Inertia to Action: From Narrative Empathy to Political Agency in Young Adult Fiction

Abstract


 
 
 ‘Now tell me...’ Tobias says through a bursting breath, ‘what do you think learning strategy has to do with...bravery?’ The question reminds me that he is my instructor, and I am supposed to learn something from this. A cloud passes over the moon, and the light shifts across my hands.
 ‘It...it prepares you to act,’ I say finally. ‘You learn strategy so you can use it.’
 (Roth 2011, pp. 143–4)
 In this passage from Veronica Roth’s young adult (YA) novel Divergent (2011), protagonist Tris Prior is encouraged to make a connection between knowledge and action. More specifically, her instructor Tobias prompts Tris to articulate that strategy is necessary preparation for action. Implicit in this meta-teaching moment is an invitation for readers to embark with Tris on a journey that is exhilarating, but also instructive. Here Roth cues a generic feature of YA dystopian fiction: its function as a roadmap to agency. YA series such as Divergent (Roth 2011; 2012; 2013), The Hunger Games (Collins 2010a; 2010b; 2013), and The Maze Runner (Dashner 2010; 2011; 2013) all feature protagonists who move from inertia to action to engage with powerful enemies in a struggle for freedom and liberty. Given the genre’s overtly political concerns, this paper aims to consider what, if any, real-world empowerment might occur for readers who respond empathically to YA dystopian fiction. It explores how these texts might act as roadmaps to political agency and social activism, and asks whether—by mobilising readers’ affective responses—YA fiction might in fact immobilise young adults. In short, this paper examines whether there is there any evidence to suggest YA dystopian texts have the potential to empower a new generation of young adults to move from political inertia to action.