Orange Identity: An Analysis of a Young Adult Story with Absent Parental Figures

Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It's about hanging on during a very bumpy ride.

Ron Taffel

            Adolescents’ developing identity has been the source of inspiration of uncountable Young Adult stories. From the many elements that produce the “bumpy ride,” the presence or absence of parental figures receives particular attention for the considerable significance that the factor has over said development. Neil Gaiman’s short story “Orange” is no exception. In it, 15 years-old Nerys becomes obsessed with tanning creams and mutates into an orange entity. This drastic transformation unfolds under no supervision of her parents, who seem to be highly enjoying their brand-new divorced status. “Orange” wisely portrays Nerys’ search of her identity in a context where commercial products represent a more reliable presence than her parents. This paper will explore the negative consequences that the absence of stable and clearly-defined parental roles can have over adolescents' developing identity as presented in the story “Orange.”

            When it comes to influential factors of identity development, there are two important exponents worth to be mentioned. On the one hand, Aberastury (1959) affirms that the construction of adolescents´ identity is influenced by sociocultural factors, such as family structure and parental roles, which are crucial and essential supporters in the development. On the other hand, Mansfield (2000) argues that family (and other institutions as school or community is no longer a clear anchor that helps to forge a coherent identity. He explains that in a world dominated by consumerism, multinational and global capitalism, adolescents develop identity through consumption. Whichever the proposal taken into consideration, Laible, Carlo & Raffaelli (2000) place a special emphasis on parental roles over the construction of identity: “One important factor that distinguishes adolescents who navigate the transition with success and those who do not is the quality of relationships that the adolescent has with his/her parents.” Thus, Maccoby and Martin (1983) explain that the vast majority of adolescents still continue to rely on their parents for emotional support and advice. However, either the absence or the presence of parental roles will somehow influence the development of adolescents’ identity.

Identity issues drive the course of “Orange”. As Erikson (1950) suggested, “identity involves a sense of self-unity, accompanied by a feeling that the self has continuity over time.” A firmly established identity also provides a sense of uniqueness as a person. However, “identity must not only be perceived by the individual, but also be recognized and confirmed by others” (ibid). For this reason, adolescents “engage in a process of searching for where they fit in with peers and society at large” (Green, 2008). The way adolescents construct or build social and peer relationships will be influenced by the internalized models they acquire from family relationships, especially from parental relationships (Bowlby, 1949). For Baumrind (1967, 1971, 1989, 1991a), these models will be based on Parenting Styles which can be authoritarian, authoritative or permissive. Each of these styles proposes different characteristics that influence adolescents’ cognitive competence and developing identity. For the purpose of this paper, we will only focus on the permissive style since this is the parenting style portrayed in the story. Permissive parenting is characterized by making few demands, exhibiting non-controlling behaviors, and demanding minimal discipline. Rules and limits are not (if at all) clearly established, for permissive parenting presents high tolerance over adolescents’ misbehaviour. Permissive parents present themselves as resources to be used by their offspring instead of being responsible in shaping and guiding their behaviour.

While adolescents should be encouraged to have an active role in decisions that concern them (such as career selection) (Young, 2011), a total detachment of parents in these issues cannot necessarily lead to positive outcomes. Baumrind’s research has shown that children of permissive parents were less achievement-oriented and less cognitively competent compared to children of authoritative parents. As Aberastury (1959) alerted, “not stable and not clearly-defined parental roles can generate feelings of depreciation in adolescents, therefore they will search for more clear and consistent figures outside the family.” Those figures can be singers, actors/actresses, bands, writers, athletes, and inanimate objects with which adolescents can feel identified. The outsider figures will act as substitutes of the missing parental figures adolescents need in order to build their personalities. Yet, identification with idols is a common feature among adolescents, even among those with no permissive parents (Ewbank & Papageorgiou, 1997). As in the case of Nerys’, the problem arises when this identification turns introjective and takes psychopathic qualities (Aberastury, 1959). Then there is not a self distinct from other selves, one that is conscious of its own actions and thoughts.

Neil Gaiman´s "Orange" was originally published in The Starry Rift, a book of short stories edited by Jonathan Strahan. In the structure of a police interrogation, the story  revolves around Nerys´ transformation from a human teen to a luminous orange entity. It is Jemima, her eldest sister, who retells the series of events that lead to such incredible transformation, since Nerys is taken outerspace by aliens to be studied. One important and recurrent factor throughout the story is the lack of parental presence and support. Since the divorce, Jemima, Nerys and Pryderi’s father has moved away and disappeared from their lives leaving aside his role as a father. Their mother does not seem to have a definite role of authority, for she is immersed in her work and inventions. As an inventor and entrepreneur, the mother devotes all her energy into her new projects but devotes none of it to her children. In this context, Nerys herself emerges as the powerful figure in the house and subdues the rest of the family to her rules and desires. Her obsession with tanning creams and her growing thirst for power lead her to lose any trace of humanity.

