Love Portrayed in Teen Novels

This post examines how love is portrayed in today's teen novels (hatred is not commonly found). Teen novels are very popular, especially among teenage girls. Because the protagonist is generally a teenage girl just like them, they can enjoy the story vicariously through the protagonist.

Famous Teen Novels
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Mia Thermopolis is an ordinary girl who hates math, but one day she discovers that her father is the prince of a small country in Europe named Genovia. She suddenly becomes popular and even the hottest guy at school wants to go out with her. In the end, she realizes that she is in love with Micheal, who is her best friend's brother.




Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
This is a story about a group of wealthy teenagers who go to the same high school. All the rumors in this school are posted on a popular blog (it only exists in the book) called "Gossip Girl." There is some amount of hatred in this story because the students face a lot of conflicts with one another.



Love portrayed in Meg Cabot's Novels
Meg Cabot (left) is one of the most famous teen novel writers. Her books include: The Princess Diaries Series, All-American Girl, and How to be Popular. All of these books have very similar plot, setting, and characters.

The protagonist is always an average teenage girl at her school. She and her friends belong to not the popular "A-crowd" but to the rest of the non-popular people. However, through some kind of an event, she suddenly becomes popular. For example, in All-American Girl, the girl becomes nationally famous for saving the present of the United States from being shot by a terrorist, and in How to Become Popular, she becomes popular in her school after a makeover. This sudden popularity causes confusion about her identity. She likes popularity, but at the same time she is sick of the attention. In the end, the girl always returns to her true self.

The protagonist always thinks that she is in love with the most popular guy at school because he is good-looking and seemingly nice. Later the in the story, when she becomes popular, the popular guy approaches her not because he is really interested in her but because she is popular. At the end, the girl always realizes that her true love has always been right next to her, such as her best friend or her friend's brother.

Love Portrayed in Teen Novels in General
In old times, men and women only met for the purpose of marriage. There was no such thing as a "boyfriend" or "date." However, today men and women can meet as many partners as they want before marriage. In classics or other books from an old time, love is portrayed as something very serisou. On the other hand, in modern literature, especially teenage romance novels, love is viewed more as something light and fun.