Lengua y Expresión Escrita IV Paola Barros
I.S.F.D.N °30
Blas Bigatti
La dama de blanco: an appealing urban legend for adolescents What would men do if they went to a party, met a nice girl and had a wonderful night; but then, the next day they found out by her parents that she had died many years ago? “La dama de blanco” (The lady in white) is a popular urban legend about a beautiful white-dressed girl who assists alone to a party. A young boy meets her and falls in love with her instantly. They spend a wonderful and romantic night together, but as the night is ending up, he courteously drives her home. In order to protect her from the cold weather, he gently offers her his jacket and finally they arrive at her house. Since the crash they have experimented is so strong, the teenage couple decide to have a second date. The next day, the boy goes to her house and for his surprise her parents tell him she has died some years ago. The shocked boy decides to visit her grave and he feels overwhelmed when he sees his jacket lying in the grass next to her tomb. We do not know the origin of this urban story, but for several reasons it is part of the Argentine storytelling folklore and people‟s culture. This urban legend contains many elements which make it attractive to people in general but especially adolescents. Even though they were meant for people of all ages at its beginning, urban legends may be attractive for young adults particularly. Hence, this paper will analyse the characteristics that may make the urban legend “La dama de blanco” an appealing story for young adults. First of all, an urban legend is a contemporary folk story and is popularly believed to be true. It might have started as a true story, later it is spread incredibly fast. It becomes a phenomenon since it has been retold hundreds of times and taken as a true story. In particular, horror urban legends were passed around by mouth and they usually have happened to a friend of a friend, which provides a sense of proximity creating an extra factor of fear which is generally the expected one (Paranormal Haze, 2014). Most of these legends have changed over time and have variations depending on where they are told. They contain elements of humour but mostly of horror, a moral and often carry out a warning that motivates people to retell it when necessary. As soon as adolescents know about this kind of narratives, they love them and in this way urban legends become adolescent‟s favourites. There are certain characteristics that a piece of text should posses to be considered appealing to teenagers and an instance of Young Adult Literature (YAL), narratives written to young adults. Also these narratives deal with topics not only that are closer to them but also with problems they are facing. Characteristics of YAL are described by Robert C. Small Jr. (Hertz and Gallo,1996), and themes 1