by Cristian Matas
“He tried to scream, but it was cut off suddenly by a terrible pressure against his throat, cutting off his breath. The world went black.”
Young Adult Literature (YAL) comprehends those texts (novels, short stories, urban legends etc.) appreciated by adolescents and whose topics are usually not preferred by the adult public: like “cars, sports and romance novels” (Small, 1992). Young readers may enjoy reading if the material chosen reflects the interests and problems they might have. Small also points out that in order to catch the attention of this massive group of readers, YAL has gradually developed some original characteristics, for instance, having a young protagonist, a limited number of characters, a teenage dilemma (such as fear) a compressed time span and a catchy and simple plot. According to Small, YAL should not avoid controversial topics that are related to teenagers such as sexuality, substance abuse, identity and death so as to establish a better connection between the reader and the story. Herz & Gallo (1996) connect the topic of personal identity to “a wide range of social issues as for instance family life, ethical decisions, violence and urban conflicts” among others.
During the last decades this literature has developed into many different styles and characters, taking into account the needs and interests of the young adult readers (Herz & Gallo, 1996) and creating peculiar genders combination of humour, horror, warning, embarrassment, morality or appeal to empathy (Koelling, 2004). One of the many genders included in YAL is surely represented by urban legends, since they fulfill many of the YAL characteristics and this kind of stories deal with certain topics usually found in this kind of literature. These features have a strong presence in the story written by S. E. Schlosser. This paper will analyze those characteristics and topics in the urban legend “Golden Hand” by S. E. Schlosser in order to use them as tools to engage young adults in reading.
Many people may ask what an urban legend is about. The phrase "urban legend" entered the popular lexicon in the early 1980s with the publication of folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand's first book on the subject, “The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings” (Norton, 1981). David Emery (2010) explains urban legends as a type of folklore, beliefs and stories of ordinary people ("the folk"). One way to differentiate them from other narrative forms (like popular fiction, TV dramas or novels) is to compare where they come from and how they are propagated. Norton states that urban legends are primarily transmitted from individual to individual, and only in atypical cases via mass media or other institutional means. Urban legends are the essence of storytelling since they can have as many variants as there are tellers of a tale (Emery, 2010). This pleasure to tell stories heard by someone, or happened to a friend of a friend leads directly to the world of young readers previously mentioned. YAL is embedded with the nature of beliefs (Lord, 2011). In fact, young adult catchy elements in urban legends are surely represented by the source of these myths: “they seem to come from nowhere” and by the presence of the unexpected “a twist in the story that is outlandish but just plausible enough to be taken as truth” (Kayne, 2011).
In the urban legend “Golden hand”, it is evident from the beginning that the source of the story is unknown and the aspect of a spooky story is enclosed in each part of the narration. The atmosphere of a city block myth surrounds “Golden hand”, where a woman with a golden hand is murdered by a neighbour. The main character plans a lot of stratagems in order to seduce and kill a woman he has discovered having a golden hand. He succeeds in his plan and finally murders the woman and gets the valuable hand from the body. Nobody suspects him of murder but, one night he receives the visit of the dead lady coming to find her stolen hand back. Scared to death for the apparition of the murdered lady, he cowered backs against his sheets but the unnatural strength of the golden hand presses his face against the pillow and suffocates him. The next morning the housemaid finds him dead with the golden hand clutched around his throat.
