Darkness can Light the way
Charlie Muller ELA
10/25/14 806
In the article Darkness too Visible, written by Megan Cox Gurdon and published for The Wall Street Journal, Gurdon begins by describing an anecdote of a woman and her endeavor of finding a novel for her daughter that she deems “appropriate”. Throughout the article, Gurdon expresses her thoughts of how dark, and filled with profanity Young Adult Literature has become, compared to 40 years ago. The author wants the reader to feel revolted by the content of Young Adult Literature. In addition the author wants the reader to think that reading young adult literature with explicit content , directly affects teenagers, by normalizing and convincing teenagers to cut themselves, do drugs, have sex at an early age, or even to go so far as to commit suicide. The author is generally trying to say that she thinks Young Adult Literature is a bad influence on teenagers because it has many “dark” topics.
Throughout the article, Gurdon used “loaded words”, or words that are powerful. For example, Gurdon constantly repeated the word “dark” to paint a picture of her opinion on what YA literature has become. The author used this example of imagery to make the reader feel that YA literature has become very bleak. As Gurdon put it, “...kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18.” She also used a narrative to convey her opinion, “Amy Freeman, a 46-year-old mother of three, stood recently in the young-adult section of her local Barnes & Noble, in Bethesda, Md., feeling thwarted and disheartened. She had popped into the bookstore to pick up a welcome-home gift for her 13-year-old, who had been away. Hundreds of lurid and dramatic covers stood on the racks before her, and there was, she felt, "nothing, not a thing, that I could imagine giving my daughter. It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff." She left the store empty-handed.” Gurdon shows the perspective of an adult, someone who is likely to agree with Gurdon’s opinion. Yet, Gurdon didn’t show or quote the opinion of a teenager or young adult. A perspective that is very important in the wider debate of censorship in young adult literature. The fact that Gurdon didn’t include this group’s voice, shows me that Gurdon isn’t interested in the opinions of others.
All young adult literature should be uncensored. As young adults, we are mature enough to make our own decisions about what we are comfortable reading. If a parent doesn’t want their child reading a certain book, then of course that is their decision as the caretakers. However, parents shouldn’t be able to decide for someone else’s child, that a book is out of place for them. After reading this article I realized that when there is a conflict on a topic as large as this, there can be a lot of biases, on both sides of the argument. An author might only include perspectives that support their opinion. Or when there is a counterclaim an author might make fun of the opposing argument as Gurdon has. All in all, I realized that literature, especially of the young adult genre helps readers to identify with characters. If someone can feel connected, then they know that they can survive what they’re going through.
