Mapping the Specter: Seeing Asking for It as Spectral Realism
Marybeth Ragsdale-Richards
Publication: Volume 2 Issue 1
Abstract
This paper argues that O’Neill intentionally adopts the traditional standards of patriarchal poetics in Asking for It to underscore the immediacy of dispelling rape myths. To this effect, feminist visual culture studies have been utilized to draw attention to the way O’Neill antagonizes the male gaze—and thus the spectator’s gaze—in Emma’s self-fashioning and in the sexual violence that the rapist perpetrates against her. Even though fetishistic scopophilia and sadistic voyeurism drive the plot forward, O’Neill’s text actively resists the pleasure in looking, as the masculine ego ideal of the male “hero” requires readers to identify with the gaze of the rapists. Consequently, Asking for It is an instance of spectral realism, wherein Emma’s first-person narration of the rape creates the effect that readers are spectators complicit in the assault and contribute to her capitulation. This paper contends that Asking for It is a text that feminist literary scholars and teachers can utilize to pathologize the post-modern young adult novel.
Keywords: Young adult literature, Spectral realism, Rape narratives, Rape myths, Feminist visual cultural studies, Asking for It
Marybeth Ragsdale-Richards (marybeth.richards@wilson.edu) is an adjunct instructor of English and Women’s Studies at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Inspired by the works of feminist literary critics and post-modern texts, her scholarship explores issues of consent, sexual violence, and rape culture that manifest in young adult literature. She holds an M.A. in Humanities, with a concentration in English Language and Literature (Wilson College).