Darkness Too Visible Response

   Megan Cox Gurdon, author of the article, "Darkness Too Visible," published on The Wall Street Journal, states her opinion on youngadult books and their content, and how terrifying they can be.  The author claims that young adult literature these days have dark themes, problems too grotesque or vulgar for teens to read, and topics that can be triggering to some.  Also, according to Gurdon, literature is much darker than they used to be years ago.

  In the article, the author states that fiction is getting extremely dark.  For example, she writes, "How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: So dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the run of things in novels directed, broadly speaking, at children from the ages of 12 to 18."  She is comparing books from modern times to books from a while ago, when the times were different.  She seems to be talking to adults because she wrote, "Darker when you were a child, my dear:…"  Next, the author writes, "The novel "Scars," a dreadfully clunky 2010 exercise by Cheryl Rainfield that School Library Journal inexplicably called "one heck of a good book," ran into difficulties earlier this year at the Boone County Library in Kentucky, but not because of its contents. A patron complained that the book's depiction of cutting—the cover shows a horribly scarred forearm—might trigger a sufferer's relapse."  The author makes a good point by discussing how this book cover may trigger the person that used to self-harm, or was self-harming at the moment.  She didn't want any more suffering because of these book covers.  The author does add the perspective of an editor who seems to disagree with her claim.  ""I don't, as a rule, like to do this on young adult books," the editor grumbled, "I don't want to compromise on how kids really talk. I don't want to acknowledge those f—ing gatekeepers."" The editor of Horn Book, does not believe that people should put restrictions on the content in young adult books.  The author, of course, quickly changes the perspective and continues to add details that support her claim.

  In the end, I don't agree with Gurdon.  There shouldn't be any banned books, unless it really has stuff that is unacceptable.  Books should include subjects that are a bit touchy so teens or young adults can learn more about these situations.  They might want to learn how to cope with a certain issue, or what to do if something terrible has happened to them.  They can learn from books, but only if they look at them from the right light/perspective.  But then again, if they misinterpret the information from books, they can still learn some good lessons.  Also, not all young adult books include subjects like these!  Of course, now more books do include this, but it's only to add some light to the subject.  I believe that anyone can read whatever they want, wherever they are, and whenever they are.  

Reading Response: Every Day

Everyone makes mistakes all the time, big or small.  The mistakes can affect people in different ways.  Anyone can usually go back and fix what they did wrong, but what A did cannot be taken back.  A, a character in, "Every Day", written by David Levithan, does not have a body.  He wakes up, each day, in the body of a random stranger.  One day, he possesses the body of Nathan Daldry, a quiet sixteen-year-old who keeps to himself.  A, however, wants to do something on that day, using Nathan's body.  What A does while using his body ruins Nathan's life drastically, and I believe that he is the most troubled character out of any other character in this book.

Everyone develops a crush in school, at work, or even somewhere else.  A's situation is different, though.  A is in the body of Justin, and Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon, catches A's eye.  Ever since that day, A has been trying to somehow connect with Rhiannon.  With connecting with Rhiannon on his mind, A does whatever he can to do that in Nathan's body.  Already with this thought, he used Nathan and went to a party that was a while away from where Nathan lived.  A lied about who he was, and spent some time with Rhiannon.  Right after that, he realized that it was late and he needed to bring Nathan back to his house by midnight, as his body changes.  It was too late, and Nathan was found by the police on the side of the road.  A even says, "Poor Nathan Daldry.  He is going to wake up on the side of an interstate, an hour away from his home.  I can only imagine how terrified he'll be.  I am a monster for doing this to him.  But I have my reason."

Nathan's life was already starting to crumble.  He was interviewed and claimed this: “It was like I was sleepwalking.  The whole day, this thing was in charge of my body. It made me lie to my parents and drive to a party in a town I’ve never been to. I don’t really remember the details. I only know it wasn’t me.  I wasn’t myself,” he said.  He also told the news article that when he returned home, there was a mysterious e-mail on his computer.  Everyone thought he was a psycho when he claimed that the devil made him do it.  This was when I believed that things were really starting to go bad for him.  

