The document summarizes Sarah Dessen's novels Dreamland, Keeping the Moon, and Someone Like You. It discusses key themes across the novels such as the protagonists overcoming internal struggles and boy problems, dealing with sensitive male adversaries, and the importance of building close relationships and the role of the mother. Each novel concludes with the protagonist gaining self-realization and resolution through building confidence and independence.
10. She is sitting on the beach, alone. Her legs are curled under her, and her hands are feeling the pebbles at her side. They are smooth, like ducks' eggs. They fit snugly into her palm. The kind of pebble David used to kill Goliath, she thinks. She looks out over the sea. It is pewter, it is lead. The waves are bloated and sullen. They clutch at the shore and rasp as they retreat, surly as a kicked cur. The wet shore shines with the slug trail residue of the waves. The cliffs, honey and butter in sunshine, are the grey of gravestones and loneliness. She turns the pebbles over and over, rhythmically, rocking. The wind has turned her long hair into whips which lash her cheeks red and raw. She does not tuck it behind her ears. She does not look at the bag that squats beside her. She thinks back, to the time before. She can't help it. Then, the sun was shining and the beach was innocent. She starts to dig. At first, she is careful. She lifts the pebbles out, one by one, and piles them to one side. They form a cairn. As she gets down below the first layer, the stones are smaller, spikier, wetter, with more sand in the mixture. She scrabbles at
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13. “She wasn’t sure what help he could offer anyway, he was no electrician. She looked across the distance toward his house.” “A small oil-burning lamp sat at the bottom of her kitchen cupboard and she lit it with the last match in the box.” “Her nearest neighbor lived over a kilometer away and she did not feel like making the trek over rocky paddocks in this blackness.” “It struck her as odd that her cat, Fanny, had not yet come to greet her, and she walked through the house calling her pet.“ “The wheat in the paddock seemed to sing in the gusty wind. It was the only sign of life for a very long way.” “Perhaps that was Phil out there with a torch, she wondered. Perhaps one of my animals has taken ill. “ “Tears flooded as the pain of loss hit her like a punch to the stomach. Her head reeled with the tragedy of the situation.” “She shrugged and went back inside. With the dimming flashlight in her hand she went in search of candles and a lighter. Silently she cursed herself for giving up smoking.” “The cat was cold and solid. Samantha’s hand flinched away as a shudder of fear passed through her. She cried out with a wet sob.” “The temperature seemed to have dropped now that she stood on open ground.” “But when she reached out to touch the pony’s neck she knew that it wasn’t possible. Nor was it possible for the goat nearby, whose body was stiffened and beginning to bloat, to ever stand again.” “Samantha could hear the telltale clinking of empty Cruiser bottles rolling around on the car’s floor. The girls were singing, loud and off key. while she got her bag from the boot. When the tooting vehicle departed .”
29. Dreamland “I sat on my bed and looked at that picture for a long, long time. I hated the girl I saw there, and she didn’t even care, didn’t know, just staring out, oblivious. She spent her whole life wanting to be someone else, something else, and it had gotten her nowhere. I wanted to shake her, wake her up. But it was too late now”(227).
30. Keeping the Moon “Even though I’d been teased all my life, I’d always taken a small, strange comfort in my folds of fat… The weight was like a force field, shielding me… Now, almost fifty pounds lighter, I had nothing left to hide behind… I could build muscle, but not confidence” (5).
31. Someone Like You “When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a coloring book, with the inside not yet completed. All the standard features were there. But the colors, the zigzags and plaids, the bits and pieces that made up me, Halley, weren’t yet in place” (23).
33. Dreamland “But no matter how quickly I left class…he always managed to get there first…Sometimes, it was just a little rough: a blocking bruise. Other times, a hard foul. And if things were really bad—full contact” (168).
34. Keeping the Moon “I heard the kitchen door slam shut. Norman was gone… Norman, who was now sitting in the front seat of his car, fiddling with the glove box. He slammed it shut; it dropped open. Again. And again” (173).
35. Someone Like You “Are you going to Rhetta’s?” “I don’t know, Halley…Don’t start this again okay?” “Why don’t you ever take me there? Or any of the places you go? I mean, what do you guys do?” (213)
37. Dreamland “Rogerson’s depth of knowledge continually surprised me. It seemed like there was literally nothing he didn’t know” (113). “Rogerson operated a brisk business selling pot and other various illegals… He was a perfectionist, whether it came to measuring a perfect quarter-ounce or knowing the complete French conditional tense” (110).
