Character Flaws
I recently finished reading a dystopian YA novel that has had a rather lasting impact on me, in the form of a persistant background thought spiral where I attempt to make sense of just what it was that I found so annoying.
First things first, since I am doing this for myself, I will not be revealing the novel in question. This is an attempt to highlight some ideas that I am struggling with, not to flog an author repeatedly just because I can. This was a debut novel by a female author with a female protagonist. I loved the title (still do) and thought the premise was rather nifty, as well. I was hoping to enjoy it, but didn't.
It was not poorly written. The first-person protagonist was plunged into the story, pulling the reader along with her as her rather fragile world took a major blow that started her life unravelling like a snagged sweater. The story was complete, and where some of the points could have been cleaned up, and the action was at times a little spotty, in general everything was communicated and executed well.
The problems I had were mostly with the world-building and the main character. I'm going to break this down into two sections, tackling each issue from two points of view. Here they are.
IT'S A NOVEL
Ignoring the YA aspect, from a basic novel perspective I have issues with the way things were presented. The main character in a novel is the sum of a number of choices; there is what the author chooses to show us, and the choices that the character makes within the constructed reality of the story.
In this respect, I was very disappointed because the POV character seemed to try desperately not to make any. She abdicates any responsibility for her own destiny, despite having dreams and goals that sometimes set her wildly apart from the other members of her community. At the heart of the story, our protagonist wants to venture out into the wider world, partly just to prove that it is there and that she can do it. Her situation in a post-apacolyptic survival scenario means that this is not just scarry and dangerous, but would be life threatening.
Adding to this danger is the fact that every authority figure in her life, and in the history of her community says that this is a thing that should not be done, and even to hope or wish to be able to leave or escape is wrong. They know she is different, that she is not content to live a life of quiet despiration because it is more convenient for everyone else if she does so. Therein lies the internal struggle.
Further complicating things, our character is a teenager, and is of an age where she is expected to marry if a teenage boy expresses interest in doing so. Since my rage about that aspect of the world-building gives me red tinted rage vision, I'm going to just leave off any discussion of that aspect and move on.
Being a teenager, she has feelings for one boy, while another has feelings for her. It's complicated. Due to the structure of this reality (rage) she cannot be with the boy she wants, but instead is expected to live the rest of her life with the one who wants her.
So, she really has three choices: leave and seek out her dreams; stay and pursue the person she has feelings for, society be damned; resign herself to a life of drudgery and children with someone who is, at best, a close friend.
She chooses none of the above, doing literally nothing to determine her own fate. At one point, she is literally waiting for the boy she likes to come get her, hoping he will make the choice to be with her so she can be happy.
I do not understand the choice to write about a character like this. It offends me. How can one be a protagonist, yet be confined to waiting to be picked? What is this character telling us? The only thing I can see from this writing is that the author is showing a reality where a woman just has to hope the man she loves will come get her, because otherwise she's stuck.
BECAUSE IT'S YA, DAMMIT!
This further bothers me because it is a book marketed to teenagers. Somehow that makes the protagonist's willingness to be defined by the interests of the males around her even more galling.
But I'm not done. The novel does not leave off with her being left waiting for a guy who *spoiler* never shows up. Instead, the next thing that happens literally forces her and a group of friends to leave and chase her dream of life beyond her village. Yet again, she never makes a conscious choice, calamity conveniently chooses for her.
Once she's out, her group are confronted with situations where the protagonist actually has to pick between two options and cannot wait for a man to tell her what to do. In almost every instance of this, the protagonist endagers everyone around by choosing the most selfish, self-serving, option she can. Repeatedly this drives the story forward, ending with everyone other than the "heroine" lost or dead.
But she does get to fulfill her dream. She is left in a new place, alone, and without any goals or asperations. She is still a teenager, and has nothing left to live for at the end of the novel.
I don't expect every protagonist to be perfect. They don't all have to be role models. The anti-hero, now and again, can be a whole lot of fun. Further, I don't want characters to always make the right choice. Make mistakes, be selfish, it's what adds tension and drama, ultimately driving the narrative forward.
What I do have a problem with is a YA character who is rewarded for behaving like an idiot. When a character succeeds despite being a selfish ninny, that sends a message to readers. The flawed characters I mentioned before can go on to succeed despite their flaws, but this protagonist does so because of them.
And that offended me, too.
