Critical Summary
The Education of Scarlette Urug: Book I
As presented at the 2023 PCA National Conference
The Education of Half-Orc Scarlette Urrug: Book I is a novel that experiments with form and consists of three interwoven plotlines:
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The social plot contains themes of displacement, gentrification, bullying, and belonging. This subplot explores folklorism as an example of documenting social fears in literature, with fairytales acting as vehicles to address difficult subjects, particularly with children. 13-year-old Scarlette is desperate to fit in at her new school and longs for friends. When Scarlette finally does find a group of peers to hang out with, they challenge her morals and boundaries. In summary, she falls into the wrong crowd which represents how easy it is to lose oneself while pleasing others in an attempt to fit in.
The familial plot contains themes of generational trauma, transitional struggles of immigration, censorship, deployment, and the effects of a militaristic lifestyle on civilian family members. Many characters and events are inspired by my real-life experiences, paralleled with truthful stories of my parents as a military and interracial couple. When Scarlette is assigned a big school project in her history class, she turns to her human mother for help. This leads to a series of homeschooling sessions in which Scarlette must reconcile with her family's traumatic history of enslavement and sacrifice. While she grapples with her sense of identity, her father announces his orders of deployment, disrupting her sense of safety and family.
The familial plot contains themes of generational trauma, transitional struggles of immigration, censorship, deployment, and the effects of a militaristic lifestyle on civilian family members. Many characters and events are inspired by my real-life experiences, paralleled with truthful stories of my parents as a military and interracial couple. When Scarlette is assigned a big school project in her history class, she turns to her human mother for help. This leads to a series of homeschooling sessions in which Scarlette must reconcile with her family's traumatic history of enslavement and sacrifice. While she grapples with her sense of identity, her father announces his orders of deployment, disrupting her sense of safety and family.
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The educational plot contains themes of alienation, institutionalized oppression, racism, and the harms of anti-militarism from the perspective of a child-dependent. Many civilians aren't aware of the large population of military-dependents (spouses and children of soldiers) who deal with the grief and struggle of building their lives around the military. Some of Scarlette's teachers are blatantly biased against biracial individuals, but even worse are those who hold their political prejudices against her as well. The unfair bias displayed by the school’s educators encourage her peers to behave likewise, exposing racism as an institutionalized, learned behavior.
Though fictional on the surface, my novel-based project is grounded in my experiences as a BIPOC woman growing up within an American military household. As someone who is biracial, I was told many times that I was either "too Asian" or "too white" to fit into certain social circles. I got asked the infamous question —‘what are you?’ — more times than I can count. Additionally, while growing up, I encountered many neighbors, peers and authority figures in my life who also discriminated against me for my family's long intergenerational history of serving in the United States military. I was plagued with inner-conflict, torn between pride and shame for who I am as an individual and as a product of an interracial marriage. I did not know how to reconcile with the complex history of the US military and the love I have for my father, grandfather, uncles, and so on. I did not have the resources to help ground me in my identity. As an adult in my last year as a grad student, I decided to start writing the story I wish I had growing up. I decided to write my own narrative where I hope others will find representation.