My thoughts on teen fiction

One of the most amazing things about reading is that it can transport you to different times and places, events and experiences that you may never encounter, it is a form of escapism, which can educate as well as improve literacy.

Defining teenage literature is a difficult task. These individuals are in a state of transition, they are not children but are not yet adults; as the girl in Stephen’s pod-cast states, they want the freedom of adulthood without the responsibility. This group are between stages, they lack the childhood attribute of pretend play, yet they are not mature adults, therefore they need to be targeted specifically.

The thing that struck me most about teen fiction is that there are very few novels written specifically for this age group, despite the marketability of this group; this may be due to the fact that despite being almost adults, teens are still under parental care and guidance, so material for them is open to censorship. Saying that teens are exposed to dark themes and taboo subjects in the media regardless, all they have to do is switch on the news, so why shouldn’t their literature reflect this age of un-innocence? As Burgess says, ‘We live in a world where there are very few secrets’.

As reading tends to decline during the teenage years, it is important that authors tap into what teens want to read. Appleyard suggests that the main criteria for teenagers is: that that they are able to relate to fiction; it depicts real life; and that it makes them think, by exploiting these concepts teens may be more likely to read and get a lot from this pastime. Teenagers do not want to be protected from the darker aspects of life; they want to explore it. I was particularly provoked by the idea that 50 years ago children left school at 14 and went to work and were adults, whereas today children are growing up faster than ever yet we keep them in school until they’re 18 and try to shelter them and stop them from acting like adults; this point seemed to trivialise the controversy surrounding books such as ‘Junk’.

Personally I loved ‘Junk’ and really disliked ‘Wolf’. I found Junk to be gripping and compelling whilst being shocking and moving; I really didn’t want to put it down. Wolf on the other hand, I found to be fairly dull. The suspense element kept me reading (along with the fact that it was compulsory), but I didn’t really enjoy the storyline and don’t think it will ‘change’ me in any sense.

I found the characters in Junk to be relatable even though their experiences were not. I think a lot of teenagers have difficult relationships with their parents; Tar was the catalyst for Gemma leaving home, which led to her downfall. The scary thing is I think there is the potential for many teens to act as she did given the opportunity; I personally have never been exposed to heroin and I would like to say that I would have refused it at the time, but that is only due to my drug education; peer pressure at that age is very strong, as is the desire to rebel. I wouldn’t say that Burgess glamorises drugs, he gives a very honest portrayal of their effects; we need to give teenagers credit in their ability to read Junk and make up their own minds about heroin. If a teenager were offered heroin I think reading Junk would make them less likely to try it, not more.

Unfortunately drugs are a problem in our society; therefore we need to be educated about them and not be ignorant. I agree that Junk would be a much more effective way of giving teenagers information than traditional non-fiction material. Even as an adult I feel I have learnt something in that addicts are not necessarily ‘scummy’ individuals disconnected from myself; it may be that these people are just finding a way to deal with their problems and that they do not have adequate role-models and have been negatively influenced, it is a reality that is happening on my doorstep and these people need help.

I think the multiple first-person narrative in Junk is very effective in that it addresses teens directly but not in a didactic way; it is honest and seductive, the characters are not portrayed as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, they are themselves and the reader is left to make up their own minds. Readers get access to the characters’ ‘inner lives’, which makes the exchange more intimate.

Wolf on the other hand lacks the realism of Junk, the events described could happen in theory but not many people would be able to relate to having a terrorist for a father. I found the themes in Wolf to be too overbearing, maybe like Sir said, Cross doesn’t trust young readers to understand the points she is making. Although the intertextuality may make the book appeal to teenage readers because of the link with their childhood reading experiences, I didn’t think that the wolf references added that much to the novel. The book doesn’t actually say much about the IRA, which I think may be more interesting but then that may differ for a younger reader. Cross is very clear in who she wants the reader to see in a positive or negative light; but despite this I didn’t feel much sympathy for Cassy as we don’t get to know her that well, also it would be nice to know more about the perspectives of her parents and Nan.

After reading a text it may be that the enjoyment is in the reflection. As one of Appleyard’s students Chris said ‘Reading it was very slow…you have to pay the price…but afterwards it gives you a lot more insight about how people think’ (Appleyard, 1990). Teenage fiction should entertain but at the same time educate, it should give the individual new things to think about that they may not have considered before. As Erikson first highlighted, this stage is emphasised by an ‘identity crisis’, teens are going through a period in which they are uncertain about their identity, literature gives them an avenue to experience different roles at a distance. The idea of the inner and outer selves may be resolved by the use of identifiable characters through which teens can explore their sense of self.

Both books could potentially be seen as developmental texts, which are thought to be what these ‘adults in waiting’ want to read. The characters are growing both physically and emotionally, teenage readers can relate to this. As Appleyard suggests ‘The adolescent has become what the juvenile was not, an observer and evaluator of self and others’, a teen reader will have the ability to understand characters’ actions and draw their own conclusions.

A problem for teen literature is that it is mainly written by adults, who are we to suggest what teenagers should be reading? Our reading of a text may be quite different depending on our age, as an adult we have the benefit of experience and extended knowledge. I think if I had read Junk when I was younger I would have detached myself from the story a lot more, I was fairly naïve as to things that went on in the world. The same goes for Wolf to a certain extent, the lives of terrorists and squatters would have seemed so far away from me that although I may of learnt something from these novels and enjoyed them, I don’t think they would have had the potential to affect me negatively.

In order to make teenagers read I think that it is a good idea to implement teen fiction into the curriculum, the ‘classics’ of English Literature, despite having common themes, may not be seen as relevant to modern day teens. It is important that as well as using literature to emphasise the importance of analysis and literary techniques, pupils are also encouraged to engage with the literature and are able to apply it in a real-world context. Reading for pleasure should be emphasised and promoted. Maybe a class could have a book club containing a number of different genres from which individuals can choose what they read and they could perhaps reflect on their reading on a forum just like ours!

I agree with your comments about Wolf, Cross oversimplifies characters and does not trust the reader.

I like the idea of the book club, it means that pupils could choose the texts they wanted to read and books like Junk would be available but not compulsory.