Murderer Vs. Spongebob

One of the blog topics Mr. Mullins brought up was the question of why it is that most literary fiction is morbid, dark and depressing. Of course I don't know the exact answer, but I think I can take a stab at it...(was that verbal irony I just used?!) When I'm reading a work of literary fiction, I notice how unusual it is for me to feel happy when a character is happy. It's not in those "happy moments" in a character's story that I feel some sort of connection to them. It is when they are forced to get an abortion, when they are raped, or when they feel a negative stress in their life, that I as a reader take pity and feel more of a human connection to them. If I first don't feel that connection with a character, happy topics won't necessarily make me feel any more invested in a character's life. I think what makes each of us feel happy can be so completely different that for an author to connect to such a wide variety of readers would be much more challenging. Dark, depressing, and tragic events are much more universal in making people feel emotional then happy events do.  For example, laying on the couch with my dog and watching Spongebob are some of the things that at the end of the day, make me the happiest. Most readers wouldn't agree that those events are things that would also bring them joy. If I were to read a story in which a character partakes in similar events, how much more connected to the story am I than most readers? I'd take a guess I'd be much more invested. Let's say I wrote about how a child's parents died in a car crash at a young age and his foster parents abused him for years. Well that's tragic to anyone, not just me. Death is a universal hardship, as is abuse. Maybe I'm wrong, but my guess for why literary fiction is dark and tragic is because dark and tragic events tie everyone together more so than happy topics do and one of the main purposes for an author is to invest their readers into their stories. An author can connect with me by writing about Spongebob and pugs, but I am just one reader. They can connect with a broader audience with a topic that is more depressing because those affect more people.  

(Hopefully that made sense to everyone! Let me know if it didn't! It was hard to put my thoughts together on this one.) 

                                                        This is what brings me joy.