Relationships In Wendy Orr's Novel 'Peeling The Onion'

Adolescents are very unlikely to reach their full potential without the guidance of an adult figure, such as a mother, father, sibling, or guardian. Adult figures are essential to a growing child because they exemplify decision making, wisdom, and overall life lessons on how to grow up. Although some children do have an adult figure in their life, they aren’t always the best influences for their children, adults also face their own battles which can reflect upon their exterior, ultimately having a critical effect on a child’s development. For example, in “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs, the main character Augusten lives with his mother who suffers from a mental disorder who guides him into a pathway of chaos and disorder. Augusten learns to cope with no guidance, but still faces many issues that could have been resolved with a reassuring adult figure.

Different states of mind and relation growth was demonstrated with phenomenal detail through Abbi Glines latest novel, Until Friday Night. The relationships all started off on the wrong foot, but throughout the novel developed into something worthwhile. While the characters life experiences affect their mental and physical

“The experience of abuse and trauma is overwhelming emotional pain that threatens the soul and avoids all rationalization.” (Dr. Bill) ‘Speak’, a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson helps you consider how others actions could permanently damage someone’s future and mindset. Melinda Sordino’s past peers incidentally haunt her, making her feel damaged and ghostly. Melinda’s thoughts altered making her think that her speech negatively affects everyone, which is the result of Melinda’s schoolmates bullying her, making her struggle in being positive. Students at Melinda’s school make her feel isolated and even unable to deliver speech by having unhealthy thoughts about herself, resulting in Melinda feeling dirty and cold. Furthermore, throughout the school year, Melinda’s past distress obstructs her maturation process.

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, says Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. This quote reflects to Sarah’s journey in the novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, since the main character, Sarah, faces events that affect her well being, as they make her both weaker and stronger. These events causes her to lose her innocence, makes her persistent, and then eventually drives her to be pessimistic. Sarah experiences traumatic events through her journey, which leads her to change both in a positive and negative way.

Without the proper guidance from a healthy role model in Baby’s life, she has trouble forming and maintaining proper romantic and sexual relationships. Throughout the novel Baby is shown to

In this novel Taylor is a dynamic character, we see her transform from a young girl who didn’t want to get married or have kids to an independent single mother. In the beginning we get to know her as a self-owned, determined and a stubborn girl who is focused, ambitious and thinks outside the box; because she knows firsthand what is like to see her mother struggle as a single parent. She learned to value every day because pregnancy was like a disease. An example of her considerate outlook is “believe me in those days the girls were dropping by the wayside like seeds off a poppy seed bun and you learned to look at every day as a prize” (3). This small but

In the book She’s Come Undone by author Wally Lamb, we travel on a journey with a young girl Dolores Prices, as she matures from early childhood to adulthood and all the terrible things that accompany her along her voyage. It was rather intriguing the Wally Lamb did such an excellent job of writing in a first person perceptive as a woman. He accredits his ability to his older sisters. Wally Lamb wrote this book to help emphasize one’s journey to self-discovery. This book’s theme heavily shows the loss of innocence and a coming of age story. Lamb was able to write in a way that many of us could relate to or may have found ourselves in similar situations. Regardless of Lamb’s purpose for writing this book, he was able to create a relatable

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, a freshman named Melinda must learn the key to recovery after enduring extreme trauma. She struggled to find someone to speak to, due to the school shunning her for calling the police at the party. Throughout Speak, Melinda seeks to recover from the trauma she experienced, especially the cruel actions from her ex-friends. Through symbolism, Laurie Halse Anderson displays the theme in Melinda's perspective.

The novel translates our problems into real life by showing us how people can, without knowing it, emotionally abuse others because of their lack of knowledge or decisions they have made. The main character Kate, in her adulthood, sees Matt (her older brother) as an unhappy man - because he was unable to follow through with his university dreams. Kate, later attends university expanding her knowledge past that of her brother Matt’s making her feel as if she cannot speak to him in the same way that she used to. At one point in her adulthood Kate said “He was waiting for me to go on, to describe my work to him, but I could not bring myself to do that” (Lawson 275). This connects with the subject matter of emotional abuse because Kate is hurting her older brother Matt. She does not realize that he wants to speak with her and have a relationship with her - she feels that because of her university education she cannot interact with him any more. In the real world many people face emotional abuse. People are ostracized for many reasons including level of intellect or the decisions they have made. Family members and close friends have changed their loved one’s lives because of their opinions on them. In the article Nature vs. Nurture: Mental Illness Triggered By Life Events And Not Through Genetics it is stated that “despite the fact that genetics can potentially influence the individual's mental health, traumatic events are still considered as the most influential factor”. The traumatic event of their parent’s dying resulted in Matt making bad decisions and then later not going university as a result. This caused the greatest tragedy in the novel; the loss of the relationship between Kate and Matt. Kate began to speak less with Matt and when she came to visit him he suffered from anxiety, lack of sleep, etc.. Kate stopped talking to Matt even though

Vol. 1 tells in-depth stories on the thoughts and events from her childhood to adulthood and how she constantly thought about her father not being consistent and not being available throughout her life. Pondering everyday wondering on why she thinks of her father so much? Why

In “A Rose for Emily” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Faulkner and Gilman employ point of view to question gender roles and mental health. Faulkner uses a third-person point of view in order to narrate the story from the perspective of the town. The perspective of an outsider looking in on Emily’s life highlights her lack of control as a woman and later, a lack of control she has over herself. The distant narrator creates a barrier to fully understanding Emily’s character and reflects how the town does not truly know her and her secrets. In contrast, Gilman uses a first-person point of view to narrate from the protagonist’s perspective. The utilization of an unreliable narrator allows for more understanding of the protagonist’s character, but less understanding of her situation as a whole. Moreover, the protagonist only writes when her husband John is not around which provides further insight into her deteriorating mental condition and the lack of control she has as a woman. Faulkner and Gilman use different narrative perspectives to achieve similar results. Each point of view hides or highlights the female character in order to reveal the struggles and insufficient help they receiving. These stories provide commentary on common issues for women and mental illness for their time period.

In this passage, Jane breaks free from the bonds that hold her down and repress her, and for the first time the reader realizes Jane’s true personality and individuality (Anderson).

Pretty Little Liars is a television show based on a set of novels that focuses on the lives of four teenage girls and the struggles that they face daily. After the murder of their cliques Queen Bee, Alison, each girl begins to get harassed and an anonymous bully threatens to expose all of their secrets. They are abused mentally after what seems like a never ending search to discover who the anonymous person that is harassing them is. The strong relationship that the girls maintain through their anxiety ridden high school career shows us that friendship can help to keep you strong. We will be looking specifically at Abnormal Behavior demonstrated throughout the girls high school days; Social identity theory demonstrated by

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