The New York Times series, "Invisible Child: Girl in Shadows", written by Andrea Elliott, clearly shows the severe impact that poverty has on a child's lifestyle. The whole article discusses many different aspects of Dasani's life (the 11 year-old girl who lives in a shelter with her many other siblings and her parents), all of which show the negative impact of a low income living condition and life style on a young girl. For example, the article describes Dasani's school as a "poor kids' version of Laguardia Arts", where budget cuts and lack of after school enrichment only contribute to its not so great education program. The passage also describes Dasani's behavioral issues, and her anger management as she encounters other kids at school who push her buttons to a point where she can't help but let her temper land her in the principal's office. She is clearly affected by the stressful money problems within her household, causing her to lash out even at the small taunts. Lastly, the article uses shocking pictures to vividly display how horrible the living conditions are. The pictures show holes in the walls and cracks in the floors. It shows the ripped mattresses that the children are expected to sleep on. And one image shows a baby being bathed in what appears to be the kind of sink you will find in dirty park bathroom. All these examples are described in detail in the article, further proving that poverty is unfathomable, and in no way shape or form is okay for any child to have to deal with and deal with the aftermath of.
The author, Andrea Elliott, uses a lot of vivid imagery to show just how horrible the effects of poverty are on a person's daily lifestyle. By using these images, Elliott wants readers to feel the pain, and harsh stab of reality that these people living in poverty feel every day. Elliott wants us to sympathize, and put ourselves in their shoes, hopefully empowering us to try to help make those unfortunate people's lives better. For example, the article describes a picture saying, "To the left of the door, beneath a decrepit sink where Baby Lele is bathed, the wall has rotted through, leaving a long, dark gap where mice congregate." Reading that makes me feel sick, and I can't even begin to imagine living every day with those conditions. Seeing an image with this description makes me think about my own life, and it makes me compare my living to theirs. I feel guilty, that I take so much for granted when these people would just love access to a house without a mouse infestation. The author does an excellent job of putting images into readers’ minds, and using visuals to make them feel for the subjects of the article, and sympathize with them.
After reading this article, I feel a lot more exposed to the reality of poverty. I now feel empowered to make change, and not let any other child suffer from the horrible aftermath of not having a substantial income as a parent. My views on poverty used to be similar, but nowhere near as intense and passionate. The article really showed me how change needs to take place, because my heart was breaking as I read how this little 11 year-old goes about her life. However, the article leaves me with many questions, the main one being, what can we as a country do to fix this growing problem of poverty? How can we prevent children and families from suffering from lack of income? Reading about Dasani really has left an impact on me, and I'm sure will do so to many others. Dasani teaches us that she manages, but not necessarily happily. We need to help her go through life happy, and help her and all other children in her situation be able to get themselves on the right track to overcome their family's money issues, and become successful in their lives.
In
the book, "The Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult, Trixie Stone is a 14
year old girl who is head over heels for her newly ex-boyfriend, Jason
Underhill. Her father, Daniel Stone, who has a past in Alaska of being a
stealing, drinking, robbing, and cheating man, is now a well-mannered,
collected father who has trouble accepting the fact that his daughter is
growing up and exploring "more advanced activities" while falling in
love with a boy. Trixie has a great life as a popular, pretty freshman, until
at one party Trixie gets drunk and irresponsible, and leaves the party in a
complete state of shock, accusing Jason of having raped her. From then on,
everything changes, and Trixie spirals into a deep depression, having to deal
with the aftermath of being raped. At one point she gets so troubled that she
tries to kill herself, making her parents even more riled up at Jason for
causing their daughter so much distress. Throughout the story, the idea of
justice and injustice is very present. Trixie’s parents react to the situation
differently, each with different intentions of bringing justice to their
daughter.
Trixie's
dad comes across with the most the most intense reaction to hearing his
daughter got raped. As soon as he hears, he wants nothing more than to rip
Jason's head off, and cause him as much, if not more, pain than Jason had
caused his daughter. When Trixie shows up at her house, shaking in fear and
shock after the trauma happened, Daniel suddenly goes back to the mindset of
his past self-- the one that committed crimes and beat up his peers. In the
story it says, "In a tornado of pure fury, Daniel had grabbed the first
thing he could lay hold of-a soap dish- and hurled it into the bathroom mirror."
