Argument Essay: Should YA Fiction Have Limitations?

         Did you know that books, including Captain Underpants, have been challenged in 2013? Decisions like this sparked an ongoing debate on whether or not young-adult fiction should have restrictions. But many articles have validated my point and have brought me to my clear position. This includes multiple perspectives on the profane content in blurbs, the questionably realistic circumstances within a YA novel, and the surprising changes between previous books and the ones we read today. The following evidence will clarify that it is not up to a ‘gatekeeper’ to try to challenge books and interfere with a person’s reading life by influencing their opinion on books.

         Admittedly, YA books seem extremely intense and gruesome, when they’re talked about or summarized by critiques in their articles. For example, Meghan Cox Gurdon’s “Darkness Too Visible” states that Shine involves, “the protagonist [16 years] once a close friend of the victim…recover[s] from…sexual assault…[Also,] assorted locals [are] in the grip of homophobia, booze, and crystal meth.” These ‘assorted locals’ aren’t important characters in the story and her relived ‘sexual assault’ was a small portion of the book (as she investigated suspects). As you can see, books may involve intense events and tend to normalize dangerous issues to set a certain setting, but these aren’t large components of a book. In other words, David Levithan is paraphrased in William Porter’s “Teen Fiction Plots Are Darker And Starker” saying, “a book’s… blurb often makes it appear grimmer than it is.” Therefore, YA books may often have summaries that look more profane without the context of the entire book, so they don’t deserve to have limitations.

          Secondly, YA literature shouldn’t have limitations because some teenagers may find them very helpful in terms of normalizing and coping with the real problems in their lives. This is actually a very popular opinion that hasn’t failed to come across in many articles for this debate. In Sherman Alexie’s “Why The Best Kids Books Are Written In Blood”  he bases this entire article mainly on this point, and how it reflects his hardships as a teenager. For example, he implies that teenagers, “read because they believe…that books-especially the dark and dangerous ones- will save them.” This was a little opinionated but at the same time led to some really informative and eye-opening points, that held some truth to them. Although YA fiction could somewhat disturb a reader, limitations would only, “protect the [seemingly] privileged children,” continues Sherman Alexie. In simpler words needing and not having a coping mechanism for something disturbing in your real life is far worse than simply being disturbed by a novel, which you can easily stop reading if you wish to. All in all, this isn’t a reason to put limitations on YA fiction.

  It’s certainly not a lie that teen fiction has gotten darker over the years. And many critiques haven’t failed to mention this in their articles. For example, Gurdon quotes, “40 years ago, no one had to contend with young-adult literature because there was no such thing.” This brings up how YA novels have gotten more graphic over the years but fails to address why. For example William Porter starts out his article by showing the similarities between “headline news…[and] plotlines from recent novels.” This proves that if our daily news is getting more intense everyday, it’s only fitting for YA literature to do the same. Therefore, books getting darker isn’t a valid reason for limitations on young-adult fiction.

  In conclusion, there are many valid reasons as to why young-adult literature shouldn’t have restraints of any kind. This includes the exaggerated graphics within blurbs, the necessity of normalizing gruesome events in a teen’s life, and the expected darkening of YA fiction over years. Considering young-adult fiction is, after all, intended for young adults, the only control people should have over kids reading YA books is parenting of your own child, not others. But that’s exactly what limiting books does, if you think about it. So instead of choosing what’s appropriate for someone’s child, don’t you think we should give the parents an opportunity to raise their children the way they intend to?

Reading Response: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

This book is written in the perspective of Christopher Boone, a 15-year old with Asperger’s syndrome, who tries to figure out who stabbed his neighbor’s poodle to death. With the complicated relationship between his parents and the truth behind the dog’s murder, the author, Mark Haddon, doesn’t fail to incorporate the importance of simplicity and knowing the truth throughout the novel.

For a guy like Christopher truth is so important that the fear of not knowing can cause physical pain and sometimes illness. For example, Christopher always has a wristwatch on him because it gives him comfort to know what time it is. This shows how maybe it’s something as little as the time, but it still reflects how it’s better to know the truth than to go on an assumption or lie. This comes into play with an even bigger lie, further into the book. As Christopher is looking for a book of his in his father’s room, he finds proof of his father telling him something that doesn’t add up with what he found. He then figures out that his father has been lying to him for a very long time, and just the very thought of that makes him sick, literally (he vomits right then and there). Although his syndrome makes the scene go to extremes, it still expresses the same lesson when you tell a lie and make someone cry. It still shows the importance of the truth, and the often unnecessary act of lying.

