Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Arts in English Literary Studies
Advisor
Laura D'Amore, Ph.D.
Abstract
The normative condition of able-bodied and able-minded experience has traditionally made literature inaccessible to disabled protagonists. However, in 21st century Western literature, disabled characters have begun to defamiliarize traditional literary conventions in order to occupy primary roles in literature. Protagonists with disabilities occupy literary spaces and exist within conventions and tropes which do not traditionally include them, allowing disabled protagonists to create new spaces for themselves in literature instead of fitting into existing ones which were not made with consideration for their bodies and minds. Disabled protagonists in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, All the Light We Cannot See, and Six of Crows function to defamiliarize able-bodied literary conventions through the presence of their disabled minds and bodies, thus reshaping ideas of “normal” in literature.
Recommended Citation
Gerrish, Madison, "Defamiliarizing the Literary Protagonist: The Effects of Disability on Narratives" (2025). English Theses. 374.
https://docs.rwu.edu/english_theses/374
