Argument Essay: Should YA fiction Be Limited?

Should YA fiction be limited? 

For the past 40 years YA fiction has been judged on if their grim inappropriate tales were acceptable or not for teens to read. 40 years ago there was simple literature, but in the 1960s everything changed.  Hinton published The Outsiders in 1967 which was considered violent. This book started an era of scary books for teens.  YA literature should be limited because they have become more gruesome, violent, and profane, which has had bad effects on teens, making them “grow up too quickly.”

YA literature, even though it teaches lessons, has become “too dark” for teens to read. In the article “Darkness Too Visible,” by Meghan Cox Gurdon, she says, “in Jackie Morse Kessler’s gruesome, but inventive 2011 take on a girl’s struggle with self-inquiry, “Rage,” a teenage Missy’s secret cutting turns nightmarish after she is the victim of a sadistic sexual prank. She had sliced her arms to ribbons, but the badness remained, staining her insides like cancer.”  Another example of a dark book is in the same article “Darkness Too Visible” it states “in Andrew Smith’s 2010 novel, The Maybury Lens, young Jack is drugged, abducted and nearly raped by a male captor. After escaping, he encounters a curious pair of glasses that transport him into an alternate world of almost unimaginable gore and cruelty.  Moments after arriving he finds himself facing a wall of horrors, covered with impaled heads and other dripping black-rot body parts.”  These books portray that YA literature has become more gory.  Although some people connect to the situations in these books, most teens matured suddenly by reading them.

YA literature has an enormous amount of violence and sex, and parents should shield their kids from these books.  The article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon states, “how dark is contemporary fiction for teens? So dark kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just a part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking at children from the ages of 12 to 18.”  According to the article,“The ‘sick-lit’ books aimed at children; It’s a disturbing phenomenon.  Tales of teenage cancer, self-harm and suicide,” by Tanith Carey, most YA literature “are also liberally peppered with sex and swearing. The blurbs for “teen sick-lit’ as it’s become known trip over themselves to promise their books will drive readers ‘to tears’ or leave them “devastated.”  These YA books influence mischievous behaviors on teens making them think that they can swear, take inappropriate actions wherever and whenever they wish. Parents can be overprotective, but for this subject matter they have proof why they’re right.  In life we need our parents to lead and teach us lessons, even if they appear to be insane.  

Some people think that parents shouldn’t protect teens from YA literature because they can’t shut them off from the outside reality. Some teens can relate to the situations that occur in YA books and know they’re not alone. Also teens learn morals from reading these books that can help them in the future. The article “Darkness Too Visible” by Gurdon says, “that books focusing on pathologies help normalize them and in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures.”  Another article “Has young adult fiction become too dark?”,by Mary Elizabeth Williams states “that’s why it matters; why, in the name of protecting teens, we can’t shut them off from the outlet of experiencing difficult events and feelings in the relative safety and profound comfort of literature.”  However, parents aren’t excluding teens out of the real world by not allowing their children to read YA fiction, the parents are just protecting their kids from learning these things too soon. Even though some teens associate with the events in the books, most teens mature rapidly and lose their innocence by reading them. Parents aren’t shielding their kids from experiencing difficult events and feelings by denying their kids from reading these  books because teens will have those activities later on in their lifespan and learn what to do then.  Lastly, teens don’t have to learn lessons from these YA books, they can be taught by their parents. 

For the last 40 years YA literature has had an argument, on if they are too gloomy or not for teens to read.  It is the opinion of most people that YA fiction “has gone too far.”  Parents are worried about their teens reading these books. YA literature should be limited because they have become more gruesome, violent, and profane, which has bad effects on teens, making them develop instantly. In conclusion if teens were banned from reading YA fiction it might be preserving their innocence, so they won’t lose it immediately.