Role Models in Young Adult Literature

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A young girl is standing with a gun ready to fire. Her best friend Will walks toward her, another gun outstretched. She pleads for him to snap out of it. But, Will can't hear her, he's being controlled. She shoots, letting the bullet fly through his head. She flees the area crying to herself. Thankfully, this isn't real. This is a scene from the book Divergent, by Veronica Roth. This is one of the new popular book series from the Young Adult Literature genre. Young women are looking up to such heroines like Tris, described above. We know because the Hunger Games series alone has sold more than 65 million copies. These heroines are presented as strong willed, persistent, and smart role models for young women around the world. In fact I am going to argue that Young Adult Heroine Literature is the most influential source of entertainment for young women today. I will argue this by showing that our literary heroines make smart, influential decisions, they don’t care about their outward appearance like some many women do, and they have changed our world in a few simple days. Also, our world has been influenced by heroines. Adults, writers, and young women alike have many different ways in which Heroines have impacted our life all throughout history.

The Heroine was developed fully in the late 1500s and the early 1600s by William Shakespeare. During the 1700s and the 1800s it was the reign of Queen Victoria and women were starting to get recognized. Most of Shakespeare’s plays and stories were about women. At the time, his works were being read and watched by all. Shakespeare’s women were made with the best virtues, they were always doing what they were supposed to be doing. At least, that’s what you are meant to think. The women of ...

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...ts, because, books are the most influential thing, that I have ever seen.

Works Cited

Collins, Suzanne, and Phil Falco. "Chapter 1." The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. 6. Print.

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Roth, Veronica. Divergent. New York: HarperCollins Children's, 2012. 78. Print.

Stamper, Julie S. Female Characters as Role Models in Young Adult Literature. University of Tennessee.

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