This behavior is far more aggressive than anything Trixie had ever seen her
father do, causing her to freak out and be completely startled. Those actions
show how riled-up Daniel can get, and how he still has his former self buried
deep within him. His actions also show how much he yearns to bring justice to
the situation for his daughter's sake. He is out to get Jason Underhill, and
he's willing to go to extreme measures to make him suffer just as his daughter did.
He desperately wants to find a way to bring justice and closure along with it.
Trixie's
mom Laura has a very different, very motherly reaction to hearing her daughter
was raped. She goes straight into the hospital room to comfort Trixie, and hold
her close as though if she lets go, she will no longer be able to protect her
daughter- her baby. The author describes her mother with "her arms around
Trixie so tight that there was no room for doubt between them." Trixie's
mom is not focused on getting "revenge" on Jason, but instead more
focused on never letting go of her daughter again. She's focused on never
letting harm get near her daughter anymore, which is such a strong motherly
feeling and instinct towards a child.
Trixie's
parents' reaction made me think about the whole situation and idea of rape
itself. The issue within itself is unjust- the fact that somebody feels the
right to invade you in such an intrusive way. Clearly, justice was not being
served in the scenario. It's not fair
that a girl has to be forced to go through the trauma, and
horrendous pain that must come with such an unimaginable situation. And nobody,
as hard as they may try, can bring justice to it. Nobody can make up for
someone being raped. No one can find a way to make someone completely recover.
Because being raped is something you can't brush off- it's something that you
have to hold on to-unwillingly- for the rest of your life.
This
led me to think more about whose fault it is that justice can't be served. In
the Tenth Circle, it is of course Jason's fault. No one is really
"blocking" justice from being served, but by creating the problem,
Jason has already prevented Trixie from ever being the same person she was
before the incident. But going more in depth, I thought about whether it was
only Jason's fault. The truth is, the readers are left to decide whether they
truly believe it was all on him, or if Trixie was partially asking for it. The
book sets up the scene as a party with drugs and alcohol, where Trixie is most
definitely taking part in "having some fun". She is also dancing
around and flirting with Moss, Jason's best friend, in front of Jason, trying
to make him jealous. Yes, Trixie did not tell Jason to rape her, and yes, he
didn't listen when she said stop. But still, I can't help but wonder if through
the drugs and alcohol made her memories became clouded, and she might have
invited Jason to do more than she remembered.
Of
course, it is not okay that Trixie was raped. It is horrible and disgusting
that Jason did that to her. In life, just because someone may not be in their
right mind doesn't mean it's okay to take advantage of them. It's still wrong
what you're doing. Because taking advantage of someone is worse than just flat
out hurting them. Taking advantage of someone is so unfair, and so against what
is right. It is unjust, and many people deal with unjust situations in their
life on a day to day basis. This book shows that it is so important to have
family and friends around you, just like Trixie has her parents, who will go to
great measures to keep you safe and make sure that if something terrible
happens, justice is brought to you.
The book, "The Secret Life of Bees", by Sue Monk Kidd, follows the adventure of 14 year-old Lily Owens, an isolated and insecure white girl living in South Carolina in the 1960s. When Lily was four years old, she accidentally shot and killed her mother, and ended up alone with her abusive father who she calls, "T. Ray". Lily is a complicated girl, afraid of lacking beauty and femininity as she grows up. She believes her mother is watching over her, and still loves her from wherever she ended up. Lily's housekeeper, Rosaleen, who helped raise her when her mother was no longer alive, is a feisty black Southern woman, who continuously pushes limits for the time period. One day Rosaleen gets herself into trouble with a group of white men, and is put into the hospital before being sent to jail. Before this can happen however, Lily helps her escape the hospital, and together they run away so that Lily can escape T. Ray and find out more about her mother. They end up at a beekeeper's house belonging to three black women named August, May, and June. As time progresses, Lily learns her own mother once stayed at this house. Throughout the story, more complex issues of racism and injustice of the time period come through.