38. Keeping the Moon “I’ve been working on this series of paintings for my portfolio… It got me into art school” (92). “Hey Picasso!” (187)
39. Someone Like You “He could copy any signature perfectly on the first try. It was a gift… I kept waiting for him to get caught. But it never happened” (62).
41. Dreamland “I knew I was barely going to make it to meet Rogerson on time as it was. Rina hadn’t seen me… but as I watched her punch in the cigarette lighter with a jab of her hand, then wipe her eyes, I just couldn’t go home” (134). “I’d look out in the stands and see my mother beaming up at me… and I knew if I quit, it would break her heart” (42).
42. Keeping the Moon “I felt a fury rise in me toward Bea Williamson and every nasty thing she’d said about Mira in my earshot. It built like a flush, crawling up my neck to make my scalp tingle, so different from my own shame yet feeling the same” (168).
43. Someone Like You “I need to come home. Scarlett called to tell me. She needs me” (9). “I reached over and pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her… feeling her shoulders shake under my hands” (21).
49. Dreamland “I’d just put my head on her shoulder, leaning against my mother, who would hold me like she did when I was a small child, rocking me back and forth. It had been so long since someone had touched me and I hadn’t wanted to flinch” (230). “My mother and I took longer walks , talking about everything…I began to see her more as a person, a woman, not just the queen of bake sales and lemon puffs. And when I was finally ready to take a picture of a face, it was hers I chose” (243).
50. Keeping the Moon “And there was that sparkle in her eye. Bright enough to reach across an ocean and still get me. My mother believed… She’d believed me all the way out of forty-five-and-a-half pounds. She’d believed us from living out of the car to having anything we wanted” (98). “I sat with her arms around me, crying… She just rocked me back and forth… She stroked my hair and told me I was beautiful” (128).
51. Someone Like You “Halley, I don’t think you understand how easy it is to make a mistake that will cost you forever. All it takes is one wrong choice…You don’t know what Macon’s involved in” (170). “If you don’t have the sense to stay away from that boy, I will keep you away from him” (244).
53. Dreamland “I lowered the camera to my waist, tilting it upward. Then I put my finger on the shutter, swallowed, and smiled at the girl in the mirror. She smiled back, her head cocked to the side, and I knew that she understood it all” (248). “I burst through it into the air to finally breathe on my own” (250).
54. Keeping the Moon “I felt different. As if something pulled taut for so long had eased back, everything that had been strained settling into place: those forty-five-and-a-half pounds finally gone for good” (202). “When I danced, I thought only of that girl sitting on the back stoop of the Last Chance in her sunglasses and her lip ring. She wouldn’t be afraid to dance, and neither was I” (223).
55. Someone Like You “I deserved to grow, and to change, to become all the girls I could ever be over the course of my life, each one better than the last” (243). “I didn’t want anyone to start this journey with me… I was only thinking of Grace Halley with each step I took” (280).
For my graduation project I decided to do a literature comparative study of an author.
I chose Sarah Dessen because I had previously enjoyed reading two books she had written. Out of her nine books, I picked Dreamland, Keeping the Moon, and Someone Like You. I read these three novels in the fall of 2010 so that I could do a comparison of Dessen’s writing style, story lines, and morals.
I chose this topic to test myself to discover if I was able to delve into a book, like I have been taught in English class, by deep reading for comprehension.
I also did this study to learn about one of my favorite authors and find the purpose she puts into her writing.
Furthermore, I mostly desired to prepare myself for college and the focus that is necessary to put into reading. This is so that I am capable carrying out of the type of work that will be expected of me.
The first thing I did was choose an author, Sarah Dessen, and then which three books of hers that I wanted to compare.
Then I carefully read each book over the course of about two months.
After reading, I searched online for literary reviews and book descriptions. When I found a handful for each novel, I read through them and found similarities that critics had found.
I also sat down and skimmed through the books to find comparisons of my own. After using both of those techniques I had a good size list of corresponding ideas to use for my project.
The most difficult part of the project was when I had to take every similarity from my list and scour the books to find passages and quotes that backed them up. When I had finished all of that, I wrote summaries for all three books.
Finally, my last step was to put together all of the information I had gathered and make it presentable.
My main resources for this project were the books themselves. I deeply read them consecutively. After I read all three, I skimmed each book to refresh my memory and pick out similarities that I noticed between them. Then when I found what I wanted to compare, I went back to the books to find passages to support my claims.
