The Philosophy of Addiction in Glass

           In the book Glass, by Ellen Hopkins, the main character Kristina ends up getting extremely addicted to crystal meth. Before she tried the drug, she was a quiet, studious girl. But after she experiments  with it, she creates an alter ego for herself that "Kristina" never could be, called Bree. Bree gets Kristina into situations Kristina never would have dreamed of, such as getting raped and getting pregnant because of it. This made me think about the philosophy of addiction. Once people have something they are addicted to, they physically are unable to cope without it. Addiction is classified as a disease, but should it be? I think all humans are addicted to something in their life, whether they know it or not. Glass also made me think about how a child should be raised. Kristina loves her child, Hunter, whether she wanted to have him or not. But he ends up getting taken away from her because she is considered an inadequate mother. But what is an adequate mother? And what isn't?
         Everyone on this Earth has something that they need. Something that isn't required to live, but it's a necessity. The wealthier the person, the more addictions they have. I think this is because they know that they can get more, and getting can be an addiction as well. Most kids expect presents on Christmas and on their birthday, because it's something that's expected in society. The media glorifies these things and recognizes that we have addictions, and they use that as a weapon against us. Even something as small as caffeine is definitely an addiction in the lives of most people. And companies like Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, and McDonalds even know that this addiction is huge in the lives of most of the working population. Most people can barely get out of bed without having some form of caffeine. Now Kristina's addiction is much more dangerous, but does that make it any less severe than the people who need to have a cup of coffee every morning?
      Also in Glass, Kristina is forced to give up her child because it is considered that she creates an unsafe environment to raise her kid in by social services. But what is an unsafe environment? Is love the only thing that is needed to raise a kid? Kristina definitely loves Hunter. But is that enough to nurture and raise a child with? Kristina is crippled with her addiction, and according to society, that makes her unable to raise her kid. But like I said, we all have our addictions. Whether they be to drugs, to people, or to anything in the world, all humans have addictions to certain things. People often say that love is a force so overpowering that it can accomplish anything. But can love alone raise a child? Something so fragile, and so vulnerable?
         In conclusion, many different philosophical themes are brought up in Glass by Ellen Hopkins. Kristina, the main character, is addicted to crystal methamphetamine, a drug that changed her entire world. But we all have our addictions, whether they be to little things glorified by the media and expectations put by society. Why is Kristina's addiction considered so shocking and so severe? Also, Kristina was raped and unfortunately got pregnant from it. Her baby eventually gets taken away from her, because she is considered unfit to raise a child. Kristina loves her child, but is that enough to create an environment it can grow and develop in? All in all, Glass is a book that made me think about many different things.

The Value of Life in If I Stay

             In the book If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Mia's life is altered incredibly when she is in a devastating car crash which kills her little brother and her parents. Mia is stuck in a realm between life and death in which she can choose to either live or die. Her boyfriend, Adam, her best friend Kim, and all of her relatives desperately want her to live. This book made me think about the value of a single human life and love as well. Adam and Kim and all of Mia's relatives claim to love Mia, but what is love? Is love something that is even real? And why does it matter so much that Mia stays and lives? Mia is one out of billions of people on this Earth. Why does she matter compared to any other human being? Why do people matter in general, anyway?
         The dictionary defines love as, "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person; a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend." The things that make us have affection for things lie in the world of science. When we get pleasure out of things and chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin are released in the brain, we as humans process that as a feeling of liking towards whatever the thing may be. If this happens enough times with the same exact thing, we claim to love it. This thing could include a person. And when it comes to humans, we all unconsciously desire love, unless a mental condition like sociopathy prevents us from doing so. We all are blindedly searching for it whether we know it or not. This is because most people believe that with love, comes happiness. But these two things are so similar. They're both surges of chemicals through the human brain, and they both are nearly impossible to find. When Adam wants Mia to stay, he's doing it because apparently, he loves her. But how do we even know what love is? How do we know when we are in love?
         If I Stay also made me think about the value of a human life. When Mia is critically injured and could possibly die, all of her relatives and the important people in her life want her to live so badly. Why does it matter if Mia lives? Mia was created equally along with the rest of all the humans on Earth. Why should she be valued over another person? Sentimentality is something that cripples everyone from seeing ethically. When people start to value people over other people, it isn't moral because all humans, value-wise, are the same. Happiness and love can actually make someone think incorrectly. Once people believe they have happiness and/or, they become so scared of losing it. This can be extremely bad when people are in ethical dilemmas. For example, when we read that article from The Ethicist in class about the woman who had the sister with Down Syndrome and Parkinson's disorder, the woman was considering putting a feeding tube in, because she wanted to keep her sister alive so badly because she loved her. But what if the person is happier dead?
        All in all, the book If I Stay made me think about the value of human life and love. While mostly all humans desire to be in love, love can blind us and make us ignorant and selfish. It's okay to be in love, but when love affects your ethics and morals, something has to change.
        

