hello guys
so for a while i’ve been meaning to post discussion posts i have so many things i want to talk about but i need to organize them first!
anyway, i want to discuss with you today about problematic characters\subjects.
when they are the MCs is it okay to romanticize problematic characters ?! i want to share with you in my opinion what should be kept in mind when reading about these things.
FIRST: is reading books with problematic characters\subjects forbidden??
NO! simply because when reading non-fiction you don’t expect everything to be perfect.
yes even in non-fiction. sometimes you will read something with problematic characters because that’s what literature is, you’ll come across a book with hateful character and maybe he\she will redeem themselves. or you’ll read about an intoxicating relationship and you’ll see the diversity in relationship and how not all relationships are perfect and many other examples
BUT what isn’t right is romanticizing these things\characters and portraying them as the ideal normal things that they aren’t!
these things in my opinion what draw the line between okay-for-these-things. and NO!
….
1- AGE GENRE :
if children’s and teen’s books romanticize these things (abuse, horrible parents, bullying, abusive love interest,etc) THEN it’s horrible! ( i’ll talk about narration later but now i’m assuming the narrator isn’t a first person ) of course if it’s adult book than the reader will be more aware of these things.
yes everything isn’t perfect, including people and having imperfect characters make the story more relatable . but when these characters know they have a problem and the author acknowledge these problems as well not romanticizing them then you won’t have a problem.
2- NARRATION
if the story is narrated by first person or unreliable narrators. it can a problem because the the narrator maybe won’t acknowledge the problem until later or never! or the narrator him\her self romanticize these things because they themselves have a problems of their own.
in this one the authors aren’t rooting for horrible, problematic things but they are simply are telling it how the characters are seeing it. it may add to the plot it may not it depend on you.
3- DEVOLPMENT OF THE PLOT\CHARACTER
i’m sure all of you read books where the protagonist was abused or bullied or the he\she themselves were horrible but they grew out of it. and instead of the authors romanticizing these things they simply use them to help with the character or the plot. in this case including this kind of content is necessary.
there’s always a message of reading something if having these things in a book will help deliver this well-thought-good message then it can be okay to read something with this type of content.
WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT ROMANTICISING THIS TYPE OF THINGS
One's Peculiar 
Great choice for a bookish discussion! I agree with you that it really depends on the age of the reader (since teens are more susceptible to influence), but I also love when authors acknowledge the problematic aspects like : “this character is very charming and loveable, I meant to make him that way, but his/her actions are also very problematic, so keep that in mind when you stan them”. Great post! 😊
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thank you!
yes authors should acknowledge their problematic behavior.
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