Why The Best Books Are Written In Blood-- Critical Analysis

The article "Why The Best Books Are Written In Blood"by Sherman Alexie talks about contemporary Y/A books and how they should not be banned and taken out of libraries and schools. In "Why The Best Books Are Written In Blood" Alexie responds to Meghan Cox Gurdon's article about why contemporary Y/A books should be banned.  Gurdon says that Y/A literature "reflects back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is." However, Alexie knows that for some teens, these "hideous portrayals" are real life. In Alexie's eyes, Gurdon clearly either chooses not to see these problems or is actually completely ignorant to them. He tells readers that these types of books really reach out to troubled kids who have maybe been through the horrors in Y/A books.  In fact, he talks about how he was once one of them: "Would-be saviors tried to rescue my fellow tribal members, they tried to rescue me... What was my immature, childish response to those would-be saviors, 'Wow, you are way, way too late.'"  He felt the things the "would-be saviors" did to protect him were pointless, and that by the time anybody tried to save him he was already damaged.  Alexie says about writing for young adults: "I don't write to protect them.  It's far too late for that.  I write to give them weapons-- in the form of words and ideas-- that will help them fight their monsters."  He means that these teens that face these painstaking problems use young adult literature to help them get through their lives.  Alexie wants to help these teens, he knows that it is too late for some-- just like himself-- so he writes to help them, not to protect them.

In his article, Alexie wants us to feel that taking Y/A books out of libraries and schools would hurt the children who need those books. He thinks that Y/A books help the kids "fight their monsters." If this is so, then taking young adult books out of libraries would impede these kids on their path to a better life.  Alexie shows us this by giving short narratives of some kids who were, or are, in trouble, as well as short narratives of his own childhood.  He mentions again the "monsters" and talks about the "monsters" in his own life: "I read books about monsters and monstrous things because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life." Alexie really wants to get across the message that these problems are monsters, and the books are weapons to shoot them down.

I agree with Alexie that books should not be banned. However, I like to think of the books as more of a salve than a weapon. In some senses they do "fight" problems, but I think they can also heal teens and alert them that there are others out there with the same problems.  One thing I think many writers and readers can agree on is that Y/A fiction does portray reality, and these books do help teens, and you cannot turn your back on these issues and pretend they don't exist.