Character Relationships in Speak

Text-to-Text Connection: Flawless by Sara Shepard and The Crucible by Arthur Miller

In the second book of the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard, which is called Flawless, there is a text-to-text connection to the classic play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. These books are different genre-wise, because Flawless is a coming-of-age book whereas The Crucible is a very dark and intense play where frivolous things like designer clothes and school drama are not at stake. But the thing that binds these two stories together is that a lot of unnecessary fear is generated from a sociopath in the town. The four main characters in Flawless are Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily, who all have very dark secrets of their own, secrets they all told or accidentally revealed to Alison, their best friend who mysteriously went missing when they were 12. They all kind of drifted apart after that, slightly traumatized by the experience. Everyone then starts receiving strange texts messages and e-mails that imply that the sender knows their deepest secrets. The sender also signs all the messages “A”, saying they are Alison, who knew their secrets. In The Crucible, there wasn’t any text messaging or e-mailing technology, but everyone becomes so fearful of these “witches” because a witch could be your best friend, who’s planning to perform dark incantations on you any second, and in comparison to that with Flawless, “A” could be anyone. Also, Abigail accuses lower-class, unpopular as witches because it’s easier to believe, and the girls in Flawless think that people they don’t like, like their childhood stalker Toby Cavenaugh or geeky class president Andrew could be “A”. As you can see, these books are very much alike.

            In Flawless and The Crucible, a lot of paranoia is driven into the hearts of 4 girls and an entire town because of person who has no remorse for their actions, and they’re unaware of the consequences of their actions. In The Crucible’s case, the villain is Abigail Williams, who goes a bit too far in a scheme to save herself. To save herself, she accuses innocent people who don’t have a ton of power in the town and she has a stunning amount of charisma, and no matter how many people challenge her, she wins. For example, when Mary Warren tried to challenge her, Abigail won the judges over because she acted so amazingly well. In Flawless, “A” is not trying to save herself from being caught because she did a bad thing, it’s because she wants revenge on Hanna, Spencer, Emily, and Aria. But the very similar thing about these two people is that they have so much influence over people. They’re filled with this sickly sweet charm that just wins everyone over, it’s nearly impossible to defy them. For example in Flawless, Hanna receives a note from “A”, stating that if she doesn’t say that she makes herself throw up to the people who hate her and want to ruin her social life, her secrets will be revealed and other terrible things could happen to her. Hanna has no choice but to do it, because her secret being revealed is like her world crashing down, and her life is already pretty dysfunctional. So as you can see, charisma and influence really make these characters very similar.

            Adding onto how “A” and Abigail are so similar, it’s because they use fear as a weapon. These girls become so afraid because “A” could be anywhere, lurking in the shadows, plotting to destroy them. Same with The Crucible, because anyone can be a so-called witch. Your loved ones could easily fall into Satan’s clutches and possess you, making you turn into the Devil’s slave. “A” and Abigail use this to their advantage because the 4 girls are still slightly traumatized because of Alison’s disappearance, and anything about Alison said to the girls sends chills down their spines, adding to the terror of an anonymous person texting you, saying they want revenge. In The Crucible, everyone is so terrified of witches because of their ultra-religious life where they basically blame all their problems on the devil, and now people in their good, pious town are fraternizing with pure evil? To the Puritans, that is terribly frightening, and since everyone is so afraid of these witches, Abigail uses that fear against them and so does “A”.

