Gayle Forman's If I Stay

The book is from her point of view of moving on with her life and from the accident while trying to forgive herself and no longer feel guilty for what happened and

The book I chose to reflect on is The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen. The book focuses on a character named Jessica who was a star runner who suffers a tragic loss of her leg from a car accident. She goes through a journey of struggling and hardship, but fights through it with the help of her track team.

If I stay, which is an outstanding novel written by Gayle Forman, was published in 2009 and is an emotionally gripping story. The most interesting part of the novel starts with Mia’s life after the accident. The readers also learn about her life before the tragedy with the help of plentiful flashbacks. She recalls her colorful and vibrant family members so vividly that they could easily step off the page and break the hearts of the readers. Furthermore, her remembrances also highlight her passion for music and romance with her boyfriend. Moreover, the readers will find the entire novel very interesting and inspiring and will also find the climax of the novel very satisfying. The story revolves around seventeen year old Mia, who finds herself dealing with the aftermath of a terrible car accident which killed her entire family. During the coma, Mia goes through an out-of-the-body experience and observes all her friends and family that gather at the hospital. The memory of Mia flashes before her and she debates about whether or not she should wake up and face the grief of losing her family or, if she should die. Before summarizing the story, it is pertinent that the main characters of the story should be discussed briefly.

'Keeper N Me ' by Richard Wagamese, is a novel based on the necessary balance between life and the culture in which one belongs to. This is a necessary aspect in order to maintain a steady relationship with one 's self. In this novel passing on traditions or a certain way of life from generation to generation is one of the most important aspects of guiding someone of the Ojibway culture, as the Ojibway people have very strong beliefs and take their culture very seriously. The people of the Ojibway culture believe that through storytelling and dreams one can realize the importance of tradition and its influence on their identity. Wagamese throughout his novel tries to teach the readers the power of one 's community and traditions as he

In the play, As You Like It written by William Shakespeare, as well as the short story “Let Me Promise You” by Morley Callaghan, both playwright, and author are trying to convey the idea of a strong emotional bond between certain characters. In Shakespeare’s play, we see how Celia and Rosalind, two cousins, have been inseparable ever since a young age and will do anything for one another. In Callaghan’s short story, Alice has strong feelings towards George, waits restlessly by the window, and despite their differences, she still tries to please him. The theme that these two works show is unconditional love. The playwright and author are trying to illustrate what one will do for another even though the situation and conditions might be though.

In an age where the United States has been colored many different colors over the course of many years, younger Americans tend to be more ignorant when it comes to their family's heritage. Journalist, Christine Granados makes an effort to remind readers of their heritage in order to help the readers learn to cherish and appreciate their family's culture. While questioning her readers' own acknowledgment of their heritage, Granados utilizes a reflective tone when reminiscing about her adolescent life in the United States as a Mexican American and describing the impact of her adolescent years on her life as an adult in her article, "True Colors." Granados appeals to the sense of empathy by immediately leading off her essay by recalling her

4. Upon returning home to her grandmother's house, Tess was alarmed to find that the dog Vito had destroyed her pixiebell plant. This plant was extremely special to her because it was the last piece of her mom's life. Tess's grandpa had originally planted the seed more than 60 years ago, and it was passed down to Tess's mother. Taking good care of the plant, Tess's mom had allowed to plant to live healthily until the day she died. From that point on, Tessa felt like it was her responsibility to keep the plant alive; thus, she was distraught to see the plant splattered on the floor. With the help of her grandmother, Tessa repotted

Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt is about a fifteen year old girl named Isobel “Izzy” Lingard who was considered to be a pretty and popular high school girl up until the night she went out with Marco Griggers. Izzy went to a party with Marco, a senior on the football team, and he had been heavily drinking that night. Izzy went against her better judgement and decided to have Marco drive her home despite his intoxicated state. This ride home ended up with Izzy losing half of her right leg and that caused her life to unfold in an unexpected way. Social support is necessary to overcome trauma like Izzy had faced, and in the novel, the most significant sources of this support come from Rosamunde, Tony Marcel, John Wintersize, and Helen Hughes-Pincke.

‘The Adoration of Jenna Fox’ by Mary Pearson tells the story of Jenna Fox, a teenage girl who wakes up after being in a coma for one year after a horrific car accident. Throughout the text, we are shown various important events taking place, most of which convey a life message that I believe most of us could learn from to help make our lives a little better. But what appeals to me the most is the development of Jenna’s character. Events, where development is shown, is when Jenna discovers that she has a shelf life, when we learn there are restrictions put in place for prosthetics and medical advancements, but most importantly when Jenna accepts herself for who she is.

