After reading comments to a certain work of fiction published here I was surprised to discover strong negative reaction to smoking of the protagonist. (personally, I found this part a nice touch as far as its literary qualities) Thus for my fiction-writing purposes I would like to know:
What is the general stance on drug usage in fiction?
Smoking marijuana
Using psychedelic substances
Using unidentified or fictional substances of supposedly psychoactive nature, but with their full effect or social status unmentioned.
I do not think there is a “general stance” on drug usage. Further, tobacco is not a general drug (there’s no such thing) but a specific well-known drug with a specific history. I would not expect reactions to tobacco smoking in fiction to be reflections of general stances on drug use.
What I read in the reaction to Hanna’s smoking is specifically that, today and to some readers, smoking seems ① self-destructive and ② odious; and furthermore ③ signals unsympathetic or disfavored character tropes.
First, because we know so well today that tobacco smoking causes such a wide range of deadly diseases, an educated character in present-day or near-future fiction can be assumed to know this, too. She has willingly taken up a habit which causes cancer, emphysema, heart disease, etc. Many readers will have had relatives who died due to smoking-related diseases. So smoking may be seen as a symbol of a character’s self-destructiveness. (An example that comes to mind is John Constantine in the Swamp Thing and Hellblazer comics.)
Second, smoking in public is often seen as odious — or, at least, insensitive to others’ well-being. People from social backgrounds where smoking is uncommon may, due purely to a selection effect, associate smoking with people who do not care that they are being unpleasant to others. So smoking may be a symbol of a character’s rudeness, hostility, or willful repulsiveness — a choice to “gross out” others to assert personal space, for instance.
(Also, many readers may have sensitivity to smoke, asthma, allergies, or simply a strong dislike for being around smoking or people who smell of smoke. So they may read a character smoking and think, “I would not want to be around her,” and through mind projection fallacy conclude “she is unpleasant to be around.”)
Third, smoking may be culturally associated with various sorts of characters (or real-world people) whom the readers disfavor — beatnik-type hipsters; rednecks; French philosophers; street criminals; anxious New York literary types; good ol’ boys; the self-consciously retro sort of conservative; or for that matter the characters of Ayn Rand. Writers often intend a character to fit particular tropes, and the tropes that smoking brings to mind may be ones the reader finds unsympathetic.
I would not expect most of the above to apply to most other sorts of drug use.
After reading comments to a certain work of fiction published here I was surprised to discover strong negative reaction to smoking of the protagonist. (personally, I found this part a nice touch as far as its literary qualities) Thus for my fiction-writing purposes I would like to know:
What is the general stance on drug usage in fiction?
Smoking marijuana
Using psychedelic substances
Using unidentified or fictional substances of supposedly psychoactive nature, but with their full effect or social status unmentioned.
I do not think there is a “general stance” on drug usage. Further, tobacco is not a general drug (there’s no such thing) but a specific well-known drug with a specific history. I would not expect reactions to tobacco smoking in fiction to be reflections of general stances on drug use.
What I read in the reaction to Hanna’s smoking is specifically that, today and to some readers, smoking seems ① self-destructive and ② odious; and furthermore ③ signals unsympathetic or disfavored character tropes.
First, because we know so well today that tobacco smoking causes such a wide range of deadly diseases, an educated character in present-day or near-future fiction can be assumed to know this, too. She has willingly taken up a habit which causes cancer, emphysema, heart disease, etc. Many readers will have had relatives who died due to smoking-related diseases. So smoking may be seen as a symbol of a character’s self-destructiveness. (An example that comes to mind is John Constantine in the Swamp Thing and Hellblazer comics.)
Second, smoking in public is often seen as odious — or, at least, insensitive to others’ well-being. People from social backgrounds where smoking is uncommon may, due purely to a selection effect, associate smoking with people who do not care that they are being unpleasant to others. So smoking may be a symbol of a character’s rudeness, hostility, or willful repulsiveness — a choice to “gross out” others to assert personal space, for instance.
(Also, many readers may have sensitivity to smoke, asthma, allergies, or simply a strong dislike for being around smoking or people who smell of smoke. So they may read a character smoking and think, “I would not want to be around her,” and through mind projection fallacy conclude “she is unpleasant to be around.”)
Third, smoking may be culturally associated with various sorts of characters (or real-world people) whom the readers disfavor — beatnik-type hipsters; rednecks; French philosophers; street criminals; anxious New York literary types; good ol’ boys; the self-consciously retro sort of conservative; or for that matter the characters of Ayn Rand. Writers often intend a character to fit particular tropes, and the tropes that smoking brings to mind may be ones the reader finds unsympathetic.
I would not expect most of the above to apply to most other sorts of drug use.