            Another way that these two stories are similar is that the “victims” target unpopular and disliked people as their villains. In The Crucible, Abigail says she saw Goody Osborne, an unknown peasant, with the devil. People believe her because Goody Osborne doesn’t have a lot of say or power in the community, which made it easy to believe she was a witch. In Flawless, Spencer thought that Andrew Campbell, her main competition in school for grades, student government, and many extracurricular activities. Spencer wants to be the best academically, and her feelings turn bitter towards Andrew because she thinks he may be “A”, because he drives by her house every day, perhaps witnessing drama that Spencer goes through, and her first name begins with “A”. These are silly excuses, but Spencer is so afraid she’ll believe anything. Also, Hanna and Emily think that Toby Cavenaugh, their childhood stalker could be “A”. He watched them obsessively when they were friends with Alison, and he got put in a boarding school because his parents couldn’t necessarily control him. It’s very clear how these “victims” suspect unpopular people and enemies of being their villain.

            In conclusion, Flawless by Sara Shepard and The Crucible by Arthur Miller are two very similar stories. They are similar because the “victims” target disliked and unknown people as their “villains”, both of their antagonists use fear as a weapon, and also the antagonists are very charismatic and they have a lot of influence. Even though these stories are written from the perspective of very different time periods, and the issues are different, they have a lot in common.

Response by Paul Volponi

              In the book Response by Paul Volponi, the issue of racism and justice ties in together. The book is about a teenager named Noah Jackson who goes to a wealthy neighborhood with the intention of stealing an expensive car and then selling it to a chop shop in order to support his child, Destiny Love.  But when he goes to Hillsboro, a neighborhood which, he gets assaulted by three white men, who hurl epithets at him as they attack him, making people wonder if this was a hate crime or if the attackers knew that Noah and his friends were up to no good and they were defending their neighborhood. The neighborhood (Hillsboro) has a reputation for being racist because many hate crimes have been committed there, and that suggests it was a hate crime, and hate crimes are products of racism, I think the very complex and important issues of race and justice come together in the book Response because one his attackers, Rao, got only two years in jail for stealing Noah’s cell phone, earring, and attacking him. He could’ve faced a sentence up to 25 years in prison but instead he got only a mere two years. Also, Charles Scatturo, the main offender in the attack, lied to all the detectives and lawyers and they used all of that as evidence in the court. That shows how the justice could be altered if the jury believes all of the “evidence” that the defense uses. And when racial slurs were said to Noah, like the N-word, the defense blamed it on his culture, saying it’s used in friendship, and to look “cool”. If it was only in friendship, which it was not, the jury and all of the spectators going over this case could deny him the justice of his attackers because if they were trying to only look hip, what’s so bad about that? As you can see, there are many examples of the issue of racism and justice tied in together.

            Racism and justice tied in together when one of Noah’s attackers named Rao, who robbed him of his cell phone and diamond stud earring and brutally attacked him only got two years in prison instead of the maximum of 25 years, which he deserved. It never lists the races of the jury, but the two big neighborhoods in the book were East Franklin (a nearly all-black neighborhood) and Hillsboro (a nearly all-white neighborhood) and naturally, a case always wants a diverse jury. So probably, there were people from East Franklin and Hillsboro. Also, a lot of the people at Noah’s high school were wearing shirts that said “Free Spenelli”, who was one of the people who attacked Noah. So possibly, some of the jury members were against sentencing Rao because Noah was black, but Noah still didn’t any of his well-deserved justice. That’s how racism and justice ties in together when one of Noah’s attackers only got two years in jail opposed to 25 years.

            Another way racism and justice ties in together is that Charles Scatturo, the main offender, lied to the detectives and the jury, saying he was just protecting his neighborhood and it wasn’t because of Noah’s skin color. This could also alter Noah’s justice because sadly, there are always ignorant people in the world who will believe anything. Many ignorant people followed this hate crime and it got very famous, which means more people to unjustly judge this crime because of Noah’s skin color and what Charles Scatturo said. And what Charles Scatturo said they used in court as evidence, trying to sway people’s opinions. The ignorant people’s opinions could change them, depriving Noah of his justice.

            A final way that racism connects with the issue of justice in the book Response is that when racial slurs were hurled at Noah while he was being attacked, (Such as the N-word) making it be more susceptible to be a hate crime, the defense retorted that it was Noah’s culture, and the N-word is often used in friendship in the black community, saying that it couldn’t possibly be a hate crime then, because they were just saying it to look cool. That causes all the spectators and even the jury to think if they were just saying it to look hip; it couldn’t possibly be a hate crime. Blaming Noah’s culture is not just incredibly racist, but it keeps him further away from getting justice.

