Its Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is about facing the problems that occur in life and having the capability to deal with those hardships. I love this realistic fiction book because of the way the author portrays the thoughts of the main character. This story is something that relates to many lives today. Its so interesting to hear what a person going through this situation is thinking of. I love the ongoing theme of acceptance whether it was when Craig was making connections with the other patients, or when his family was telling him how their support will always be there. Entering the mind of Craig Gilner, a fifteen year old boy, who is living the life of any other, the story takes place in Manhattan at the public school he was attending where, Craig was doing exceptionally well and was at the top percent of his class. Coming freshman year he decided to apply to the Executive Pre-Professional High School. This took up about a year of his life to simply study for the exam that would allow him to attend. This test was the only thing he had in mind. At last when the took the exam he had achieved a perfect score. At the time this was a big accomplishment. Until school had started and slowly he realized that he was “smart but not enough--just smart enough to have problems.” That’s when it started. Homework was piling up and he …show more content…
just couldn’t bring himself to complete it. Craig could feel himself sinking in this new school. And hanging out with his friend Aaron was not helping, as Aaron was naturally smart and didn’t worry about anything and Craig was obviously not the same. He became depressed and overwhelmed. He was just thinking about the fact that he’s “not afraid of dying,” Craig was “afraid of living.” His parents began to set appointments to see therapists and take medication. They just wanted him to get better. Then it got worse. He planned his suicide. On the Brooklyn Bridge where he had his last good day and felt like the world was his. The same Brooklyn bridge that symbolized a peaceful time in his existence is where he now found himself thinking of it as the place to be remembered by. But he was having this mental war with himself. Eventually he surrendered and called the suicide hotline. They informed him that “when you want to commit suicide we consider that a medical emergency.” So he admitted himself in to the hospital. And so the week began. Five days in the adult psychiatric ward because the children one was being renovated. Surprisingly enough he fit right in. His second day Dr.
Minerva, his therapist, came in to talk with him about the obvious things. After hitting the hard topics she wanted to discuss his anchors, the things that kept him stable and even happy. This reminded him of the moment he had at the activity center when he was supposed to draw anything and the girl Noelle mentioned to “draw something from his childhood.” Craig thought back to his good days when he was a child. How fascinated he was with maps. Just the simplicity of it. He drew them any moment he had. Drawing the maps was what “made me happy. That was my Anchor.” It was strange, but that was represented the good
days. Through out those five days he was able to come to terms with the fact that he couldn’t deal with all the work and pressure being put on him. He could transfer schools because he didn’t “owe people anything.” He made friendships with the other patients there and even was able to form a relationship with the girl Noelle because “regrets are an excuse for people who have failed.” Craig finally realized what he needed from life and knew that the friends he had weren’t going to help him get there. He dealt with the problems he had because it was time to “now live for real.” Craig wasn’t okay yet but here he was ready live. I personally would recommend this book to anyone that is willing to read a story about the somewhat problematic subject of depression. Although the best part about this book is how the entire story has a light comedic side to it and is not taken to sternly. I don’t consider this a particularly challenging book and is available for most people to interpret.
A Child Called 'It' by Dave Pezler. Setting:.. 1-Russian River - "The Russian River" The Russian River is a place in California where Dave and his family usually go for vacation. He remembers this place as a quiet and peaceful place. He remembers how he and his brothers would play, how his mother would hug him, and how they would all watch the sunset together.
The physical abuse is the root of his problems, affecting his self-esteem and self-image. He may be a genius, but he has thought of himself not to be worthy of anything including the praise of being an intellect. He runs away from the professor unwilling to be acknowledged for his intellect. He suffers from an inferior complex which he tries to counter by being the only one among his friends with a high intelligence to give him a superior status among them. His relationship is affected too when he tries to form one with Skylar. The young man also displays an impulsive nature which has gotten him in trouble in the past with the law which is why the judge was ready to be hard on him in the recent anger display. The same character flaw has been causing trouble for him in his relationship with Skylar which has been unstable. The moment she tells him she is leaving, the emotional mood swings and the explosive anger kick in and he pushes her away, and he even takes up a job to avoid confronting his fear of being abandoned. His fear of authority has made him humble and left him with no growth goal in his personal and work life. He wishes to remain hidden and unnoticeable. When this did not work he out rightly rebels against the authority figure like he did with the therapist he initially wanted to treat
I chose the book, The Child Called “It” because one of my friends told me about the book. The whole story line caught my attention. I was amazed at what was going on in this boy’s life. This book, a true story, is very emotional. The title relates to the book because his mother calls the boy, David Pelzer, “It”. She does not call him by his real name. His mother treats him like he is nothing but an object. Also, I think the title fits well because it catches people’s attention and gives a clue what the book is about.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
A Child Called "It", by Dave Pelzer, is a first person narrative of a child’s struggle through a traumatic abused childhood. The book begins with Dave telling us about his last day at his Mother’s house before he was taken away by law enforcement. At first I could not understand why he had started at the end of his tale, but after reading the entire book it was clear to me that it was easier to read it knowing there indeed was a light at the end of the dark tunnel. This horrific account of extreme abuse leaves us with a great number of questions which unfortunately we do not have answers for. It tells us what happened to this little boy and that miraculously he was able to survive and live to see the day he left this hole which was his home, however, it does not tell us why or even give us a good amount of background with which to speculate the why to this abuse.
