Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
Young adult contemporary realistic fiction attempts to portray real life, and readers of these novels should be able to relate to the characters therein. While many YA novels deal with controversial topics in an attempt to be realistic, one aspect of life still largely considered a literary “taboo” is religion.
Through examining studies done and looking at a sample of novels in the YA contemporary realistic fiction genre I found that most of these books either mention nothing about the religious beliefs and backgrounds of their characters or religion is portrayed negatively. Since this genre attempts to portray real-life teenagers, I researched recent studies surveying American teenagers’ relationship with religion. The results of these studies show that most teenagers identify with and willingly participate in religious groups and practices. My research explores reasons why this disparity between real life and realistic YA fiction exists and how it affects teenage readers.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Location
4186 JFSB
Start Date
19-3-2015 11:30 AM
End Date
19-3-2015 1:00 PM
Included in
Religion in Young Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction
4186 JFSB
Young adult contemporary realistic fiction attempts to portray real life, and readers of these novels should be able to relate to the characters therein. While many YA novels deal with controversial topics in an attempt to be realistic, one aspect of life still largely considered a literary “taboo” is religion.
Through examining studies done and looking at a sample of novels in the YA contemporary realistic fiction genre I found that most of these books either mention nothing about the religious beliefs and backgrounds of their characters or religion is portrayed negatively. Since this genre attempts to portray real-life teenagers, I researched recent studies surveying American teenagers’ relationship with religion. The results of these studies show that most teenagers identify with and willingly participate in religious groups and practices. My research explores reasons why this disparity between real life and realistic YA fiction exists and how it affects teenage readers.