Towards the beginning of the book, the whole plot line is set up when Rosaleen gets into a fight with a group of white men. Rosaleen and Lily had gone into town where they ran into three white men who began to taunt Rosaleen. Already, the power struggle in this situation was a more complex issue actually happening. Clearly, Rosaleen was struggling to attempt to be equal to these men, but because of the time period, race was an overpowering issue which completely put Rosaleen at a disadvantage.
As Rosaleen got fed up with the men in this part of the book, she poured her chewing-tobacco juice onto their shoes, which only made the situation worse. These men called the police and freaked out, attacking her. The police said, "You're under arrest… Assault, theft, and disturbing the peace." Rosaleen did not steal anything, she did not physically assault anyone, and the ones who really disturbed the peace were the white men, who started the whole fight. This just shows how racist people used to be. Although the author doesn't come out and say, "The police man was mean to Rosaleen because she was black", it is so clearly obvious that if she was white, she would have been judged and treated much less harshly than she was in fact treated.
This situation makes me wonder about the more complex issues happening. One obvious one would be discrimination; obviously the men reacted differently because this woman was black. In South Carolina in the 1960s, race was such an overwhelmingly judgmental issue; it controlled people's minds and views of others. Later in the book, a police man stops by the house where Lily is staying with August, May, June, and Rosaleen, and he inquires why she is alone with four black women. He also warns her she better get out of that house, because if he comes back and finds her still living there, he won't be happy. This scene shows how the expectations of the time period really distorted people's views of what was "right". This police man wasn't necessarily a bad person. Perhaps he was a great guy, and his only flaw was that he let the racial problems of the time influence him. That makes me question whether that itself is what determined true character back then- whether a person was strong and smart enough to know better than to be influenced, and in fact take a stand against what was clearly wrong.
I also wonder if gender played a role in the situation. Would it have been different if Rosaleen was a man? Even if she was black? Even today these physical characters are so overpowering in a horrible way. People still, in some parts of the world, believe that men should be treated as less then woman. Some people still view African Americans as foreigners.
It's stunning, and somewhat appalling to me that someone could still go through life with that perspective. The history and the cruel events that have taken place contain thousands of examples for why it's cruel and disgusting to be someone who looks down on others because of race. In my life, I live in a community that is so incredibly diverse and accepting, I could never imagine living in a world like Lily Owens did.
"Writers today feel the real freedom to write what they want, light or dark." (Levithan,Teen Fiction Plots are Darker and Starker) Literature has grown and changed as time moves forward. With that, Young Adult fiction has become increasingly darker to match the reality of the time period. What once might have been a graveyard knifing is now a person taking a knife to them self because of the endless amount of torture in their school and home lives. These newer, dark issues seem to pose as threats to some parents and critics; that this will negatively affect their child's life and mind. In reality however, these books only speak truth about the many troubling realities Young Adults face in our world today. Access to these books dealing with dark issues should not be limited because it creates awareness among those who need them, and gives teens struggling with similar issues something to relate to. Preventing access to books does not help teens but rather hurts them in the end.
YA books make teens more aware of the consequences of their actions. Access to books about suicide, for example, open teens' eyes up to the dramatic effect of bullying. It shows them that their actions, which they may view as small and trivial, are actually a much bigger deal. In the YA book "13 Reasons Why" written by Jay Asher, it shows how simple bullying adds up to catastrophe. Hannah Baker records tapes explaining why a certain 13 classmates are responsible for her suicide. Clay Jensen, a name on that list, listens to the tapes, and through him, readers see just how unraveling and traumatizing it is to hear you're responsible for a suicide. This dramatic story can set an example of the effect of your actions and how you might not be aware of them. Another example is in the article "Has YA Fiction Become Too Dark", the author writes, "We read… to learn." We learn lessons from YA fiction. We learn to not take our lives for granted. We learn that the reality is some teens suffer through the same issues these characters do. YA fiction acts as a teacher, creating awareness about your actions and reality.
