It's Kind of a Funny Story( Cameron Newton)

By -

 It's Kind of a Funny Story is an excellent Young Adult novel.that I would recommend people to read. I really connected to the novel, mostly becuase I resonate alot with Craig and how he feels. I don't use the same terminology that he does when describing his issues, like the Tentacles, for me they are needles that are poking my brain. But, regardless I still relate to how Craig describes his issues. I also like they positive ending that the novel has and how it leads to a hopeful life for Craig in the future. Despite the true tragedy of Ned Vizzini, I think this book serves as an excellent perspective to give teens and adolesecents the tools needed to deal with thier mental health or at the very least give them hope that there will be a better Future.    The novel has many themes, but at its core, the book I believe is really about perspective. 

"I look at the map. It's not a brain, clearly; it's a map; can't she see the rivers and highways and interchanges? But I see how it could look like a brain, if all the roads were twisted neurons, pulling your emotions from one place to another, bringing the city to life." ( Vizzini 292) 

    I like this quote as it shows Craig starting to reconnect with his map making/tracing from when he was a kid.  This eventually leads to the Brain Maps that the cover of the book displays.  The reason why I like this quote is becuase it shows that even in a dire situation, you can find something that brings you joy or satifies a certain part of your brain and allows you to feel better and cope with life.  For me personally I have several hobbies that I routinely interact with and it is extremely easy for me to hyperfixate and Anchor myself to that allows me to experience the same joy that Craig has. 


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