Individual Text Feature: Seventeenth Summer

Though Maureen Daly’s “Seventeenth Summer” is a plot focused on the chaste relationship between Angie and Jack, there are scattered occurrences of sexual relationships (i.e. the scene where Angie wonders why there are more cars in the lot than people she saw) throughout the novel. This text feature will delve into what I want to hone in on my final paper: the varying dynamics of power and sex between Angie and Jack in comparison to Lorraine and Martin. Scholarly sources that I want to use are excerpts of Roberta Trites’ and Michel Foucault’s works on the topic of the human sexuality and the power it provides.

Roberta Trites’ “Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature” delves into sexuality in novels and the power the narration holds over adolescent readers. After viewing the action Lorraine takes and her downfall in “Seventeenth Summer” versus Angie’s inaction and her neutral outcome in the end of the novel, Maureen Daly provides an indirect lesson to her female audience. She somehow tells her teenage readers that a sexual relationship, as seen between Lorraine and Martin, is premature, leads to emotional turmoil (i.e. Lorraine’s crying, her waiting over Martin’s phone calls, her detachment from her family over the last minute dates she goes on with Martin), and an unhappy ending that is supported in both her physical changes that are apparent in Angie and hasty departure to Chicago.

I think an important subplot is Lorraine’s transformation throughout the novel because it is mostly left unexplained. Lorraine is introduced to the audience as a metropolitan college girl who seems to be out of place in her small hometown.  

I want to delve into the motives behind Lorraine’s character change. During my first read, I had suspicions that Lorraine had lost her virginity to Martin and was maybe pregnant at the time of her departure from home. After the second read, I still hold these beliefs and have also added to Lorraine’s changes with the Daly’s descriptions of nature, more specifically, flora. I think the instigator of this thought process was towards the end of the novel where Lorraine's gardenia was described as crumpled, hidden, and browned—as if damaged. The common conception of a flower representing female virginity can be supported through this imagery as well. There is also a quote Lorraine says towards the end of the book, "I'm not going to save anything anymore," which can contribute towards her stance on premarital sex.  

The sexuality and power segment of Trites' book, she opens with the idea that sexual potency is a common metaphor for empowerment in adolescent literature. She also goes on to state that adolescent literature is an ideal vehicle to curb teenage libido, as a means to regulate the natural urges through warnings in plots, etc.

Along with Lorraine’s sexuality, I want to delve into Angie’s sexuality as well. The entire novel covers Angie’s apparent emotional detachment for Jack. Though there is a degree of infatuation that is always seen in teenage relationships, Angie’s degree of emotion does not seem to be on par with Jack’s display. This is apparent in all of their interactions—Angie is seemingly observant of Jack’s aesthetic and never seems to respond to his attempts at a deeper connection. Her narrations only seem to focus on his body, his face, and her actions that may seem awkward to him. She is never concerned about his thoughts and feelings, only his actions toward her (like hand holding and kissing). The most exemplary display of how Angie only cares about their physical relationship is the dinner scene where she is overly embarrassed over Jack’s table manners. This state of passivity towards Jack’s well-being is also seen when Angie does not stick up for Jack’s lack of motivation in his education during Lorraine’s demeaning conversation with Angie and Jack about future plans.

I think along with Lorraine’s spurt in sexuality, an exploration on Angie’s interests of a purely physical relationship is something that I want to focus on as well. Angie’s apparent thoughts were beyond her time and the time of Daly’s novel. Even now, the notion of an emotionally detached, physical relationship is somewhat of a stigma, especially for women.

Along with Trites’ analysis in adolescent sexuality and power, I also want to use Michel Foucault’s theories as well, since many of his statements were prevalent in Trites’ composition. A quote of his that can be applicable to my final paper is that “discourse transmits and produces power, it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart it”. This excerpt would maybe be helpful in a compare and contrast between the character dynamics of Angie and Lorraine. I plan to portray how although Angie’s character is somewhat before her time, she never follows through on her apparent beliefs. Lorraine, on the other hand, obviously begins a sexual relationship with Martin that seems to support the sexual stigma, as well as morphing her into a degraded character that isn’t as respected as she was at the beginning of the novel. She, as Foucault puts in the statement, underwent a thwarted relationship after trying to individualize herself and gaining power separate from her family dynamic.

Overall, I found Maureen Daly’s “Seventeenth Summer,” though many found dry, immature, and a slow and templated romance novel, an interesting novel on the duality of sexuality. This dichotomy is portrayed through the sisters Lorraine and Angie, both who explore and act on their sexualities in their own way. It is significant that both also have very polar outcomes based on their actions. Through Trites and Foucault, I want to support these events in the text as well as provide the motives behind Daly’s portrayal of these relationships. I also want to explore the transformation of Lorraine throughout the novel, and the motives behind that. I also plan on finding the significance behind Lorraine’s gradual morphing into a crumbled character that is paralleled with the imagery of flowers.