Reframing Autism in Erskine’s Mockingbird: Neurodivergent Identity, Emotional Depth, and the Ethics of Representation

Abstract

Kathryn Erskine’s Mockingbird (2010) offers a nuanced portrayal of neurodivergence through the first-person perspective of Caitlin, an eleven-year-old girl diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Set after the death of her brother, the novel traces Caitlin’s attempts to understand grief, social expectations, and emotional complexity while searching for “closure.” This study examines how the novel challenges deficitcentered representations of autism by presenting neurodivergent cognition as a form of emotional and relational depth rather than limitation. Drawing on Disability Studies and neurodiversity theory, the paper employs close textual analysis to explore how Erskine constructs autism as cognitive difference and ethical subjectivity. The analysis demonstrates that the novel questions conventional assumptions about empathy, communication, and identity through Caitlin’s internal reasoning and emotional awareness. Rather than romanticizing or pathologizing autism, Mockingbird represents neurodivergence as a socially negotiated mode of being, contributing to contemporary debates on autism, inclusion, and ethical literary representation.