Grief Girl is a novel written by Erin Vincent about her and her sibling’s experience of losing both their mother and father. Vincent was only fourteen years old at the time of her parents’ death. The chapter goes into detail about the events of the night of Vincent’s parents’ death. Based on the chapter, I can conclude that Vincent definitely went through at least two of the stages of grief. The fact that the novel is nonfiction helps me connect with the emotions that Vincent felt that day. Her details are extremely vivid and it is recognizable that Vincent recalls the events from that day very well. At the beginning of the first chapter entitled “October 23, 1983,” Erin Vincent is extremely worried about her parents’ whereabouts. She begins …show more content…
to think of various places where they might be and even scenarios of what may or may not have happened to them. Denial is the initial stage in the grieving process. Denial is the act of refusing to believe or accept something that has occurred. I determined that Vincent experiences a form of denial at least twice in the first chapter. She receives a phone call from the nurse who found her parents, she claims that “this isn’t happening” three times. She even tells herself that it was a prank call although the nurse knew her name, phone number, and knew that her parents were not home. As she continues to worry about her parents, she calls Liverpool Hospital continuously asking if her parents have gotten there yet. While in between the calls to the hospital she begins the grief process known as bargaining. Bargaining is a negotiation of some sort in exchange for something else. She began to pray, asking God to not let them be dead. She tells God that she will sing hymns, hand out pamphlets in the mall, and even start watching the religious television channels. She asks God to just let them have broken legs and arms instead of them being dead and in exchange she will constantly keep him in her thoughts. I believe that Vincent had no choice but to be in denial and bargain with God. She did not know what was going on, and all that she wanted was for her parents to be safe and sound. If I were in Vincent’s shoes I probably would have done the same thing, just as many people do. One aspect of the chapter that I noticed was that Vincent vividly remembers every detail of that day.
She remembers calling and checking on the status of her parents and the piercing dial tone sound when people kept hanging up on her. She also recalls where she was standing when she got the phone call and that it was dark and she refused to turn on any lights. I think that it is amazing that on probably what was the worst day of her life she remembers so many details that people normally would not remember. The fact that she was fourteen at the time and still remembers most of what happened that day surprises me even more. Her descriptive words help me to get in tune with what is happening. I can picture her pacing all around the house waiting for someone to call her with more information. Her sweaty palms were more than likely trembling with the fear of the unknown. I would absolutely hate to be in this situation. Her siblings were not at home this night, so she was at home alone worrying all by …show more content…
herself. Chapter one makes me think of how many children go through this type of traumatic experience of losing both parents at the same time.
Losing one parent is hard enough, but when losing both parents at the same time it has to be the most horrific experience. I have never experienced that personally, but I do know a few people who have. A close friend of mine lost both of her parents on the same night due to a car accident, just like Vincent. At the time my friend was only 12 years old and a student in the 7th grade. She went to various counselors that her grandparents took her to. Her counseling sessions went very well, and she even stated that talking to her counselor about the situation was better than talking to her grandparents. At only 12 years old she suffered the lost of both of her parents, and had to step up to help take care of her two younger sisters. Like Vincent, she too went through the process of denial. Fortunately today she has progressed to the stage of grief known as acceptance and is doing much better. I imagine that Vincent was the same way. I do believe that writing this book was a great release form of the grief she still faces today. In conclusion, the first chapter of Grief Girl was great. If it were not for Erin Vincent’s descriptive details of that night, I do not think I would have been able to connect with her feelings and truly understand her pain. Going through the grieving process is extremely difficult. The fact that Vincent wrote this novel means
that she has accepted her parents’ death and is able to speak freely about it. It takes a large amount of courage and strength to write about your personal life, especially when death is involved, so I commend Erin Vincent for being brave and sharing her story with the world.
The book I choose for the book talk is “Dead and gone” written by Norah McClintock, this book talks about a murder mystery of Tricey Howard. The main character of the story is Mike, an orphan whose parents got killed in a car crash. He lives with his foster father named John Riel, who was once a police officer. During a swim meet, Mike see Mr.Henderson is staring at a girl name Emily without stopping. Then he informs Emily about what happened in the community center. However, as return Emily blackmails Mike to investigate Mr. Henderson. During the investigation, Mike finds nothing suspicious, but realize Emily is the daughter of Tricey Howard. Tricey Howard was murdered years ago, but the police still haven’t find the real killer. At the meantime,
Grief is a various response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone that has died. People have a bond or affection formed over time making it hard to lose someone. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss-born psychiatrist, presented a theory of the five stages of grief that is recognized by society. In the book, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, the main character Steven Alper lives a normal life. He plays drums and hates his little brother, Jeffrey. Steven is constantly being annoyed by him which, bugs Steven. When Jeffrey is diagnosed with Leukemia, Steven’s life is flipped right upside down. He is hit hard with the five stages of grief. The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Throughout the story, Sonnenblick explains the five stages of grief very well with Steven Alper.
