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you for believing both” (Ness 84). Unlike Byron’s change, Conor’s transition into
adulthood is smoothed by the Monster’s guidance.

By tale’s end, Conor is able to accept the dark truth of his nightmare, which
reflects the ambiguity of adulthood. Through the nightmare, Conor confesses his desire
for his mother to die, so that his anguish waiting for her inevitable doom can end. Conor,
at last, is able to declare that he feels ashamed because this “thought [is] so wrong” (Ness
85). Conor’s self-judgment parallels real world trauma, detailed in adolescent trauma
research: “Traumatized children [judge] their behavior in these situations harshly and
experienced shame and self-blame” (Armsworth and Holaday). Reconciling his feelings
of guilt, Conor loses his mother. Conor’s trauma forms him into a knowledgeable young
adult who now understands that life, and humans, are complex.

Ultimately, the two novels culminate Byron’s and Conor’s emotional
development through trauma by showcasing an untraditional belief: traumatic transitions
into adulthood are inevitable and necessary for adolescent growth. This belief is found
through applying a Derrida-Culler deconstructionist viewpoint. Jonathan Culler, in his
book On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism After Structuralism, quotes Jacques
Derrida while defining deconstructionist theory: “To ‘deconstruct’ philosophy is thus to
work through the structured genealogy of its concepts . . . to deconstruct a discourse is to
show how it undermines the philosophy it asserts, or the hierarchical opposition on which
it relies” (Culler 86). Through this deconstructionist lens, Hinton’s and Ness’s novels
assert two claims on trauma.

First, as showcased in the melancholy narratives of loss Byron and Conor
experience, Hinton and Ness support the belief that trauma is tragic and painfully life-

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