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The question has been asked: Is there such a thing as literature-adult or juvenile which does not advocate any value system? Is it possible to write something so objective, so nonjudgmental, so free of moral considerations as to be utterly detached from all conventional human beliefs? As a writer, I often wonder: If it were possible to write thusly, what could such literature possibly offer the reader? What relevance could it have for him, for life, for the world we live in? The answers, in my opinion, are an unequivocal "No" to the first question and `Nothing to the second.
Every story ever written or told has a bias, some subjective orientation or direction which espouses or negates an existing or imagined value system. No individual, no society exists in a void, and no writer writes from one. You are either for or against a thing; it either appeals to your sense of justice or aesthetics or your belief system, or it does not. If you don't care either way, this, too, is a way of saying, "Neither of the offered possibilities is obligatory. I'll choose one or the other or something completely different."
When dealing with juvenile literature, for example, these questions loom large. Should families in stories be portrayed as traditional and intact or are alternative possibilities just as good-single parents, same-sex parents, ex-parents, or friends in loco parentis? Is divorce an earth-shaking experience or is...