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Gary Schmidt's Orbiting Jupiter

Decent Essays

Have you ever done something in the past that only impacted you n in the future? The book “Orbiting Jupiter” by Gary Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he's placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. This is due to Joseph attacking and almost killing a teacher. When he was interrogated, he claimed that he was drugged, and his mind flew somewhere else at the time and he wasn’t in control of his actions. Although this was confirmed, he was still sent to a juvenile facility due to safety concerns. When the facility released him, he was sent to a foster home because of the abuse he suffered from his dad. Not only did the foster family look after him, they taught him family values and played a huge role in Josephs recovery. Throughout the story, the characters in Orbiting Jupiter …show more content…

When Joseph was thirteen, he made a decision to fall in love in order to distract his mind from the abuse he was suffering at home. The text states “ “.(Shmidt). Everyday, Joseph would walk seven miles to see his loved one and when they eventually had a child, his dedication sky rocketed. This impacted his life greatly because when Madison died during labor, he became depressed, and he wasn't even able to see his daughter because he was underage. Joseph felt so low, that he even accepted drugs from another's student in his school, and this made him insane enough to strangle a teacher. He then was sent to prison, and eventually ended up in a foster home. This all wouldn’t have happened if Joseph was smart enough to stay out of a serious relationship at such a young age. This section of the book informs the reader that your decisions can greatly impact your life. Once again, Joseph’s decision to enter a serious relationship impacted his life, and in this case the impact was

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