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Moral Compasses
I recently received a review of Big Slick that mentions a moral compass. More specifically, it says: "In reading this novel I finally understand what it means to lose one's moral compass. I could accept [it] if only the protagonist had lost his way, but unfortunately the author's moral compass is also askew."
It was an interesting comment and made me think about moral compasses (personally, I prefer the moral sextant and the moral astrolabe, but I digress...)
To me, a moral compass is a set of rules we impose upon ourselves about what behavior is right and what behavior is wrong. It's an intangible and somewhat subjective thing. Each person creates a set of rules they can live by and then tries their best to adhere to those rules. Some people use a moral compass recommended to them through a particular religion. Others use a moral compass they learned through their family or their culture. For a society to function well, I think it's important these compasses have a lot of overlap. However, I also think people have variations in their moral compasses. It's likely we would all agree that it is immoral to kill. However, I suspect there might be some disagreement amongst us over whether it is immoral to steal food to feed a starving baby.
I disagree that my moral compass is askew (if you've read Big Slick please let me know; if you haven't, why haven't you?), but the comment brings up interesting questions:
- In fiction, is it the author's responsibility to set his or her moral compass to adhere to society's moral compass?
- Is it more important for a novel to espouse certain values or is it okay to leave things in a vague moral place to offer leaping-off points for discussion?
- To whose moral compass should we all synchronize our own moral compasses?
- Is the plot of a novel indicative of an author's moral values? Should it be?
I won't go any further because I'd love to hear your opinions on this matter. Whether you've read Big Slick or not. Whether you use Big Slick as an example or not. Let me know your thoughts. One caveat: if you post something that might spoil the ending of a book for someone who has not read it, please make it clear by entitling your post SPOILER!!!!
I'd be curious to read this review. Does the reviewer think your moral compass is askew (I love that word, by the way) because your characters act in ways he or she doesn't like? Because that's a tough one - I'd HATE to be responsible for everything my characters do.
Or is he/she suggesting that nobody should include the kind of content that's in BIG SLICK and many other YA titles? If that's the case, then I'm guessing what he/she meant to say was "the author's moral compass isn't in line with mine," which is a different story all together.
I, for one, will need to get to know you better before I decide if I like your moral astrolabe. :^)
The reviewer says: "...where I think the author leads the reader astray is that Andrew eventually wins back this money, and more, at a casino. The message: If you gamble long enough, all wrongs will be righted."
First of all, I do not write with a message in mind. I write with a story arc and character development in mind. Message surfaces as a result of those things. But either way, the reviewer is forgetting a few important plot details which should lead him to the conclusion that this is NOT the message of the book at all.
It's clear that the reader read the whole book since he mentions things that happen in the epilogue, but I suspect he passed judgment as soon as the casino stuff happened and spent the rest of his read picking out things to dislike.
And let's remember: It's fiction, not memoir. An author's moral values may influence a few things, but if an author keeps a character under his/her own strict constraints, that isn't much fun to begin with.
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There's also the problem that the other two commenters mention: conflating the character's morals with the author's. Always a deeply dodgy mood.
I got that charge a lot about my second book, Magic Lessons, . . .
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in which a teenage character gets pregnant. I've had readers and reviewers accuse me of being morally lax and of promoting teenager pregnancy.
It's extremely hard to get across to some people that portraying does not equal condoning.
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As authors I think we have to craft stories according to our characters and their personalities and their worlds. Our morals may in some bizarre unconscious way be reflected somewhere in the story, but they are not THE story, they are not THE character.
Like Justine, I've had a little bit of that problem in LOVE(AND OTHER USES FOR DUCT TAPE)...
SPOILER ALERT BELOW (I just want to do this because Justine did)
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So, one of the characters in LOVE gets pregnant and the issue is deliberately left unresolved. I had a parent reviewer say that she thought this was irresponsible, that I should have given that secondary character a tight ending showing all the horrors of teen pregnancy and by not doing so... Well, yeah, my moral compass must be hanging out with yours.
Now, specifically about your book... No. I don't think that an author's moral compass must mirror his main character's. No. I don't think yours is a mess. Yes, I think our roles as authors isn't always to reflect society's moral compass. I think our society has many different moral compasses, so I think it would be impossible to reflect for the most part.
Some authors' plots reflect their values. Some don't. We need all sort of stories, all sorts of reasons to write stories, all sorts of values in order for their to be a brilliant, good variety of books out there. You are part of that. You are part of that in a very good way.
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And I sure empathize with you when you talk about the odd comments you've received regarding your writing. Forge aherad, I say. Whatever you're doing, you're doing it well!
That said, the author and his/her protagonist should have compelling reasons for their acts and decisions and be consistent in life and on the page. Until, of course, the metamorphosis whereupon everything changes and everyone turns into bugs.
If nothing else, that review was just rude. Discuss the book, but no need to take potshots at the author.
The thing that concerns me is that this reviewer is a school librarian and as such is a gatekeeper for what teens are exposed to. Narrowing a library's buying to books that preach/espouse morals is something to worry about. What happened to free thinking?
I hate it when people make assumptions about an author's morality (or anything else, for that matter) based on what their fictional characters do. I hate it when people think fiction is all about making moral statements at all. Some fiction *is* about that, but not all or even most.
And, and, and, well...oh bugger it. Just GAK!!!!
GAK was my first response, but once I strated thinking about this whole moral compass business, well, it was an interesting intellectual journey.
Thanks for the interesting post.
To answer your first question, no, I do not think it is an author's responsibility to set his/her moral compass. I think it's the author's responsiblilty to tell their character's story with honesty and truth.
For my own writing, I do follow rules that I guess could be interpreted as a moral compass. For example, I'll never write a scene I'd be uncomfortable to have my father read. I'll never use the f-word or g-damn. But these are my choices. I do not expect this from other authors, nor do I judge or harshly review those who do. And some could say the word 'never' is limiting, but that's okay.
On the flip side, however, I have been criticized for having characters use bad language. And, the main character in another wip of mine is sexually active, which may not go over well with some members of my church. But, I stand by these choices because I'm being true to the characters and their actions.
Have a great one!
Edited at 2008-07-09 02:50 pm (UTC)
My opinion is that a work of literature should spur on debate, discussion, inner-reflection, etc. Otherwise it's really not art.
Thanks again!
As a parent, I don't expect the books my kids read to follow a certain moral code, (how boring would that be?) nor do I want someone else deciding what is or isn't morally correct. My youngest child and I have had many great conversations on books we've both read.
My oldest child? I can't get that kid to read to save his life, but that's a whole different topic. ;)
(Anonymous)
As an avid reader in my teen years as well, I had my parents, church and school to teach me my "moral compass". I read my fiction to have something to enjoy.
I enjoyed your book. Do I want my son to do the things your character did? Heck no! I admit, I question what age I would let him read it b/c of the swearing and content, but that is a choice I (and hubby) will make - it's not your responsibility. Your responsiblity is to write good fiction - which you did.
Bean
Maybe we should all be more careful what we write
No no no and no. Just the thought makes me ill.
The things is, we move from using pc language to only writing pc stories, and eventually we've so castrated our work that it loses all meaning.
As a writer the thought is horrendous, as a reader- well, I don't even want to imagine a world where every book I read is bound to follow the moral majority, can only use the words that the pc brigade allows, that only shows one point of view.
1) I would stop writing.
2) I would stop reading.