Chris’s parents had only good intentions for him as every parent would for their child which is why they entered him into a gifted school. However all this opportunity never seemed...
Imagine a time where every detail about your life (credit score, personality ranking, “hotness” ranking, etc.) was available to anybody around you through something similar to the present-day iPhone. Now imagine this world being reality. In Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, this idea is reality. Everybody in the world has an äppäräti, and everybody knows everything about one another. But is knowing everything about your friends and neighbors really a good thing, especially when the world around you is crumbling because of this knowledge? Perhaps it isn’t. As Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, once said, “In all affairs, love, religion, politics, or business, it’s a healthy idea, now and then, to hang a question mark on things you have long taken for granted.” The relationship between Lenny Abramov and Eunice Park, the main characters of Super Sad True Love Story, could have used a question mark on how culture, media, business, and technology impacted their personal relationships throughout the book.
A Child Called It was about the struggles of a young boy named Dave Pelzer. Dave was put through hard times and at some point lost hope in his dreams and doubted the humanity of mankind, but in the end because of his strong will he was able to overcome his problems and make a better life for himself.
Chris a sixteen year old African male enter into therapy seeking professional help. Chris grew up in an urban neighborhood in New York, together with his mother and father. Chris develop problems due to longing attention. He begins to act out, hang around with the incorrect crowd, and get into fights.
He was once loved by her, but after four years, he became no one to her. He was no longer a son that she loves. He became loved. He was now a slave, filth, nothing. He was “It”. Dave was “It” to her, and nothing more.
The ability to tell one’s own story, to speak one’s mind, is the best antidote to powerlessness. Tan’s writing instills agency and visibility in Chinese American women. The silence is broken, and their new voices are constructed in collective storytelling, a language of community, without denying or erasing the different positions such collaboration encounters. Tan compels each of her characters to tell their own story in their own words, thus (re)creating the meanings of their life. The interrelated narratives make sense only if readers can discern the specificities of each woman’s story as located within the novel.
Dave has experienced a truly extraordinary life. As a child, he endured the horrors of child abuse, which included physical torture, mental cruelty, and near starvation. Upon Dave's rescue, he was identified as one of the most severely abused children in California's history. At age 12, Dave's teachers risked their careers to notify the authorities and saved his life. Upon Dave's removal, he was made a ward of the court and placed in foster care until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. As a young adult Dave was determined to better himself--no matter what the odds.
From there the local setting shifts to a high school classroom, where the narrator reflects on the news and reminds himself what Sonny has done. In the third and
It tells the story of a person, family and community in which individuals suffer from mental disorders much the same way as people do in the real world. Not only did I find this movie quite accurate concerning mental illness but I also established some important messages concerning mental illness in today’s society. The film takes into account that mental illness is a part of society and overall has a positive outlook on it. Their illnesses don 't define their identities nor are they even the main point of the story. In coming together, the characters find the mutual support that enables them to approach their struggles and redirect their lives in a more positive direction. To some degree, this film addresses stigma and the fact that persons with mental illness should be allowed to participate in society over being kept in a hospital, in other words, it gives
In the assessment of Ryan, the parent provided crucial information that led to identification of challenges that Ryan was going through. The parent spent a lot of time helping the child to complete his homework. Secondly, the parent realized that Ryan would be able to memorize a story, but reading and writing down the story was the challenge because the letters were jumbled up in a word. Ryan was showing extreme signs of frustration while at home, an aspect that he hid from his class teacher and schoolmates. Ryan was not afraid to ask the mother for help in doing homework and worked quite hard to please the mother, although inherent challenges frustrated his efforts.