Darin Strauss 'Half A Life' By Darins Strauss: Analysis

As my fifteen-year-old roommate falls to pieces, panic rises in my chest like a leaping flame. She lets out muffled screams and chilling sobs as she buries her face against the pillow. I kneel beside her and whisper reassurances. “You’ll be okay.” “No one will hurt you.” I pray she hears me but I know she doesn’t. She is trapped somewhere else - somewhere she revisits every day, like a bad song stuck in her head for life.

As the issue of bullying continues to be an overwhelming presence, some were pushed to their limits. In one girl’s case, the bullying was so harsh that she took her own life. Megan Taylor Meier, was described as a young girl who was very enthusiastic. However, Megan was also seeing psychiatrist regarding her problems about her own image. In the seventh grade, Megan Meier “had tried desperately to join the popular crowd at Fort Zumwalt West Middle School, only to be teased about her weight” . (Maag) As Megan moved to a Catholic school, she had lost 20 pounds and also gained a new group of friends. However, Megan’s life would soon take on a huge twist. Megan had a MySpace and it soon that through this website that her universe would change. It was through MySpace that she meet Josh Evans, a seemingly nice home schooled, phoneless boy of the age 16, and the two messaged one another continuously. The boy and Megan quickly became close and formed

Terror, shock, desperateness, all feelings of the Columbine victims. Through the narration of the encounter between Patti Nielson and the shooters during the beginning moments of the Columbine shooting in chapter 11 of Columbine, a memoir, Dave Cullen adopts an informative tone in order to focus young adults’ attention to the ruthlessness of the Columbine shooting.

After taking a canoe ride on an icy lake, 21-year-old McQuillen had vanished in southern Wisconsin. He slipped through their fingers like water, and it happened so suddenly. There is no mistaking, however, that McQuillen was dearly loved. The grief had been only multiplied when they learned that not just McQuillen but all four of the young men involved had been killed in the accident.

Despite the sufferance of victims, they often aren’t entirely blameless, as their poor decisions and irresponsibility is ultimately associated with their upsetting and newfound situation. Therefore victims like Fin O’Neil in The Story of Tom Brennan, who ultimately chose to travel in a car with drunken, inexperienced, and impulsive driver, it becomes questionable whether he is also culpable for his injuries. Despite Fin’s sobriety and awareness prior to the accident, this does not implicate him, however it becomes debatable whether the outcomes would be alike; with Fin’s extensive injuries and crash itself, if the decisions made on Fin’s behalf were different. Similarly in the story of ‘In My Little Town’, Leigh Charter Jnr also decides to travel with a drunk driver, regardless of the risks. Although his alertness was also compromised by alcohol, he holds some level of responsibility in his death. However, in ‘Shattered’, there are no obvious victims who made poor decisions, due to the situations isolation. Although, it is disputable whether the perpetrator; Peter Hodgkins’ friends who witnessed the accident could have altered the outcome. Though, it was voiced to Peter; “don’t throw a rock at a car, that’s stupid,” (‘Shattered’, 2011) this partly ousts some responsibility, especially due to their intoxication, which is similar to the other stories. However, responsibility is never fully removed from others, as it only takes one person, one conversation, and any one action during the lead to alter the outcome of July 21st 2007, in Kiama, New South

The majority of the people in the world don’t intentionally put themselves in dangerous situations, yet tragedies occur every day. Each year a motorcycle hill climbing competition is held in New Plymouth, Idaho called the Big Nasty Hill Climb. On September 19, 2009 my sister’s best friend Lacy Fine set out for a day of fun with her cousin Brittani and her cousin’s boyfriend Carlos to watch the hyped up event. She’s never been the most cautious person because her attention span is that of someone with ADHD or a stereotypical airhead. I say this with love in my heart, because she was literally a part of my family and would never purposefully hurt someone. I can

His mother, outraged, criticized how the school handled a child with difficulties as her son has changed from this ordeal (Nasser, 2017). While these responses are not a concern with many educational institutions, it is still an issue that should be addressed as students are having to suffer. This carelessness can cause a great deal of harm to students and it is because of this lack of support that there are already instances where people have already been caused distress. There is bias present in the article that supports Stephanie Hale’s case which can be seen by how the information is relayed. It focuses primarily on how Hale was negatively impacted by the events, reaching out to the reader’s sympathy, as well as UBC’s lack of care. There were no quotations taken directly from the university to provide their own explanation, merely information stated mostly by the victim. Hale’s poor health and education was repeated to display the inadequacy of her experience and the article included the possibility of discrimination against her without verifying with the school. While the Globe and Mail contributed in giving the necessary information, it emphasized the need of modifying the sexual assault policy in a

Joni Eareckson Tada stood at the edge of the rock as she had done many times that summer. When she dove into the water, she felt her head hit something hard. An agonizing pain tore through her head. She felt as if her hands and feet were tied by ropes. As she rode in the back of the ambulance that afternoon, Joni thought that her injury was not serious. She had no idea how drastically her life was about to change.

