Dystopian fiction in English: a corpus-driven analysis of esteem in Veronica Roth’s "Divergent" trilogy

Abstract

In light of the recent wave of popularity of dystopian fiction for young adults, and in particular of Veronica Roth’s trilogy Divergent, research has begun to focus on this subgenre. However, the focus tends to be on educational and gender approaches to the novels, while the psychological aspects of the characters have been largely ignored. My study focuses on the representation of esteem and self-esteem in the trilogy through an analysis based on annotation. The results shed light on the factors that affect the protagonist’s role and self-representation.

Keywords

• dystopia
• young adult
• divergent
• self-esteem
• esteem
• annotation