This Song Will Save Your Life By Leila Sales: Character Analysis

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Recommended: Coming of age as a theme in literary texts

In the book This Song Will Save Your Life written by Leila Sales, the main character, Elise Dembowski, struggles with accepting herself for who she is. Elise spends the summer of ninth grade completely renovating herself. She tries to study pop culture, update her wardrobe, and exercise. Elise’s first day of school does not go too well, and she struggles to make new friends. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise stumbles upon an underground warehouse club where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; Char, a charming DJ; and most importantly, her newfound love for DJing. This witty novel shows a brave protagonist, characterization, and an abundance of complicated conflicts. First, the readers are introduced to Elise Dembowski and learn how she becomes brave throughout the story. The author states, “I could hear the music beginning to fade out, and I see on Char’s computer program that only twenty seconds remained. I took a deep breath, and then I shoved the slider over, as fast and as …show more content…

One example from the selection is, “I again placed the X-Acto against the inside of my left forearm, but this time I pressed down. I drew a line straight across. It didn’t hurt. It just felt numb” (27). This conflict shows the readers how Elise tries to kill herself. Elise is trying to commit suicide because she cannot accept herself for who she is. Another example is, “I don’t know why I bothered to act like everything was okay. Start is small, and news travels fast. Soon enough they were all going to find out that Char had dumped me” (205). Elise also failed at an effort to make her relationship with Char work out. Elise desperately tried to make one thing in her life end happily, but it seems that her plan has not worked out like she had hoped. Overall, the writer’s use of complications excel the story and leave the readers

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