Silent Speech: Narration, Gender and Intersubjectivity in Two Young Adult Novels

Combining feminist and narratological perspectives, this paper examines the construction of subjectivity in two young adult novels with a range of narratorial positions. The investigation is grounded in Robyn McCallum’s work on intersubjectivity, in which interrelationships affecting subjectivity are only possible when the narrative permits a variety of and exchange between textual voices and ideas. Keeping in mind this view of intersubjectivity and the importance it places on polyphony, the paper examines male and female subjectivity in The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.