By ROSE GREEN

GUEST WRITER

With Fifty Shades of Grey recently coming out in theaters the erotic novel, which quickly rose to the top of the New York Times bestseller list is on the minds of many. Is the erotic novel worth the read or is it a gross promoter of abusive relationships?

The protagonist, Anastasia Steele is a recent college graduate who, previous to the events of the trilogy, is completely naïve to sexuality. As an avid romance novel reader, Ana easily finds herself intertwined in the mysterious, and attractive composure of the millionaire Christian Grey. However, what she finds is he is a mentally disturbed and kinky, to say the least, man whom she falls madly in love with. Because of her naivety and inquiring mind she devotes herself to figuring him out, and exploring her own sexuality meanwhile confusing emotions into a relationship which Christian never intended to be more than sexual. 

Sex is listed as second ranked of things most feared by Americans. It is something, which no one wants to discuss in detail unless it’s regarding someone who “just got laid”, and even then the conversation rarely develop further. E.L. James bravely writes about this topic, which both arouses and frightens Americans. Many individuals would argue that the rough sex is overdone, and considerably abusive. Not many of us would want our own Christian Grey, the man has a mental problem, but he does not abuse Ana in any way that he does not attain permission for. However, Ana, being as naïve as she is, has no idea what she wants in a sexual relationship. The conflicting entities between the social decorum of sex and what level is taking it too far is something James remarkably addresses in Ana’s conflicting emotions throughout the novel. Is the novel more than sex? The characterization and conflicting emotions of womanhood and independence versus what it means to love are clear themes, which James explores. The trilogy does not contain any enormous metaphoric ideas, and it is written for entertainment purposes. Therefore on that note, do not expect any mind boggling ideas or a literary masterpiece, and the novel, as expected, has numerous passages of high intensity pornographic reads.

I would strongly recommend this trilogy to any woman over the age of eighteen. I think it is an entertaining read with a twist on what society considers a “normal” love story. Also, the characterization is excellent which makes a woman contemplate her own sexuality, which is nearly impossible in a country where sex is the second most fear thing to discuss. That being said, I would not encourage any person to dig too deep and try to find her own billionaire with a mental problem to have BDSM with. Individuals can enjoy whatever pleases them, but the trilogy itself is meant for entertainment – not English class.