I also read through these websites for multiple literary critiques of each novel to find information to support my compaRISONS
{Summary}The main character, Caitlin, has an older sister, Cass, who has always been the center of attention in her family. She is perfect in every way, a true gold star kid. When Cass runs away with her lover, their family falls apart. Caitlin struggles to fill the gap left by her sister, but gives up when she is enchanted by Rogerson Biscoe. This mystery guy turns out to be a drug dealer that pulls Caitlin into his crazy world. He starts to beat her when she does not do exactly what he wants. She is afraid to leave him because he is the only person that she believes truly understands and cares about her. Caitlin’s best friend, Rina, takes her out one day to relax by a lake. Fearful of Rogerson, she tries calling him to let him know where she is, but cannot get a hold of him. He is in his car when she gets home and starts beating her for being late. Fortunately, a visitor at her mom’s April Fool’s Day party sees and calls the police. Rogerson gets arrested and Caitlin is sent to a mental hospital to recover.
{Summary} After losing weight, thanks to her mother’s famous aerobics weight loss program, Colie is still self-conscious and uncomfortable in society. When her mother goes on a world tour for her program, Colie goes to her Aunt Mira’s house. Although she would rather stay home alone, she hopes that in this new town she will finally gain some confidence. At first Colie struggles when she realizes that there are nasty people in every town and wishes for her mom; she does not understand how her mother is so strong and inspirational. Luckily, Colie befriends Norman, the artsy guy who rents a room from Aunt Mira, and two young women, Morgan and Chloe, who give her the advice and motivation to discover herself. The four friends work at the Last Chance Bar and Grill, helping each other through relationship stress and understanding life. Colie falls in love, has true friends, learns to ignore society’s criticism, and most importantly, finds her beauty.
{Summary} At the beginning of Someone Like You, Halley and her mother have a strong relationship, but Halley pulls away when her best friend’s boyfriend is killed in a motorcycle accident. She supports her friend, Scarlett, through the funeral. Then she meets Macon, the school’s bad boy, and pushes her mother farther away as she spins lies and sneaks out to see him. When they discover that Scarlett is pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s child, Halley and Macon pick her up from the clinic her mother sent her to for an abortion. Halley is growing up fast, helping her friend handle pregnancy and the tension in her relationship with Macon and avoiding sex. Macon gets in a car accident from speeding and gets Halley hospitalized. Finally, Halley turns back to her mother understanding that Macon is a bad influence and cuts him from her life. She knows her place is with her family, best friend Scarlett, and their new baby.
Sarah Dessen’s novels take place in present day America, and she writes them for female young adults.
Also, all three books are told in the main characters’ point of view with roughly even amounts of script and dialogue.
Characters attend high school.
Each protagonist is a normal teenage girl, with an average physique and intelligence, that is growing and acting up.
Caitlin wants to be special, so she tries to be someone else. With Rogerson, she feels like a new person, but struggles to live up to his expectations. She is in a constant struggle because she does not know what to do anymore. She wants live in Rogerson’s exciting life, but that means abuse. So on the other hand she wants to escape, but she has never felt so accepted by someone than when she’s with Rogerson.
Colie struggles to find out who she is, she has no confidence and tries to hide from the society that has teased her for years. Now without her ‘shield’ of fat to protect her, she is just Colie and she wants to make friends for once. She is scared to give people a chance because she doesn’t understand how someone could like her when no one else has and when she doesn’t even like herself.
Halley is like any other teenager, trying to figure out who she is. She tries to find herself with her friend Scarlett as they tan, get piercings, drink for the first time, befriend wild popular girls, hangout with boys and pull away from their families. Halley doesn’t understand how to break free from her shyness and find her colors.
Caitlin thinks she loves Rogerson, but she is a victim of abuse. She cannot curb his anger, or defend herself. She is simply getting lost in his shadow because she melts under his tenderness even though she fears his fury.
Colie became friends with Norman during the summer at her Aunt’s house. When she flirts with a guy from the beach at work, she doesn’t realize Norman’s feelings for her. His jealous outrage finally opens her eyes to the truth and she realizes how much she likes him. Unfortunately, now Norman starts to push her away and she has to prove to him her true feelings. She spends weeks sitting for a portrait that he wants to paint of her, trying to make up for how she hurt him.
Halley’s new boyfriend, Macon, is constantly going places and she will spend time with him for an hour or so every few days. He never tells her where he goes or what he does, he’s secretive about his life outside of their relationship. Halley doesn’t accuse him of doing anything bad, she just wants to be close to him and spend more time together. She tries to hide her frustration because she likes him but it’s straining their relationship.
Rogerson always knows the answers to Jeopardy questions and trivia questions; Caitlin would search for questions he wouldn’t have an answer to, but he knew every one. He has high marks in school and also happens to be the best drug dealer in town.
