Jordan Duckworth
College Prep English
Comparison/Contrast Essay
November 15, 2016
Bloody Books
“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame” -Oscar Wilde. Since the creation of writing heroes have been recounting their grisly adventures. Whether those heroes are The 300 Spartans standing up to the might of the persian empire or a teenager overcoming their depression. The topic has been debated on whether these stories should be allowed to be told to younger kids and/or teenagers. In a recent article titled “Darkness too visible” Meghan Cox Gurdon gives her ideas on why these “Dark” books should not be allowed to be read by the young adults/children. Author Sherman Alexie wrote an article titled: “Why the best children's books are written in blood” directly countering Gurdon's soon after. While both articles are effective with several similar aspects including the first central idea, the author’s perspective, and the intended audience despite the similarities Sherman Alexie’s article is more effective.
The first main idea that each author makes are similar due to the fact that they are addressing the same thing but from different points of view. They are addressing the argument that young adult books have become too dark and pervasive. Gurdon states: “It’s all vampires and self harm and suicide this dark dark stuff” while she may think that this stuff is too dark Alexie certainly doesn’t. Alexie talks about how most teens/preteens unless sheltered have already lost their “innocence”, The way Gurdon delivers her point no doubt gathers support, however Alexie’s point unlike Gurdon's caters to more than one type of audience. Both writers are effective at expressing their beliefs on the topic but Alexie’s is overall the more effective of the two.
The only similarities on the author’s perspective with these two articles is the fact that they both take an extreme side. Alexie’s side is that kids should all be encouraged to read these books to help them through their tough times by comforting them and showing that others have gone through similar things. Gurdon's side is that these dark books should not be allowed in stores and kids/teens should not be able to read them because they could possibly put ideas in kid’s heads. A major reason that Alexie’s perspective is easier to side with is because he uses actual kids stories and his own story while Gurdon uses sarcasm and tries to make the books sound worse than they are. She takes several excerpts from some dark books while they do indeed possess some suggestive themes, she finds the absolute worst of the worst from them.
The similarities between the audiences are that Alexie addresses all of Gurdon's readers. Throughout the article Gurdon's intended audience is mostly higher class caucasian mothers. While her article would definitely appeal to that audience, Alexie’s addresses them, as well as many others. Alexie’s intended audience is not only Gurdon's but any opponent of these dark books. Alexie makes it clear that he wants anyone who opposes dark books to see that they in fact help those who have lost their innocence and need some help in their tough times. Most of the time when writing an article it is better to specify a smaller audience like Gurdon did but Alexie managed to address a broad audience while retaining all the good qualities of a specified audience.t
While these articles have many similarities one can tell which one is more effective. Not only does Sherman Alexie’s article garner more support but it is effective at convincing people to see his point and take Alexie’s side on the argument. While Meghan Gurdon's article is effective to its intended audience it doesn't address the wide variety of readers that Alexie’s does. Also Gurdon uses sarcasm when talking about self-harm in her article which can easily offend any reader who has self-harmed and thus turns them against her side. Another thing that could easily turn people against her side is by using the absolute worst example from books she addresses. Any reader who has actually read the books she mentions will know that the whole book is not like the example she gives and thus know that the other books were probably made out to seem worse than they really are. Despite the similarities in these articles, Sherman Alexie has a much more effective article due to the first idea being easier to identify with, his perspective not being sarcastic and including actually accounts, and a broader intended audience.
Work Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood.” WSJ, Wsj.com, 9 June 2011,
blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/.
Gurdon, Meghan Cox. “Darkness Too Visible.” WSJ, Wsj.com, 3 June 2011,
www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.