Abstract
In many recent popular works of young adult fiction, readers encounter a bizarre and unsettling rewriting of the classic coming-of-age trope. Unlike the conventional literary model of the child moving to adulthood in gradual stages, young protagonists are forced to negotiate not only the awkward limbo of adolescence, but the immediate experience of death itself. This article looks at the protagonists' coming-of-age through death in the concluding volumes of three successful series—J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy.
Keywords
young adult, crossover literature, coming-of-age, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Philip Pullman, children's literature, Suzanne Collins
How to Cite
Chihaya, S., (2013) “Primers for the Apocalypse: Death as Coming-of-Age in 21st-Century Young Adult Fiction”, C21 Literature: Journal of 21st-Century Writings 2(1), 39–52.