Columbus Discovers Virginia

The single biggest thing that irritates me while reading is when I can't tell if the author is ignorant or if the character is ignorant.

For example, I once read a story with beautiful descriptions of this old, decrepit mansion named after the mansion in Citizen Kane.  Awesome.  Awesome until they named the mansion "The Citizen."  And I blew a gasket.  Now, do none of the characters in this book realize that the mansion in Citizen Kane is called Xanadu, thus showing their ignorance as they try to look more cultured than they are?  Or has the author never actually seen this movie?  I feel like the former is more interesting and telling of the characters, but I also feel like there would be further evidence of this in the story.  Like an informed character would call them on it.

This also happens a lot in young adult post-apocalyptic fiction.  Accurate history has been lost, so the characters state facts that are just not true.  I can understand how this would be a difficult line to walk.  If none of the characters in the universe the author has created knows the truth, then mentioning that this isn't how it happened could break several point of view rules.  But on the other hand, I side eye sections where the facts they're repeating already exist in the realm of "common misconceptions of today."  Then I have to wonder if I'm reading too much into it to assume that the characters are just misinformed, when it's just that the author didn't listen in high school history.

I think this partially comes from the modernist lens through which I see the world.  My first question when I get stumped with something is to ask "what did the author mean with this?"  Then if I can't guess, I get frustrated.

As a corollary to this, if I'm stopping to ask myself this, it means I've been thrown out of the story, and I don't like that.

I think it also comes from the long period of time I spent editing the speculative fiction of a group of teen girls.  This creeping horror builds in my chest and climbs up my throat every time I have to write the question, "Do you realize that what you just wrote is sexual assault?"  While in my head I'm screaming, DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE?!  THERE IS NO EVIDENCE HERE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT OKAY.  Okay, so your characters don't get this, but PLEASE TELL ME YOU ARE NOT BUYING THAT THIS IS ROMANTIC.

And then this leads into the tangled mess of whether or not I think the author has the moral obligation to present a message I agree with.  And the short answer is "sorta."  Romanticizing terrible things makes me queasy, but then I understand that what I think is terrible is completely different from what other people think is terrible.  For instance, I don't care about swearing and don't care if the author glamorizes their profane characters.  But missing an opportunity to use the word Xanadu?  That's unacceptable.