Undaunted Dreams of Young Adults in Rosa Cuthbert Guy’s Edith Jackson

Abstract

 Rosa Cuthbert Guy (September 1, 1925 June 3, 2012) is a prominent Caribbean American writer of young adult fiction. She has penned plays, short stories, fiction, non-fiction and childrens books. Guy is best known for her two trilogies of novels for young adults. The first trilogy comprises of the novels The Friends (1973), Ruby (1976) and Edith Jackson (1978). Guys novels present a comprehensive picture of the diverse youth population in the beginning of the new millennium. She addressed subjects that had remained largely unexplored in fiction for teenagers. Her common themes included race, class, poverty, sexuality and simmering tensions between American blacks and Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the United States. In her novels, Guy captures the fleeting inner world of black adolescents and exposes the obstacles they confront at the very blooming fade of their lives. The present paper investigates the dreams and day dreams of black adolescents in America and studies various aspects of their lives. It aims to systematically analyze the root causes for the troubles confronted by black adolescents. Edith Jackson, the third novel of first trilogy of Rosa Guy is taken up for the study. Edith Jackson tells the story of Edith Jackson, a seventeen year old girl who moves between foster homes and tries to keep her family together. Edith takes it upon herself to take care of her sisters and maintain some sort of stability in their lives. This novel focuses on complex issues surrounding teen agers including parental loss, abortion, accidental death, sexual assault and death. It also exposes the culture, consequences, and institutions of poverty through various events in Ediths life. Edith is the target of sexual harassment and inter-racial and intra-racial prejudice. This novel strikingly conveys the message that adolescence is not simply filled with day-dreams and infatuations. On the other hand, it convincingly portrays through Edith Jackson that teen-agers are endowed with a high sense of family responsibility and invincible dreams