“Golden hand” is filled with elements that could easily catch the attention of young adults, whether sitting by the camp fire or listening to a story before going to bed. The author creates a perfect “Halloween atmosphere” in the introduction by saying, “It was a dark night. Clouds covered the moon, and the wind was whistling down the chimney and rattling the shutters of the town house”. “Golden hand” is a creepy story and has the ingredients of an urban legend that has passed from mouth to mouth and that can eventually be modified by other tellers. At this point, it is essential to clarify ‘what kind of adolescents’ would be interested in this story. If we consider the definition of the Young Adult Library Services (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) that consider a young adult "someone between the ages of 12 and 18", then, this urban legend would be appealing for teens who particularly like mystery which implies an intellectual challenge (Bucher & Manning, 2006). In other words, while young adults can escape from reality, mysteries are, in a sense, a simulated reality that these readers can control. Bushman (1997) agrees that when the readers solve a mystery, they may feel a renewed sense of esteem and confidence that they may not have had in their life where things are beyond their control. Bucher & Manning emphasize that a mystery often presents a problem, (most specifically a crime or a specific ill against a character or community) at the beginning and then offers clues that the readers can put together in order to hypothesize about a resolution. This story would also be attractive for adolescents who may enjoy reading a short, simple and catchy plot so as not to get bored. For instance, the narration of the events can fill young readers’ expectation because they can feel represented by the main character who nurtures curiosity towards the mysterious lady as much as the incredible discovery he has made: the golden hand. Despite the common like situation that is portrayed in the story, which could take place in any neighbour, nobody seems to be aware of what is going on. The elements of the unexpected, so typical to urban legend in order to catch the young readers’ attention, are spread all over the story, since the glimpse of the main character’s eyes when he realized the hand of the lady is gold made. It looks like the spontaneous surprise of a teenager who finds something that anybody else has. The engine of the story is represented by greed which is also the sparks of the twists in the plot (“He never paid much attention to the neighbours living on his city block”). The lust to possess the golden arm moves all the actions and it is like the connection line between the elements of surprise and the elements of fear that closes this tale as a ring when the phantom appears: “The glowing phantom moved closer to him, her once-lovely face twisted into a hideous green mask”.
A fear can be less likely to disrupt a person's everyday life, and one can either learn to avoid the uncomfortable situations or learn how to relax and master them (Becker, 1973). Becker comments that young adult readers may feel attracted by scary stories due to the anxiety that fear generates and all these feelings can encourage the reader to continue reading till the end of the story. As for fear, it is impossible not to mention death as one important topic in “Golden hand” because the main character dies at the end victim of greed. The author describes this death by saying: “He tried to scream, but it was cut off suddenly by a terrible pressure against his throat, cutting off his breath. The world went black”. A young adult's reactions to death and its aftermath may be similar to that of an adult but "with fewer resources and abilities and less maturity to deal with them" (Glass, 1990, p. 160). In some cases, young adults may withdraw, but at the same time be aware of the need to form intimate relationships and to care for others (Erikson, 1968), which also contributes to identity formation (Brown & Gilligan, 1992). Gail Radley (1999) states that death -that "unmentionable" subject of contemporary culture- is portrayed for dramatic effect and often without accompanying the reactions that an adolescent may experience. As Small states, it is relevant for YAL to deal with such a controversial topic since death is part of life and, in some way including that theme can show credibility in a story.
Another central topic that can be found in “Golden hand” is loneliness. The author describes the main character as a single lonely man who does not care about other people: “He never paid much attention to the neighbours living on his city block”. At the beginning, it seems that the main character is a lonely man but it is not clear why, which turns to be part of the mystery in the story. He shows interest for the woman only because of the golden hand. In other words, it appears that he has some problems to socialize with people. A study carried out by Cassidy & Asher (2008) indicates that feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction can be reliably assessed with young adults, and that adolescents who are socially rejected by their peers are significantly lonelier than other teens. They also affirm that teenagers get through a constant search during their adolescence in order to find out where they belong to. In connection to that, Herz & Gallo consider that young adult literature has always included between its themes human alienation and identity (“Who am I?”, “Where do I fit in?”). Then, it is significant that “Golden hand” contains those themes in order to establish a connection with young readers and also to fulfil certain elements to be considered young adult literature (Small, 1992).
Teenagers particularly love mystery and creepy stories because they feed their imagination. The young adult literature writer Brittany Lord (2011) believes that any historical fiction in the young adult book section contains something based off an urban legend since even pure fantasy books have their own urban legends. For example, Lord considers that all sorts of reproduction of urban legends can be found in the “Harry Potter” series, especially about the ghosts and how they died. It is also true the assumption that when speaking of tales, the character of fear is always connected with the transition to the adulthood (Hearne, 2000). In fact, according to a previous research in Argentina, horror stories are one of the most appreciated genders of literature among young readers (Matas, 2011). In “Golden hand”, adolescents can find some of the folktale elements that can stimulate their minds and make them enjoy when reading.
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