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
Elisabeth Kubler and David Kessler have a hypothesis in which they have discovered the five stages of grief. Many people experiences grief in many different ways, but they usually follow the 5 stages of grief. In the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly close they discuss the recent events of 9/11. Jonathan Safran Foer talks about grief through a nine year old's point of view about grief and the loss of his father. This novel was very real and personal it shows that type of human emotions you go through when you lose a family member, in this novel many people are able to go through the five stages of grief and it also shows how these characters are able to get through each death individually. Grief is one of the most powerful emotional forces
The 1991 movie My Girl tells the story of 11-year-old Vada Sultenfuss who, having lost her mother at birth , lives with her dementia-ridden grandmother and her job-oriented father in the funeral parlour that he owns and operates. The story follows Vada, an extreme hypochondriac who has many strange misconceptions about death, through a variety of life-changing experiences, including the engagement of her father and the devastating loss of her best friend, Thomas Jay. Through these experiences, the audience witnesses Vada’s social, emotional, and intellectual growth, as well as her changing views of death.
Death and Grieving Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss.
Middle adulthood came with a transitional time of changing military branches from Marine to Army, which also meant moving from southern California to Ohio for 4 months to Kentucky. Followed by the transition of moving from a family of 3 the dynamics of Bowen’s family systems (Haefner, 2014) of the triangle of 2 parents and a child. To the dynamics of 2 children and 2 parents. Childbirth can be a time of extreme excitement as well as stressful. In Heather’s case the stress was compounded by the sudden death of her grandmother who was killed by a drunk driver. Leaving Heather to deal with new mother and the grief of losing a main source of strength and support. Due to the unexpected way, her grandmother passed it only allowed Heather at that point to go through 3 of Kubler-Ross’s 5 stages of grief, (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015) those being denial, anger and
We all experience losses as we grow older in life. These losses are usually about our physical or inner self. However, sometimes these losses could be about how our relationships with others have been lost or changed due to growing up. For example, in the story How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, four sisters suffer or experience losses as a result of growing up into older young women. All this started when the four sisters moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic at a young age. This affects the four sisters because they encounter problems or obstacles as they age into young adults. For instance, Julia Alvarez shows that growing up is a process of losing respect, sanity, and a loving friend.
In the book “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse, Billie Jo is the main character; a fourteen year old girl who has had to deal with an exceptional amount of loss. She has lost her mother, brother, one of her close friends, and so much more. Billie Jo has to go through her normal life even after dealing with the loss of her mother. Billie Jo takes about her and her pa stating, “We are both changing, we are shifting to fill in the empty spaces left by Ma.” (76) Loss is something experienced by most people. However, even though it is a hard thing to deal with, everyone has to keep strong and keep going through all of the sorrow.
Death is inevitable; if you want happiness in life, try A. Margaret Atwood, the author of “Happy Endings,” uses six separate short stories to depict outcomes with different scenarios. The author practices the use of flash fiction which adds to the entirety of each version. Though this short story has portions of unusual context, the content can teach a reflection on life. As the reader analyzes all six versions, the gender roles are evident as the story progresses. Atwood starts the short story by introducing the two main characters, John and Mary, and then proceeds to tell a variety of options as to who they are and what happens to them. In Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Happy Endings,” the central theme of fiction provides several different
“What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes, to believe that God is, by any standard we can conceive, 'good'?Doesn't all the prima facie evidence suggest exactly the opposite? What have we to set against it?” (3). Clive Staples Lewis asserts and implores this question upon grieving the death of his beloved wife and friend, Helen Joy Davidman. Although CS Lewis is considered to be the greatest Christian theologian of the twentieth century, if not one of the most widely recognized of all time, Lewis inquires the validity of the faith he so desperately desires to believe when his wife’s parting appears counterintuitive to God’s presence, goodness, faithfulness, and love. In A Grief Observed, CS Lewis candidly describes his musings, longings, struggles, inquiries, anger, hope, confusion, and peace throughout his journey through grief after the loss of
There are many theories that examine the adolescent’s attempts to deal with grief; one such theory was developed by Moos.
According to Ethos magazine, a person coping with a loss is not a finite process and that event is one that dramatically shapes the person for the rest of their life (Bison and Stephen 395). Anne’s major event in her life was her losing her family and becoming an orphan, which shaped the whole rest of her life. She no longer had a stable and loving family environment, making her whole identity being in her lack of family. She is continuously coping with this trauma by using her imagination to escape the reality of her situation. This coping process is vividly seen as a never-ending process due to Anne experiencing an unrealistic attitude towards
Gail Godwin's short story "A Sorrowful Woman" revolves around a wife and mother who becomes overwhelmed with her husband and child and withdraws from them, gradually shutting them completely out of her life. Unsatisfied with her role as dutiful mother and wife, she tries on other roles, but finds that none of them satisfy her either. She is accustomed to a specific role, and has a difficult time coping when a more extensive array of choices is presented to her. This is made clear in this section of the story.
‘The Sisters’ is about a young boy who has an experience in death of a