedding a new light on the mechanics of the genre within the discourse surrounding young adult overall. This new understanding of how YA Gothic horror works sheds light on how all horror texts operate as coming-of-age stories for their protagonists who must confront and overcome their individual fears, emerging on the other side as more mature, self-assured, and autonomous people.
","abstract_html":"<p>Young adult Gothic horror fiction acts as a coming-of-age story wherein the protagonists must confront the metaphorical and literal ghosts while simultaneously attempting to establish a sense of identity. Applying Gothic theory and ghost theory to the ghostly stories in young adult Gothic horror demonstrates how certain young adult Gothic stories represent the struggle of adolescents as they mature into adulthood and search for their identities. I use Madeline Roux’s<em> Asylum</em> (2013) and D.J. MacHale’s <em>The Light</em> (2010) as case studies to analyze how ghostly antagonists directly oppose adolescent protagonists on their coming-of-age journeys. Analyzing these young adult Gothic horror novels through the lens of the aforementioned theories allows for a different understanding of the genre of young adult Gothic, shedding a new light on the mechanics of the genre within the discourse surrounding young adult overall. This new understanding of how YA Gothic horror works sheds light on how all horror texts operate as coming-of-age stories for their protagonists who must confront and overcome their individual fears, emerging on the other side as more mature, self-assured, and autonomous people.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dunnells, Adam"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jameela Lares","Eric Tribunella","Alexandra Valint"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:33Z","subjects":["horror","young adult fiction","ghost","gothic","Modern Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/837","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jameela Lares","Eric Tribunella","Alexandra Valint"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dunnells, Adam"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2022-06-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["horror","young adult fiction","ghost","gothic","Modern Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/837"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Young adult Gothic horror fiction acts as a coming-of-age story wherein the protagonists must confront the metaphorical and literal ghosts while simultaneously attempting to establish a sense of identity. Applying Gothic theory and ghost theory to the ghostly stories in young adult Gothic horror demonstrates how certain young adult Gothic stories represent the struggle of adolescents as they mature into adulthood and search for their identities. I use Madeline Roux’s Asylum (2013) and D.J. MacHale’s The Light (2010) as case studies to analyze how ghostly antagonists directly oppose adolescent protagonists on their coming-of-age journeys. Analyzing these young adult Gothic horror novels through the lens of the aforementioned theories allows for a different understanding of the genre of young adult Gothic, shedding a new light on the mechanics of the genre within the discourse surrounding young adult overall. This new understanding of how YA Gothic horror works sheds light on how all horror texts operate as coming-of-age stories for their protagonists who must confront and overcome their individual fears, emerging on the other side as more mature, self-assured, and autonomous people.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Haunted and Hunted: The Gothic and the Ghostly in The Light and Asylum"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jameela Lares","Eric Tribunella","Alexandra Valint"],"dc:creator":["Dunnells, Adam"],"dc:date.available":["2022-06-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Young adult Gothic horror fiction acts as a coming-of-age story wherein the protagonists must confront the metaphorical and literal ghosts while simultaneously attempting to establish a sense of identity. Applying Gothic theory and ghost theory to the ghostly stories in young adult Gothic horror demonstrates how certain young adult Gothic stories represent the struggle of adolescents as they mature into adulthood and search for their identities. I use Madeline Roux’s Asylum (2013) and D.J. MacHale’s The Light (2010) as case studies to analyze how ghostly antagonists directly oppose adolescent protagonists on their coming-of-age journeys. Analyzing these young adult Gothic horror novels through the lens of the aforementioned theories allows for a different understanding of the genre of young adult Gothic, shedding a new light on the mechanics of the genre within the discourse surrounding young adult overall. This new understanding of how YA Gothic horror works sheds light on how all horror texts operate as coming-of-age stories for their protagonists who must confront and overcome their individual fears, emerging on the other side as more mature, self-assured, and autonomous people.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/837"],"dc:subject":["horror","young adult fiction","ghost","gothic","Modern Literature"],"dc:title":["Haunted and Hunted: The Gothic and the Ghostly in The Light and Asylum"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:33Z"}