The Horrors of Life: Are They Too Much Too Soon?

    I have heard the question of if Young Adult literature is getting too dark too quickly for a while now, and I never knew where I stood. Reading Sherman Alexie's opinion on censorship, and then Meghan Cox Gurdon's perspective made the decision for me. 

    Sherman Alexie is the author of "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", a book Gurdon may consider to be dark. I have personally never read this book, but I had the chance to in ninth grade. My peers who did read it had nothing but good things to say. In "Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood", Alexie believes children should be able to read books with these considerably gruesome topics because there are kids out there who live these considerably gruesome topics. There are children who live everyday with the experience of getting abused, getting raped, or having suicidal thoughts, among many other things. He talks about Gurdon's article and disagrees by saying "Does Ms. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA might somehow traumatize a teen mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow shock a teenager whose life has been damaged by murder and rape..." then goes on to list a few other examples. I think his best point was how the people who try to censor authors from writing these topics are not trying to help kids who could use a story from triumph from horror, but "they are simply trying to protect their privileged notions of what literature is and should be" (Sherman). 

    Meghan Cox Gurdon on the other hand, believes that this new era of young adult literature is going to ruin the childhoods of teens. She brings up a mother shopping for her 13 year old daughter at a Barnes & Noble. The mother cannot seem to find a book she deemed appropriate for her daughter to read. The mother said "It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff" (Gurdon). She says these books give readers "...hideously distorted portrayals of what life is." Although, I believe she is completely disregarding the amount of books that do include happy endings, friendships and other things parents want their children reading.

    My personal belief lies with Alexie significantly more than Gurdon. I see Gurdon's point with wanting to make sure kids do not become desensitized to gore and violence, but this is where my agreement stops. I don't like how she seems to criticize parents who don't see an issue with the topics in phrases such as, "Now, whether you care if adolescents spend their time immersed in ugliness probably depends on your philosophical outlook," and "If you think it matters what is inside a young person's mind, surely it is of consequence what he reads." Like, yes rape, abuse and self harm are deemed as "ugliness", but it is still real. Also, a difference in their articles is Alexie talks with kids about their opinion and response to scary topics, but Gurdon only has parental perspectives, so of course their views are going to be different because they are hearing two sides of the story. I may have a bias because I grew up in an insanely diverse high school where people did drugs, self harmed, were rape victims and teen moms, so I know how, unfortunately, common it can be. Just because I read about it in books or even see it in person does not make it any less horrifying each time. I would even argue that being exposed to these topics makes us better prepared to help a friend who is struggling or at least be able to empathize with them. Fear can be debilitating, especially in highly traumatic situations, so any chance to better prepare your children to respond to these situations, god forbid they happen, should be a blessing.