Thesis Paper

In Fear and Faith
Samantha Ferrara
Ms. Bova
May 29, 2007
12th M.C

“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not the absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.” This statement was once spoken by Salman Rushdie. The quote can be defined as literature defines all types of people; the good and the bad. Not everything you read in a book is the realistic truth but it is the truth of the novel. Pretty Little Dirty, a novel written by Amanda Boyden, is a prime example that supports this quote. The teenage years of a female’s life is finding her true self and facing the hardest struggles.
Lisa Smith finds herself becoming best friends with a girl she considers perfect when she enters her last year of elementary school. Her name is Celeste Diamond and the way she delivers herself is somewhat angelic. ‘…Celeste with her surreal beauty, her other-worldly trust, her yellow eyes more gold than green, her skin, her lips, her grace. You wouldn’t believe how beautiful a sixth grader could be until you saw her’ (Boyden 5). Lisa is the plain girl next door and she is puzzled when Celeste starts befriending her. Lisa lets her insecurities get to her, especially when she is with Celeste. Suppose it is a fight within herself, and Lisa never had that older female figure in her life to teach her how to be a lady. The girls immediately become inseparable. Without realizing their rendezvous’ and destructible behavior, both girls are oblivious to the direction they are headed.
Once the girls enter their junior year of high school, both of their worlds’ start falling apart slowly. After Lisa loses her virginity, Celeste follows her lead. Both friends’ eyes have opened up to a whole other kind of world shortly after. Lisa and Celeste soon become what you would call reckless. The summer of their senior year can be described as ruthless. After transforming their look and attitudes, Celeste and Lisa met two guys, Hank and Ess. Hank is in his early thirties and Ess is about twenty one when the girls first meet them.
Throughout their summer, Lisa falls for Ess, but Celeste falls for Hank much harder. The girls started experiencing a lot more especially being that they were seeing older males. Ess and Hank can be described as the culprits for forcing Lisa and Celeste to start smoking hash and marijuana. “…and he grabbed the back of my head suddenly. He pulled my face to his, mashing his lips on mine. He stuck his finger into the corner of my mouth to pry open my teeth, and then blew all the smoke in his lungs into my throat. ‘Breathe, breathe, suck it in!” he said excitedly. I did as I was told and felt everything start to burn at once” (Boyden 193). Lisa is blind sighted as well as Celeste because of the spell these men have put on them. As you read, you can tell that both girls are ruining themselves just to impress two lowlife art and drug addicts. Lisa and Celeste both become obsessed with art, music and experiencing with harder, more serious drugs.
“Another bitch, a blond slash wearing a bass. You watch her pluck, the curtain of her bangs obscuring her eyes. You don’t need to see her. Not really. From the bar where you stand you watch her head bobbing, her hair swinging, and you are reminded of long-hair days from your formative years. Wonder how those years play out now. Wonder how they got you here. That’s the real question anyway, isn’t it” (Boyden 173). At the lowest point in both of their lives, Celeste and Lisa find themselves with no way out. Both girls have gone to college in different states and Lisa still is enrolled in school, meanwhile Celeste dropped out. Becoming more distracted, Celeste finds herself being idolized by the guy she is living with. After Lisa forces Celeste to move out from the psychopath that she was dating, their world crumbles. From their bathroom stall coke enhanced experiences to traveling across the country with different bands, Celeste and Lisa find themselves in a situation they cannot get out of. With all the trouble the girls have gotten themselves into, never once have they left each other’s side. When one would call, the other would show up. They never took each other for granted.
The truth of this book is that best friends will always have each other, no matter messed up a person can be. Pretty Little Dirty describes the type of character with an addictive; thrill seeker sort of personality. In the novel, some events that have happened can necessarily actually take place. But that is the fun of letting one expand their imagination into different varieties of novels.
Ultimately, this book proves the statement “Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.” Pretty Little Dirty covers the highest and lowest points in two females’ lives. It unveils the personalities of the girls in the book, and not necessarily the addictions and destructions of a real life person. It also shows how a fictionist character can resemble a person you could meet on the street. Although this book is fiction and some parts clearly show untruth, any reader would want a bond with another human like Lisa and Celeste had. With a bond like theirs, the lesson learned from this book is that true friendship is unbreakable especially when times can be the hardest.




Works Cited.
Boyden, Amanda. Pretty Little Dirty. United States: Vintage
Books, 2006.

Reflection.

This year overall has been a good one in my English course. I've learned about various cultures and different writing styles.
I personally think that having a blog and doing assignments electronically was a good idea. It was a more creative way for making our homework assignments more enjoyable. Not only is our work viewable by our former classmates but also people all over the country can see how we, students, progressed throughout the school year.
I can honestly say that through the course of the year, my blog has went downhill. At first, I did put a lot of effort into it, but then I stopped. It's not that I got bored of it, I just got lazy.
My weakness was losing interest in the assignments and not projecting my strengths.

Kate Chopin synopsis.

In most of Chopin's work, she writes about love and lust. From the articles that I have read, they were mostly revolving around the thought of love. The kind of love Chopin writes about isn't just the romance novel kind, she also writes about the love between a family as well. Another subject Chopin uses in her works is the idea of suicide. She covers what most people wouldn't. She also uses the idea of the mental problems some people have in their heads and she reflects it into her stories.