Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to investigate the characteristics of female characters in the Turkish young adult literature through the analysis of these characters, and to reveal the image of women in young adult books. To this end, the data related to female characters’ general characteristics, thoughts and emotions, social positions, and socioeconomic status were collected through the analysis of young adult books. Because it was impossible to analyze all of the Turkish young adult books, the 35 young adult books, written in Turkish and best-selling in 2010, were selected as the sample of this research. The books were analyzed through categorical analysis which is a technique of content analysis. As a consequence, thoughts and emotions of female characters in young adult books is composed of young and middle-aged women. The young female is successful; she plans to complete a university degree, to get a job and to marry; she stands up to any challenges and makes an effort to reach her targets; she tries to know herself; she has problems with her boyfriend; she falls into depression from time to time and consults a professional when necessary; she reads and does sport. The middle-aged female character has some problems with her husband and gets divorced when she cannot deal with these problems; she tries to be an ideal mother for her children; she is smart, hardworking and powerful

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