FEATURE ARTICLE: Violence in Young-Adult Fiction
Violence in children's fiction isn't new. Just think about the old fairy tales. Two of the little pigs were eaten before the
third pig boiled the Big Bad Wolf alive.
After a wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, a hunter
sliced the wolf open to let them out. A
wolf eventually ate the boy who "cried wolf."
More recent fiction also includes plenty of violence. The young protagonist in Hatchet, by
Gary Paulsen, hunts and kills to survive.
The choirboys of Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, hunt wild
boars, and then each other. All of this
is a little tame by today's standards, where it seems no subject is absolutely
taboo. For example, in The Lovely
Bones, by Alice Sebold, a girl narrates a story in which she is raped and
murdered.
How much, if any, violence is appropriate in young-adult
fiction today? At the risk of being
roasted alive on a virtual bonfire, the short answer to that question is that it
depends on how it's presented. Violence
in young-adult fiction is a lot like working with fire. Properly handled, fire can be a vital
resource. Misused or out of control, it
can be terribly destructive.
When I started writing young-adult novels, I decided my
target market would be reluctant readers, especially teenage boys. To get my readers' attention and to hold it, I
intended to use lots of action. I would
put my characters in dangerous, scary, and potentially violent situations. But how much is too much? And does violence in fiction foster violence
in real-life behavior?
Our generation isn't even close to being the first to
wrestle with this issue. Daniel
Chandler, of the University of Wales, in "Television Violence and Children's
Behavior," states "Concern about children and popular media has a long
history. Plato proposed to ban poets
from his ideal republic, because he feared that their stories about immoral
behavior would corrupt young minds."
Reasonable people may disagree on this subject. Some have little or no tolerance for violence
in young-adult fiction because they believe that it encourages violent behavior
in real life. Others may feel that
violence in fiction may be overly traumatic for young readers.
On the other hand, some believe that violent fictional
situations create opportunities for young readers to experience traumatic
situations without actually facing real danger themselves, just as my brothers
and I did when we played Cowboys & Indians.
Potential benefits include learning skills for problem solving, conflict
resolution, self-defense, survival, and fear management. As Chandler's article indicates, research on
the subject isn't conclusive, either way.
As I see it, the challenge is to gain and hold the reader's
attention, but also to present the subject in a manner that doesn't trivialize
serious subjects or encourage destructive behavior.
While developing my novels, I considered dozens of
situations in which young characters experienced or committed violence. For example, I developed scenarios in which one
teenage character or another:
Breaks
a younger boy's arm
Hits a
dog with a 2-by-4
Imagines
himself biting through a dog's jugular vein
Pulls
the head off a chicken
Is eaten
by wild hogs
Kills an
adult
Dies from
a shotgun blast to the neck.
First reactions to this list might be that there's no excuse
for any of them. But the context in which
the situation is presented can make a huge difference. In each of the situations listed above,
questions need to be asked before reaching a conclusion. For example:
How
does the violent scene serve the story?
Who
commits the violence? The
hero? The villain? A minor character?
Was
the violent act intentional or accidental?
What
was the character's motivation?
Was
the act malicious or cruel?
Was it
in self-defense?
Did
the offending character express remorse?
Did
the violent character suffer consequences, or was he rewarded?
Was
death or injury presented as a trivial event? Or tragic?
Were
alternative courses of action considered?
Did
the victim's behavior contribute to his own demise?
Did
the character actually commit the violence, or just imagine it?
Although I discarded many other violent situations during
the process of writing my novels, each of the situations listed above were
retained, and fully dramatized, as part of the stories.
As with fire, violence in fiction has the potential to be
destructive, but if used appropriately it can serve the story and the reader
well. I feel I have a responsibility to
make sure it is appropriate within the context in which the violence occurs. Part of me would like clear-cut guidelines as
to when violence in teen fiction is appropriate and when it isn't. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. It's a judgment call, to be handled case by
case.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Author Mike Klaassen publishes "For Fiction Writers," a free monthly e-zine.
