Sarah Dessen Dreamland

One thing the book talks about is keeping childhood innocence. Mostly through the characters of the story the novel also shows how easily experience can change people and cause them to lose their youthful traits. Dallys rough youth has made him tough and fearsome, and he seems not to care about anything. But Dally has a soft spot too caring for Johnny.

The realistic setting of the novel starts out in a small town down south called Little Bend in Colorado but progresses to up north in a well-known town called Dover in Vermont. The main character, Cody Laredo, has a perfect life. He’s a great quarterback on his high school football team, he might be able to get a full college scholarship, and he’s dating the prettiest and smartest girl in town, but all his luck changes. He hurt his leg preventing him from playing sports, and his girlfriend, Clea, moves away to a boarding school in Vermont. When he thinks all his bad luck is over, he finds out that Clea went missing in Dover. Cody’s life gets turned

Figurative language is used to emphasize Cassie and her emotions in her experiences and interactions and how she learns from that. Epiphany is used to convey how both Cassie and Stacey learned from their mistakes and simultaneously grew from said mistakes. Many other characters in this book go through an experience they could learn from, but don’t learn from it (e.g. T.J.). But, Stacey and Cassie, thanks to their parents they learn from their mistakes and experiences and get a life lesson along with it. Taylor's book displays a variety of themes but the most prominent theme is that making mistakes is part of life, and is okay, but it is important that you learn from those mistakes and grow from

Ponyboy is bullied by a group of people that do not accept him. He is also different than the group of boys he hangs out with, because he like to read and watch films. Ponyboy is trying to find out where is place is in society. Junior is also trying to figure out his identity. As a Native American, he is expected to be educated on the reservation where he lives. Instead, he has made the decision to travel to a white school, miles away from the reservation. Even though this puts his in a situation where is he is not accepted, he understands that having the best education is going to better him in the future. Katherine is trying to find her sexual identify. She wants to be sexually active, but doesn’t want it without a meaningful relationship. All of these adolescents are making adult decisions that are going to effect in some way, whether that be emotionally or physically. Katherine, Junior, and Ponyboy are going through one of there rites of passage: figuring out their identity as a

An additional theme heavily shown throughout the book is “people are defined by the choices they make”. Ben left his little sister, Sissy, to die, even though he could have made an effort to save her; because he left her, he now vows not to run from danger or those things which scare him. Furthermore, Cassie promises Sammy that she will find him and, because she makes that promise, she will stop at nothing to be with him again.

A stab in the heart by one’s own hopes is truly the cruelest way to leave this world. Sadly, that is exactly what happen to Sarah Cole in Russell Banks’ short story entitled, “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story.” The man who dated Sarah for a short period of time tells the tale. He calls himself Ron, for Ron could have been him, but he doesn’t want to say who he is for fear of looking cruel. He wants to believe what he did was right when he left her. They both didn’t handle their differences properly. The relationship could have been different if they communicated to each other what the relationship meant to them, if Sarah wasn’t so aggressive, and if Ron could let go of his vanity. All these aspects together

The article “Man-Made Misery” by Thomas M. Colicino, discusses how some love stories aren’t meant to last. Thomas describes the day he first met a girl named Katherine during his sophomore year of High School. By senior year of High School the author writes how he decides to make a move on Katherine. Thomas confesses his true feelings to her however she ends up telling him she has a boyfriend and pretends he knew the whole time.

Near the end of the book Cassie bumps into Jeremy Simms sister and her dad comes and pushes Cassie off the sidewalk.“It was then that I bumped into Lillian Jean Simms… Mr. Simms glared down at me “When my gal Lillian Jean says for you to get yo’self off the sidewalk, you get, your hear.” This shows her losing innocence because she now sees how terrible white people are to push a 9 year old girl off the sidewalk because someone bumped into her. Lillian and her dad are very racist so now she knows not to mess with her and not to talk back.

Cassie Logan is a black, nine year old girl living in rural Mississippi. Throughout her life Cassie displays many different qualities, she can be feisty, sassy, and clever, but most of all she is courageous. This does not just mean she is plucky or tenacious, it means she is “brave and/or fearless” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Whenever she shows this quality, she stands up for herself, as well as others. Being courageous is so important simply because she is a black girl living in 1933. Racism was very common at that time, and standing up for yourself was the only way you would get respect. However, in some incidents described in the book, Cassie changed her life for the better and took one step closer towards a fairer world. There are three

There are many events that can occur to people that will change their lives tremendously. Racism plays a big part in Cassie Logan’s life and it changes her character throughout the novel as she grows in her understanding of inequality. As the narrator and protagonist of the novel, Cassie’s perspective is captivated very closely with the help of the other character’s conversations. At such a young age she is very naïve about certain situations but learns how things really are throughout the novel. As she is growing up she experiences many situations of racism in the American South, but there is one event that she would never forget. The day that Cassie Logan is made to apologize to Lillian Jean Simms for bumping into her is the event that had the greatest impact on her character.

In some shape or form, all characters are somehow connected. First, Ky Markham, the one who accidentally showed up on cassia’s micro-card, is connected to her because he had fell in love with her. Ky had told Cassia about the Rising (a group that rebels against society). Another important character connected to cassia is her grandfather. He has put a major influence on her because some of his poems gave her motivation to join the Rising. He had shown her the light at the end of the tunnel, he’d shown her that there is more than just living in a “perfect” society. He had also shown her that it was okay to rebel. He still had poems he had hidden for a few decades, ones that hinted at Cassia to join the

Characters: Maddie is the main character. Maddie came into the story first and then met Q. Q and her are like brother and sister, they are very close and they help each other when they need some confidence or they need to be convinced that everything is going to be ok. She is very poor and she is homeless, she has a great personality which is very kind and caring. She starts out not super confident in herself but she always stays positive about herself when she is homeless. When she meets Q she becomes very confident in herself because Q shows her how she can get perfect food from the dumpster at the restaurant and she makes a plan for her life. Then she realizes that life may not turn out to be so bad. Her and Q are very nice to each

     Throughout the story there are several aspects of the Protagonist’s character that play a major role in the shaping of her future. During her childhood she

Caitlin’s hometown is Hatfield, Pennsylvania, where her parents grew up and her brother was also born. It has quiet streets lined with ranch and colonial-style homes, well-kept yards, a good public school, a deli, Dairy Queen, softball games, roller-skating rinks, and a mall. A quote from Caitlin for support is “I was born and raised in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, a small middle-class town forty miles outside Philadelphia.” –page 5.

Also, Cassandra teaches us the importance of family. The conflict of the story, revolves around the unexpected disappearance of Clary’s mother; Jocelyn. Clary than willingly dives into the ‘unknown and dangerous Shadow world’, in search of her loving ‘mother’. Clary will do anything to find her mother and make sure she is safe. This demonstrates the incredibly strong and true bond between a mother and her