In “Orange”, the absence of clearly-defined parental figures leads Nerys to construct her identity through consumption of goods and identification with idols. From the beginning of the interrogation, readers learn that the location and profession of the father is unknown, and that the mother is perpetually experimenting in her lab. Both adults are focused on their own lives, barely interfering in their children’s affairs. They are not safe anchors that help Nerys to forge a coherent identity.  Under this circumstance, the girl develops a strong identification with famous people, like the singer Britney Spears, and with artificial tanning creams. In answers 12 and 15 of the interrogation, Jemima explains that her sister used to be pretty ‘normal’ till she turned thirteen:

She started reading those magazines and putting pictures of these strange bimbo women up on her wall, like Britney Spear and so on. (...) I mean, this is a girl who said that she couldn’t see the point in science or  math because she was going to be a pole dancer as soon as she left school.

The ‘bimbo women’, such as Britney Spear and other celebrities, become substitutes for the missing parental figures. They seem to represent more consistent figures than her parents; they appear as role models in which she can actually rely on. Consequently, Nerys does not only consume the bimbo women’s music, but also their “way of life”; she takes into herself their behaviour and attitudes. Later in answer 15, Jemima also reveals that the 13-year-old has been dancing all ‘nuddy’ in front of a camera in her room, just as her idols do. She has a shopping list of beauty cosmetics that include shampoo and tanning cream, and her answers usually include high-pitched shouts and slamming doors. All in all, Nerys mirrors the substitutes’ actions and values, and in doing so, she constructs her identity.  

But while Nerys’ identification with famous people can be considered harmless, her identification with tanning creams turns into a psychopathic obsession. At the beginning, tanning creams are just a way to fit in, since all her friends use them too. But little by little, and without any parental control, Nerys becomes more careless and more dependent of the creams:

13. Artificial tanning creams. You couldn’t go near her for hours after she put it on. And she’d never give it time to dry after she smeared it on her skin. (...) Her friends would wear it too, but they never put it on like she did. I mean, she’d slather on the cream, with no attempt to look human colored, and she thought she looked great.

The consequences for Nerys are extreme. She loses her human body and human traits, for she becomes an ‘orange pulsating light’. She orders her family to call her ‘My Immanence’ or the ‘Vehicle’ and subdues them to her wishes. With newly acquired mental powers, Nerys does not seem to be conscious of her actions, whether they are good or bad. She just demands. In this sense, she is no longer “a being of deliberate thought and action” (McCallum, 1999). What Nerys is now (what she does, what she thinks, what she wishes) is severely related to the substitute figures’ influence, and in turn, to the nonexistent concern of her parents in the construction of her identity.

Although adolescents in general are rebellious, those who are not properly accompanied by their parents seem to go beyond the normal adolescent misbehaviour. They test how far they are allowed to go in an almost boundless context. In Orange, there are no limits imposed on Nerys: permissive parenting style contributes to her increasing misbehaviour. With an absent father and a permissive mother, she feels free to do whatever she wants and constantly challenges the latter figure:  

20. There was some kind of shouting match between Nerys and Mum to begin with, because Mom had come back from the shops and not bought anything from Nerys’ shopping list except the shampoo. Mom said that she couldn’t find the tanning cream at the supermarket, bit I think she just forgot. So Nerys stormed off and slammed the door and went into her bedroom and played something that was probably Britney Spear really loudly.

In this extract, Nerys uncontrolled misbehaviour is perfectly seen. As her demands are not accomplished, her immediate reaction is to blame her mother and raise her voice. Although her mother gives Nerys reasons to understand the lack of tanning cream, the girl does not calm down, and leaves the room infuriated.

As permissive parents may not establish clear limits and rules, adolescents defy their parents´ authority until they are grounded or end up losing control of the situation. As there are no figures of authority in her house, Nerys’ behaviour goes out of control and she becomes the unquestionable authority. While Nerys controls her family minds and bodies, her mother does not even react and seems to accept the new rules.  As Jemima retells, “she let Pryderi [their younger brother] leave to get her more chocolate. Mum and I weren’t allowed to leave the house anymore.” Nerys´ uncontrollable misbehaviour leads her family to feel afraid of her, for she is not seen as a human anymore. Since there are no boundaries, Nerys becomes a dangerous entity not only for her physical transformation, but also for her dictatorship-like dominance over her family.

Moreover, permissive parenting style shapes Nerys’ life expectations to be less academically oriented. As Jemima puts it in answer 15, “I mean, this is a girl who said that she couldn’t see the point of science or math because she was going to be a pole dancer as soon as she left school.” On the one hand, Nerys´ mother unconsciously leads her to be less achievement-oriented and less cognitively competent for she never encourages her to consider the importance of intellectual values. On the other hand, Nerys finds in outsider figures the support her mother does not provide her. With an non-existing strong model in her house, Nerys identifies herself with Britney Spears´ life style and builds her identity towards the values that the singer embodies. From Nerys point of view, school does not represent any important values while pole dancing has become the way of life she desires for her.

Adolescence IS a bumpy ride. While the intensity of the ride may vary, this stage is mandatory and unavoidable for every human being. “Orange” portrays adolescents’ struggle when constructing their identities without the support of their parents, accompanied by the perfect amount of science fiction to lessen (or increase) the complexity of it all. While probably adolescents will not turn into orange pulsating lights for the absence of parental figures, the consequences are still there, maybe not as dramatic and traumatic as being  taken outer space. Adolescents are half way through the process of individualization, demanding more freedom and independency, but they are not demanding to be left completely alone. Support and accompaniment should not be underestimated in this period of life.