PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Young Adult Literature is still an emerging term in India, yet it has broken the stereotype that it deals only with superficial issues and is a less serious literary genre. Nilima Sinha's first Young Adult Novel Red Blooms in the Forest effectively brings out the victimisation of people and the reasons for young adults' deliberate involvement and participation in the Naxal movement. Naxalism, which is considered to be the greatest threat to internal security of India, started with the objective to liberate the rural masses from the clutches of the feudal class. The current economic policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation have significantly affected the livelihood of the rural masses and puts social welfare and employment in jeopardy. The economic reforms induced by corruption and poverty have triggered social crisis on people from every stratum of society. The study analyses the young adult novel Red Blooms in the Forest and brings out the view that the Naxal movement, which was started to liberate the rural masses, has now turned into a trap. The distorted resistance has proved to be a Frankenstein monster that threatens the capitalists, the downtrodden/the oppressor and the oppressed alike.