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Death, Genre, and Gender in the Graphic Novel I Kill Giants

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the heroic narrative in the graphic novel for children and youth I Kill Giants. Since the central theme of the novel is the heroine’s dealing with the loss of a parent, the analysis relies on recent research on the topic of death in children’s and adolescent literature that emphasizes a clo- se connection between this topic and gender representation/construction. Dealing with the death of loved ones and the awareness of the inevitability of one’s own death in children’s literature is often presented as part of the growing-up process in which heroines acquire knowledge about their posi- tion within social power structures. The paper focuses on the main structu- ral elements of the heroic narrative, such as overcoming obstacles through action, triumphing over the enemy, perseverance, and commitment to the goal as the main features of the hero’s character. From the point of view of feminist literary criticism, the paper aims to show that progressiveness in terms of gender construction, apart from the inclusion of a female character in the position of a hero, requires redefining most of the main structural elements of this predominantly male genre. These changes in the graphic novel I Kill Giants have undermined clear boundaries within the binary oppositions: male-female, private-public, civilized-wild, realistic-fantastic, rational-emotional, adult-child, showing significant possibilities for these types of interventions within the genre framework of the heroic narrative.

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