The Monster: Atkins

By -
Crank by Ellen Hopkins is an amazing novel that deals with an issue that many teens face today, drug addiction. I really enjoyed how easy of a read this novel was and the layout was very innovative and fun to read. I like the way the Hopkins chose to write this novel in prose because it takes a different course in the conventional way of writing a novel. Although it was a tough read because it talks about teens and addiction, I feel that it is very relevant and needed.
The novel details the inner struggles of a teenager addicted to Methamphetamine. The protagonist, Kristina Georgia Snow, is a direct depiction of the challenges that drug addiction leads to. Even though the book provides lucid detail about the protagonist’s addiction, it is also a controversial novel. This is because the novel highlights drug abuse and sexuality as its main themes. That being said, the author writes the novel from a personal point of view. Hopkins illustrates the novel concerning the addictions her daughter experienced due to the drug. Regardless of the novel’s controversy, Crank provides intricate and realistic detail regarding drug addiction and its implications in an individual’s life. Therefore, an analysis of the novel examines various factors that define its relevance to its adolescent audience. Factors allow the reader to understand the features that capture the audience that is intended by the author.
Thus, by understanding the book’s audience, the implied reader is actually an individual within the early teenage years. This is in addition with the main character, who, is also in her early teenage years. Additionally, the genre also describes the author’s focus on a juvenile audience. Thus, the book embodies realistic fiction. I would definitely teach this novel in the classroom, maybe to high schoolers. It is very important to make sure students know the effects of drug addiction, and this is a great novel that is easy to read for reluctant readers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing Pains - The Symbolism of the Tree in Speak

By -
I have felt the paralyzing pain of internal disease. The kind of trauma that causes your mouth to curl in and swallow you whole. I, like so many other women, are walking the halls in Melinda’s shoes in “Speak.” I thought Laurie Anderson did a phenomenal job of twisting all of the tribulations a high school girl goes through, into the tree that Melinda is. Whether we’re as strong as an oak or weak as a bush, we have all gone through the disease that strikes Melinda from the inside out. Melinda is like a half-dead tree. Some parts of her strive to blossom and create beauty. Other parts are broken and diseased. Like a dead tree, Melinda needs to save herself and “cut off the damage, [so it] is possible for the tree to grow again” (187). The symbolism of a tree is significant in “Speak.” Trees reflect her growing process. In the beginning, Melinda is a sick and lifeless tree. Her view is negative and dark. She’s so far past repair, bursts of sunlight do her no good. Sunlight would be pe...
Read more

How Starr Goes from Acting to Embracing in The Hate U Give

By -
In The Hate U Give, Starr Carter is caught between two worlds. She lives in a predominantly black neighborhood, but her father sends her and her brothers to a private school where she is surrounded by white people. She talks about acting differently depending on what group she is around, which can create some identity problems. She says on page 11, "Funny how it works with white kids though. It's dope to be black until it's hard to be black." When at Williamson, she sees white kids that think it's cool to engage in black culture, but she knows they don't understand what she goes through in her Garden Heights community. She witnessed her friend Natasha's death when she was 10 years old, and she sees gang activity in her community all the time. When she is among her black friends, like at the party, they tease her for hanging out with the white kids. This reminds me of a Drake song where he says, "I used to get teased for being black, and now I'm...
Read more

Postmodernism in Curious Incident

By -
Before I start writing, I first want to acknowledge that I just really loved this book! It seemed like a lot of the class had trouble enjoying or appreciating the novel because it's so different stylistically, which is understandable, but all of those unique elements helped make the novel more authentic. The main topic I want to focus on (also what I'm writing my paper on) is how a lot of postmodernist elements were used in the novel to make Christopher come to life. While obviously not every postmodern novel is about an autistic kid, I think Haddon really used a lot of these elements to his advantage and they ended up working out really well to characterize Christopher. One of the major postmodern elements which helps this book really craft an authentic portrayal of autism is the fact that it's metafictive. Basically, this means it's a "story within a story." Readers would be extremely limited just reading the parts of the novel which are meant to be C...
Read more