This dissertation argues that Digital Natives, rather than employing novel ways of thinking (such as those suggested by Walter Ong's concept of Second Orality), are in fact employing a way of thinking that has always existed: repurposing. Ruth Oldenziel discusses how, historically, women used "a kind of mental quality" enabling them to re-use objects in novel ways to accomplish more of life's tasks. My research led me to investigate how a wide variety of people, especially historically marginalized people, used this kind of mental quality. This dissertation explores repurposing's real world uses as well as its uses in narratives, specifically dystopia and apocalyptic narratives. Within these narratives, repurposing plays a similar role to repurposing in the real world, filling the gap between a survival mode of life and a science/technology driven society. The last part of this dissertation explores the place of repurposing among a myriad of current concepts concerning creativity.