In my outside reading book, i have gotten to know Julia(main character) quite a bit by now. She has relationship issues with her parents and is ver confused by them and one can see that through her memories when she looks through her past diary. Now that i am a bit farther into the book, the reader sees now that Julia has some self-esteem problems in addition to her relationship issues, "I look in the mirror above the sink. I don't see a face, just the details of a face--I smile at the mouth and it smiles back. But not in a very trusting way" (13-15). Here Julia looks at herself and sees herself but she just sees herself as a whole, or just a random person not the individual that she is. Julia doesnt see herself as anyone special. As i read through my book her mother came up, and we start to look into her mom and thats where her self-esteem problems may have developed.
As I read, Julia started to talk about how after her mother and her father slit her mom started to lodge people, specificly men. Her mother starts to have relationships with these men,
"There was Bob the architect, he was the first and my mother was sure he wanted to marry her; then Richard, the American painter with a withered leg; Ian, David, another Richard, Ken the conman and of course great-uncle Guy for a while..."(16).
seeing these relationships come and go and seeing her mom heartbroken and then happy again can make a girl confused and not know what to do. Through all of this (even though this really isnt that much) one can see that this is and will create problems for Julia and one can predict that it will only get worse for Julia and maybe even cause something to happen between Julia and her mother.
5 comments:
This book sounds really interesting. I think that people are affected by their parents a lot, and that Julia will have to overcome a lot of problems in her life because of her parents' situations. Also, the fact that Julia's parents have problems of their own probably makes it harder for Julia to get help. I agree that Julia's self-esteem issues probably stem from her mother's relationship issues: her mother may not have a positive image of herself because of having so many failed relationships, and this bad self-image could be handed down to Julia.
I feel really bad for Julia. It has been shown that children that grow up with in an unstable family are more likely to have social issues or lack self-confidence. I think this is what is happening to Julia. She probably feels that she is not good enough. She is not good enough so her dad left. Then all of the men her mother had relationships with thought she wasn't good enough. Even if this is not the way things actually were, this is what it would probably seem like to a young girl. Julia also probably seems responsible for her mother because, after her dad left, it was just the two of them. Seeing her mother's heart continually break and not being able to do anything about it much have been hard for her. This could lead to bigger problems when Julia is an adult.
I think your book sound amazing. I especially like the fact that it is almost a memoir of sorts. Julia sounds to be a confused and has no pride in herself. My favorite quote you used would have to be the one from pages 13 through 15, I love the way the author was describing the scene. I could almost picture it in my head, suggesting it's a really good book. Can't wait to hear more!
I agree that Julia has self- esteem issues but her parents have many more serious problems. Her parents are addicts (respectively). Her mother is addicted to pleasures of the flesh while her father is addicted to drugs and alcohol. This is surely a greater issue. However, if Julia cannot see her own value, she may seek to medicate herself the way her parents do.
I think that her lack of self-esteem could very well be a result of her bad relationships. Overall she is a sad person. Julia sees all of her mother's different relationships with men and must think that this is how all relationships turn out. This will probably make Julia very timid when it comes to relationships because she doesn't want to get hurt like her mother.
Post a Comment