Siobhan Fallon, has a Master of Fine Art from the New School in New York City in addition to being a military spouse, is the author of “You Know When the Men Are Gone” a short story collection book. In the short story “You Survived the War Now Survive the Homecoming” Fallon writes a gripping and enticing story about Carla and her beloved husband, Ted, who returns from war as a changed man. Carla is struggling with Ted because he is easily enraged and poses as a threat to Carla and their seven month year old child. Throughout the story Ted and Carla must work together to bridge the change that war brought upon them. In 2011 “You Know When the Men Are Gone” was published, during this time, the war in Iraq was coming to end and soldiers were returning home from deployment. Fallon’s primary audience consisted of American civilians unaffiliated with a military family or lifestyle. Therefore the audience may be aware of the life of a military spouse but not entirely informed on the effects war has on a family. This audience shares similar values on family, for example how important honesty and patience is within families. Although returning home is the most exuberant time for a soldier longing for their family, Fallon’s use of third person perspective in the short story “You Survived the War Now Survive the Homecoming” exemplifies the reality of Carla, the wife, dealing with the hardships of a returning soldier because adjusting back to normal civilian lifestyle seems unfeasible.

I believe the main reasons Mia left were because of Adam and the possibilities of her future. Mia grew to despise Adam after everything they went through together. Adam stood by Mia’s side as she recovered and made her decision to go to Julliard. Mia hated Adam for loving her infinitely; “You were so busy trying to be my savior that you left me all alone” (Forman 184). Adam walked on eggshells around her just like everyone else and it pained her to see him do that. Mia also hated Adam for making her stay. Mia remembers little of what happened throughout the accident, but she can recall Adam asking her to stay, to stay with him. Mia wishes he hadn’t asked this of her because she wanted to go; she wanted leave behind the sorrows of her lost family. She wasn’t able to do this seeing that Adam asked her to stay. Mia left and cut off contact with Adam because he was the one that loved her most and she hated him for it. Another reason I believe Mia left is because of all the possibilities the future held. Julliard was the opportunity-of-a-lifetime for Mia. If Mia had not gone to New York she would have never reached her greatest dreams. She would not have graduated Julliard from Julliard.

The novel Never Let Me Go, written by Kazuo Ishiguro, is set in a capitalistic, dystopian society in which scientific advancements have greatly relieved society of their medical concerns, all the while, severely damaged their integrity. The exploitation of human clones for the sole purpose of implementing a sufficient number of organs for society has resulted in a change in their ethics, as well as their ego. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro uses characters to illuminate corruption in society, illustrating that greed in the pursuit of progress can negatively alter the mindset of society. By living in a capitalistic environment, one will develop a fatalist mentality in an attempt to come to terms with society and their

Rebecca Stead is fame as an American writer of fiction for children and teens. The achievement of her novels is not doubtful. She was born on January 16, 1968 and raised in New York City. Vassar College was the institution where she acquired her bachelor’s degree in 1989. Moreover, she has started to write since she was a child but she altered her career to become a lawyer. However, Stead started to become of writing subsequent to the birth of her two children. Her inspiration of writing children’s novel was from her son and her collections of story stories on her laptop. One day, her 4-year-old son by chance pushed her laptop out off the dining-room table and destroyed her piece of writing. Stead was very angry with her son and she went to the bookstore to find books which can inspire her to write. From that moment, her motivation and loving in writing began to boost up, and her debut novel was First Light which won The New York Best Times. Due to her great spirit in writing, she won The American Newbery Medal in 2010, Winner of the Boston Globe –Horn Book Award for Fiction, IRA Children’s Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, A Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner and A National Parenting Publications Gold Award for her second novel, When You Reach Me, followed by achieving Guardian Prize in 2013 as the first winner for her third novel, Liar & Spy.

How do you classify rather someone is human or not? A tricky question has many different possible answers, but only a few that could be justified as being human. Kazuo Ishiguro has addressed this topic in his book Never Let Me Go. A reoccurring question throughout the novel is rather or not these clones are considered a human being or just another science project. Suspicious individuals of the surrounding communities in the novel, believed that the students were not human, because they could not reproduce, they did not have any parents, and for the slight fact that what the students were going through was morally unacceptable. In my opinion, Ishiguro shows that the clones are indeed human, because of their artwork, which proves that

Caught between life and death, a perfect past and an unknown future, Mia has to take the most important decision she will ever make. Doctors can do none if she does not choose. Her fate is in her hands. But how she is supposed to make a decision from such magnitude? How could she stay without her mom, dad and brother? The reason Mia survives is because of her love for Adam. Adam, along music are the ones that make her stay. After all, love is what keeps us alive. Even in the non-Christian world, the most powerful love is the one that puts the happiness of a person first than one’s own (Romans 12). Adam in a way is selfish on the matter because he tells Mia he will do anything if she stays. Mia deep inside, just want to go along her family and skip all the earthly pains. Even if a great future is waiting for her in Julliard, does it really worth it to be alone in this word? Adam is only thinking of what he wanted and not about all the struggles and pains Mia would feel when she wakes up. Nevertheless, her love for him is greater than any pain she would feel. Mia however, does put Adam first than her pain. The love she feels for him is stronger than trials she will face, and that is an example of true powerful love.