Turning Historical Characters into Modern Citizens

By Melissa Luttmann

I recently came across a discussion on this old article from The Horn Book (a magazine which discusses literature for children and young adults).

The author, Anne Scott MacLeod, is quite critical of historical fiction authors who project modern sensibilities onto their characters—which raises a good question. Obviously anything we write is going to reflect our own times, at least to an extent. But is it possible to take this reflection too far in historical fiction? And if so, what is the breaking point?

MacLeod makes a good point when she points out that many authors give their characters modern, politically correct views rather than infusing them with the social norms of their time. For example, most people in seventeenth-century Massachusetts believed in witchcraft, but I’ve noticed that novels about the Salem witch trials almost invariably feature a main character who doesn’t.

While this phenomenon doesn’t necessarily bother me that much, it does perturb me that in many books, no one else cares about the main character’s unorthodox viewpoint. People may well have defied social norms at many points in the past, but more often than not, there would have been severe consequences for doing so—consequences that characters in historical novels seem to escape.

There are plenty of reasons why writers might want to give their characters these modern views: to make a story more interesting, to avoid subjecting much-loved character to beliefs that now seem woefully ignorant, to avoid alienating readers. But is it right to do so? MacLeod would definitely say no, and after reading her article, I’m beginning to wonder myself.

Melissa Luttmann is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.

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http://unabridged-expression.blogspot.com/ Audra

…it does perturb me that in many books, no one else cares about the main character’s unorthodox viewpoint.

Yes! I adore historical novels but I really can’t stand a heroine that’s absurdly modern. I also hate it when books simply wave that away by having society/her neighbors consider her a ‘witch’ or something else like that.
librarypat

I have to agree with Ms. MacLeod. If the characters do not share views that were common for the time period in which the story is set, realistically, they should keep it to themselves or pay the consequences. In many medieval stories (both YA and adult), the heroine is an outspoken, educated, pushy female. Not only was this highly unlikely, I sincerely doubt many of these women would have survived unscathed for long. Going against the common and acceptable beliefs and behaviors of society had serious consequences. We don’t have to go that far back in our own history to see that. THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett shows how dangerous it could be to not conform to Southern social codes before and during the Civil Rights movement. Those, both black and white, who did not agree with the status quo were very careful to keep their thoughts and actions secret. Even the suspicion that you did not agree with common practices could result in social exile, job loss, and false accusations you had no hope of defending yourself against. If things were that difficult in the 20th century, they were certainly more dangerous hundreds of years ago.
http://historywithatwist.blogspot.com/ Vicky Alvear Shecter

Excellent piece, Melissa. This is certainly something I struggled with while working on my first novel, a historical-fiction YA about Cleopatra’s daughter (summer 2011/AALevine/Scholastic). In my case, my MC had to learn the hard way that strong, smart, outspoken women were reviled in most of the ancient world–something she didn’t know as she saw powerful men and foreign kings bow down to her mother all the time. Another issue I struggled with was slavery. I got into a minor blog debate with someone who said it was our obligation–especially when writing for children–to have our MC be opposed to it. And yet, in my heart, I knew with all the troubles my MC was having, questioning slavery was NOT one of them. As a princess of Egypt, and daughter of a powerful queen, she most likely would have seen slavery as the proper order of things–in, at least, the belief that she would always have people devoted to her needs. A PC-view of slavery coming from this ancient princess in the midst of political, emotional and physical crisis simply seemed absurd to me. Thanks for posting something that reinforces the logic behind my decision.