Aimee van den Berg: "Dear Naomi Kritzer: The Under-Represented Life of an American Teenager"

Dear Naomi Kritzer: The Under-Represented Life of an American Teenager

By Aimee van den Berg

Many things play a role in the lives of young adults, which are not present in fiction unless they are a main plot piece. Stories tend to gloss over aspects of life that do not seem to be vital to the story, yet these aspects could be very helpful in building a three dimensional character and making the story more relatable. Many stories also tend to sugarcoat kids’ lives, making their lives more clean cut than they are and even getting rid of problems altogether in order to focus on the main conflict. This causes the story to lose relatability and authenticity. In addition, honesty and a sense of rawness in YA novels is very intriguing and appealing in a book. I have chosen two topics, illegal substances and queerness, which tend to be present in young adults lives, yet are not often reflected in fiction. Drugs and alcohol unfortunately play a bigger role in teens’ lives than people seem to recognize, while queerness is still underrepresented in literature, though it is becoming more commonplace nowadays as more people are able to come out. These aspects of life need to be represented outside of the main plot line of a story by just existing as part of a character’s life, but these ideas also need to be presented in a way that makes them feel authentic and not overplayed. I also wanted to mention that I think mental illness is also a big part of life, especially for teens, but I decided to focus on other topics because I feel that the way you dealt with mental illness in “Cat Pictures Please” was very good.

Firstly, drugs and alcohol. They are illegal and unhealthy, especially for the developing brains of teens, yet they play some sort of role in most teen’s lives. Some people have friends who use these substances and/or classmates who have been suspended for using them, some people may have been offered something at some point, etc. Kids do not always get into these substances themselves, but they are exposed to them, which is a very real problem in kids’ lives. Books may be about a main character who is an addict, about a kid in the wrong crowd, or about a quiet teen who suddenly becomes “popular”, but books do not always address the encounters kids have with these substances in their everyday lives. Recently I have started to encounter more books that actually do this, though most are realistic fiction. By doing this, books have made me feel that the author was unafraid to show uglier sides of society and it made the book feel more sincere, regardless of whether the book was realistic fiction or about robots taking over the world. So, though some people underestimate the role of these harmful substances in kids’ lives, these substances sadly impact the lives of almost every teen in one way or another and, instead of ignoring it, acknowledging this darker part of life can make a story more authentic and relevant to readers.

Another piece of the world still underrepresented in media is the queer community. Many stories about being LGBT+ do exist; we even read a fiction story based off of the Stonewall riots for class. However, stories are either centered on someone being LGBT+ or they have an entirely cis and straight cast of characters, there is almost no in between. Not that there should not be more stories featuring LGBT+ people (there definitely should), it is just that, unless a character being gay or transgender is important to the plot, there will most likely be no LGBT+ characters. I would like to see LGBT+ characters simply existing in YA books and it not being a big deal (not killing them off is also appreciated). I like that you addressed being gay and the struggle of coming out in “Cat Pictures Please”, but I still wanted to talk about this subject because I feel that dealing with being gay as a teen is quite different from being a gay pastor and is something that merits representation of its own.

Overall, I feel that, though these aspects of life are not completely absent from fiction literature, they tend to be forgotten in cases where they are not necessary to a story, particularly in the case of queer characters.

I really hope this helps you in some way! This was a very interesting prompt and good luck on that new book!