Interfaith Family and Religious Identity Crisis in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Tiara, D. Lovenia Risty (2022) Interfaith Family and Religious Identity Crisis in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Diploma thesis, Universitas Andalas.

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Abstract

This research discusses the impacts of the interfaith family on a child's religious identity as portrayed in Judy Blume's novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. This novel focuses on the life of a teenage girl named Margaret. She is eleven, turnings twelve years old. Margaret grows up in an interfaith family; her father is Jewish, and her mother is Christian. The interfaith family influences her personally, particularly in shaping her religious identity. In analyzing the research, I apply Erik Erikson's theory of Psychosocial development, focusing on stage four (industry vs inferiority) and stage five (identity vs role confusion). I also use Sigmund Freud's theory of personality (Id, Ego, and Superego). After analyzing the novel, I found that Blume's portrayal of the interfaith family is presented through two things. Firstly, Margaret's parents do not give Margaret proper religious teachings and considered religion as a culture only, while Margaret's grandparents are religious people who believe in religion as the basis of life. Secondly, an interfaith family has a disharmonious relationship, and each member treats Margaret differently. The exposure and pressure to both religions influence Margaret's psychosocial development in the fourth and fifth stages; she becomes anxious, feels incompetent, confused, and disappointed, showing that she fails at stage four of psychosocial development (industry vs inferiority). In the end, Margaret decides not to adhere to any religion but believes in her version of God, indicating that she is agnostic. This decision concludes her psychosocial development in teenage life is fail because she does not embrace any religion as her religious identity.

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