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Universal Themes, Take Two, a la Shmoop. Remember back when we finished talking about

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Universal Themes…

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…and you cordoned off that section of your brain, certain you’d never need to use it

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again?

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Well, it’s time to dust off those brain cells and bring ‘em back out of storage…

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…because it’s time for Universal Themes… the revenge.

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Back in Unit One, we talked about two universal themes…

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…Individual versus Society…

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…and Individual versus Self. Remember when Junior from The Absolutely True

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Diary of a Part-Time Indian had to fly in the face of his community and seek his education…

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off the reservation?

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For his senior prank, we wonder if he… TP’d his teepee…?

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Or the way that Esperanza from The House on Mango Street had to work so hard to avoid

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being trapped in one of her culture’s typical… women roles?

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Those are both examples of the Individual versus Society.

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They’re both fightin’ the Man. And then there’s the universal theme of

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Individual versus Self.

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We see that one rear its head when Junior has doubts about where he belongs…

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…or what choices he should make.

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And in Speak, when Melinda has to deal with the shame she feels for being raped.

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We have also discussed the theme of Individual versus Individual…

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…where one person is pitted against another.

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Face to face. Mano a mano. Live on Pay per View.

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We see this theme when Melinda goes against Andy in Speak…

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…and when Junior finds himself at odds with his best friend, Rowdy.

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All these guys are missing is a mud wrestling ring.

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Well, wouldn’t you know it…

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…there is yet a fourth universal theme centering on the struggles of an individual…

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…Individual versus Nature.

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Like when Moby Dick continually thwarts Captain Ahab’s attempts to capture him…

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…or when Robinson Crusoe runs into a slew of problems on a desert island…

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…or when those nasty trees start throwing apples at Dorothy.

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Okay, so they feel she could use more fruit in her diet. There’s a nicer way to get

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the point across. But nature isn’t limited to physical elements.

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Sometimes a person’s biology can cause just as many headaches as a great white whale.

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Plus, your biology is much trickier to… harpoon.

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This is the type of struggle Shawn undergoes in Stuck in Neutral.

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It’s a battle royale between his consciousness and his biology.

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It seems a little like Individual versus Self…

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…and yeah, there’s a little of that thrown in there, too…

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…but it’s not just a moral, ethical or spiritual dilemma he’s dealing with.

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Shawn really has no choice… his biology, i.e. his condition of cerebral palsy, is an

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obstacle for him…

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…and prevents him from talking to his father.

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He may not have to track his biology for months on end in a whaling boat…

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…but, in the end, his ordeal can result in just as much… blubber.

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