Crank- Blog Post 9

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Ellen Hopkins really emphasizes life for an addict and the constant struggles that one may go through during their addiction. The most prominent way that Hopkins illustrates the horror of addiction is through differentiation of Bree and Kristina. Bree is Kristina's alter ego, who is experienced in the more dangerous side of life after have been exposed to and addicted to Crank. While Kristina, the original-drug-free-version of Bree, is a pretty straight laced kid with ambitious goals and outstanding academic excellence. Hopkins highlights the effects of not only the drug on Kristina, but how it impacts those around her as well. For instance, prior to being hooked on drugs, Kristina never dared have a boyfriend or do anything. Yet, when she is hooked on drugs she has about three different boyfriends... all of which contribute to her addiction. However, Kristina has a strong impact on Chase Wagner, her last boyfriend in the novel, because even though he does drugs as well, he says that he, "has his limits,". Being strung out, this immediately offends Kristina, but not because he insinuates that she has no limits, but because she wants him to have a good time as well. One thing that I wish the book elaborated more on, is that I wish it talked more about the physical changes it did to Kristina's body. There are only slight hints throughout the book that insinuate that Kristina has only lost weight, and it only talks about the crashes.. I wish it expounded upon how the crank deteriorated her body, because obviously she has become a long-term user at the end of the book; because she cannot even fully give it up for the birth of her own baby boy... even though she truly wants to. I think that if Hopkins illustrated the narrative of one's body after drug use it would be more of a teachable book in class-rooms, simply because and only because without that element young students may misread the intended message of the book and assume its okay to go and do things like this because overall Kristina still got to do everything she wanted by the end of the book: She was able to have a physically healthy baby, she got to graduate from high school, she maintained having a boyfriend in college, and her family's reaction was of an accepting nature. I don't think that this book glorifies doing drugs, or making bad choices. But I do think that for a younger audience, holistically, that this can be easily misread, and maybe push some students to go out and explore based off of this one book alone. HOWEVER, I do think that if this were to be taught in classrooms, it would have to be in a very sensitive manner as a matter of respect to the students, along with a careful approach whilst explaining the book in a way that is beneficial without misguidance or distorted expectations of what the outcome may be if someone were to do those things. As it is not an "one experience suits all" type of issue.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 15, 2017 at 7:44 PM

    YESS I agree, "The most prominent way that Hopkins illustrates the horror of addiction is through differentiation of Bree and Kristina." I was totally captivated by this.

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