Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, is about a boy who has been bullied his whole life and he decides to take matters into his own hands. He comes to school with guns and shots every person who has ever bullied him, except the girl he was in love with. This book is important to me because it shows what bullying and depression can make people do, how it can destroy many people’s lives. This book reminds me of real life, how depression can make people do awful things, but it doesn’t mean they are awful people. It shows how some people need help to be guided down the right path, which is what I try to do.
I choose this book because anytime I have to read a nonfiction book, the only nonfiction books I can read and enjoy reading the book are about Holocaust for some reason. I’m not sure why though. I got it at the school library, and my friend Elaina recommend me to read this book. The title appealed to me because it
a short time. Then someone approached Jesus and offered him an actual job. That was what made
Thanhha Lai wrote a novel called “Inside Out & Back Again” which is about a little girl and her family in Vietnam, the little girl is named Ha. Ha and her family are in the city of saigon, the story takes place during the Vietnam war and because of the Vietnam war her and her family’s lives are turned “inside out”. But later everything comes “back again” This story relates to the universal refugee’s life because they themselves are turned “ Inside out and back again”.
Girl Interrupted is Susanna Kaysen 's memoir a series of recollections and reflections of her nearly two year stay at a residential psychiatric program at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. She looks back on it with a sense of surprise. In her memoir she considers how she ended up at McLean, and whether or not she truly belonged there. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of her experience. Founded in the late 19th century, McLean Hospital had been a facility for troubled members of wealthy and aristocratic families. By the late 1960s, however, McLean had fallen into a period neglect. This was a time of great change in the mental health care field. Kaysen grew up in a wealthy and prestigious family. Like most teenagers, she was rebellious at times, confused and unsure about her future. She didn’t want to go to college and slept with her high school English teacher. She witnessed firsthand the widening generation gap that was developing in the late 1960s. Older generations looked at Kaysen’s generation 's world with alarm.
During a person’s teenage years, one is most vulnerable to trauma that occurs around them. In the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Marjane lives through a revolution in her own country. The story speaks to her loss of innocence during the revolution and how she goes through her life. In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie is going through the Holocaust with his father and he witnesses many major and scarring events. In A Long Way Gone: Memoir of A Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, the story is about Ishmael and his life as a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. These individuals all lose their innocence at a very young age but it shapes them to be better people later on in their lives.
In the book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Susanna Kaysen was only 18 years old when she agreed to enter a medium security psychiatric facility in Boston, McLean hospital in April 1967, after a failed suicide attempt. She insisted that her over dose on aspirin was not a suicide attempt, but after a 20 minute interview the doctor decided she needed to be admitted to a hospital. During her prolonged two-year stay at the hospital Kaysen describes the issues that most of the patients in her ward have to deal with and how they all differently deal with the amount of time they must stay in the hospital for. While in the hospital Kaysen experienced a case of depersonalization where she tried to pull the skin of her hands to see if there were bones underneath, after a failed escape attempt. Soon, after going to therapy and analysis she was labeled as having recovered from borderline personality disorder. After her release she realizes that McLean Hospital provided patients with more freedom than the outside world, by being free responsibility of parental pressure, free from school and job responsibilities, and being free from the “social norms” that society comes up with. Ultimately, being in captivity gave the patients more freedom then in society and created a safe environment in which patients wanted to stay in.
Many Australian war poems and songs represent or contradict an aspect of the nation’s identity and views. The ballad ‘I was Only Nineteen’ by John Schumann follows the journey of Mick Storen in the Vietnam War, and the atrocities witnessed while there. The theme portrays the continual struggle to cope with the post-effects of war, which provides the nation a new perspective of heroism and hardship (Marshall 2016).
During Mr. Rosenberg’s leave we learned different dramatic elements such as script analysis, stasis and intrusion, dramatic conflict, etc. This helps us to understand the different elements so one day when we have to apply the elements we will already be mindful of them. Additionally, we also learned about the beginning of theater dating back to ancient Greece and their different ways of displaying theater.
Under the lights by Abbie Glines. There are three teens that grew up together in a southern small town. Willa’s mom had her when she was a teenager. Willa had gotten into some trouble at a young age and had to stay with her Nonna. Willa’s two best friends were Gunner and Brady. Willa has made some bad choices in her past life which made her go down the wrong path in life. Brady’s a high school quarter back now and with the choices Willa has made Brady sees Willa as a different person. Gunner is also a football star in high school. Gunner is living a good rich life the only matter though he cares about himself only, except for Willa. He understands the person she has grown into over her time. As they were known to be child hood friends secrets start to come out and the truth may be the reason of them losing each other.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is related to what we have studied in AP Biology because the book explored the issue of genetics. In AP Biology, we discussed the different kinds of genetic diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, down syndrome, and cystic fibrosis. We learned about each disease’s inheritance pattern, either recessive or dominant. In the book, Anna’s older sister, Kate was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia, which she has many immature white blood cells in her body. Inevitably, this led to a deficiency of healthy blood cells to fight off foreign pathogens or diseases. Other than the fact that the book is related to the genetics unit, it is also relevant to the discussion we had in class about a person who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer. Similarly, Kate eventually received a bone marrow from her sister.
Holding Onto the Air an autobiography by Suzanne Farrell takes the reader backstage in the dramatic life of the world-renowned Balanchine ballerina. From her childhood in Cincinnati to her retirement from ballet in 1989, Farrell's story is truly a remarkable one. The book describes at length her time with the New York City Ballet as well as her complex relationship with the legendary Balanchine. Although Mrs. Farrell goes a bit too far into the ballet descriptions, her beautiful imagery allows reader to experience the joy of performing on stage.
After getting tormented continuously, it suddenly stops but Marshall - her best friend becomes the new target. The police gets involved after Avalon confesses to her parents about her suffering. Marshall decides to end his life surprisingly, which changes the whole story.The bullies are unknown but Avalon suspects it is Alice the popular girl, but in the end the person who is the bully is unforeseen. This captivating book has an unexpected ending due to the dramatic plot twist - death and not having the stereotypical bully. “When I was on that roller coaster....” suggests that the events taken place were very eyeopening and abrupt. Every parent and teenager should be compelled to read this text because of the thought-provoking plot structure.
The steam from the kettle had condensed on the cold window and was running down the glass in tear-like trickles. Outside in the orchard the man from the smudge company was refilling the posts with oil. The greasy smell from last night’s burning was still in the air. Mr. Delahanty gazed out at the bleak darkening orange grove; Mrs. Delahanty watched her husband eat, nibbling up to the edges of the toast, then staking the crusts about his tea cup in a neat fence-like arrangement.
The novel, Girl, Interrupted is a memoir of author Susana Kaysen’s life and her journey through early adulthood as she suffered with Borderline Personality Disorder. The novel captures her time at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital located in Belmont, Massachusetts. Kaysen divides the novel into separate anecdotes of events and fellow patients she encountered during the two years she was admitted at Mclean.
Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.