In addition, books dealing with dark issues should not be limited because it gives teens struggling with similar issues something to relate to. For example, in “Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood" Sherman Alexie discusses a teen mom, who wanted to graduate high school, but had to deal with her pregnancy. Now, years later, she's a mother and managed to become a high school graduate. Clearly, this is reality; teen pregnancies do happen. So why should we pretend they don't by taking away books about it? Also, in the same article, Sherman Alexie writes about his past: "When I think of the poverty stricken, sexually and physically abused, self-loathing Native American teenager that I was, I can only wish… I'd been given the opportunity to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" (written by Sherman Alexie himself). YA fiction acts as a guide and a point of reference for teens who need some reassurance that they aren't alone. A final example is in "Teen Fiction Plots are Darker and Starker", in which William Porter writes that reading YA fiction is a way of dealing with the present, but through a fictional story. Teens need a way to feel like someone else understands what they are going through. YA books in this way can save young adults from spiraling into a lonely depression.
Alternatively, some critics are troubled by the content in YA fiction. Meghan Cox Gurdon, author of "Darkness Too Visible" for example, feels strongly that the dark and agonizing issues are too much for “kids” to handle. She says it’s too much for them to handle- but wait, didn’t we just come to the conclusion already that many teens have suffered similar issues as characters in the books? So is Meghan Cox Gurdon suggesting they can't handle their lives? Maybe that’s so, but in that case, that is the exact reason YA books are so necessary to help teens understand what they are going through. As Sherman Alexie writes, "Does Ms. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel 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? Does she believe a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?" Are we really protecting them by taking away these books, or just turning a blind eye on reality?
All in all, access to YA books dealing with dark issues should not be limited because not only do they make teens aware of their actions, but also because it may help them struggle through their own lives. Dark issues are not the problem. If they were, then some teens' lives should be banned. The real problem is people's inability to understand the needs of teens who deal with such heavy topics. And because of this inability, teens turn to these YA books to get through their lives when they can't turn to a person. So if we ban these YA books, what will be left for struggling teens to turn to?
In the Young Adult book, "13 Reasons Why", written by Jay Asher, Clay Jensen finds himself in a far from desirable situation. His former classmate, Hannah Baker, who just recently took her life, leaves him along with 13 other kids tapes describing how they are each somehow responsible for her suicide. The book takes place mainly over a span of one night, filled with truths being revealed, rumors proved wrong, and an unimaginable amount of regret because of the words uttered from now dead Hannah Baker.
The tapes lead readers through the story, with Hannah's "voice" shaping the story's plot arc. The author's writing style is very poetic, with a great deal of thought provoking imagery. One of the lines spoken by Hannah on the tapes is particularly meaningful, as she describes the feeling of having someone she thought of as a friend choose to believe rumors over her own word. This line, "…It's more than a scratch. It's a punch in the stomach and a slap in the face. It's a knife in my back because you would rather believe some made-up rumor than what you knew to be true.", represents both the arc of the story, as well as messages conveyed throughout the whole book.
I think this line really shows the arc of the story and how the plot builds towards the climax. For example, the idea of the growing pain, going from a punch to a slap to a knife in the back, represents how increasingly worse and worse issues in Hannah Baker's life got. At the beginning of the book, Hannah is still optimistic, with no intention of taking her life, or having no reason to. Throughout the story, each of the 13 classmates' actions seem to grow more harmful, causing Hannah to feel more and more pain. The story goes from her being invaded by a creepy kid taking pictures of her in her house, to her almost being raped. These are obviously two extremely different invasions, and show the surreal increase in the seriousness and pain Hannah suffered. By the end, in the story she says, "The night was over. I was done." This clearly shows how easy it is for one issue to build on top of the other until life is too much to handle.
Also, these escalating circumstance really shows how one person's actions effect another's, and how that can spiral into something horrible. This is clearly shown within the story when one of the teens on the list, Justin Foley, reappears throughout Hannah's narrative. He is the start of the tapes, her first kiss; the boy who decided to spread a rumor making a simple kiss appear as something scandalous. His actions made other people make judgements about the kind of person Hannah was. Even Clay, the narrator and main character, says that when he heard things about her he thought "she was building quite a reputation in a short amount of time." The fact that Clay Jensen, a really sweet guy, came to this conclusion displays the influence a rumor can have. Later, the whole story comes back to Justin again, where Hannah witnesses him raping another girl. This is close to Hannah's breaking point, and it shows how she got to that point of being so miserable with her life from the simple rumor in the beginning of the book. The author uses this as a lesson, showing that your actions have much greater consequences that what you could imagine.
