Crank, Crack, Whatever You Want To Call It, in Ellen Hopkins’, Crank

Chapter 2, “Falling in Love”, shifts the discussion from race to gender. This chapter sheds light on the structure of male-female relationships on the streets. The lack of stability, surrounded by the destructive atmosphere reveals how women learn to use their sexuality as a tool for survival. However, this chapter mainly focuses on Tina, a homeless female heroin addict, and her experiences growing up surrounded by poverty, abuse and addiction.

One day she was observed struggling to breathe. The author discovered that Karen had a bottle of tablets when he removed the bed covers. She had taken an overdose in an attempt to commit suicide. She was taken to Deacon’s Hospital Intensive Care Unit to pump out the stomach contents and also to neutralise the effect of the overdose. Karen had declared that she never wanted to go to the hospital should her condition gets worse. When Karen was now aware where she was, she complained to the author who apologised and said he would not let her pass on when he can do something about it. From Intensive Care Unit she was transferred to a private ward for recuperating.

On October 27, Robert Gipe gave a reading from his graphic novel, Trampoline. In the introduction given by Marianne Worthington from the University of the Cumberlands, she emphasized the importance of telling Appalachian stories for themselves. After years of outside authors stereotyping Appalachian culture in their work and these messages being spread, many authors in the region are beginning to reclaim Appalachian stories, telling them for their real work. In fact, Worthington even described Gipe as a protector of Appalachian culture and language. Another important part of Gipe’s graphic novel that Worthington emphasized was the importance of the female narrator, Dawn Jewell, as one in the long tradition of Appalachian female characters. In Gipe’s reading, Dawn certainly has an interesting home life and personality. Dawn’s mother is a drug addict and her father has also left the family. Dawn has a bitter tone and a dark sense of humor. This is particularly seen in an example of her working in the copy shop

Julia Alvarez writes a poem, On Not shoplifting Louise Bogan’s, that shows readers the journey of explorations and self awakening that the speaker in the poem goes through and the impact the self awakening has on the speaker. Julia is able to convey the discoveries of the speaker by the use of tone, vivid and expressive imagery, and selection of details in the poem.

Moreover, the author portrays the character’s loneliness, feelings, and emotions as a result of her physical and mental distress. Similarly represented in Willow Weep for Me and its depiction of Danquah, her sister, and friends’ alienation and isolation regarding their clinical depression (Danquah). Further, the “pain” and “whimpers” are the physical and emotional responses to her illness, which can be compared to Grealy’s bodily response to chemotherapy, “wanting to turn itself inside out, made wave after wave of attempts to rid itself of this unseeable intruder, this overwhelming and noxious poison” (66).

Kurt Vonnegut is known for his dark humor, wit, and imagination. He is consistently listed among the great American authors of the later twentieth century and his novel’s such as Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are considered modern classics. In this essay, I will focus on two of Vonnegut’s short stories “Welcome to the Monkey House” (1968) which takes place in a dystopian future where everyone is required to take pills that take all the pleasure out of sex and “Miss Temptation” (1959) which takes place in a small east coast town by looking at them through a feminist lense. Both stories come to the same ultimate conclusion that over-moralization of human

Glass gives an interesting insight on drug addicts and the way they can react and change. Hopkins takes the book through the unraveling of Kristina's relationships to how she herself changes. The world changes around her as she is exposed to new experiences and new drugs. The book itself is well written and incredibly interesting. The story tells how drugs affects someone's mindset, physical appearance, and even emotions. The story of Kristina is one I'm sure many people can understand and maybe even relate to. Not just with her addiction, but in the way she loves Trey, or even her terrible relationship between her, her mother, her father, and her stepdad. Many people who are addicts could read it and see for themselves just how meth affects them. I would recommend

Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half (2013) is a compilation of short personal occurrences that Brosh experienced in her life. This book takes on a unique format in that rather than just text, it is composed of short sentences and paragraphs combined with little drawings of the scenes described. Her frank language and juvenile drawing style allows all different types of readers access to the genuine heart that is portrayed during each snippet of time. While an enjoyable read solely for the depictions and sometimes-comic storytelling, the book also addresses very serious subjects such as depression and identity. Having been published in 2013, this book appeals to contemporary readers and it is necessary to analyze it in its historical context in order to understand its true significance. For many people, it is difficult to address serious concerns regarding mental health and this book makes it available in a form that is both casual and real. As opposed to medical journals or psychologists who will provide a scientific explanation, this publication provides people with a relatable experience that promotes comprehension rather than correct terminology. Ultimately, Hyperbole and a Half tells the story of a woman trying to cope with the difficulties and conundrums of everyday life, but its real significance cannot be understood without insight into the twenty-first century person struggling to understand and confront their own or another’s mental illness.

The novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden revolves around the issues of Canadian soldiers at battle during the first World War. This story demonstrates addiction in all different forms, which is a recurring result of the trauma the war has on the characters. These cravings lead to struggling, and result in major consequences for themselves and those around them. The most prominent form of addiction mentioned is to morphine, affecting not only those taking the drugs, but also those around them. A side of Elijah his friend Xavier has never seen before comes out during the war, as a result of his intense desire for recognition.

Erin Jade Lange is a nonfiction author, as well as a reporter, who writes novels for teens. These novels capture the emotions that some teens feel or often have not gotten over. Attacking numerous situations in her writing, Lange captures topics ranging from obesity to bullying, depression to lies and hurt feelings. She explores the emotions of teens and expands on how certain teens would act. She shows what forms bullying could take and how it starts subtly, then warps into different forms that are, frequently, not easy to distinguish.

Crank a novel written by Ellen Hopkins. The events that occur in the story are loosely based off of events that befell the author's daughter, as she tells in her authors not “While this work is fiction, it is loosely based on a very true story- my daughters.” The novel Crank begins with an introduction to the main character Kristina, and Bree her alter ego. Kristina then speaks of her trip to visit her father. While visiting her father she meets a boy named Adam, or “Buddy”, who gets her addicted to drugs and brings out “Bree”. “Bree” is the most self-destructive personality traits of Kristina. Kristina spends the rest of the book either giving into “Bree” or fighting her. In the end, Kristina's’ better side wins when she is impregnated by

At the age of ten, most children are reliant on their parents for everything in their lives needing a great deal of concentration and concern. However, Ellen, the main character and combatant of the novel Ellen Foster, demonstrates a significant amount of self-reliance and mature, impartial thought as a ten-year-old girl. Ellen is a bantling even though she was not deserted, she was impoverished of a normal childhood. Her life as a child was immensely hard, physically and emotionally. She never had a mother or father take care of her through her entire youth. The recent mortality of her mother sends her on a journey for the optimal family, or anywhere her father, who had shown insensitivity to both she and her frail mother, was not. Kaye Gibbons’

In Jean Rhys’ novel “Good Morning Midnight” the reader is introduced to Sasha Jansen. Sasha is a run of the mill alcoholic who has seemingly been handed the most dreadful hand in life. Her husband deserted her, her child died, she is poor, and mostly—she is isolated and alone. Her viewpoints on the world, and herself, are very cynical and pessimistic. Sasha’s story details her downfall in a stream of consciousness narrative that takes the reader from one thing to the next and back again. It tells of the things she has sensed which leads to the inevitable end of hopelessness which causes her to suffer severe disconnection from the world around her. The problem is, absolute hopelessness is the best thing that Sasha could find for herself.

It is often taught that to be persuasive, one must be clear and logical. In “The Wheelchair Butterfly,” James Tate takes a completely different approach; instead, he utilizes chaos to further his meaning and connect with a specific readership. Largely, it is Tate’s structure that reflects this chaos, and the meticulous arrangement of “The Wheelchair Butterfly” signifies that its setting and occurrences portray something more sinister than a bizarre and moderately grotesque town. Tate’s target readers for this elaborate, empathetically chaotic poem must be educated enough to be able to parse through his imagery, open to self-examination, and part of a society in a time of elevated social and political conflict. Thus, Tate gesticulates towards the hidden, systematic corruption common of societies with elevated social conflicts in a way that connects with the conflicted feelings his specific readership might feel towards this corruption in their own lives using elements of structure such as surreal imagery, enjambment, and simile. Using these elements, Tate attempts to relate to his readers by distracting them, creating a confusion versus clarity disparity, and transforming the nature of their concerns to make them softer and more acceptable. Because Tate’s target readers will attempt to decipher the poem’s hectic contents, these factors give readers an opportunity to examine themselves along with the poem. This highly empathetic and unconventional approach, similarly seen in Frank O’Hara’s “A Step Away From Them,” has its successes as well as its downfalls, mostly in terms of its range of readership. Though poems more explicit about their intentions, such as Lucille Clifton’s “[i am accused of tending to the past],” may be more accessible to a greater number of readers, some level of empathy is lost in their candor. The key difference between Tate and O’Hara’s poems versus Clifton’s poem, then, is a matter of being understood by a wide range of readers versus being compelling to a small group of readers. ?

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly