Abstrak :
ABSTRACT
This research is entitled “Child Grooming in Russell’s My Dark Vanessa (2020)”.
The aims of this research are to reveal the factors that lead Vanessa to become a
child grooming victim and Strane’s acts of child grooming portrayed in the novel
My Dark Vanessa (2020). The researcher used a qualitative method in analyzing
the data. The data of this research is obtained from the dialogues and narratives
from Kate Elizabeth Russell’s novel entitled My Dark Vanessa (2020). Psychology
in literature and child grooming theory are used to examine the topic of this
research. This research found that based on Elliot et al.’s theory of child sexual
abusers’ grooming strategy, the factors that lead Vanessa to become a child
grooming victim are Vanessa’s psychological vulnerabilities, Vanessa’s less
parental oversight, and Vanessa’s being socially isolated. This research also found
that Strane’s acts of child grooming in My Dark Vanessa (2020) are seen through
how he applies the four stages of grooming to Vanessa. Those four stages consist
of selecting the victim, gaining access, developing trust, and desensitizing the
victim to touch. In the first stage, Strane started by observing Vanessa’s physical
appearance and made sure whether she is a loner or not. Second, he made sure that
Vanessa joined the creative writing club that he supervised to get closer to her.
Third, Strane made Vanessa feel more special than his other students to gain her
trust. Then, he gave Vanessa sexual-themed books and initiated a seemingly
innocent touch which later on escalated to sexual intercourse.
Keywords: My Dark Vanessa, child grooming, psychology in literature, novel
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