This line also represents a bigger picture; it sums up the idea of teen suicide. Issues build on top of each other that cause teens to go down into an unimaginably deep depression, which they can no longer be pulled out of. The line says, "… you rather believe a made-up rumor than what you knew to be true." This line really acts as a lesson and message that applies to the whole story. The idea that believing a rumor is a choice is really powerful. The idea that YOU yourself make the decisions in YOUR OWN life is something that everyone could learn from.
I think teens who read this book can really use the lessons and themes shown in that line in their own life. Being able to choose whether you want to "be the bigger person" or just be a follower is a choice that almost everybody is faced with at one point or another in their lives. It is so important for us to understand the consequences of our actions, and have the ability to stand up and make a change. Especially when you see someone suffering, it is our job to help them out of that dark place before it gets to a point where no one can do anything any more. This book shows the way problems in life escalate, and unless someone steps in, it can get to an unimaginably dark point.
"Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood", by Sherman Alexie, argues that young adult books are the most powerful books because they are the ones that get teens reading: teens can relate to them, escape from their lives with them, and seek advice from YA literature. Sherman Alexie goes into detail on how shielding teens from YA fiction is only shielding them from issues they are already dealing with in their lives. To support this idea, Alexie passionately disagrees with Meghan Cox Gurdon's article, "Darkness Too Visible" which defends the opposing argument that YA books should be banned. He makes multiple points in his argument, such as that taking away these books is like trying to shield poor kids from the idea of poverty. Alexie also relates back to his own experiences to enforce his ideas. He recounts a recent visit to a high school, where he heard "individually tragic” and "collectively agonizing" stories from teenagers about their own lives. These real life stories support the position that many young adults are experiencing the very issues that the critics feel should not be published for those same young people to read. Alexie also discusses an interaction with a young man whose father wanted him to become a solder and join the military, while he himself wanted to be a writer. He uses this situation to make readers understand how ridiculous it is that if a boy is "old enough to die and kill for his county" and "old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war", some still feel he is too young to read a YA book that describes those same infinite horrors.
The author's passionate writing style causes me to think that the opposing argument is ridiculous. He wants readers to think it is unfair of people to suggest that books containing such raw, dark material should be banned. One powerful way Alexie gets his point across is by describing, in detail, his own youth, and the positive effect YA books could have had on him. For example, he describes, "When I think of the poverty-stricken, sexually and physically abused, self-loathing Native American teenager that I was, I can only wish… that I'd been given the opportunity to read 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' (written by Sherman Alexie himself) … or 'Speak'." Both books are filled with the young adult issues being critiqued, such as tragedy, self- harm, abuse, and sexual content. Understanding this connection to his own personal struggles makes me feel sympathetic to him, and it really brings home his point that YA books can create an escape and a source of advice for teens experiencing similar issues. Sherman Alexie also really enforces his ideas and opinion by just simply throwing opposing ideas back at Meghan Cox Gurdon. For example, he says, "Does Ms. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow shock a teenager whose life had been damaged by murder and rape? Does she believe a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?" Alexie's passion is like a slap of reality, making me get passionate and worked up over the injustices in the world. By making the tone of the piece so forceful and filled with honest passion, he wants to make readers think that it is ridiculous to ban books that only echo the realities of what many young adults suffer through.
After reading this article, I went from being slightly unsure of whether banning books may be a good thing, to feeling passionately that it is absolutely ridiculous. As Sherman Alexie so brilliantly put it, "They (cultural critics) aren't trying to protect the poor from poverty. Or victims from rapists. No, they are simply trying to protect their privileged notions of what literature is and should be. They are trying to protect privileged children". If YA fiction allows teenagers who struggle with pressing issues in their everyday lives to have an escape, or a way to relate and seek advice from something, then why would anyone suggest taking these books away from them? Why make their already hard lives harder to struggle through? This article so clearly shows that banning books won't protect teenagers from issues already present in their lives. They are too late for that. The only thing left to do is to give them something to grasp onto for help and reassurance. And that is exactly what these YA books provide.
