Willow's Life-Personal Narrative

John Barton, her good friend, helps her to want to live life. John is very depressed and ends up committing suicide even though he had class and wealth. During one of John’s happier moods he gives some good advice to Josie although he does not seem to take it himself. “Just make your decisions and follow them through, Josie.” When John dies Josie is very confused because she thought he had everything. Josie later realises that class and wealth aren't everything and they aren’t what you should base life on. Josie then takes advantage of her life and believes no matter what others think of her, her class and social standing, she can be who ever she wants to be, she isn’t “ready to give up on it”. Josie strongly believes that amongst her peers she isn’t popular and considered foreign. This is changed after she truanted the walk-a-thon and learns that she was actually voted school captain but the job was given to another student. The nuns were worried that Josie would set a bad example because she and her friends were “trendsetters.” “Socially we weren’t as shitty as we thought we were.” After realising that she was voted school captain and she is popular makes her rethink how she should act. She changes her perspective of being not being socially accepted and a “wog” and realises she is the same as everyone else. Josie values her peer’s opinions and they contribute towards her to discovering who

Experiencing further unstable environments, these children are forced to move from one foster home to another. They rarely develop meaningful relationships and constantly endure lack of care and protection by adults. Sabreen, another gifted student, was able to excel in school despite her unstable environments. She, too, became a ward of the county battling to find a stable home, constantly being placed in unstable environments, environments that do not encourage any achievement. When her situation becomes untenable, she goes AWOL, like Olivia, refusing to return to county supervision. Corwin masterfully frames the problem that wards, like Olivia and Sabreen, face when they feel that going back into the system is not an option. The additional struggles can be seen through Olivia and Sabreen accepting jobs with long hours in order to make enough to pay their bills. The responsibility on taking care of themselves financially detracts from their studies, which quickly can become a vicious, never-ending cycle.

First, her relationship with her best friend, Ellen, is put to the test. Ellen and Willowdean have a fight where they end up ignoring each other for at least half of the book. During their break, Willowdean questions if she has relied on Ellen too much, possibly holding her back. This makes Willowdean change internally by willing herself to become more independent and less reliant on others. Another problem that occurs is Willowdean’s relationship with Bo. They both like each other very much, but when Willowdean is with Bo, she loses her confidence and starts to feel insecure in their partnership. This permanently affects Willowdean, even after they are no longer seeing each other. Throughout the rest of the story, Willowdean feels ashamed because of her body, and her self-esteem drastically changes. The last main conflict that is in this book is the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet beauty pageant. Willowdean enters this pageant to try and prove to her town that perfect bodies and cheesy smiles aren’t necessarily beautiful. As she participates in the pageant, many people are appalled and don’t support her, including her own mother. Willowdean has to learn how to stay strong and defeat peer pressure during this

Later Sarah’s feminist outlook for women’s rights at the time becomes obvious when she rebels against social standards. Handful and Sarah become allies and create an unlikely bond throughout the story; both realizing one another’s desires for freedom. Sarah teaches Handful how to read; knowing that it was against the rules, because she made a promise to Charlotte to help free Handful.

After Willows parents die she believes that social services will take her away from her only friends. In Counting By 7's Willow said sadly that "They are taking me away from these people, and i don't think I could live without them." She doesn't believe that her friends mother Pattie will get custody of her and will live alone. She doesn't count by 7's, care about statistics, grow herbs in her garden, and more importantly she doesn't believe. At the end of the book she is hauled off to the custody hearing and things go in her favor. "But the important thing is that for today, they are granted, jointly, the guardianship which is on track to not be temporary of a person named Willow Chance." In the end Willow learned a valuable lesson about having faith to save all the

She charged straight into a world of conflict without anybody to care and love her at a time where she needed it the most. Hope has to live in an environment that you would not necessarily want for a teenager growing up. As Hope realizes the conflict she faces, she states to herself ,"Here I was- my body heading to one place, my heart stuck in another. My mind's got questions and no answers." (Bauer, p.g 11) This quote emphasizes the inner conflict occurring within Hope and the real dilemma she is facing. This quote also shows her three different outlooks on what she desires. The first being her physical self, the second being what her heart desires, and the third being what her thoughts are. Another way that Hope demonstrates her adaptability is when she has to move from state to state to get a job. Hope says ”I'm not going to Atlanta. I screamed at Addie’s back. You can’t make me!” (Bauer, p.g 11) In this quote Hope demonstrates how she has to be able to learn and adapt even when she does not necessarily want to. Although she may not want to change, she ends up doing so because it is what she is required to do inorder to succeed. This quote also shows that Hope was in a way forced to move on and learn to live life even if she is missing a home and the care a teenager needs to grow into a successful

