Post-Apocalyptic YA Novels as a Vehicle for Youth Engagement

The development of the Young Adult novel in terms of the topics it encompasses reached its zenith in the 1970s. The Catcher in the Rye became the key turning point that allowed ‘crisis’ to be encompassed within the themes discussed in YA fiction. And the ever-expanding boundaries of the interpretation of crisis led to post-apocalyptic, as a discussion of the most extreme ecological issues, forming a new sub-genre after its eventual crossover with YA fiction. Some scholars argue that post-apocalyptic YA narratives are a good platform for adolescents‘ ecological engagement, where ecological issues are presented in the form of exaggerated ’catastrophes,‘ so that young people can be alerted to the urgency of real-life crises and take action. However, other critics express negative attitudes, accusing adults of irresponsibly transferring the crisis to the next generation, forcing them to bear the mistakes of their predecessors. Such disagreement demonstrates an interest in what post-apocalyptic YA novels can empower for ecological engagement that has yet to be examined. Three representative works Earth Abides, The Lorax and Alas, Babylon are chosen for this paper, corresponding to three of the most popular, discussed types of disaster: plague, human-made destruction, and nuclear power. Taking the crisis itself as the axis, this paper does a plot segmentation, dividing the text into three phases: ‘introduction’, ‘peak’ and ‘aftermath’ of the crisis. Then, a comparative analysis is conducted, focusing on whether the three works show different tendencies to address the end-of-time. The findings show that the two works employ similar narrative strategies, especially in the early stages of the crisis, by emphasizing the inevitability of the crisis and triggering the readers' fear and sense of responsibility for the ecological destruction. Alas, Babylon, on the other hand, is different. Its focus on the ‘aftermath’ stages is more positive in terms of emotional mobilization, with a more optimistic/functional narrative framework that emphasizes human resilience. Secondly, all three works show the characteristic of prompting readers to act by reinforcing the urgency of the crisis, that is, attempting to alert adolescent readers to the reality through extreme situations. However, there are still differences in the specific expressions: The Lorax's ‘blaming’ tone towards the next generation is particularly prominent, shifting the ecological failures of adults to impose warnings and a sense of responsibility on the younger generation. This paper worries that this narrative strategy may reinforce the sense of inter-generational inequity in the crisis. Meanwhile, it exposes an underlying negative tendency in post-apocalyptic YA fiction. This concern echoes some scholars' concerns with post-apocalyptic YA narratives, namely, that they may aggravate the psychological burden of the younger generation.