Abstract:
Despite the increasing popularity of Young Adult Literature (YAL), there are still YAL
subgenres, like fantasy, which have received little to no attention in literary criticism. This
research paper hopes to remedy that gap by exploring Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tale series
through the lens of Jeffery Jerome Cohen’s “Monster Culture (7 Theses).” Black’s faeries, whose
physical bodies share features with animals and plants, represent anxiety about urbanization and
pollution, while their magic signifies a fear of losing bodily autonomy; the characters struggle
with the desire to control the bodies of others as they themselves are controlled. Ultimately, I
argue that the series depicts monstrosity as a failure to act against social injustices in order to
overturn them, as inaction only reinforces systems of oppression.