“And along with coed dystopias comes, inevitably, romance: it's understood now that if you're fighting to save the human race, you're going to have to deal with a star-crossed crush at the same time (Grossman).”
Love is all around us...and consumes all
Yes many YA dystopian novels include a romance within their plotline. As Grossman points out to his audience, dystopians have “two narrative arcs each: the gray, dreary future isn't just a dire warning for the present” and is the setting for romance. This is very true. He questions whether the love story is there to tell us about the dystopia the world is set in or “if the entire ruination of humanity has occurred just to set up the hookup (Grossman).” I would answer his question that the love story is there as backdrops for the struggles humans go through when it comes to being alone or with someone, about who to trust and let in to what they are thinking or feeling—even if it is just the tiniest little sliver.
I cannot speak that this is true for all dystopias (or just YA in general) or for all readers, but I have never focused too much on the romance of the novels. They are a good way to get readers—admittedly mostly females—to read the books, but I think they are a good tool to use to connect with their readers on a personal level—taking us back to this page about the appeal to readers. Readers have experienced love or imagine their love could be like Katniss and Peeta’s (or Gale) or Tris and Four from Divergent by Veronica Roth. The love story is another way to appeal to readers and to help them dig deeper into the meanings of what the story is trying to get at. It opens the readers to what an anonymous author says that dystopians open readers up to – “the reality of human struggle and strength”, real, teenage characters “with emotions [who] must make decisions to deal with a world created by adults” and have the general outcome “that everyone, even a child, can make a difference (Dystopian Novels).”
I cannot speak that this is true for all dystopias (or just YA in general) or for all readers, but I have never focused too much on the romance of the novels. They are a good way to get readers—admittedly mostly females—to read the books, but I think they are a good tool to use to connect with their readers on a personal level—taking us back to this page about the appeal to readers. Readers have experienced love or imagine their love could be like Katniss and Peeta’s (or Gale) or Tris and Four from Divergent by Veronica Roth. The love story is another way to appeal to readers and to help them dig deeper into the meanings of what the story is trying to get at. It opens the readers to what an anonymous author says that dystopians open readers up to – “the reality of human struggle and strength”, real, teenage characters “with emotions [who] must make decisions to deal with a world created by adults” and have the general outcome “that everyone, even a child, can make a difference (Dystopian Novels).”