A Piece Of Chocolate Brown 's Life Is Defined By A Whirlwind Of Devastating Lows And Destruction

Her father was a drunk, her mother was mentally ill, all she had was her three siblings to struggle with her by her side. Throughout her life she wasn’t given all that she needed, and her parents put her in many dangerous

This novel “is a book that truly speaks to adolescents in contemporary language and with teenage characters about adolescent sexuality” (Kaplan 27). Katherine is learning about her sexuality in the novel.

The reader is able to watch as Anita, the protagonist of this novel, blossoms into a young lady. In the beginning of the novel Anita is seen to be naive. For example, “Now I’m really confused I thought we like El Jefe” (Alvarez 19). Anita lives in a family of dissidents but naively enough, she hasn’t realized that. It is true that it can be taken as that Anita’s mother and father tried to protect Anita from the truth of what their family was plotting, but still, from that sentence the reader can infer that Anita was a naive young girl. As the story goes on, Anita changes physically, but maturation isn’t something that only happens to the body. Anita’s thoughts start to get more mature as well. Anita is first shown as a very talkative girl who is rather nosy. She used to ask questions regarding this uncomfortable situation, pestering them until they gave her an answer. Through the experiences Anita has had, like watching her family get prepared for a rebellion, the SIM invading their privacy, and being separated from her family, she has learned to not only think of herself but think of others as well. On page 116, when Anita is given food that is rather unappetizing, she pauses and thinks of the people who are suffering and eats without a single complaint. If Anita was still a child, she could have lamented about how the food is horrible but through all her experiences she is learning to say only

In chapter one, also known as ‘the hurting’, the author focuses on trauma that people have dealt with such as sexual abuse from a father or relative, failed relationships with parents, and difficulty with one’s self-expression. One of the poems in chapter one states that the girl’s first kiss was by the age of five and was carried out in an aggressive manner by the young boy, she assumes that he had picked that up from his father’s interactions with the mother. In the poem it says “He had the smell of starvation on his lips which he picked up from his father feasting on his mother at 4 a.m.” It is insinuated that the father uses forceful actions towards the mother during times that should be gentle and affectionate. In that specific poem she felt as if that was when she was taught that her body is only for giving to those who wanted out of satisfaction but she should feel ‘anything less than whole’. In another poem in chapter one, there is a family setting during dinner in which the father orders the mother to hush. This represents how women are constantly oppressed in their own

The book was divided into 3 parts, the first section was Facing Mental Illness. In this section there were 6 chapters that covered every part of her coming to terms with her illness which is bipolar disorder or manic depression. In Chapter 1: Darkness, she gave her history with mental illness and she wasn’t the only person to deal with it within her family. Her father and brother also dealt with depression.There were also many close friends and family members that killed themselves. She makes mention of how she hated what the illness dd to her father and brother but it helped her when she had to deal with

“When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” This beginning to the novel “Ellen Foster” by Kaye Gibbons, prepares readers to enter the world of one of the most influential and appealing young woman protagonists in modern fiction. Ellen Foster, the main character of the book by Gibbons, is, in my view, the most fascinating and remarkable character in the story. Readers are introduced to the narrator Ellen, a determined, yet mature and individualistic eleven-year-old, who lives in the South during the 1970s. She lives with an alcoholic father and a sick mother. Ellen must go through many hardships and face much trauma, when she foreshadows her mother’s death and the long journey in front of her by saying that a storm is coming- “I can smell the storm and see the air thick with the rain coming.” (p.7). Young Ellen must go through much more than the average child her age, but she knows that she will get her happy ending. After dealing with her abusive father and depressed mother, Ellen deserves to go to a happy family, one that will accept her with smiles on their faces and joy in their eyes. Even if it means jumping from foster home to foster home, from a cruel grandmother to a condescending aunt and cousin, Ellen will find the people that will love her, even if it means first having to go to those who don’t.

