Posted on by astyrra_713s8o

YA protagonists: who’s on the shelves?

laffbending:

ladysaviours:

For the purposes of this little mini-survey, I’m using “protagonist” to mean “narrator/primary POV character.” That said, let’s take a look at what the Big Names of YA are putting out.

Sarah Rees Brennan:

  • The Demon’s Lexicon. Protagonist: Nick. White straight cis male.
  • The Demon’s Covenant: Protagonist: Mae. White straight cis female.
  • The Demon’s Surrender. Protagonist: Sin. Nonwhite straight cis female.
  • The Lyburn Legacy. Protagonist: Kami. Biracial straight cis female.

John Green:

  • Looking for Alaska. Protagonist: Pudge. White straight cis male.
  • An Abundance of Katherines. Protagonist: Colin. White straight cis male.
  • Paper Towns. Protagonist: Quentin. White straight cis male.
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Protagonist: Will. White straight cis male.
  • The Fault In Our Stars. Protagonist: Hazel. White straight cis female.

Cassandra Clare.

  • City of Bones. Protagonist: Clary. White straight cis female.
  • City of Ashes. Protagonist: Clary. White straight cis female.
  • City of Glass. Protagonist: Clary. White straight cis female.
  • Clockwork Angel. Protagonist: Tessa. White straight cis female.
  • Clockwork Prince. Protagonist: Tessa. White straight cis female.
  • Clockwork Princess. Protagonist: Tessa. White straight cis female.
  • City of Fallen Angels. Protagonist: Clary. White straight cis female.
  • City of Lost Souls. Protagonist: Clary. White straight cis female.

Libba Bray:

  • A Great and Terrible Beauty. Protagonist: Gemma. White straight cis female.
  • Rebel Angels.Protagonist: Gemma. White straight cis female.
  • The Sweet Far Thing. Protagonist: Gemma. White straight cis female.
  • Going Bovine. Protagonist: Cameron. White (?) straight cis male.
  • Beauty Queens. Protagonist: varied.
  • The Diviners. Protagonist: Evie. White straight cis female.

Maureen Johnson:

  • 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Protagonist: Ginny. White straight cis female.
  • Suite Scarlett. Protagonist: Scarlett. White straight cis female.
  • The Key To The Golden Firebird. Protagonist: multiple.
  • Devilish. Protagonist: Jane. White straight cis female.
  • Girl at Sea. Protagonist: Clio. White straight cis female.
  • The Bermudez Triangle. Protagonists: One cis biracial straight girl (Nina), one cis white lesbian (Mel) and one cis white classified-by-narrative-as-straight girl (Avery) (ed. note: points for queer/nonwhite characters, but points taken off for the ATROCIOUS depiction of bisexuality.)
  • The Name of the Star. Protagonist: Rory. White straight cis female.

Soooooo … what does this tell us?

But for some reason, I’m supposed to be praising CC and SRB’s holy light as the faces and proponents for diversity in young adult fiction, because they have the ~courage~ to include non-white characters and/or queer characters. As side characters. Wow, how progressive, how innovative, I have never seen that before. Also ctrl+f ‘trans’ not found. Ctrl+f ‘non-binary’ not found.

But I guess if you call them out on this, they will rush at you and tell you that they know these are problems… and then do nothing about it and continue tripping over themselves to prove they’re good allies without really doing anything. It’s just a good image for them, they don’t actually have to do anything about it.