Am I wrong? Should characters be allowed to triumph just because the world is structured in such a way that they do no matter what? Do YA authors have an extra responsibility to look at what they are telling an audience about life, or am I way off base?
First things first, since I am doing this for myself, I will not be revealing the novel in question. This is an attempt to highlight some ideas that I am struggling with, not to flog an author repeatedly just because I can. This was a debut novel by a female author with a female protagonist. I loved the title (still do) and thought the premise was rather nifty, as well. I was hoping to enjoy it, but didn't.
It was not poorly written. The first-person protagonist was plunged into the story, pulling the reader along with her as her rather fragile world took a major blow that started her life unravelling like a snagged sweater. The story was complete, and where some of the points could have been cleaned up, and the action was at times a little spotty, in general everything was communicated and executed well.
The problems I had were mostly with the world-building and the main character. I'm going to break this down into two sections, tackling each issue from two points of view. Here they are.
IT'S A NOVEL
Ignoring the YA aspect, from a basic novel perspective I have issues with the way things were presented. The main character in a novel is the sum of a number of choices; there is what the author chooses to show us, and the choices that the character makes within the constructed reality of the story.
In this respect, I was very disappointed because the POV character seemed to try desperately not to make any. She abdicates any responsibility for her own destiny, despite having dreams and goals that sometimes set her wildly apart from the other members of her community. At the heart of the story, our protagonist wants to venture out into the wider world, partly just to prove that it is there and that she can do it. Her situation in a post-apacolyptic survival scenario means that this is not just scarry and dangerous, but would be life threatening.
Adding to this danger is the fact that every authority figure in her life, and in the history of her community says that this is a thing that should not be done, and even to hope or wish to be able to leave or escape is wrong. They know she is different, that she is not content to live a life of quiet despiration because it is more convenient for everyone else if she does so. Therein lies the internal struggle.
Further complicating things, our character is a teenager, and is of an age where she is expected to marry if a teenage boy expresses interest in doing so. Since my rage about that aspect of the world-building gives me red tinted rage vision, I'm going to just leave off any discussion of that aspect and move on.
Being a teenager, she has feelings for one boy, while another has feelings for her. It's complicated. Due to the structure of this reality (rage) she cannot be with the boy she wants, but instead is expected to live the rest of her life with the one who wants her.
So, she really has three choices: leave and seek out her dreams; stay and pursue the person she has feelings for, society be damned; resign herself to a life of drudgery and children with someone who is, at best, a close friend.
She chooses none of the above, doing literally nothing to determine her own fate. At one point, she is literally waiting for the boy she likes to come get her, hoping he will make the choice to be with her so she can be happy.
I do not understand the choice to write about a character like this. It offends me. How can one be a protagonist, yet be confined to waiting to be picked? What is this character telling us? The only thing I can see from this writing is that the author is showing a reality where a woman just has to hope the man she loves will come get her, because otherwise she's stuck.
BECAUSE IT'S YA, DAMMIT!
This further bothers me because it is a book marketed to teenagers. Somehow that makes the protagonist's willingness to be defined by the interests of the males around her even more galling.
But I'm not done. The novel does not leave off with her being left waiting for a guy who *spoiler* never shows up. Instead, the next thing that happens literally forces her and a group of friends to leave and chase her dream of life beyond her village. Yet again, she never makes a conscious choice, calamity conveniently chooses for her.
Once she's out, her group are confronted with situations where the protagonist actually has to pick between two options and cannot wait for a man to tell her what to do. In almost every instance of this, the protagonist endagers everyone around by choosing the most selfish, self-serving, option she can. Repeatedly this drives the story forward, ending with everyone other than the "heroine" lost or dead.
But she does get to fulfill her dream. She is left in a new place, alone, and without any goals or asperations. She is still a teenager, and has nothing left to live for at the end of the novel.
I don't expect every protagonist to be perfect. They don't all have to be role models. The anti-hero, now and again, can be a whole lot of fun. Further, I don't want characters to always make the right choice. Make mistakes, be selfish, it's what adds tension and drama, ultimately driving the narrative forward.
What I do have a problem with is a YA character who is rewarded for behaving like an idiot. When a character succeeds despite being a selfish ninny, that sends a message to readers. The flawed characters I mentioned before can go on to succeed despite their flaws, but this protagonist does so because of them.
And that offended me, too.
Am I wrong? Should characters be allowed to triumph just because the world is structured in such a way that they do no matter what? Do YA authors have an extra responsibility to look at what they are telling an audience about life, or am I way off base?