A Little Rebellion Now and Then is a Good Thing

It was a blisteringly hot day in late spring, Story Quester. The sorta day where the cheap plastic of your desk chair sticks to the back of your thighs. It was 2001 in California, so absolutely NONE of the classrooms had air-conditioning. And it was over 100 degrees out.

But what made EVERYTHING worse was the fact that they were tarring the roof. Of the classroom I was in. WHILE I was in it. And yes, I was perfectly aware that it was a code violation. But unlike my classmates, I refused to have my health, safety, and learning put in jeopardy by bureaucratic incompetence. 

So I stood up. Right there in the middle of class. In the middle of the lecture.

The teacher took one look at me and—possibly in an effort to embarrass me—asked, “Do you need to use the restroom?”

I looked him square in the eye and stated in a loud, clear voice, “No, I don’t. But it is against the law to force any student to remain in a building while the roof is being tarred. So I am going to have us moved.” And then I walked out of the classroom and headed to the front office.

I didn’t look back despite the befuddled outrage of my teacher as others followed suit. But by the time I reached the office across our high school campus, nearly all of my class had joined me in walking out in protest.

When we arrived, I restated my argument clearly to the principal. And thus my class was moved to the newly built science lecture hall, one of only 5 buildings to have air conditioning. Mainly because those buildings were built in 2000 instead of the 1950s. 

Unfortunately, not every injustice we face today can be solved with a simple logical argument voiced by a single person willing to take a stand. And at the moment, things are looking a bit bleak. To quote one of my favorite P!nk songs, “There is so much wrong goin’ on outside.” 

And maybe right about now you’re feeling like raging against the machine. Or maybe you’re feeling like writing some Resistance Fiction.

You know, a story like…

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Silo series by Hugh Howey
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

…Where a character takes a stand against something that has gone wrong in their society.

Now all Resistance Fiction needs these 3 elements:

1) The Victim of the System/Tool of the System

In Resistance Fiction, your Legendary Character is either a victim of the system or an active participant in the oppressive system. 

Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games was essentially conscripted to fight against other children for the entertainment of the aristocracy, like gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. 

2) The Eye Opener

Through the course of a Resistance story, the Legendary Character’s eyes are opened to what’s “really going on under the surface and behind the scenes.” 

In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag is a Fireman—someone whose job it is to burn books—who becomes disillusioned with his role. The story is inspired by the book burnings in Nazi Germany. 

3) The Revolt

Usually—but not always—the Legendary Character joins the resistance to take down the corrupt, oppressive system.

In the Emmy award-winning Star Wars series Andor, revolution-averse cynic  Cassian Andor starts out as a refugee when the Galactic Empire destroys his native planet in an ecological mining disaster. He then becomes a thief, and later a rebel spy as the Empire’s oppression pushes the citizenry into open rebellion.

In our real day-to-day lives, we may not always be in a position to take a stand against the corrupt, oppressive system. However, as storytellers, it is within our power to create characters who can. 

And in the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”

Well, Story Quester, until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat signing off.