What Opinions About Goverment Are Books Giving To Teens

      As children become teens and then adults they need to understand the world around them and government is a huge part of that. How they were brought up will have the biggest effect on their decisions and opinions but what they hear and read will have some effect as well. Therefore it is important to know how authors are portraying the government and people in power.

      In the book Allegiant by Veronica Roth I've noticed that the power keeps shifting. Uprising after uprising occurs. Once the people who rebelled get into power there is a rebellion against them. They can never settle for a leader or even a democracy. The people who are in power usually have a dark secret or an alternate motive for good doing. This is what causes the uprisings. Is this a good message to teach children. That first of all the government has secret plots and isn't trust worthy. And secondly that rising up (and usually causing a war) is the answer. This isnt just in Allegiant. Many science fiction books portray a crooked dystopian society that needs fixing. And the reason it is so disfunctional is because of the people running it.

      I also noticed that the people in charge were portrayed as cruel and violent. In Allegiant when soldiers from the government go to the corrupt poor areas the people are afraid of them and their guns. However in that pacticular scene from the book their is also the opinion of the soldiers. To them the people are the violent ones. However you as a reader dont take the soldiers side because they think that they are better than the poor citizens.they think they are scum. Does that show that the government doesn't care for the people? This book doesn't seem like a government promoting book. You could spin it and take the side of the soldiers if you really wanted to but the way it's written doesn't make you want to. The main characters are against the power figures so that makes you want to be too.

      Basically the people in power are always the villian. Being portrayed as heartless people who don't have feelings. Like they are playing a game of peoples lives and they can't feel the effects.Do we want our children thinking that that government is bad and that authority figures can't be truly good. The government isn't perfect but it isn't our enemy either.