Don't Think Or Judge, Just Listen
When a girl has everything, does she really have anything? In the inspiring novel Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen this question is answered through symbolism, style, and mood. The major themes include the importance of honesty, the value of facing conflicts instead of avoiding them, but the theme I am going to focus on is the cliché don’t judge a book by its cover.
Annabel Greene used to be the girl who had everything. Just like her two older sisters, Kirsten and Whitney, Annabel is a gorgeous girl who models for local commercials and print advertisements, and she has the clothes to show for it. She and her best friend Sophie are invited to all the parties. Then, at the annual end of the school year party, Sophie believes Annabel is trying to sleep with Sophie's boyfriend Will Cash. Suddenly, Annabel is the girl who has nothing no friends, no reputation, no peace at home. She doesn't even have her sisters to rely on; Kirsten is in New York City, while Whitney, who suffers from an eating disorder, has grown irritable and has shut out her entire family. After a difficult summer, Annabel starts the new school year a loner. While she sits alone at lunch, she becomes friends with Owen Armstrong, also a loner who constantly listens to his iPod. Since he was kicked out of school the year before for getting into fights, Owen is back from his anger management classes with a new dedication to honesty. Since Annabel is used to holding back her true feelings instead of possibly hurting herself or others, Annabel is at first shocked when Owen points out the ways she uses language to avoid showing her true feelings. As Owen pushes Annabel outside her “comfort zone”, she slowly begins to change, opening up the real Annabel Greene, to gain the courage to confront what really happened that awful night at the party.
"So you're always honest," I said.
"Aren't you?"
"No," I told him. "I'm not."
"Well, that's good to know, I guess."
"I'm not saying I'm a liar," I told him. He...
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