Why Are Teens Like Dystopian Stories

Many adolescents that grow up are easily influenced by the surroundings and events that happen in society. Many adolescents look at their surroundings and look up to others that help guide them throughout their lives. As a teenager I grew up in a rough area and was greatly influenced by it. My community was exposed

Teens love dystopian stories because they can relate to the hero. In “Anthem” and “Divergent” the hero is different than everyone else in the story. Also they have a feeling of being divided. Then teens can relate to the actions of trying to fit in. They even can relate to the Uncharted Forest in “Anthem” and the Walls in “Divergent” because they feel like they are being blocked off.

Anthem and The Maze Runner are both dystopian society based books that teens like to read because they can relate to them and they like how twisted they are.

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

“In our media-intensive culture it is not difficult to find differing opinions… The difficulty lies in deciding which opinion to agree with and which ‘experts’ seem the most credible” (Espejo 11). The perceptions of one age group in society of another age group are built upon assumptions that are made through what is visible. However, rarely is anyone willing to understand the reason behind someone’s actions. Sibling rivalry, the death of a loved one, moving to a new school, competition among peers, and the reputation adolescents have today often end up giving a misperception of society to teens and of teens to society, thus damaging the relationships between society, as illustrated by J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye.

(Seisser 4). The novel appeals to a higher degree to the younger audience because the younger audience of this genre read about “teens in these novels [that] have to face far bigger issues and even survive day to day.” (4). This genre fills its audience with the

Teenagers, as stubborn as some may be, are heavily influenced by their role models, especially in regards to how they perceive the future, and the

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of- age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspects of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial

Young adults love Dystopian stories and movies. There are two books that I chose to compare and contrast. One of those stories is Anthem by Ayn Rand. A man named Equality lives in a society where there is no individuality, no freedom, and the government controls where you go and what you do. Another book similar to this is a book written by Cassandra Clare called The Mortal Instruments. A boy named Jace is a Shadow Hunter and goes against the Laws of the Council while he falls for a mortal girl. The Council controls what the Shadowhunters do, where they go, and the Shadowhunters aren't allowed to miss any meeting without a reason. Although they have those common characteristics, they do have their differences.

In the article “Why Young Adults 'Hunger' For the Hunger Games and Other Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Fiction” Debra Donston-Miller states that dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction is very popular among young adults as it is so cleverly expressed by the title. Miller suggests that this popularity is due to “a deep-seated social need or anxiety”. Young adults feel they relate to some extent, in the sense that there is pressure on them to define themselves. Personally I agree with Miller because I have read divergent and there is a sort of gnawing at the back of my head that the protagonist and I were not that different. Granted, I’m not fighting for my life like said protagonist, but the reminder to define one’s self to fit into society is there.

Teenage readers, take than anyone,undoubtedly relate to the characters’ sense of helplessness. they believe that parents, teachers, ministers, and every second authority is restricting their individuality and their freedom.

While the answer to this exact question is rather subjective, through the investigation of young adult three novels with the role of daughter/male figures relationships and the ideology of teen rebellion is present, an answer as to why society’s constructs about to teens is skewed is more obtainable. Through the combination of the Youth Lens and Psychoanalysis Lens reading of Bronx Masquerade by Nikkie Grimes, This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, and Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero, the female authors writing these female character to appear as rebellious teenagers is not rebellion at all, but rather consequences of societal pressures that ultimately result in the Neo-Freudian’s complexes being projected on to each of these girl’s relationships with male

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

Teenagers are more than capable of achieving great tasks in the future as well as causing great destruction with every skill stapled in their mind as they grow. Good and evil will determine the effects of which path a young mind its taught so that’s why parents must educated well with good intensions for a better future. The age of a teenager shows history how it transformed the world including the United States by family values, the high school, and dangerous adolescences etc. What teenagers did was start a fashion changing the world and its rules, becoming rebellious toward their parents values for

Another convention which surfaces again and again during the 1980s teen genre is the generational divide that exists in the familial structure, resulting in teens rebelling against adult authority. Within the genre adults are often portrayed in a negative light in both comical and serious ways: teachers are depicted as corrupt and arrogant as incompetent social figures. Parents are often unseen, distant, emotionally detached, cold, violent and abusive. The setting and