Relationship status: Mentally dating at least twelve fictional characters.
Whether it's Peeta, Mal, Arin, Noah, Jason or any others making up the fine selection of YA boys, our hearts have been captured by sly grins, high cheek bones, and a curated combination of chivalry, snark, and vulnerability. The YA boy is one of young adult literature's greatest and most adored ingredients for a successful story. They carry a lot of weight on their shoulders, with a goal to deliver the swoon factor while also providing the depth required to make us care about more than just appearance and flirtation. They're easy to fall for when they're perfectly crafted by an author who knows what she's doing.
So what makes a good YA boy?
(Besides the hair)
I guess it depends on what you're looking for.
Warning: I might spoil a few things, so if you're not caught up through season 2 of The 100 or haven't concluded The Hunger Games saga (what the hell are you waiting for?), beware.
There are some classic traits that seem almost universal for everyone's favorite YA boys. They can be kind, loyal, strong, and on and on and on. Basically, they tend to become human wish lists for what we hope we'll find in a real life partner.
For me, I've always found myself a bit partial to the more broken and complicated members of the YA boy hall of fame. Despite my obsessions, I no longer seek out a vision of my future relationships in the pages of the books I read. I'm looking for characters that challenge me and make me think. My love for Gale Hawthorne is no secret and my recent binge watching of The 100 had me immediately drawn to the soft eyes of Spacewalker Finn Collins. These two famous YA boys have their faults, especially when they become soldiers in a war much bigger than the both of them. Gale has been vilified by putting Katniss Everdeen in a difficult position by declaring his love for her in the midst of the stressful aftermath of her winning the Hunger Games. The same can be said for Finn and his relationship with Clarke Griffin. However, their major downfalls come with the way they are lured in by violence brought on by a need for vengeance. We should hate Finn for what he did to those Grounders, right? And whether or not you believe Gale played a role in killing Prim (I'll fight you on this until the day I die), he certainly had a significant fall from grace in the eyes of Katniss and of readers.
Now, obviously I'm not saying that any of these actions were justified or sensible. Especially these days, killing isn't the right answer, no matter how angry the world has made you. Let me just make that disclaimer before I tell you why I love these two characters.
It's because they're real. This has come up a lot in my previous posts regarding feminism and romance, and it applies just as equally to any love interest presented in these YA stories. I do not want a dream boy, because that is all they are meant to be: dreams. No matter how perfect a relationship is, it's never going to be like the products of fairy tales and epic romances. Real life just works out differently, especially in the reality of this age group.
These boys are teenagers, and real teenage boys are barely ever going to have the right thing to say and they definitely aren't always as noble as we think they should be. I'm not hating on an entire demographic here, but it's the truth more often than not. Their brains aren't even fully developed yet as they process all of the madness happening around them, whether they're in a war torn world or just a grimy old high school. Gale's brooding over his feelings for Katniss is a part of his adolescence, and he hasn't learned enough about love and relationships yet to understand how to properly handle it. We can't react to him the same way we would if he were twenty-five or forty, because his mind just isn't at that final stage of growth yet.
Finn makes an immature decision to pit Clarke and Raven against each other in their love triangle, but that's what a lot of teenagers would likely do, even if they didn't mean to. The maturity level isn't quite where it needs to be. We all remember the day we realized that other people existed and that our actions affect more than just ourselves. It's not a switch that flips once you turn eighteen, but a revelation that comes with life experience and emerging adulthood. Finn's is a tough situation and just because we can clearly see the flaws in his actions doesn't mean he knows how to fix them or even understand them. I can map out solutions as a viewer and as an adult, but I certainly wouldn't have been able to do that so easily when I was his age.
Story lines like these make it easy for readers to flock to characters like Peeta Mellark, who is Gale's counterpart in the HG love triangle and also a boy with beautiful words and a cherished innocence. There isn't really anything too complicated about Peeta's character and his only real personality conflict is forced upon him by The Captiol's hijacking. Otherwise, it's pretty straight forward. He loves Katniss. Always has. Always will. Smart. Strong. Sweet. That's pretty much it. Most everyone I talk to all but drools over the boy with the bread because he is the embodiment of so many ideal attributes that make up that magical dream boy. Tell me how much you love me. Make sacrifices for me. Read me poems and paint my face on a cupcake.
Sure. Fine. Nobody wants to read YA books full of dickish teenage boys that reflect every bad relationship that every high school girl has ever had and vice versa. If we had to be completely realistic in our writing of teenage boys, it would be a whole lot less enchanting than anything on the book shelves. This can be said for a lot of the aspects that make up YA. Reading is an escape and it's a way for us to create worlds where that kind of Peeta/Katniss romance isn't as far fetched as it feels while our exes haunt us and dating terrifies us. (I can't just be speaking for myself, right?) However, as readers, we can't immediately turn characters like Finn and Gale into villains because of their very human mistakes or because they get in the way of the story's core romance. It's not black and white, because villains and heroes aren't as separate from each other as fiction has lead us to believe. Did we forget how much blood is on Clarke's hands? Katniss's? They are still lovable and hopeful when the smoke clears, so why all the hate for these damaged YA boys? It's because of characters like Peeta, whose near perfection makes it impossible for anyone else to stand a chance.
You can't help but love Peeta. He's the dream boy.
And yeah, I understand why Katniss could never be with Gale after what happened. I understand why there was no place for Finn in the wake of his massacre. It was an inexcusable act that ate away at him and his death was the only path his character had left to take. And even with the countless Liam Hemsworth posters taped to my bedroom wall, I wouldn't be able to carry on a romance with either of them after so much hatred had made its way into their hearts. In that kind of situation, I would definitely have my own issues to work out too, because who knows how I would react if my life was turned inside out by war?
But as a reader, I was entirely enthralled with the complexity of the two of them. They were so much more than just extensions of the main heroine's story. Their darkness made them not only more human but also more fascinating. These are the kinds of characters that I want to keep reading about because they reflect the real flaws of mankind and also of youth. They aren't villains. They aren't dream boys. They're just people who did good and bad and lost the ones they loved.
Maybe if I was fourteen again, I would have a little more adoration for the Peetas of YA. However, maybe I never should have had the idea of the dream boy in my head in the first place. Because even the most kind and gentle of souls have their flaws. Teenage years bring about muddled decision making and impressionable minds that are easily swayed and manipulated. Finn and Gale, despite the trials of their lives that forced them to grow up too fast, were children failed by the destructive worlds around them. Not everyone will remember them as heroes, but they deserve to be remembered for more than just the dark sides of who they became. Complicated and broken YA boys may not get the girl in the end or win many hearts, but they give an undeniable depth to the story and are daring in the honest way they are portrayed. There will always be dream boys in YA to sail us into a happy ending, but the Finns and Gales deserve redemption too.