She described her experience as horrific, but later on, enjoyed her journey. “Recovery wasn’t easy. It meant changing everything about myself,” (416). The quote shows Cupcake’s endeavor and her negative outlook towards fighting drug addiction. This adds to the main character’s development all considering that even though she doesn’t want to change, she still tried to do so – unlike her past actions. The passage also reckons up the details of the setting which is the rehab center. It is an important passage to the book’s message as a result of the reconstruction of her

Jeannette’s battle against sexual abuse helps encourage teens who have experienced similar situations to fight on. As Jeannette Walls fights to institute normality in her family, abnormality is established by her parents. Reading such a story has a greater affect on teens, rather than reading an article on the topic of abnormality would because the teen can make more connections to the story. Peer pressure plays a strong role in the life of a teenager and causes the adolescent to conform in fear of rejection from their peers. With this being said, displaying novels about peer pressure and reading on how fictitious characters handle peer pressure not only helps the teen learn from the character’s mistakes, but teaches them how to problem solve for themselves. Rita Mae Brown once said, “The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.” Going against the status quo may not make those around you happy, but it will make you happier in the long

She is very illustrative and severe in her characterization. She states metaphorically how is his physical aspect, in one part she says: “some anomalous gene had fired up at the moment of his begetting as a single spark sometimes leaps from banked coils, had given him a giant’s chin”, in this sentence, she uses a cause and effect syntax to characterize his physical defects. This type of syntax causes a better understanding of his nature; an afflictive person that most of the time does not do anything to change. She describes how ugly he is and provokes an unpleasant perception of this character with the purpose to reveal the effects of a disturbed

She began to find herself wanting to stay in the house to read instead of going out to play. She first started reading to escape from the problems of her daily life. She would read books about black history, religion and love. When she becomes old enough to date boys she begins to read books about pornography, not knowing that these books were not fit for a girl her age. Then she begins to pleasure herself in private, but after her sisters catch her she begins to feel ashamed and never does it again.

n the first chapter she is in her adulthood working at a cemetery, she describes her helping them find a burial place while talking about bristle-cone pines, asking how things will change in future, if their names will be remembered. The next chapter she is 12 years old and tells of her experience in Russia Pioneer Camp, she essentially becomes popular due to the interest of the girls wanting to learn about america clothes and customs, while all she wanted to do was run into the woods. Chapter 3, back to her working in cemetery, she talks about death asking her questions about the meaning of it, etc. In chapter 4 she tells the story of her grandma and grandpa meeting while stating how she thought of her great grandfather. In chapter 5 she tells of her relationship with her mother, their childhood visiting her Russian grandparents, arguing with her mother, rebuilding their relationship, and brief stories about her daughter and son. The 6th chapter is her telling her time as a briefs journalist, writing about deaths, and telling of her daughters actions towards their oak trees. Chapter 7 is a two page chapter which describes her sneaking out and drinking, but she talks about the meaning her of her daughters birth. In chapter 8 she writes through her childhood, spending time with her grandfather who owned orange groves, that burnt down, which later she visits with her daughter and brother, but also tells the story of her grandparents meeting. Lastly chapter 9, is the tale of her describing her point of view towards trees, while asking her daughter what trees are, getting different answers, and later hoping to teach her son to

A trait that stands out in the book is the symptom of bodily memories. In Melinda’s case, during a frog dissection in her science class, she remembers the opening up and even says, “She doesn’t say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut – I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, feel the leaves in my hair.” (81). One of the other symptoms that Melinda has is self-harm. The first time that this is shown in the book, Melinda says this, “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep?” (87). Melinda also has a hard time talking to her parents about the rape to which she says, “How can I talk to them about that night? How can I start?” (72). Some victims recover from such a traumatic experience, while others don’t and live a lifetime of depression and must undergo intense therapy. In Melinda’s case, she finds redemption by talking to her parents and the guidance counselor, and putting her faith into her teachers, friends, and her art project at school. Because rape can affect anybody anywhere, everyone should be aware of the circumstances, and how to deal with it.

In the beginning, the author explains how this young girl, Lizabeth, lived in the culturally deprived neighborhood during the depression.  Lizabeth is at the age where she is just beginning to become a young woman and is

Although a light read, her experience is heart-breaking as she is abused at home, institutionalized, and instead of being treated for her depression, doctor’s attempt to “feminize” her with eye shadow and lipstick. She is the type of advocate that makes noise in a silence because she tells a tale that would otherwise be unknown.

There are memoirs about overcoming the death of a parent, childhood abuse, rape, drug addiction, miscarriage, alcoholism, hustling, gangbanging, near-death injuries, drug dealing, prostitution, or homelessness. Cupcake Brown survived all these things before she'd even turned twenty. And that's when things got interesting.... You have in your hands the strange, heart-wrenching, and exhilarating tale of a woman named Cupcake. It begins as the story of a girl orphaned twice over, once by the death of her mother and then again by a child welfare system that separated her from her stepfather and put her into the hands of an epically sadistic foster parent. But there comes a point in her preteen years--maybe it's the night she first tries to run