The Role of Protestant Christianity in Modern Young Adult Realistic Fiction.

Text is a reflection of culture and changes in society, culture, politics—and religion—are mirrored in literature. In this respect, young adult literature is no different from adult literature. Religion has been a historical component of children's and young adult literature since its inception. Early literature was used for instructional purposes, both moral and religious. During most of the twentieth century, any mention of religion almost completely disappeared from children's and young adult literature. The last two decades of life in the United States has been marked with increase religious fervor and influence by the Religious Right. This influence has crept into both the political and social arenas and religious beliefs have greatly influenced public discourse and rhetoric. Political party membership has become very much based on religious beliefs and the country has become polarized with almost equal support for each end of the political spectrum. If literature truly mirrors society and culture, then it stands to reason that there should be increased attention to religious matters in the literature of the nation. This should hold true for young adult literature. This study looks at this intersection between increased religious fervor in society and its reflection in young adult literature. Protestant Christianity is the focus for the analysis. Results of the study show that there has been an increase in the number of books published with some sort of religious content pertaining to Protestant Christianity since 1990. Content has tended to become more positive or matter-of-fact in its portrayal of religion but this is not universally the case. Religion frequently becomes an area of conflict for the protagonists and this conflict is both internal and external. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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