This book also shows that when you keep things simple there’s less room for drama or problems. For example, towards the beginning of the book, Christopher states, “I like dogs. You always know what a dog is thinking.” This shows how when things are simple you don’t feel that drag of knowing you have to figure it out, therefore it goes without saying that simpler is better. Christopher then follows that statement with, “dogs are faithful and they do not tell lies.” This shows how if something, like a dog, was unnecessarily complicated it would most likely lead to things like lies, and that will eventually lead to trouble. And nobody wants trouble. So Asperger’s syndrome or not, he still makes a good point in wanting things to be simple.

All in all, truth and simplicity in life is the way to go, even though the author had a unique way of portraying it in this story’s circumstances. This motto could save someone from lots of difficulties in life. But you don’t need me to tell you that. You’ll eventually figure it out.

NF Critical Analysis: “Teen Fiction Plots Are Darker And Starker”

  In “Teen Fiction Plots Are Darker And Starker,” the author, William Porter, wants us to know that YA fiction has gotten more graphic and intense over the last 10 years, and even though “gatekeepers” try to encourage authors to make their books more appropriate with limitations, they can’t overlook the benefits that come from YA books, in which give some readers some sort of escape or coping mechanism for their actual lives. One thing Porter does is support his claims in the article with a real-life example, to make it relatable to his readers. For example, after he stated, “These darker books reflect what today’s teens… see in their…world.” Then he follows that with, “ It’s not all Harry Potter or the ‘Twilight’ vampire series,” which are very well known titles and easily relatable. Porter also includes perspectives on this issue from actual authors who write YA books, like David Levithan’s view on “nutshell blurbs” making things seem “grimmer” . Also, the very first sentence in the article was cleverly written to show how greatly teen fiction has changed, by comparing it with, “headline news.” All these examples show how YA fiction has changed to become more dark and profane only to match the deformed and scarring world in which we live in.

        William Porter expects to convince his readers that YA fiction shouldn’t have limitations, because ‘gatekeepers’ are ignoring the greater value and the positive effect it has on teens with struggles in their lives. Porter achieves this by somehow making his entire article one massive counterclaim. Not only does he admit to YA fiction being gruesome and a horrible portrayal of our world, but he counters that by explaining the benefit in that, especially for kids who aren’t as privileged as others. Also, he purposefully includes an author’s perspective knowing that it will most likely strengthen his argument. For example, David Levithan supports the author’s “counter claim” by saying, “teens can explore these themes and use them to deal with issues in their own lives.” Not only is this quote in favor of this author’s argument, but it also proves that many other people (including Levithan) agree with this purpose.

  I think this article really strengthened my view on this topic of YA books, and their hidden value when it came to troubled teens. I already felt that teen literature shouldn’t have limitations, so it didn’t exactly change my opinion. But it made it so I could argue my opinion if I had to, because of how well worded this argument was portrayed. In conclusion, if this article shaped my opinion in any way, it was  by making it stronger than it was before, and making this topic even more relatable to not only me, but probably to other teens out there as well.

Reading Response: Go Ask Alice

       Go Ask Alice is a book supposedly by an anonymous diarist. This story goes through a 2-year downwards spiral of Alice’s life as a drug addict. We see how she fails to communicate with the ones who love her, takes advantage of the privileges  given to her and turns to drugs thinking it would end under her control. Somehow that results in a horrible life style in which she never could’ve imagined herself getting accustomed to. This leads me to think that the claim in this book is not only can drugs complicate your life but they can end it as well.

  This book gives a unique perspective on how drugs can complicate and completely change your life style.  For example, in the last diary entry before coming back home, Alice writes, “I have just read the stuff I wrote in the last few weeks… I could never have written things like that! I could never have done things like that! It was another person.” In Alice’s case, it came to a point where she couldn’t even recognize herself, or her thoughts anymore. It was just a big illusion or version of reality that she wanted to believe in. A version where drugs were normal. After a while Alice eventually admits to herself that, “After you’ve had it, there isn’t even life without drugs.” It then elaborates and explains than she’s either doing drugs or completely paranoid about even touching them. Then she ends up relapsing and the cycle begins. You start to stop trusting yourself and become completely reliant on the people around you without even realizing it. Which is horrible when you’re reliant on the wrong people for the wrong reasons, like Alice was. So it’s probably an understatement to say that drugs complicated Alice’s life.

Go Ask Alice also shows how drug addictions, to some limits, could end your life, symbolically and literally. For example, when she was actually trying to stay off drugs she wrote, “ I want to get in with the square kids [at school], but I don’t see how I’m going to do it with my reputation hanging over me.” Not only this time though, in this portion of the book she kept feeling like she didn’t belong anywhere, and her past kept haunting her throughout the process. It was only a matter of time before her suicidal thoughts came back. Then the epilogue came, which only stated, “ The subject of this book died three weeks after her decision not to keep another diary [from a drug overdose].” That was practically all that was mentioned. All we knew was that she died from drugs. It could’ve been accidental, suicidal, or maybe the vengeful stoner kids, she thought were her friends before, came back to, once again, slip her a deadly dose. Either way, her death entirely started with drugs.

