Abstract
Daniel is a novel that explores the physical, emotional and sexual abuse of boys at a 1970s Catholic care home/boarding school. An accompanying critical dissertation conducts a comparative analysis of two novels that handle similar themes: The Nickel Boys (Colson Whitehead), and A Kestrel for a Knave (Barry Hines). The portrayal of masculinity, agency, adult/child power dynamics, resilience, victimhood and culpability within literary fiction is considered in both the novel and the accompanying dissertation. The novel and dissertation offer examples of and refer to experiments with narration. The novel constitutes practice-as-research and progresses alternatively between first person POV and third, withholding introspection in favour of offering dialogue and action. In so doing, the reader is drawn to ask questions about character, agency, issues regarding locus of control and their own levels of empathy. In particular the critical work is informed by but not limited to analysis of Whitehead’s use of language, and Hines’ exploration of the effects of agency.Through the writing process itself and research into literary and sociocultural works (be it novels or creative non-fiction essays), the PhD contributes to the ongoing discourse around the sensitivities and ethical considerations necessary when representing child abuse in fiction. The work seeks to explore the relationship between compositional process and representations of challenging themes in order to offer new understanding of how narrative fiction can raise awareness of what it means to live through and to survive child abuse.
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Date
2025
Embargo Period
2025-03-18
Recommended Citation
Hitchen, P. (2025) Daniel: A Novel With Accompanying Critical Dissertation Exploring Child Abuse in Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys and Barry Hines' A Kestrel for a Knave.. Thesis. University of Plymouth. Retrieved from https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/sc-theses/81
