Coming of age as a culture? Emancipatory and hegemonic readings of The Indian in the Cupboard

Many texts contain both hegemonic and emancipatory messages, with considera ble tensions created between them. To better understand this phenomenon, we analyze The Indian in the Cupboard. Three elements promote emancipatory re adings: the theme of maturation, evert challenges to hegemonic codes, and t he proffering of implicit alternatives to those codes. We conclude with a d iscussion of how texts such as The Indian in the Cupboard can play a role i n perpetuating as well as undermining existing patterns of cultural interac tion and dominance.