            In conclusion, in the book Response by Paul Volponi the two very intense and important issues of racism and justice tie in together because the only thing that’s standing in that’s standing in the way of his deserved justice is his race. Because of his race all these other dilemmas are put in the way of his getting justice, such as one of his attackers only getting 2 years in prison opposed to 25 years, Charles Scaturro lying and saying that the attack on Noah wasn’t a hate crime, and the defense blaming his ethnic culture for the horrid epithets hurled at him by his attackers.

The Theme of Adolescent Frustration in The Perks of Being a Wallflower

         In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky the issue of adolescent frustration kept on popping up over and over again in the book. The book made me realize this frustration as no longer gross and desperate, but pure frustration that is full of longing and hope, with the ultimate need just to feel important to someone. In the book, the main character Charlie has all this frustration inside of him, such as being in love with his best girl friend and a dysfunctional family, he feels like he doesn’t belong anywhere. The intense need to feel something real and intimate is a huge part of this culminating adolescent frustration by Charlie. I saw quite interestingly that this frustration can be expressed by kids doing things at a very young age, like drug abuse, getting completely drunk and having casual hookups, expressing their emotional and sexual frustration. In the book, Charlie smokes weed and inhales some sort of powerful drug, gets wasted at parties and hookups with a girl. I have witnessed this occurring at my middle school and I didn’t really pay much thought to it, only maybe just kids trying to grow up too fast, but ever since I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I realized that kids do it because of something much more emotional and painful. It’s an escape to ease away all frustrations and doubts about their lives and themselves. As you can see, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky made me see the issue of adolescent frustration in an entirely new light.

         Part of adolescent frustration as I saw in the text sexual frustration is a very dominating part of this frustration. The stereotype of an adolescent boy is all he wants is sex and hooking up with the hottest girls, but I saw that Charlie wanted an intimate soulful relationship, not sex. His first girlfriend, a girl named Mary Elizabeth, merely said hi to him every day and asked “What’s up?” But Charlie wanted more. He wanted to feel something real and pure, a connection between two beings that would bound them together for the rest of their lives. That is the exact stereotype of an adolescent girl. The girl wants this fairytale love story with a happily ever after, but Charlie’s sister had intense lust for this boy she was going out with and she even got pregnant with his child. She had had many previous boyfriends before that too. This showed instead of the boy always having an overinflated sex drive, girls can be very promiscuous also. Both girls and boys express their sexual frustrations by getting together and washing all that away. So the book showed me that sexual frustration is a very large chunk of all the frustration that an adolescent has.

          The book also showed me that a very emotional side of this frustration. Charlie is so frustrated with his life and everything because he feels as though he doesn’t belong. And in most cases, Charlie doesn’t belong. In his family he is the outcast, with a sweet docile mother, promiscuous sister, stern father, and football all-star brother, he simply doesn’t fit in. His parents have expectations for Charlie, more his father than his mother, and Charlie knows he doesn’t want to do what his parents want him to, but he doesn’t know what he truly wants. Sure he knows what he likes to do and what gives him pleasure, but he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with his life. And no adolescent does. Teens and “tweens” struggle to find their place in the world by trying out different things, such as drugs, alcohol, and casual sexual hookups. As I leaned from reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, there is a deeply yearning and emotional part of this frustration in an adolescent.

       In conclusion, the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky really showed a completely different side to adolescent frustration. Before I read the book, I thought that adolescent frustration was gross boys infatuated with women and desperate girls wanting their happy ever after so badly. But since I read the book, I realized that the roles can completely switch. There are promiscuous girls obsessed with guys and guys who want their happy ending too. Charlie wanted a soulful relationship and his sister wanted to have sex. And I saw that kids abuse drugs and alcohol and hookup with each other because they don’t know what to do with their lives so they’re trying out different things. They desperately want to belong somewhere and feel important to something or someone, like Charlie, and really all of the teen characters in the book. Charlie is someone who wants to belong somewhere and know what path they’re going to take in life. So in conclusion the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky really exposed what adolescent frustration truly is.

