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Cather Avery's Fangirl

1098 Words5 Pages

What happens to a teenager who is used to the familiarity that is starting a new chapter in life concerning growing up? In her novel Fangirl, published in 2013, Rainbow Rowell invites us to experience the typical life of a teenager through the eyes of Cather Avery who finds difficulties in growing up - a universal experience. Cather Avery is a teenager who is starting her first day of her freshman year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Terrified and stubborn of the current situation she is in, Cather finds hardship in adjusting this new chapter of her life. Cather’s inability to accept the universal experience of adolescence forces the reader to identify himself or herself with Cather. Through Cather’s eyes, we witness what everyone must …show more content…

One such creation of a bond occurs in the following quotation: “What’s the point of having a twin sister if you won’t let her look out for you? If you won’t let her fight at your back?” [page 117, line 4-5]. This creates a closer bond between Cather and the readers because although it seems like Rowell chose the first-person narrator, she manipulated the readers into believing so when it truly is a third person narrator initially. The readers only see her points of view and are not allowed inside Cather’s head. Rowell also heightens such a bond when using the technique of showing. This technique allows the readers to learn about Cather’s journey of the acceptance of growing up through what she says and does. [page 69, line 25-27]. Reagan, Cather’s new roommate, even has to teach Cather how to fit in. Cather is so socially awkward that it nearly every time closes the chance of her making new friends. The readers, therefore, feel a connection with Cather because being socially awkward is something everyone must have gone through in life at least once. Cather is the perfect character which shows typical experiences teenagers goes through in order to grow up and for that one reason the readers can identify themselves with her and result in having a closer bond with her. Through these examples, Rowell intentions create a bond between Cather and the readers. In this way, she allows us to feel a fraction of how it used to feel like when learning how to grow up into

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