Manette Tanelus: CRANK

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While reading Crank, I consistently found myself thinking of the psychological debate of nature versus nurture because I think Kristina and Bree are a classic example of that. On one hand, Kristina's lack of self esteem and loneliness stems from the abandonment of her father that she never dealt with and being cast aside by her mother. She states this is two important parts of the story when she she says "I've been alone since mom met Scott. He sucked the nectar from her heart like a famished butterfly"(13). I think this also a revealing part of the story in regards to her step father because although his always there for her and seems to take good care of the family she resents him for doing a better job than daddy, and for taking mommy away. He father on the other hand also was not there for her and proved to be inadequate which I think plays a part in leading to her trying Meth. Her staying on meth from nurture point of view is simply shown by her mother's lack of punishment and inability to see her cry for help.

Nature would provoke us to think that Kristina had an innate need for drugs and curiosity to explore drugs and sex and Alberque gave her that chance. But, Rather it's not that black and white. Kristina's choice to experiment and live out her curiosity is something that occurs to many teenagers her age and is in fact her choice.  she states 'I wanted to meet the monster. Why go down if you can go up"(85)? One cannot blame Kristina's parents entirely for her issues because they did taker care of her child, and they did attempt to get her help but she had become addicted and it was a powerful drug that hooked her. The addiction was not just about the drug. She made the choices she made because the drugs made her feel confident, noticed, happy, awake, alive, and best of all they helped her let go and "fly" as she describes.

Wouldn't it be nice to imagine a world where Kristina was confident enough in herself and not lonely? Would it have made a difference if her mother payed attention? If her father visited? If she stopped letting the attention of boys define her? Would she have still wanted to fly with the monster?
Nature and Nurture sometimes collide in the best of ways and sometimes in the worst ways.

Comments

  1. Lucy McElroyNovember 11, 2016 at 2:43 PM

    I love your post, Manette. I didn't think as deeply into the situation with her stepfather as you did. It's nice to see that you raised that point, that when her mother and stepfather got together, Kristina was almost forgotten. I also like that you recognized that Kristina was crying for help and that she could've been saved. I think a lot of people had a hard time realizing that Kristina was a child in the novel and not capable of making rational decisions. The questions you posed at the end really wrap the whole post up. Awesome job!

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