Romanticizing Mental Illness in Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places

Abstract

Today, many efforts are undertaken to reduce the stigma related to mental illness. This is undeniably a positive thing. However, this awareness gives birth to new challenges that need to be defied. The efforts to de-stigmatize mental illness sometimes incite a romanticization of mental disorders. The thesis attempts to shed light on how mental illness is represented in young adult literature. It focuses on the dangers of romanticizing mental illness in Jennifer Niven‘s All the Bright Places (2015). Michel Foucault‘s Madness and Civilization is selected as a main theory to charts the journey of the mentally ill from liberty and discourse to confinement and silence. Sociological and psychological studies are also employed to examine mental illness stigma and its destructive impact on individuals. The contribution of the thesis could be seen in regarding Niven‘s All the Bright Places as a novel that both de-romanticizes and romanticizes mental illness. The core message of this study is to show that mental illness is a serious problem that needs to be addressed objectively and accurately to break the stigma around it.