Language and Written Expression IV Prof. Blas Bigatti Piceda Laura, Romero Eliana Academic Paper in pairs: “The Good Parts” The Good Parts: An analysis of young adult’s preferences in literature If there was any thought at all left in his jellied brain, it would have been expressed in those three words: the good parts He had always liked the good parts, even when he was alive. He had liked them in his books and he had read them over and over again, marking the margins in red so they would be easier to find next time.
Zombies and adolescents are not as different as they may seem. Dead or alive, they share the same likes and tastes, despite it may not be easily seen at first sight. They both tend to prefer what it seems to be the most tempting at first sight (the so longed-for good parts) and to act according to their primary instincts. And, perhaps, in that identification lies the main reason of the zombies’ reign that has been ruling the media during the last years. Even though it’s believed by most people that zombies originated in George Romeo’s Night of the Living Dead, they are deeply rooted in Haitian culture, which is far more ancient than the movies from the last half of the twentieth century. Still, during the rest of this century, the living dead had a secondary role in horror fiction, being third-class monsters, and it seemed that it would remain like that forever. Thus, it was a surprise when, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, they suddenly raised from their graves. Movies, series, stories, comic books and video games were taken by the dreadful zombies. All of a sudden people from all ages became addicted to this rotting corpses. Yet, the ones who developed a particular intense crush on the living dead were not adults, but adolescents. And, therefore, many stories that seemed to be written for this specific audience, that is young adults, have appeared during the last years. A clear example of this kind of literature is the short story “The Good Parts,” written by Les Daniels. The main character is a zombie who looks for food all the time, (that is obviously human meat), but he eats only a specific part of the bodies, which are the sexual organs. He learns his preferences from watching pornographic magazines. During his pursuits, he finds a female zombie and they have sex, even though that was believed to be impossible. She gets pregnant and they have a daughter who is not a zombie. Their daughter grows up until finding the truth as a teenager. Once more, adolescents have a relevant role in the story, and their preferences regarding topics or styles in literature are taken into account. In a 1992 article from the Journal of Youth Services in Libraries entitled “The Literary Value of the Young Adult Novel,” Robert C. Small Jr. provides a summary of Young Adult Novels and proposes that they have unique characteristics to be considered as ones. The most relevant characteristics are: -the main character is a teenager -events and problems in the plot are related to teenagers -the main character is the center of the plot -dialogue reflects teenage speech, including slang -the point of view presents an adolescent´s interpretation of events and people -the teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature, and independent -the novel is short, rarely more than 200 pages
-the actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict. (Cited in Herz & Gallo, 1996) Regarding Herz & Gallo, Young Adult Literature deals with many universal themes, some examples are AIDS, teenage pregnancy, divorce, substance abuse, family conflicts, among others. These themes include the eternal questions Who am I? and Where do I fit in? .In addition, some Young Adult Novels combines a range of situational archetypes such as the test/trial as a rite of passage, the journey or quest of a hero, birth/death/rebirth, and the search for self. Without any doubts, apart from the search of their inner self, teenagers have always felt a special attraction towards taboos, because they feel that they belong to the “secret” world that belongs only to adults. And what could be considered more taboo and forbidden than sex? In “The Good Parts”, there’s a heavy sexual element that is present throughout the whole story, not only from the perspective of the main character, but also from her daughter. Her discovery of the human body relies on the pornographic magazines that once belonged to her father, and they also become the main source of knowledge of her own self and the difference between her, a human, and her father, a living dead. Most teenagers will easily relate to that discovery of sexuality through pornography. Even though nowadays pornographic magazines are not as “popular” as they used to be, now internet is usually used for the same purpose. Naturally, no one will expect teenagers to confess that they will relate to the characters because of this sexual discovery, but still, in their inner self, adolescents will surely feel interested and caught by this taboo aspect of the story. Besides, another characteristic that may make “The Good Parts” appealing for Young Adults is the language that is used. Small proposes that a Young Adult Novel includes a simple dialogue in which teenage speech is reflected. Even though this story does not present any dialogue, the author uses simple vocabulary clearly connected to adolescents when it has to do with sexual themes. The author highlights the protagonist desires and it is described with details. A clear example of this point is: “Sometimes he had to settle for a breast or a buttock, but most of the time he got what he really wanted. His favorite food tasted like a fish and cheese casserole basted with piss: no one had time to take a bath.”. And, despite the fact that the language itself is not vulgar, it’s explicit enough to let the readers see what was meant without misinterpretations, and with simple expressions. Apart from that, it is known adolescents are constantly looking for a connection between themselves and the reality that surrounds them, and usually they do not feel comfortable with the world in which they are immersed. In this period, they have a quest to discover the new world in which they want to live, while they perceive reality with new and completely different eyes that have nothing to do with their childhood’s perceptions and views. Drawing a parallel between that discovery with the story, it is observed that the protagonist´s daughter grows up in a special atmosphere where she finds out a new perspective of life that it is not common for adolescents. She discovers an unusual vision of reality through her father's belongings. She learns how to deal with teenage matters such as sexual desires and curiosity. As it was mentioned before, the main character used to watch pornographic magazines during his adolescence. His daughter enjoys reading those magazines, and for all the things that she finds out in their pages, she feels secure about what she is going to do when she enters a new world, the outside world, and has to face it completely on her own. As it was seen throughout this analysis, there are many factors that have to be taken into account when it’s time to decide whether a literary work belongs to the scope Young Adult Literature or not (register). In the particular case that has been examined,
which is Les Daniels’ short story “The Good Parts”, it has been found that it does not only wields many characteristics of YAL but also fulfils adolescent’s expectations and desires towards the topic, including zombies, which is undoubtedly a feature that will appeal to them, and that will contribute to ignite their passion as readers. And that, after all, is the ultimate aim of this particular kind of literature. REFERENCES: Herz, S
& D. Gallo (1996) From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics. Westport, CT, GreenWood Press. Todd K. Platts (2013) Locating Zombies in the Sociology of Popular Culture. Sociology Compass. http://www.academia.edu/2076353/Locating_Zombies_in_the_Sociology_of_Po pular_Culture Gilbert Arevalo (2014) Zombie Phenomena Originated From Haiti. http://voices.yahoo.com/zombie-phenomena-originated-haiti-12575777.html