Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Article Title: “Pure Escapism For Young Adult ReadersThe author’s opinion to the questions posed, “Why do bestselling young adult novels seem darker in theme now than in past years? What’s behind this dystopian trend, and why is there so much demand for it?” differs from the average, standard response. According to the author, the standard response is similar to the idea that “these dark, pessimistic times with the economy and culture; the darkness of the subject matter reflects those fears.” However, she believes quite the opposite. The dark novels that are becoming continual bestsellers today are not because these novels reflect the world of young adult readers. Instead, Stiefvater believes that the love for dystopian themed novels are because young adults aren’t facing these issues; because of that, they lack the ideas of what is right versus what is wrong: “Teenagers want to be able to fight for what is right – but finding out what’s right is now 90 percent of the battle…with the dystopian novels, we know just what we’re fighting for” (Stiefvater). With the complex world we live in today, young adults are satisfied with the choices presented to them through dystopian themed novels.

I must say that I agree with the author. We are living in a complex world where morals aren’t black and white. Trying to decipher what is good versus what is bad can become complicated. Dystopian novels lay a clear path for young adult readers to make choices on what they choose to fight for. As Stiefvater stated in her response, “Teenagers want to be able to fight for what is right – but finding out what’s right is now 90 percent of the battle.” However, with dystopian novels, what’s right and wrong is clear. There’s no battle in trying to figure it out. These novels don’t reflect our society as young adult readers, but they sure do satisfy it.

The author’s commentary is directly related to The Giver. The Giver is another dystopian novel where the morals are laid out in black in white, simple enough for a young adult reader to grasp. Jonas, the main character of the story, is an example of a young adult who can’t see right from wrong until he is exposed to dystopia – a world outside of the world he knows. It’s from this knowledge that Jonas is able to fight for what he believes is right. This idea is directly correlated to the author’s point of view of dystopian novels giving us an idea of exactly what we’re fighting for. The Giver is so widely popular, not because it reflects our society, but because it’s so simplified that it satisfies our desires to want to fight for what’s right – in fact, it’s so black and white (the idea of a controlled, robot society versus a society of emotions and memory) that we are able to fight for what’s right; there’s no battle in trying to figure it out.