Dreams and the real

Senali S. Perera

“Oh my God, he is so handsome!” exclaims sixteen-year-old Desaree Soysa dreamily. It goes without saying that most teenage girls could be suckers for guys with handsome features -square jaw line, high cheek bones, tousled hair. But the thing is, they are fictional. Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga is a famous fictional hun.

Heroes and heroines

The heroes and heroines of the novels that our young generation reads have a significant impact on their lives. They tend to admire these characters -from their appearances to their personalities, teenagers look up to them and what they see can be significantly affective.

Remember once you had a thing for Romeo? How he seemed to be the hero of your life and you dreamed about meeting someone like him?

Well, you are not alone. Most teenagers nowadays feel the same way about the characters they meet when reading novels and it is important to discuss how powerful the affect is they have on a young life.

“Nowadays, whether children read itself is a question,” says Lecturer in English Language, Teaching Unit, University of Colombo, Dr. Asantha U Aththanayake . “Most children do not read because of the interference of the visual media.

Thus, the readership in Sri Lanka is highly doubtful.” And it seems, the handful of teenagers that does care enough to spend a few minutes of the day with a good book in their hands have quite an opinion about the characters. Soysa, the Twilight fan says that she “saw true love in the story. And there was jealousy as well-from the third main character Jacob Black (who is very cute, by the way.)”

“Through this story, I learned that it is not good to have two relationships at once. But it is not really one’s fault because you do not fall in love on purpose!” says Soysa. The Vampire Diaries (TVD), where again a love triangle is being portrayed, has had a similar effect on the teen hearts, it seems. Shenali Samaranayake who studies at a well-recognized school in Gampaha says that TVD teaches a similar lesson. “It is not a good thing. I do not approve it,” she says.

“It teaches us about friendship through the characters. But sadly, there is no chance at all that we might find boyfriends like Damon Salvatore! No way in hell!” says Samaranayake, indicating one of the ‘hunky’ main characters.

Western novels

Teenagers reading love stories. It is quite common. Through the eyes of an adult, are the messages delivered by these novels agreeable?

“Western novels are very much open when it comes to this,” says Aththanayake. “Teenagers nowadays read mostly western novels or translations of them. And these novels are open about love, sex and such subjects. You cannot blame the children for reading.

But I can say that it is not very positive.” She mentions that there is a conflict between what is expected of our young generation and what they are being exposed to. “On the one hand, we expect our children to be disciplined, religious and Sri Lankan. On the other hand, we expose them to a wholly different culture.” Where will this lead us?

“Our children do not appreciate our own creations,” says Aththanayake further. “It is not their fault. The main reason it seems is the visual media -mostly cartoons. Nowadays cartoon characters have become their heroes.”

“Do we have children’s books in our country?” she raises a question. “I was aghast to see kids reading Sinhala books with poor grammar mistakes and facts that were extremely wrong. But if we tell our kids that the books are wrong, they will lose the faith they have on our creations.” Further she recalls that she was “flabbergasted to see pictures of the Ten Giant Warriors looking like thugs! The way our culture is being portrayed in front of our young generation is distorted,” she says.

Inspiration

Tharushi Dinelka, an Ordianry Level student from Colombo talks about her hero Sherlock Holmes: “I read the translations. They are nicely done. Holmes is a great character. And the story connects with our day to day lives-making decisions, sticking up for friends etc.” she says.

“In Sherlock Holmes, I see a courageous, brave man who puts the lives of the innocent before his own. I like to be like him, even though he does not give space for his emotions. That has to be improved.”

They like to be like their heroes. They are inspired by them. “Children like to speak like their fictional heroes. Sometimes their vocabulary is changed,” confirms Aththanayake. “Throughout our journey of life, we are growing. Teenagers form visions and attitudes and what they read, what they see have an effect on them,” she says. “As a child, I was inspired by Jane Eyre. I developed qualities from her,” she recalls.

Ideals and role models

“There is no doubt about the service of a writer to the society,” says Aththanayake. A writer can feed a mind with vivid images and deliberately affect the notions of a person. He has the power. The life he pours in to a character can influence many lives in the real world.

“Nowadays heroes of novels are partly good and partly bad. For instance, he or she can be kind to their partner while being careless about their families and aggressive towards their enemies,” says Aththanayake. “This is not right. Right and wrong should be portrayed separately rather than blending them. Realism is important but that is for adults. For children, ideals and role models are important.” “If there are no role models in the society-which is, sadly, the case-they should be there in the media -print or visual,” says Aththanayake further.

Choosing a good book

How should a teenager be guided when choosing a good book? “That responsibility is mainly for parents,” says Aththanayake.

“We should not create an emotional and psychological conflict within the child. We should not ask the child for something and then do its opposite in front of their eyes.”

“We need to have a vision in order to bring up our children” mentions Aththanayake. “Be very selective of what your child reads and watches. Sometimes they might not watch things on television but they might hear it -the filthy language, hatred being shown as the prime thing. Be careful.”

According to Aththanayake, the main problem in today’s society where this particular issue is concerned is, “We do not have a filter for what comes into the country from outside.

They come in freely-the western books, Indian material. We need a filter. We need to be careful of what we give our children.” She further says that it is the duty of parents to be role models to their children themselves. “Children should be given books that contain good language as well as good messages. It is pretty dangerous that they seem to be imitating Western and Indian material these days.”

Our young generation is our future. What you read while you are young can stay with you for your entire life. The impact it has on our children’s lives is powerful. Therefore, it is your duty and mine to give our young generation the best they deserve. And also, children themselves ought to be smart when choosing material for themselves. Books teach you a lot of things.

It would be an underestimation to try to describe it in words. So be careful of what you choose to learn. Have fun but at the same time be responsible of what you feed your mind with because sometimes the fantasies might get tangled with the reality.

We do not want our future generation to be lost between the dreams and the real.