Introduction
American fiction has had many authors with notable representations whose work has significantly influenced people. It would be sensible to claim that the author of the novel Hoot Carl Hiaasen and One Crazy Summer by Rita William-Garcia are prominent figures who left a significant mark in the genre. Hence their books have always been considered relevant due to the important themes they discuss. As a result, many scholars have always recognized the legacy of these authors, and the readers have shown loyalty to their work. This paper aims to investigate how the work of Carl Hiaasen and Rita Willian-Garcia in the novel Hoot and One Crazy Summer respectively uses the elements of domestic and adventure fiction and similarly to explore other essentials of these books which are not limited to plot, character, and ideas.
Domestic Fiction Elements
In Hoot, the author raises the topic of the adaptation of a new student in the school. This issue appears relevant for American children whose parents move across the country seeking better job offers. It seems relevant to acknowledge that the novel Hoot may be categorized under domestic fiction since it poses several genre elements.
One of the key traits that lead to the classification of this novel under this trait is the setting. The storyline within the novel is set around the school and is identifiable on the very first page of the book., “Roy did not ordinarily look out at the school bus window” (Gale, 2016). The second element can be identified during the initial school bus trip, and the author emphasizes the toxicity that exists in the relationships between children of age. “Roy was sure that the barefoot boy would catch all kinds of grief from Dana once he boarded the bus, but that didn’t happen” (Gale, 2016). This indicates the element of domestic fiction as it navigates the psychological essence of character and circumstances. The third element of domestic fiction is evident as the danger for the protagonist, which takes place through social interactions “Dana Matherson grabbed Roy’s head from behind and pressed his thumb into Roy’s temple” (Gale, 2016).
Adventure Fiction Elements
Apart from domestic fiction, the book also has some key traits of adventure fiction. One of the observations that can support the above argument is that the protagonist is a boy. The narration in the novel mainly focuses on this character which is a common trait of literature within the adventure genre (Tucker, 2005). The plot plays an important role in building the genre. It allows the reader to follow Roy’s actions, which is a dedication to achieving the extraordinary goal of rescuing the burrowing owls’ homes.
The narration within the novel has a lot of action, which is very interesting, thus, not allowing the reader not to get bored and keeping the reader excited due to the existence of the detective elements. Finally, the protagonist tends to progress noticeably during the story in the book. Roy discloses that the network is operating without the required authorizations, which engages him in politics to a level. It results in a devastating blow to the pancake network’s plan, and in an interview claimed that his main intention was to save owls. This emphasizes his moral and pure ambitions as the ground of the story.
In One Crazy Summer, the author further explores the use of various elements that satisfies her work to be categorized under the adventure and domestic fiction genre. Like in the Hoot, the setting is one of the identifiable features that lead to the novel One Crazy Summer classification under the domestic fiction genre. The storyline within the novel is set during one of the busiest years in American history (Cachón, 2020). The book is set during the uprising of the civil rights movement. This is evident in the story when Delphine and her sisters Vonneta and Fern are sent to Oakland to Cecile, their mother; she sent them to a radical camp run by the Black Panther, a revolutionary group that sponsors children and gives them a radical education.
The toxicity between Cecile and the children in Oakland also depicts the element of the domestic fiction genre. When Delphine and her two siblings arrive in Oakland, they are faced with a toxic relationship. The author narrates that Cecile does not want anything to do with the children. She does not help the children in settling down upon arriving in Oakland. She does not help the children even in getting food. Cecile only gives the children directly to the local takeaway joint, where they are forced to eat Chinese takeaways for dinner. She also denies them the right to enter her kitchen, and instead of spending time with them, she decides to take them to a sponsored revolutionary camp where they go in the morning for breakfast and are forced to stay late in the afternoon.
The elements of the danger of the protagonist in the book are seen through Bobby Hutton, a sixteen-year boy who was the first person to be recruited by the black-panther, an antagonist group that opposes the oppression of black people, is involved in a shootout with the police and dies. He dies a year later after joining the group, and in the book, everybody wants to remember him at the center. He encourages the group members to keep up the fight for power.
The novel One Crazy Summer is rich in elements that can lead to its classification under the adventure genre, for instance, elements such as the adventure quest. The book touches on various issues at first glance, and the readers can be able to spot these various societal subjects. For instance, the author talks about identity issues (Howard & Ryan, 2017). The elements of adventure quest are evident in the story when the children leave Brooklyn for Oakland to visit their mother to know who she is. Cecile makes them eat takeaways from the Chinese restaurant and forbids them from accessing her kitchen, and also does not want to explain the strange children with afros and black berets who knock at her door. The author explores the civil rights movement issues and captivating narration about their experiences at the camp with the Black Panther group and narrates about abandonment and its repercussions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the above discussion addresses domestic and adventure fiction elements by analyzing the two novels, Hoot and One Crazy Summer. The discussion shows that the two authors use the two genres in their respective works. The authors of the two novels creatively combined the two genres so that their audience or readers do not get bored. In Hoot, the use of detective elements creatively integrated with the plot contributes to the thrilling flow of the events within the novel.
References
Cachón, G. O. (2020). From silence to recognition: giving voice to minority girls in Rita Williams-Garcia’s “One crazy summer” (2010) and Cynthia Kadohata’s “The thing about luck” (2013).
Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Carl Hiasen’s” Hoot”. Gale, Cengage Learning.
Howard, C. M., & Ryan, C. L. (2017). Black tween girls with black girl power: Reading models of agency in Rita Williams-Garcia’s “One Crazy Summer”. Language Arts, 94(3), 170-179.
Tucker, E. (2005). Campus Legend: A Handbook: A Handbook. ABC-CLIO.