Analysis Of Sharon Draper's 'Tears Of A Tiger'

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Sharon Draper in the dramatic novel,“Tears of a Tiger” depicts how survivors feel pressure and guilt after a drunk driving accident occurs, and do to this tragedies we suffer the death of loved ones. Draper supports her claim by illustrating the life of Andy Jackson, the protagonist, with his friends B.J and Tyrone who witnessed a traumatic and horrendous accident in which Andy’s best friend Robert Washington dies, this affected everyone in different ways. Andy was the most accountable for the accident due to the fact that he was the one behind the steering wheel the night of the accident; this caused him to feel extremely guilty and sorrowful about Robert’s death, which lead to his own suicide. The author’s purpose is to demonstrate how …show more content…
This doesn’t necessarily mean that their death is all they will think about, sometimes there is little things that give you that memory of that person. For example when Andy and Keisha are in the mall they are having a great time until Andy see’s a Santa Claus’ display which reminded him of not only Robert but his self-reproach of his terrible death, “Then when we stopped by the santa claus display and he started acting funny. He said santa claus reminded him of Rob”(79) The letter Keisha wrote indicates that little things can seamlessly turn in big things just like how Gerald gets reminded of his mom when he sees or even smells peanut butter “peanut butter and jelly was my favorite type of sandwich. Mama would fix it as a special treat…….but mama left and the peanut butter stayed”(47). Overall People that have experienced a death of someone really close to them can end up having a vivid memory (arises spontaneously or is provoked by an experience).A trauma that will hunt you till …show more content…
A trauma is a very disturbing experience that will stay with a person for a long time; the one who was the most affected by the trauma was Andy, who felt guilty every moment he thought of Rob. For example, Andy's dream about Rob saying that Andy owes him his life shows Andy’s great self-condemnation, “I can’t
Rob.please leave me alone-it’s all your fault, you know. All your fault. You got the beer. You drove the car. You smashed into the wall. Yo killed me….now is time for you to come and keep me company ”’(121). The conversation in Andy’s dreams portrays how guilty Andy feels; Rob pointing out Andy’s blunder of drinking beers and driving exhibits how Andy feels deep inside revealed through a dream. Ultimately, Andy can’t accept Rob’s death and he is starting to think he deserves to be with Rob and that is an indirect form of suicidal

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