Cousin doesn't hide copy of 'The Handmaid's Tale' from 14-year-old, 'she is too young.' AITA?
"AITA for not putting away my copy of 'The Handmaid’s Tale?'"
My (20) uncle and cousin (14) are currently staying with us since their house is going through some repairs. Cousin sleeps in my room. Mom told me to put certain books away since they are inappropriate so I put them in a small locked drawer.
I didn’t put The Handmaid’s Tale and some of my other dystopian novels there, though. Barely any space left so I had to pick which ones to lock up. The way I figured it, she probably wouldn’t be interested in them and the book in question full of my distracting, barely legible to anyone else annotations...
(I studied it for A Level English Literature when I was 16-17 and my handwriting was atrocious back then). But she did end up getting interested in it. I came home one day to find out that she had been reading it and my uncle had found out and was telling her she is too young. Then he turned to me and berated me, saying it was careless to leave something she is too young for out on the shelf.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
The-Comfy-Chair said:
NTA. Your uncle is exactly why she should read it.
Impressive_Rain_4834 said:
Nta it's kinda ironic a man getting mad about a young girl reading a book about men oppressing women lol.
smugrainbow said:
NTA - Fourteen is definitely old enough to read that book, and her dad is the reason why she should be reading it.
ScarletAndOlive said:
NTA. The Handmaid’s Tale is recommended reading for grades 9-12, so totally appropriate for your cousin.
ScarletNotThatOne said:
Fourteen is not too young for Handmaid's Tale. Especially not in the USA when it's so relevant right now. It's not your job to shield your 14 year old cousin from the entire world. You did make an effort to stash some things, that was enough. NTA.
Nicki-ryan said:
NTA. 14 year olds don’t need to have literature censored from them. That’s ridiculous. They can handle words on a page.
froggostealer said:
NTA. Too bad she likes reading and they're trying to censor what she can/can't read. That's exactly the point of these books.