Setting: The setting is Bakersfield, California in present time. Some of the settings within Bakersfield are the Gardens of Glenwood apartment complex, Sequoia Middle School, Jamison, Happy Polish Nails, and the Bakersfield Courthouse. The settings are significant because many important events in the story take place at various locations. For example, at the courthouse, it is revealed that Pattie Nguyen is Willow’s new guardian after the death of Willow’s parents. Also, Sequoia Middle School is where Willow meets Mai, Pattie’s daughter and one of Willow’s best friends.

With the experience of being ignored, betrayed, and deprived, she becomes more afraid of loss and danger, but longs even more to have something to hold dear and belong to. When she gets into the convent school she finds temporary safety, being sheltered from the dangerous and unpredictable "outside", but her stepfather eventually brings her out into the

We snuck in quietly, and I tensed when I saw Cristy Pines waiting on the counters. She looked like she just got in a fight with a bear with her messy hair and dark stains on her clothes. I wondered what they were and tried to get closer, but then I saw something that made me stop right in the middle of my tracks. Diary, you are probably wondering what it was because I have told you so much already, so I will now explain what I saw and what I did after I saw it.

“the last name is scratched off.” Without any trace of who it belonged to, Erin felt like she had to personally return it. Following the glimpse of light, she headed towards Hartman Green. Although she hated the moist air and dampness from the rainy night before, she was thankful this time, for every spot of the that the flashes of light had crossed over became dry instantly. As Erin approached the top of the path, she caught sight of who she believed to be Leah. “HEY!” She shouted. Leah disappeared in another beam of light. Beginning to become paranoid, Erin maniacally scoped out all of her surroundings, trying to see where Leah might have gone. She saw nothing. “Something is weird about here too…” She thought, trying to find out what was. After a little while she noticed the inconsistency. What used to be a nice brick red covering the bricks of the bookstore had since bloomed to the shade of a maraschino cherry. “Leah.” She derived. “This has to have something to do with Leah.” Not wanting to lose Leah again, she broke down the path towards Stager, which was unusually empty as well. Once more, she followed the dry path, which was slowly becoming harder and harder to distinguish. “I can’t let her get away this time,” Erin thought. “when the sun passes overhead I will have no guide.” She followed the path all the way up the steps of the bookstore, now searching for the same strawberry-blonde hair she caught a glimpse of earlier. As she entered

The boy’s creepy actions, doubled with Connie’s unsettled reaction define her willingness to truly grow up and enter the forbidden, terrifying world of later life. She can always look away, but she will always look back, and it will always get her.

I couldn’t even look at Cheyenne before I walked out of the courtroom. Instead I wanted to see Harley one more time. For just a brief second our eyes connected before she looked down. Fear, hurt, and anger flashed across her face.

The future of one’s self is often thought of as predetermined by past actions. Yet again and again, this statement is proven to be wrong in so many regards. Everybody has a different past, good or bad, and what they make of their future often times has little to no correlation with their past. In saving Ceecee Honeycutt, we become aware of how a rocky upbringing does not indicate a bleak and hopeless future. With the help of her friends, Ceecee learns to look at life with a positive outlook and to see all the opportunities she has to enjoy the things she has. The outcome of the future depends not on the past but on the present.

     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

“At least she has gone to a better place.” Stephanie whispered to herself. As Stephanie wiped a tear of her face, she spotted Lila huddled up in the corner weeping her heart out. Stephanie knew that Amanda was Lila’s cousin, but she was too afraid to say anything. If she was caught talking to someone like Lila, her social status would be ruined! It would make her from the most popular girl to the 37 millionth popular girl. She can’t do that to herself...can she? She had to do what was right. She couldn’t let Lila suffer in silence. She had to be there for her. After all, that is pretty much the only thing they had in common.