57 pages • 1 hour read
Paper Things
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Background
Cultural Context: Youth Homelessness
Youth homelessness is a major societal issue in the United States and around the world. There are 4.2 million people aged 13-25 living without a home in the United States at any given time (“Youth Homelessness Overview.” National Conference of State Legislatures, 29 Mar. 2023). Homelessness is extremely harmful for young people, especially children: People without homes are vulnerable to unsafe physical and personal situations, including abuse. Homelessness makes it very difficult to find work or to access healthcare and education. Insecurity, fear, cold, illness, and lack of sleep can severely impact young people’s development and their ability to access happy and safe futures.
Youth homelessness is a complex problem that stems from a wide variety of societal and individual issues outside the young person’s control. It is often attributed to prejudice, discrimination, and abuse within households and communities, as a consequence of risk taking, crime, or gang affiliation or through parental poverty. Young people who are in foster care, who have a single parent, or who have recently been involved in the judicial system are at greater risk of becoming unhoused than the average youth.
Inadequate support programs and social stigma make it challenging to prevent youth homelessness from occurring or to identify and resolve it. The Connection Between and Shame makes it difficult for people who are without a home or at risk of losing their home to seek help. People are often embarrassed and humiliated about their situation and do not want to ask for help because they fear the response may be mockery, disgust, or shame. While government programs and agencies do exist to address youth homelessness, funding and coverage is sparse, and the complexity of the issue makes it difficult to prevent completely. Many young people who leave home do so out of loyalty to others, like Ari, while others leave due to conflict with a parent or guardian, like Gage. Novels like Paper Things help to educate young people on the issue of youth homelessness and to break down stereotypes and prejudice.
Historical Context: Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American writer and novelist. Alcott’s father was unable to support the family financially and experienced periods of mental illness. The support of the family fell to Alcott’s mother, three sisters, and Alcott herself at a time when women’s work was of low status and poorly paid. Alcott worked from a young age as a governess, seamstress, and domestic servant. Although in impoverished and sometimes precarious circumstances, Alcott’s family was connected to writers and thinkers of the time who encouraged her intelligence and unique perspective to flourish. These figures included Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Julia Ward Howe, and Sophia Foord. Alcott was encouraged to write and began to supplement her family’s income by publishing short stories and poems. Her most famous novel, Little Women, was published in 1868, followed by sequels and other novels. Alcott also published under the gender-neutral pen name A. M. Barnard to escape prevailing prejudice against female writers and to write on themes and subjects not considered inside the remit of women at the time. Alcott grew up to be a keen self-improver and women’s rights activist.
The influence of Alcott on Paper Things is positive and affirming, and she is a role model in the book for female resilience and achievement. In Paper Things, Ari chooses Alcott as the topic of her history project and focuses much of her time on this. The project is an escape from the difficulties Ari experiences as a child without a home and an example of the practical challenges unhoused young people face when trying to progress through education and training. Paper Things shows that Ari chooses Alcott partly because Alcott grew up without any financial advantages and partly because Alcott possessed sharp insight and an unusual perspective for a woman of her time. Alcott addressed relatable yet complex family issues, a focus mirrored by Jennifer Richard Jacobson in Paper Things. Ari’s project on Alcott is a great success, a testament to Ari’s strength and perseverance during a difficult time—something she also admired in Alcott. Like the characters of Little Women, Ari must decide between her own welfare and her fierce loyalty to her adult brother: In the end, she chooses herself.
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