Overanalysis

In my young audult fiction class, we've read a few things about something called Lacanian theory. I'm still not sure that I understand it, but it seems to say that everything in a young adult novel is about rebelling against authority. And they made some really weird connections. Like if a character is an orphan, they seek out a parent figure just so they can have someone else to rebel against.
And how in Charlotte;s Web, a little girl save sthe life of a pig, just to spite her father.

No.
Just no.

Sure there's plenty of truth to the idea that young adult fiction is about reellion.
But just because you have a theory doesn't mean you should twist everything to fit in that theory.
A little girl saving the life of an animal, especially in Charlotte's Web, is not about rebellion. It is about love.

And if an orphan seeks out a parent figure, it's not necessarily to find someone that they can rebel against. More likely they want someone to watch over and help them. Someone that they can love and confide in.

It is possible to over-analyze things.
Which is probably one of the reasons that I loathed high school English.
I was thinking about this recently, about how good I would do at that kind of analysis now, if I were to take those classes.
And then I realized that no. Those weird tests they had us do about analysis were just crazy, and I don't know that I'd do much better at them....