Identity and Acceptance in Jeff Zentner's In the Wild Light by Mandy Luszeck

It is great to have Mandy contributing to the blog. I was very fortunate to be a minor contributing member to her doctorial committee. She was at Arizona State University and I glad to join in as an outside member while at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Mandy did great work then and she continues to contribute to the field at Utah Valley University.  Keep up the good work Mandy. You have always been one of the cool kids.

Identity and Acceptance in Jeff Zentner’s In the Wild Light

​When I began teaching Young Adult Literature at Utah Valley University, I wanted to select core texts that went through the YA themes and genres that we’d be exploring throughout the semester. One of the very first YA themes we discuss is that of identity and acceptance. It’s not a surprise that this is a dominant theme in adolescent literature-- where coming of age stories are highlighted. It is during this pivotal time in a person’s life that we all look at who we are, how we relate to and fit into the world around us, and even more so, how we fit into the community and our immediate peers. I clearly remember asking my mother to order the silver L.L. Bean backpack from a catalog before beginning middle school, just because I knew that the varied colored school bags were what a large group of my peers would be bringing to the sixth grade. And before beginning the eleventh grade, I remember searching through the mall to find the brown corduroy Jansport bag for the very same reason. Fitting in as a pre-teen and teen feels important.  

Mandy's cool Middle School BackPack

Mandy's 11th grade Acceptable Backpack

​According to Jones (2006), acceptance, identity, and independence are the three key developmental drives amongst young people. For this reason, I began my syllabus with the class reading Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl (2000). Stargirl epitomizes the concept of defying definition. The titular character’s actions amaze and baffle her peers as she floats through the school in unashamed kindness, unfamiliarity, and individuality. Her unique style, mannerisms, and seemingly aloofness to social-cues both embarrass and awe Leo, the story’s narrator, who personally feels constrained by social expectations. As Leo observed, “We wanted to define her, to wrap her up as we did each other, but we could not seem to get past ‘weird’ and ‘strange’ and ‘goofy.’  Her ways knocked us off balance.” Everyone simultaneously wants to be Stargirl, while also being afraid of her. 

​While I could happily keep using Stargirl as the example text for this discussion, when I came across In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner, I knew my students needed to read it too. Further encouraged by Zentner’s presence at our state English teacher conference as the keynote speaker this year, it seemed fitting to trial his book as our first class read and to guide us through conversations of adolescent identity and acceptance. Zentner’s story is a beautifully written narrative focusing on main character Cash, and his best friend Delaney. Cash and Delaney become deep friends united by similar experiences of family addiction in a small rural Tennessee town. When Delaney-- who is an unobjectionable genius-- discovers a new form of penicillin and is offered a scholarship to a prestigious Connecticut boarding school, she agrees on only one condition-- that her best friend comes too. 

​Cash struggles throughout the novel with guilt for leaving behind the town he loves and his aging grandparents, and fitting into a new school that he doesn’t feel he belongs. His roommate is a privileged son of a politician, peers have grown up with yachts and summer vacations in Paris-- and Cash has neither the money nor the academic accolades to justify his matriculation. However, as the book progresses, Cash finds a small yet close group of friends who are kind, accept him for who he is, and become a family away from home. Additionally he slowly begins to learn that he is unique of and of worth-- assisted by an attentive teacher who encourages him to write.

“We think of language as this tame thing that lives in neat garden beds, bound by rules and fences. Then someone shows it to you growing wild and beautiful, flowering vines consuming cities, erasing pavement and lines. Breaking through any fence that would try to contain it. Reclaiming. Reshaping. Reforming. In my life, I've never known anything else that felt so full of infinite possibility. Words make me feel strong. They make me feel powerful and alive. They make me feel like I can open doors.” (Zentner, 2021, In the Wild Light)

​In the Wild Light explores more than just identity and acceptance-- deep themes of conquering fear, existing through grief, connecting to home and place, and discovering the power of words are just a few Zentner highlights. These, in tandem with the very real teenage desire to discover self and connection accomplishes a wonderfully powerful story that will continue to live on my syllabus for the foreseeable future. 

References
 
Jones, P. (2006). Stargirls, stray dogs, freaks, and nails: Person vs. society conflicts and nonconformist protagonists in young adult fiction. Alan Review, 33(3), 13
 
Spinelli, J. (2000). Stargirl. Alfred a Knopf Incorporated.
 
Zentner, J. (2021). In the wild light. Andersen Press Limited.