In conclusion, drugs will always find a way to complicate your life and result in the worst circumstances. I think this book portrayed this issue in one of it’s truest forms, and really showed that a life with drugs can never end well. If you think about it, this story could’ve saved a person from a lifetime that no one should have to face, simply from changing their outlook on drugs entirely.

Argument Essay: Should Parents Make Kids Stick With Extracurriculars?

In the article “Should Parents Make Kids Stick With Extracurriculars?”, by Bruce Feiler and KJ Dell’Antonia, there’s clearly a debate on a parent’s say in their child’s extracurricular activities. They make some very good points on both sides which has brought me to my claim. No, parents should not force their children into extracurricular activities.

The main reason parents shouldn’t be concerned is because it’s not completely necessary. For example, in the article “Should…” it states a mother’s perspective on the topic. In exact words, “Outside academics, I don’t see any reason to push my kids into anything they don’t want to do.” This shows that parents understand why a child might not want to do their homework, but that’s necessary in life. If it’s something like an instrument or sport, if you  don’t have fun doing it, you’d have no reason to ever use that skill ever again. Another mother agreed, and stated in the article, “if getting them out … to do the activity involves a battle, then… they can stay home.” In other words, is forcing your kids to do something unnecessary really worth the battle?

Also, although it may seem like no harm learning a skill you don’t enjoy, but actually you’re wasting hours on something you don’t even like to do. This may seem like an exaggeration but a mother in the article agrees as well. She says, “I see a cost in not quitting as well.” This shows a lose-lose situation by learning something you don’t want to learn. In simpler words, another mother in the article explained, “being forced to practice [something] are hours spent not finding something you love.” This statement really opened my eyes as to why getting forced into extracurricular activities comes at a cost as well.

I can see why parents might not want their kids to quit so easily on a skill they could learn. For example, a quote in the article mentioned, “I want [my kids]… to understand what it feels like to do something you don’t like, and to improve.” This would be a great lesson, if it was for something you absolutely had to do. Extracurricular activities are extra. So if the entire purpose of it is proving a point to yourself, then you don’t need it in your life. So what are you really gaining from this, other than determination for a skill you don’t even like?

In conclusion, parents should not force their kids into extracurriculars It should practically be entirely up to the child. Even if it’s good to have the skill of determination, its better to learn that with something you actually look forward to learning. This is an important subject, because this is a real issue that happen to many kids and parents. Also, kids might really benefit from this debate.

Reading Response: Faithful Elephants

      Faithful Elephants is a story by Yukio Tsuchia that takes place in a zoo in World War 2. In this story,the zookeepers are forced to kill all dangerous animals in the zoo. This includes 3 elephants, in which become the main part of the story. This story consisted of many opportunities of symbolism involving the elephants and their role in this piece. Yukio Tsuchia really expresses how reality can be somewhat deceiving and underestimated. She shows this throughout the book by explaining the story of a zookeeper and 3 elephants who happen to be caught in the middle of a war.

      As I previously stated, the author expresses how people underestimate reality. In this case it's war. After the elephants' lifeless bodies are dragged outside, the zookeepers scream "Stop the war!" repeatedly. Almost as if they were gradually realizing the reality of this situation, and once the elephants are dead, they have their breaking point. This also brings up an opportunity of symbolism that has been constantly used. It was the use of 'cage' instead of any other word. For example, "He could only pace in front of the cage". I thought this was the author's way of using the elephants as a symbol of the zookeeper's hope, considering he was trapped and left with nothing to do in the situation. 

     The way the author used the elephant as a symbol of hope, played an important role in the story. Considering this piece is all about how reality can be underestimated, you soon begin to find out that, as a result, not only are the elephants' lives lost, but so is the zookeeper's hope for the war getting any better for the rest of them. For example, "As the days passed, the elephants became thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker." The author wouldn't have described their death so vividly unless it was a symbol. So, basically, the author showed the elephants getting weaker, when really the hope in the war was actually getting weaker, as well.

     In conclusion, the theme of this story is reality can be disappointing. The author does a great job of portraying this theme, with the symbolism, and the ability to relate to this story. I don't necessarily mean losing hope in a war, but it could also be as simple as losing direction because of a situation in someone's life.

Reading Response: Learning Not To Drown (Anna Shinoda)

Learning Not To Drown was a beautifully written page-turner where the main-character, Clare, discovers the roots of her family skeleton and learns to deal with her brother‘s true past. Since Clare was incredibly naïve in the beginning of the story, I loved how the author progressed her development and took you through her journey of figuring everything out for herself throughout the book. This led to me being completely amazed when Clare and I both discovered the truth about her brother, Luke’s, past. This component of the book, I think, is what made it a great read.