Recently, I've been reading Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block, and I have not been able to put it down! At first, I found this text to be quite simple on the surface, but delving deeper, I realized that the characters dealt with some major young adult issues. One issue that was outwardly apparent in Book Three, “Horns” on pages 205 to 220 showed how the teenagers Witch Baby, Cherokee, Raphael, and Angel Juan acted without parental supervision. Their parents traveled to South America to film a movie, completely leaving their still developing teenagers at home to fend for themselves. Throughout this chapter, the four teens started to go down the wrong path, beginning with skipping school and having sex. Eventually their late night band gigs with the Goat Guys became so out of hand that Cherokee could not take it anymore and sent a letter to her family asking them to come home. On page 225, she stated, “I know the film is very important but sometimes I wish you were home.” Because of this lack of parental care and support, these teenagers lost their way in the world and started traveling down the path of destruction.
Another major young adult issue addressed in this novel was the theme of identity. Witch Baby struggled with her identity because she did not feel belonging in her family. After realizing My Secret Agent Lover Man was her real father, Witch Baby forged a connection to her family and built her identity upon this. Through this identity, she decided to become the black sheep of the family, seen in this passage, “…black sheeps express everyone else’s anger and pain” (Block 149). I really enjoyed this line because I felt as though it truly could relate to every human being on earth. Every family has that one member who just does not go along with what everybody else is doing. This member is ostracized because of their inability to work with the family unit as a core, though every other family member feels the same way as this “black sheep.” People can feel very cynical about the world at times, but they usually repress it or learn to live and deal with it. Witch Baby lives in this cynical and ambiguous world by outwardly showing her feelings toward it, making the world a more livable place for those that repress their cynical feelings toward the world. For this reason, Witch Baby forges her identity by becoming the black sheep of her family.
Through reading this young adult novel, I have really been able to find some timeless young adult themes that would definitely relate to my students. I highly recommend any high school English teacher to read this book in order to assist in understanding how their teenaged students may be feeling. In addition, it would be a great book to read in class that would get the students to really ponder these themes and relate them to their own lives.
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I also read Dangerous Angels (I had to read it for Young Adult Lit). It isn't a book I would have picked up on my own. Block certainly wrote an interesting story, however, it is too fictional. She intended this book to be a fairy tale with a Holocaust reference. It definitely isn't something I'd recommend reading. She does hit on very heavy topics, for teens, but she makes it too fictional and unrealistic. If feel like students would find it difficult to relate to this book without looking past the ridiculous plot.
ReplyDeleteThats interesting that you feel it is unrealistic Stephanie. I really want to read this book now and see what it is all about!
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of good young adult lit, I enjoyed the book "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes" by Chris Crutcher. It is a very easy read and it deals with a lot of issues students go through in high school from abusive relationships, eating disorders and death. I am happy it is a part of my library that I will have in my classroom someday because like Mary Jo said it is good to have books that help students with identity problems realize they are not alone!