Hello,

Just like I promised. Here is a part two on the series of scrutinizing romance novels. If you haven’t read the first part, go back and read that one before this. It will give you a better understanding.

Now, let’s get into it.

In the previous post, we highlighted some subtle ways in which romance novels inbuilt some ways of thinking into our minds.

In today’s episode, we will address more of these subtle signs.

The first one which is rather more obvious that others is how predominantly romance novels have normalised toxic relationships.

Now, I’m not saying all romance novels do this. Of course not. But quite a large number of them do.

Now, I know you might have already started cracking your head to figure out what I meant by toxicity. But relax, you don’t need to do that because I will show you through a series of examples below.

Ever noticed how in mafia romance books, the guy is at the beginning starts of by being verbally or physically abusive to her.

Noticed how the lead male would always curse or swear at her, call her demeaning names and make vulgar remarks.

Noticed how the lead male would often time physically hurt her under the clause of ‘I can’t control my anger’

Noticed how both the lead male and female may even start out being extremely verbally abusive to one another.

And then by some fairytale luck at the middle of the novel or towards the end, the guy has a change of heart and apologises for his actions or they both have a change of heart.

The only problem is life isn’t a fairytale. Now in your mind as you read through this over and over, you start to think that’s normal and even cool. So now a guy comes along and portrays these tendencies and you subconsciously think this is normal and he loves you and he will change.

After a couple years, you realise the harsh truth and then you are lucky enough to get out of that one and then guess what¿ you fall into another one and another one and the list goes on. Until you start questioning yourself and wonder when it all went wrong. Little do you know it started from the harmless novels you’ve read.

Not to go to deep into that point, let’s move on to the second point. Now this isn’t a flaw to just romance novels.

Notice how novels portray a character or characters going through a series of hardships or the whole story builds up to one big hardship and then after that it’s all rainbows and lollipops. The characters or character live happily ever after, The End.

Some stories even include an epilogue where this happily ever after is portrayed.

Now, the story coming to an end isn’t the problem. No not at all, every story must come to an end. The issue is the happily ever after mentality at the end of the story. It makes you and I start hoping and waiting for our trials or trial and then our happily ever after.

Not to sound pessimistic but that will never happen. The reason being that the little challenges you face now like; having a bad hair day, waking up late for a meeting or an interview, your car not starting, stubbing your toe on the door, breaking a perfectly manicured fingernail and more. All those will still happen every day and can cause you some sense of frustration.

Which is why rather than believing in a time where things will be roses and cookies, prepare yourself for those days and how to handle them when they come so they do not pose an issue.

Lastly, one more aspect that has become so normalised that it scares me is the billionaire and a poor town’s girl story.

The male lead character is always filthy rich and able to provide the world at her feet and then the lead female is always starved from all the good things in life. While yes, this does happen to some people. It’s not realistic for all.

Why not make her equally successful or less dependent or make him more normal and relatable. You see most people prancing around life with this unrealistic expectation. You then wake up one day probably years later and realise all these fantasies you set up were not achievable.

Like I stated at the beginning of this episode, no generalisation is being made. The above doesn’t apply to all individuals and all novels. I don’t think anything could apply to all. But it does apply to some or most. Hence why I felt the need to talk about it .

Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

We have come to the end to this edition,

Till next time.