The Merriam Webster Dictionary
states that Social Justice is “the state or doctrine of
egalitarianism (Egalitarianism defined as 1: a belief in human equality
especially with respect to social, political, and economic
affairs; 2: a social philosophy advocating the removal of
inequalities among people),” or in simpler words, the state of being where
everyone is equal and respected. Although many can agree that this so called,
Social Justice is not being well maintained by our society. A very common and
reoccurring Social Justice Issue that pops up not only in places across the
world but also in young adult books is, bullying. Although we try to ignore the
fact that it’s occurring, we do have to take responsibility for our community
and ourselves. Much of the bullying is taking place in our nations schools, but
is also being mirrored in most young adult books. This of course is not the
cause of the major bullying problem, but should be zoomed in on to see the
closer meanings to this Social Justice Issue. This of course in not the only
Social Justice Issue that I’ve notice in my reading life, for example, Rape and women not being treated equally. All of these more specifically
popping up in the young adult fiction book, Thirteen Reasons Why by: Jay
Asher.
As and 8th Grader, I
have witnessed and been bullied in the past, yet just recently I have began to
discover how often this issue comes up in my reading life. For example one of
my most resent reads was, Thirteen Reasons Why by: Jay Asher. The main
character, Hannah is retelling her most cruel and appalling memories that lead
to her suicide and most of her stories included a type a bullying in which
Hannah ended up emotionally or physically hurt. For example, untrue and hurtful
rumors were spread and someone for their own twisted benefit used Hannah.
This shows that Hannah was bullied to the point where she didn’t even want to
live anymore which is a serious Social Justice Issue.
Rape is a Social Justice issue
that mainly occurs in young adult fiction and unlike bullying not in Middle
School let alone Elementary School. But it’s an important Social Justice Issue
that shows up on the news. Hannah the main character of Thirteen Reasons Why
by: Jay Asher does experience rape and as awful as it is, this is an issue, and
this issue is showing up in both life and in young adult books.
Lastly, another common Social
Issue that is showing up in my young adult books, is the mistreatment of women.
As a young women myself, I have strong beliefs that women should not be
mistreated at all. This Social Justice Issue is portrayed in many ways, for
example, in Thirteen Reasons Why by: Jay Asher, Hannah is abused and pushed around by
boys who she wants to trust. This is definitely some thing I have seen and
experienced because this issue although some may not inturpet to be “this
serious”, is an issue that occurs sometimes as young as Elementary School. Which
is something that needs to be changed.
These Social Justice Issues are not
only occurring in life but also showing itself in young adult book commonly
read by Middle School students. These issues obviously need to be changed, but
the big question is, HOW?
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