The Saturday night party was the place to be. Anyone who is anyone was there. John’s curfew is midnight and its 12:05. Mark had been doing quite a lot of drinking and he was John’s ride home. John questioned whether or not he wanted to get in the car with Mark, but thought about how mad his parents were going to be. He was already five minutes late. Saying to himself “Just this one time,” he decided to get in the car. John never made it home that night. Mark had rolled the car off the bridge one mile away from his house. John lost his life all because he was afraid of getting grounded. There are many situations similar to John’s, and in a lot of them, no one survives. Because of all the death and tragedy as a result of driving under the

The Steubenville and Glen Ridge rape cases are two very similar cases. The perpetrators were football student athletes with promising futures and the victims were teenage girls whose capability of consenting to the acts done to them were questioned. One of the victims was seventeen-years old and had an intelligence quotient of 64 and the reading comprehension of a second grader. The second victim was sixteen-years old and was publicly assaulted while she was completely intoxicated. This paper will discuss each victim and their perpetrators, as well as the trial sentencing and prosecution. It will explore the different reactions from the community and the debate over the victim’s responsibility leading towards the incident. In both rape

I shared in the first discussion for this book about the first killing I have known by someone close to me. A teen whose widowed father was dating my widowed mother. The partisan side of the victim’s family painted an overly exaggerated defense against him. I like everyone else wanted to witness the trial, but our parents would not allow us, and the school prohibited any student from missing school to attend unless they were called as a witness. On the day of the sentencing, I recalled my mother saying it was not a fair sentencing. I was barely a teen and all I can remember from the trial was that the judge

In the article, “On Punishments and Teen Killers”, by Jennifer Jenkins, publish in August 2, 2011, take a look at how this happen to her sister when she died

Back in 1988, Lori Mecham, a freshman, enthusiastically prepared for the first day of school. Not only was she going to be able to show off her new slick denim jacket and acid washed jeans, but she would finally be reunited with Becky and Emily. Within a few steps of Pleasant Grove Junior High, Lori was drowned in a wave of students ranging between 7th to 9th grades. Glancing over the crowd searching diligently for her friends, a sudden crash of nausea overcame her head as she spotted Becky and Emily. Floating through the crowd, both wore off the shoulder sweaters and skin tight stirrup pants. Heads turned and eyes flickered back and forth as her friends strutted by. Their unfamiliar revealing clothing seemed to be catching everyone’s

In the very beginning, the protagonist, Liesel, is faced with her first tragic encounter. On a train traveling toward Munich to live with foster parents, Liesel endures the death of her six year old brother. “There was an intense spurt of coughing. Almost an inspired spurt. And soon after-nothing” (Zusak 20). Her brother’s death happens so quickly that Liesel and her mother are left in disbelief and despair. This incentive moment began the tragic journey for Liesel or as Death named her, the Book Thief. After leaving her mom and being brought to her foster home, Liesel clings to the hope that this is just temporary. Because her foster father, Hans, taught her how to read and write, she desperately attempts to reach out through letters to her mom with no response. Even though Liesel is in this tragic journey, she has comfort and companionship from her foster parent, Hans, Rudy, a neighbor boy, and finally Max, the hidden Jew. Each of these relationships causes a chain reaction towards tragedy. As for Hans, “Liesel observed the strangeness of her foster father's eyes. They were made of kindness, and silver. Like soft silver, melting” (Zusak 34). Because of his kindness, Liesel also observes the tragedy. Having seen Hans being whipped multiple times in front of many people for helping a Jew and then drafted into war for also helping a Jew, Liesel sees the consequences for standing up for your own beliefs. Hans also developed in Liesel the love of reading which causes her to stand in horror and watch the burning of the book ceremony. Rudy, on the other hand, has a different relationship with Liesel. A love hate relationship that dealt with stealing and a childhood of mischievousness, these two characters bring joy in each others’ lives. Not knowing what they would do without each other, Liesel and Rudy depend on each other only to have that

The murder of Skylar Neese was a case that shocked the entire nation. It was a case of betrayal and heartbreak that once solved brought about more questions than it did answers and left a cloak of fear over the town and citizens of Sky City, West Virginia. July 6, 2012 was a night no one in the town would have ever imagined possible or could ever forget. Skylar Neese was just an average sixteen-year-old girl who believed she was going out for a night of fun; that quickly turned south as she was attacked and stabbed to death by her two best friends, Sheila and Rachel. They were also sixteen-year-old girls whom defied all gender norms as they crossed the line from innocent female high school students to murderers. This paper will analyze the