Norman is a very gifted artist and is getting into art school based solely on his portfolio, not finances. He spends hours every day searching for dozens of crazy sunglasses for his subjects to wear in portraits; a form of expressing a part of their personality that he sees. So far, his portfolio consists of four portraits: his father, Aunt Mira, Isabel and Morgan, and Colie herself. They are like photographs and perfect snapshots of each person’s personality.
Macon is the perfect delinquent; he is gifted at forging signatures, he skips class, and he parties all the time, never getting caught. It’s as though being secretive and sneaky is his profession; no one ever knows where he is, what he does or where he continually gets new cars from.
Caitlin may be absorbed with Rogerson the majority of the time, but she still loves her friends and family; she risks being hit to comfort a distraught friend and remains a cheerleader to make her mom happy. She cares about how they feel and is anything but self-centered. The most obvious example is how she never stops trying to make Rogerson happy even though she knows he is going to hurt her.
Constantly throughout the novel, Colie is angry when anyone demeans her overweight Aunt. She even confronts Mira, asking why she allows people to say such things. Because of her past, Colie is defensive for those she cares about.
Halley comforts Scarlett friend when her boyfriend dies. She has her mother pick her up from camp early just so she can come home to her best friend and support her.
Caitlin discovers true friendship in Corinna ; her house becomes Caitlin’s escape from school, her mom, Rogerson, and society. Also, her close relationship with her sister, Cass, provided Caitlin with a support system as she grew up and the loss of such strong connection when Cass left, threw Caitlin out on her own. Unfortunately with Rogerson, she learns the importance of close relationships; she is forced to cut them to make him happy, and loses her sanity to him. She is trapped because she pushes away everyone that truly cares about her, so they do not know that she needs them.
For the first time in her life, Colie makes friends and she realizes what she has been missing out on. When she has friends, Colie feels accepted and has fun for once. She learns to build up her confidence with the help of Isabel and Morgan. Norman shows her how to relax and enjoy life. Finally, she has people to lean on and she doesn’t have to always be alone.
Before Scarlett, Halley was shy and pushed around by other girls; when they become friends Halley feels loved and is happy that someone always has her back. She learns how to care for others when Scarlett becomes pregnant; strengthening her patience at the same time with Scarlett’s mood changes and pickiness. With Macon, she gets a taste of love and learns her limits and how to keep people from taking advantage of her. Both of these relationships help Halley grow and gain the self-esteem she has lacked.
When Caitlin is in a rehabilitation center and she reforms her bond with her mom. Her mother is a major key to Caitlin’s recovery as she visits as often as she can, showing love and unwavering support for her broken daughter. Her mom nurses her back to health by giving Caitlin the attention and care that she has always needed.
Colie’s mother is her stronghold and inspiration during tough times. Her moral support and dedicated love get Colie through the fat years and constant teasing. She never would have been able to lose the weight without her mother’s motivation.
Halley’s mother protects her daughter; she knows that Macon is a threat to Halley’s safety so she tries to pull her out of the relationship before she can get hurt. When Halley finally decides to break it off with him and demands the freedom to make her own mistakes, her mother obliges and steps back, knowing that she has prepared her daughter to make her own choices. She remains a fall back for Halley throughout the novel and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure Halley is well.
As Caitlin is leaving rehab, she finally accepts herself and no longer wishes to be someone else. She knows that there are many people that love and admire her for who she has always been, she had merely been blind to them. She is also prepared to be in control of her life and be free of Rogerson’s restraints.
Colie discovers who she is and not to try and be what other people want her to. All the tension within her melts and she is comfortable in her new body and new outlook on life. She is free to dance and express herself, because she understands life isn’t about being judged, it’s about having fun and just living.
Halley knows what she wants, she wants to live her own life; not be what society, her mother, or Macon wants her to be. Finally she is no longer following anyone else, but setting her pace. She finds her purpose, to be with Scarlett and care for their baby.
I didn’t encounter any difficulties, however, over the course of doing this project, I definitely strengthened my time management skills. I had to read three books, analysis and compare them, search the texts for supporting evidence of my claims, research back up information found by others, and create this lengthy presentation; while keeping up with my other school work and activities.
I learned that you can’t just leap grab hold of life, you have to take it in steps to avoid getting lost in yourself or society.
Reading these novels brought to light very serious aspects of life that I now believe are necessary to be aware of.
Such as domestic violence
Teen pregnancy
The effects of lack of confidence in young adults
And the importance of cherishing those who love you best.