~Quotes~
- “Because who you are is supposed to be the easiest question in the world answer, right?” -This quote explains the theme of loss of identity. The book shows the characters' struggle, especially Valerie, to find out who she is after Nick committed suicide, and to figure out who Nick was.
- “We all got to be winners sometimes. But what he didn't understand was that we all had to be losers, too. Because you can’t have one without the other.” -Represents who a person is in a society- acceptance. Although no one wants to be a "loser", putting up with being one only makes you stronger which eventually makes you a "winner" in that you finally find out who your true self is.
- “Time's never up", she whispered, not looking at me, but at my canvas. "Just like there's always time for pain, there's always time for healing. Of course there is.” -This quote represents the theme of healing and forgiving. Although its hard to heal, it helps one be able to find out who they truly are in the end and makes the character even stronger. Wherever there's pain, there's going to be healing and in the end healing makes one move on to leave their unwanted past behind.
- “People do it all the time--assume that they "know" what's going on in someone else's head. That's impossible. And to think it's possible is a mistake. A really big mistake. A life-ruining one if you're not careful.” -Don't judge a book by its cover is another major them that has a very valuable meaning in this book. If one assumes something about another person, how will they ever know the truth? You don't know that person's story no do you know what they're thinking, so its always better to give someone else a chance...until that one person who is always being judged snaps. She says, "A life-ruining one if you're not careful." in a very purposeful ironic way to introduce the conflict in judging a book by its cover.
- “His eyes, searching deep into mine, felt like danger and safety all rolled into one.” -This ties into loss of identity due to the fact that Valerie is seeing mixed emotions in Nick's eyes leading one to believe that Nick himself is confused in his own thoughts and doesn't quite know who he is yet. it also represents that he is safely dangerous. The shooting was to protect Nick and Valerie although it was dangerous and killed and injured several people.
Chief Bromden Vs. Nick
I feel that Nick and Chief Bromden, a character from One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, share very similar thoughts when it comes to being an outcast and their personal thirst for freedom. Nick feels that being an outcast is only because of his peers, the people he hates, therefore he feels like he's imprisoned in a life of mockery and wants to be free. Bromden is also an outcast who wants freedom as badly as Nick does; that his life is just a prison that he'll never get out of. In order for each of them to escape they must make an internal or external sacrifice- murder or suicide. In this case Chief Bromden takes McMurphy's life because he feels that McMurphy has lost hope and by killing him, McMurphy will be freed from his personal hell in the insane asylum. Not only does McMurphy's death "free" McMurphy but it also helps rekindle the hope for escape in all of the other patients because they thought McMurphy escaped. Nick wants freedom from his life, but its as if he feels that if he's taking his life than he will take the ones' he hates with him. Nick frees himself from his imprisonment in life by committing suicide. If you contrast Chief Bromden and Nick you will realize that Nick is a lot more selfish with his freedom due to the fact that he took innocent lives and left all of the trouble for Valerie to clean up while Chief Bromden did it to "free" McMurphy and rekindle hope into the patients at the ward.
"Why" by Rascal Flatts
This song represents the situation of Nick committing suicide and the thoughts and actions that go along with the situation including Valerie's point of view.
"Oh, why? That's what I keep askin'
And was there anything I could have said or done?
Oh, I had no clue you were masking
A troubled soul, oh, God only knows what went wrong"
These lyrics represent Valerie's perspective. Throughout the book she seemed awfully confused and strained by the fact that Nick was not joking about the "Hate List" and that he was actually going to do something. Although she hates what he did, she still did not hate him and missed what Nick used to be like before the shooting.
"It must've been in a place so dark you couldn't feel the light
Reachin' for you through that stormy cloud"
These lyrics represent that Valerie just couldn't get through to Nick completely where Nick was in a dark place all along and it took the shooting for Valerie to understand that her joke was Nick's reality.
"Oh, why? There's no comprehending
And who am I to try to judge or explain?
Oh, but I do have one burning question
Who told you life wasn't worth the fight?"
These lyrics represent Valerie's thoughts after the school shooting where she couldn't figure out why Nick could of done that but that she still had no right to judge her one and only true best friend.
This song represents the situation of Nick committing suicide and the thoughts and actions that go along with the situation including Valerie's point of view.
"Oh, why? That's what I keep askin'
And was there anything I could have said or done?
Oh, I had no clue you were masking
A troubled soul, oh, God only knows what went wrong"
These lyrics represent Valerie's perspective. Throughout the book she seemed awfully confused and strained by the fact that Nick was not joking about the "Hate List" and that he was actually going to do something. Although she hates what he did, she still did not hate him and missed what Nick used to be like before the shooting.
"It must've been in a place so dark you couldn't feel the light
Reachin' for you through that stormy cloud"
These lyrics represent that Valerie just couldn't get through to Nick completely where Nick was in a dark place all along and it took the shooting for Valerie to understand that her joke was Nick's reality.
"Oh, why? There's no comprehending
And who am I to try to judge or explain?
Oh, but I do have one burning question
Who told you life wasn't worth the fight?"
These lyrics represent Valerie's thoughts after the school shooting where she couldn't figure out why Nick could of done that but that she still had no right to judge her one and only true best friend.
Characters- Valerie Vs. Nick
Two main characters of the novel were Valerie and Nick, two high school lovers who dealt with the harsh bullying and seclusion in the high school community. Both of them being surrounded by peers who disliked them and thought them as strange created a connection between the two characters making each similar in some ways. Although their background story of being bullied and a social outcast are similar, the characters are also quite diverse in many ways. The "Hate List" was created in a red notebook by Valerie as a joke, listing people whom she strongly disliked, but Nick, who partakes in the "Hate List", saw it quite differently and not such a joke at all; Nick, when he finally snapped, brought a gun to school one day and shot at the people who were on Valerie's and Nick's hate list ending up killing six students, Nick committing suicide, and Valerie getting shot and basically blamed for the whole traumatic event. Nick and Valerie are similar in a way that they are both outcasts and not accepted by society; socially isolated. Another way they are similar is the fact that they both escape the real word with artistic distractions that they can relate to. Nick's escape happens to be Shakespeare books while Valerie's happened to be drawing and painting because they were each able to relate to their own distractions. They also both made each other feel like they belonged because they were such similar people in that they had similar personalities, similar dislikes, and similar background. What Valerie didn't realize was that they didn't have similar ideas- Nick was far more serious than she could of ever imagined. A way that they were different was based on their thoughts- Nick was serious about killing and about wanting to die while Valerie thought of the situation more as a joke because she was less selfish than Nick. Who knew a joke could turn into reality so quickly?