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The Trauma in Becoming an Adult in That Was Then, This Is Now and A Monster Calls
Charles X. Rodriguez

The novels That Was Then, This is Now by S. E. Hinton and A Monster Calls by
Patrick Ness examine the theme of adolescent protagonists discovering the darkness,
ambiguity, and reality of the adult world by experiencing traumatic and necessary
transitions from youth to adult. While the novels differ in genre, both texts are connected
by the two protagonists’ growth and understanding of the realities of adulthood. Such
traumatic events and lessons the pair experience are complex: the inevitability of loss and
separation with loved ones, grey morality, punishing consequences of good intentions,
and the limitations of childhood knowledge.

Byron Douglas, the protagonist of Hinton’s That Was Then, This is Now, and
Conor O’Malley, the protagonist of Ness’s A Monster Calls, share the trauma of facing
the intense separation of a loved one. Byron grows distant and loses the friendship of his
brotherly friend Mark, while Conor loses his beloved mother to cancer. These events are
influenced by the contrasting economic and mentorship statuses of Byron’s and Conor’s
lives. However, such differences still lead to unavoidable trauma that shapes the pair’s
growth. These fictional traumas parallel the effects of real trauma on adolescents. The
traumatic transition into adulthood also reveals to Byron and Conor the true complexity
of life. Through a Derrida-Culler deconstructionist lens, Byron and Conor’s brutal and
sudden trauma can be additionally seen as inevitable and necessary for adolescent growth
and adulthood survival. Accordingly, Byron and Conor begin their stories by believing
that their childhood knowledge of reality will help them survive adolescence; a viewpoint
that trauma will destroy.

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