Nathan's life was really in trouble when he decides to go seek help with his "possession" to someone that A is intimidated by.  He is desperate for answers, he just wants to know what is going on.  He feels alone in this.  He pushes A for answers with e-mail, for example, "All I ask is for an explanation.  I will leave you alone after that.  I just need to know."  A finally decides to meet up with Nathan, but after that, he just feels empty.  He doesn't know what to feel.  It was too much for him to absorb.

In the end, Nathan had to deal with confusion, and a lot of it, and the feeling that he was alone in his small world.  Nobody believed him about his "possession," not even his own parents.  He was desperate to know what happened to him, and who or what caused this terrifying experience.  He didn't get a happy ending, he was almost as confused at the end of the book as he was when he was first introduced as a character.  He became a different person.  A ruined him, and he will never be given his regular life back.

Parts of Speech Creative Writing Piece

Roses

Cole, tired but hungry, drooped down the stairs to the kitchen.  The tile, cold and firm, pressed against his bare feet.  His stomach grumbling, he headed towards the pantry and got some snacks, hoping to not make a mess while watching TV.  Wrapped in a blanket, warm and fuzzy, he lied down on the couch, opening his bag of chips, and groaning after the chips spilled out of the bag.  As he started picking up the chips from the carpet, he heard his favorite song coming from his phone.  Somebody was calling him.  

It was his mother, once again explaining what he couldn't do while they were out of town.  She started to explain why he needed to go to bed early, "It's healthy," and that he needed to brush his teeth.  His mother should have known from experiences prior to this night that he wasn't going to do what she instructed him to do.  He was always found in some sort of weird position on the couch, chips all over the floor.  

He groaned, knowing that they will be back at 2 AM and that he won't even do anything while they will be out of town.  He laughed at the show he was watching, but became agitated as he was getting a call once again at 10 PM.  Believing it was his mother, he answered in an annoyed tone, regretting it later.

"I am in your town.  Do you want roses?" a voice said, whispering. 

"No thanks buddy," Cole replied, thinking it was a prank call.  Confused, he looked at the number, wanting to know which of his friends was calling him.  To his surprise, there was no number.  It just said, "No Number Available."  Shrugging it off, he threw his phone on the other end of the couch. 

Two hours went by of him laughing and shoveling down food when he got another call.  Irritated,  he answered the phone once again and asked what they wanted.

"I am in your neighborhood.  Do you want roses?" The same person from before called again.  Astonished and not expecting to get another call, he stood up and tried to call them back, but to no avail.  Were they going to continue calling?  It was only two minutes later when he got another call.

"I am on your front porch.  Do you want roses?" Hurriedly, Cole hung up, terrified.  Who was this? He threw his phone on the couch once again and went to the kitchen.  

Pouring himself a bowl of chips, he became paranoid, and he looked around his house looking if anyone was there.  His heart was beating fast and loud.  All he heard was his foot tapping on the chips spilling out of the bag and into the bowl.  As he was about to leave the kitchen, he got startled when the house phone rang.  Relieved, Cole picked up believing that it must have been his parents.

"I am right next to you.  Do you want roses?"

Cole's parents were only slightly drunk from the beverages at the party when they arrived home.  Expecting to see their son asleep on the couch, they were surprised when they saw that the TV was turned off.  The father took off his shoes and locked the front door. 

"John, do you smell that?" the mother asked, sniffing the air and smelling the odd stench wavering through the air.  Heading towards the kitchen, she felt the damp carpet underneath here. 

"John, can you come over here?" she asked, her voice quivering.  As her husband neared here, her pale arm stretched out and pointed to their son on the cold floor.  Cole, mutilated in horrendous ways, was covered in scattered rose petals.  Seeing the bloody footsteps leading upstairs, the father called the police at once.  The mother just stood still, looking at a very peculiar thing on her son.  There was a small business card on his chest.  The mother, astounded, did not know what this card meant. 

Do you want roses?