           

The Themes of Love and Ignorance in Weetzie Bat

        In the book Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, the theme of love often ties with ignorance. One of the factors that influences this is the setting. The book takes place in L.A. in the nineties, and it seems very similar to the setting of Romeo+Juliet. The descriptions make L.A. sound like a beautiful hot city full to the brim with overwhelming passion. Everything just almost seems hazy and unreal. Weetzie loves Los Angeles with all her heart because it's this shimmering, magnificent, sparkling city full of angels. But this traps Weetzie in a milky film of ignorance that becomes so thick and opaque that she can't see anything else. Weetzie is so full with love for her two children, Cherokee Love and Witch Baby, her best friends Duck and Dirk, and her boyfriend My Secret Agent Lover Man. With all this love in her way, Weetzie becomes to oblivious to all hardship that is going on around her. Another way that love and ignorance ties in together is that Weetzie starts believing that nothing bad can happen to her. She feels that her love is some sort of forcefield that can protect her from all the evil in the world. She feels like no one can ever leave her. When Duck, one of her best friends, leaves her because he sees the world for what it really is, she just is so very optimistic, trapped in a bubble of almost blissful ignorance. Weetzie is L.A., which is a paradise dripping with hell. But the paradise is so thick and blinding, you can't see the fiery depth that is purely Los Angeles.
        A way that the themes of love and ignorance tie in together is with the setting of L.A. The book starts out by saying, "The reason Weetzie Bat hated high school is because no one understood. They didn't even realize where they were living. They didn't care that Marilyns' prints were practically in their backyard at Graumann's; that you could buy tomahawks and plastic palm tree wallets at the Farmer's Market, and the wildest, cheapest cheese and bean and hot dog and pastrami burritos at Oki Dogs; that the waitresses wore skates at the Jetson-style Tiny Naylor's; that there was a fountain that turned tropical soda-pop colors..." The people that Weetzie is talking about are the people who see L.A. for what it truly is. The anti-paradise. Weetzie has so much love for the city that she becomes invisible to all the bad parts about Los Angeles. When she goes to visit her dad Charlie in New York City, she pleads with him to come back to California and live with her. I found his response extremely interesting. "'Weetzie, I love you and Cherokee and... Well, I love you more than anything. But I can't be in that city. Everything's an illusion; that's the whole thing about it-illusion, imitation, a mirage. Pagodas and palaces and skies, blondes and stars. It makes me too sad. It's like having a good dream. You know you are going to wake up."' Weetzie is stuck in this gauzy wonderful dream, and she's unaware that she's going to have to wake up.
        Another way that ignorance and love go together in Weetzie Bat is that Weetzie has this logic that love will be able to protect her from anything. As long as Weetzie loves, the bad in the world won't catch up to her. She describes this love that she has when she's sitting down eating dinner with her "family". "Weetzie's heart felt so full with love, so full, as if it could hardly fit in her chest. I don't know about happily ever after...but I know about happily, Weetzie Bat thought.". As long as she continues to love she will be happy, and nothing will go wrong. When her best friend Dirk got severely depressed about his boyfriend leaving him, she simply just rubbed his back, made him tea, and told him everything was going to be okay and that Duck (Dirk's boyfriend) would come back. She wasn't even that upset. As long as she had love, she would be perfectly fine. Another way Weetzie uses her love as a forcefield is when My Secret Agent Lover Man, her boyfriend leaves her, and she becomes shattered, because she realizes his love is gone. Part of her protection just left her. Now she is vulnerable to everything in the world and the "Hell-A." part of L.A. can touch her. As you can see, Weetzie uses love as a huge shining forcefield of ignorance.
      In conclusion, the two themes of love and ignorance go together in many different ways. One way that they go together is in the setting, which is Los Angeles. It's shown as this glistening, glimmering, fantastic city where nothing can go wrong. The city is pregnant with love and passion, and this coats it's citizens in a warm blanket of honey-ignorance. It's so sweet, and if the citizens of L.A. weren't smothered in it, they would lose their minds. Esepcially Weetzie. She has so much love for the city, it's almost ridiculous. Another way love and ignorance go together is how Weetzie believes love will block out and defeat all the maliciousness and such in her life. If she does not have love, her entire world will fall to pieces. But as long as she has love, she is invincible. Invincibility is ignorance. But all in all, the theme of love and the theme of ignorance tie together wonderfully in this book.