On Oct. 15, the Black Box Theatre in Brokaw Hall was filled with conversations on cults, questions about characters and discussions of writing methods as visiting writer Amy Christine Parker conversed with the eighth graders of Trinity. The author talked about her fast-paced contemporary thriller, Gated, that chilled the eighth graders this summer.
Parker grew up in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. As a child, she had a huge passion for reading, often spending most of her recess and lunch time reading books as a child. Later in her life, Parker went through a variety of jobs, including working as a collectible doll-maker, a fondue waitress and an inner-city school teacher before she finally decided that she wanted to pursue a career in full-time writing from her home near Tampa.
In an interview, Christine Parker said that she chose to write young adult literature because she is fascinated with the part of a teenager’s life when they begin to develop their identity. She wanted to write books that teenagers could relate to while going through their life experiences.
Parker draws inspiration for her books from the events, situations and scenarios that affect her everyday life. She began to establish the idea of a young adult story about cults while watching a documentary about the increasing number of extreme underground bunkers. Parker was intrigued by the idea that such elaborate and expensive shelters were only built on loose conjectures and theories of the apocalypse and how convincing the theorists portrayed themselves to be very intelligent and successful buyers.
Interested, Christine Parker researched and watched countless more documentaries on cults, apocalyptic shelters, and brainwashing techniques and produced the newest hit young adult novel, Gated. The book’s fast-paced and suspenseful storyline allows it to continue to chill and thrill teens across the country and, specifically during this past summer, the eighth grade students of Trinity Prep.
“[Christine Parker’s] pacing is perfect,” English teacher Georgia Parker said. “The element of suspense as things are happening really makes it a fast read…I stayed up all night finishing it.”
Gated describes the life of a girl named Lyla who lives with her family in an extremely isolated suburban-style neighborhood called the Community. The people of the Community are secretly preparing a massive underground bunker in preparation for the impending apocalypse. Unknown to Lyla, the Community is actually a cult whose actions are precisely manipulated by the mysterious leader called the Pioneer, who strictly monitors the lives of each citizen. The story follows Lyla’s journey as she begins to discover what life is like outside of the Community and begins to see her neighborhood, its people and their way of thinking through a different perspective.
Parker chose Gated because she thought that the eighth graders would be able to relate to the story in various ways. One of the main reasons they would be able to relate was because the eighth graders could easily understand and connect to many of the issues, situations and conflicts that the teenage protagonist in Gated would have to face. Parker says this is because, just like the teenage characters in the book, each of the eighth graders will eventually go through their “rite of passage” by beginning to question authority and thinking for themselves as they mature and develop their identities. Gated was also easily connected to other stories and pieces of literature that the eighth graders read, as well.
For example, Christine Parker wanted the eighth graders to make the connection from Gated to a popular short story they read, like The Lottery, as both of the stories had similar thought-provoking views on the subject of thinking independently when completely immersed in a community or a group. In addition, the introduction of the concept of cults to the eighth graders intrigued them to further learn and research about real life incidents of cults and cult leaders in history.
“[Gated] has some great characters in it too…characters [that] students, eighth grade and older, can really connect with, and see that it’s okay to question authority and think on your own,” Parker said.
In an interview, Christine Parker said that she hopes to teach the readers of Gated that cult members are simply everyday people who are preyed upon by someone with a talent for exploiting these weaknesses and seeks to dismiss the label that cult members have been given as mindless, weak-willed people. While introducing an invigorating story, plot line and characters, at the same time, Christine Parker also hopes to convey that dystopian societies, like the Community in Gated, exist today.
