Exploring The Purpose Of Teen Fiction

Plenty of teenagers read books every day for entertainment and for school. But they don’t just read for amusement or that they need it for their classwork, they read because it is what they go to when things turn rough. Like what people said, books are a powerful thing, it can be hopeful and scary. Sherman Alexie is a wonderful writer, poet, and has published plenty of novels and short stories. Sherman Alexie’s purpose of writing is to give teenagers hope that things would work out alright, although it might be rough from time to time, and he also uses humor to entertain his readers. He provides teenagers things that they can relate to, and he addresses many crucial issues in his works. He uses numerous amount of stylistic techniques in his

In the article, “Why Literature Matters,” Dana Gioia predominantly focuses on the use of logos, logical fact-based evidence and stimulating, emotional-based language to entice the audience. Gioia elaborates on the theme of correlation between young adult Americans and the decline of literature in this age group. He continues his argument with the consequences with the decline of literature in the lives of these Americans.

It’s a very difficult thing for adults to write accurate and believable teenage characters. Often times, people my age are written to be significantly too stereotypical. Apparently, the middle aged white men who write most of these movies think every single teenager in high school is either an athlete with no passions other than sports or a nerd who has never looked up from a book. As someone who has only been out of high school for 6 months, I feel pretty confident in saying those stereotypes rarely exist in real life.

Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article has many varying points of attack, while Sherman focuses all of his resources on one point; young adult (YA) literature isn’t detrimental. Gurdon contends the argument that youths being exposed to darker themes makes the themes less effective and ultimately undermines the intensity of the subjects, as well as spread them. She states this as “Self-destructive adolescent behaviors are observably infectious and have periods of vogue. That is not to discount the real suffering that some young people endure; it is an argument for taking care” (par. 13). Gurdon says young adult literature takes away a child’s innocence and negatively affects moral development (par. 6). In contrast, Sherman believes that YA books help people dealing with those troubles to overcome and accept them. He states, “... Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow schock a teenage

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of- age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspects of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial

In the article “Why Young Adults 'Hunger' For the Hunger Games and Other Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Fiction” Debra Donston-Miller states that dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction is very popular among young adults as it is so cleverly expressed by the title. Miller suggests that this popularity is due to “a deep-seated social need or anxiety”. Young adults feel they relate to some extent, in the sense that there is pressure on them to define themselves. Personally I agree with Miller because I have read divergent and there is a sort of gnawing at the back of my head that the protagonist and I were not that different. Granted, I’m not fighting for my life like said protagonist, but the reminder to define one’s self to fit into society is there.

The ways that Baca and Graff want to get kids to write are to similar yet different ways. In that Baca and Graff want them to write about things they will want to write about to thank they don’t feel like it is work. Baca want kids to, “tell the stories that no one else has: the stories of their lives,” (Baker 861). And by having the kids write about their lives they will not feel like they are writing about something many other kids have written about and that way they will want to tell people there stories by writing them. Graff on the other hand wants to inspire kid in a little different way by having them write not about the classic books but instead about what it is that they are

As new genres in the world of novels fade out of the public eye, new ones arise just as fast. A genre that has taken the world by storm is the dystopian trope. Many new young adult novels have this new genre incorporated into the story, often weaving in themes of sadness or conformity being overcome by rebelliousness and hope. It is one of the newest genres, yet one of the most widely varied compared to older ones. Even novels from 70 years ago, such as Ayn Rand’s Anthem share similarities with the same types of stories from only 20 years ago, like The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Time is always moving forward which can make it hard for elements of literature to remain relevant. That said, the adolescent experience while varied is something that everyone will go through at some point. This would explain why there are recurring elements in novels published 14 years apart regarding the quest to find oneself. This is the case with the novels of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson as well as Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman published in 1999 and 2013 respectively. Both female protagonists attempt to find themselves while struggling against the standards set in place by society and their dealing with circumstances the rest of the school body is unaware of.

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

It presents teenagers as we see ourselves: complex beings with real thoughts and feelings. I found the accuracy of this description refreshing because teenagers are usually portrayed as selfish and incapable of thinking of real issues. Green also included real problems in his novel, rather than the typical cliché love story. Through his characters, Green presents the theme that life will contain struggles, but struggles are what make life worth living. As a teenager who thinks her life is over when she gets one bad grade, I found this to be a liberating

What is young adult literature? Essentially, young adult literature is any type of book that a teenager or young adult chooses to read. The term adolescence novel is driven by the audience because publishers are going to produce novels that tend to these needs. This leaves the category very broad for authors to write. Authors believe that young adult literature tends to have a young protagonist who deals with problems other young people would have to deal with. S.E. Hinton is a master of her trade and has wrote many phenomenal novels including, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. All of her writing focuses on young adult literature and teenage angst. Many of you may have thought Hinton is a male author from first glance at her name, but little

Everyone knows the story of the kid who doesn’t fit in and gets bullied for it. Or the kid who doesn’t fit in and changes because of it, or the kid who doesn’t fit in and doesn’t care. The commonality among these stories is that a kid has an identity that clashes with those around them. Although society has adopted this habitual happening on its own, it’s had some help from outsiders with being recrudesce again and again. Young adult fiction has helped this habitual happening keep happening. By typecasting young adults as beings struggling to embrace their identity whilst being accepted in society, young adult fiction prolongs the life of the norm that being yourself is problematic to others and your success in your social life : It ultimately

It’s undeniable that Young Adult (YA) fiction is one of the biggest, and best selling genres in literature right now. Over 10,000 YA books came out in 2012 alone. The genre’s popularity most likely comes from a very wide variety of audience members. Many people would define YA as books for people from 15 to 18 years old, but the fact is, far more than just those in this age range read these books. Readers of all ages have fallen in love with YA fiction and it has a huge following of teens and adults that has led to its exponential growth.

A young adult novel’s audience often desires relatable characters and a meaningful plot that helps them to find resolutions to their own uncertainties concerning life. Many authors employ the literary technique realism to satiate these cravings. Today, there are some popular novels that attempt to imitate this, such as the coveted The Fault in Our Stars or Divergent. These selections, while widespread in the hands of young adult readers today, will not stand the test of time in the way that The Outsiders has, written by S. E. Hinton in 1967, has. This novel, both produced by and intended for teenagers, instead is a better candidate of realistic young adult fiction. Other selections, from Hinton’s era and from today, do not radiate the same