Drums Girls & Dangerous Pie Themes

Oftentimes when a person experiences a loss or a loved one going through a fatal illness or disease, they go through what is called through the five stages of grief. In the novel Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, the main character Steven Alper goes through the five stages of grief. Because Steven’s little brother, Jeffrey Alper is found to have leukemia Steven starts to suffer the symptoms of the stages of grief. The five stages of grief being denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The first stage the main character Steven goes through is denial. To be in the stage of denial means to refuse the reality of the situation. For example, when his mom tells him that she is taking Jeffrey to Philadelphia …show more content…
To be in the stage of bargaining means to want to regain control of the situation. The person will try to make a deal with God in return to save the ill or dying person. The person will start to feel guilt, that they did something wrong to have kept the person from being safe or alive. To illustrate, when Steven is trying to make Jeffery better, he said that if he doesn't eat something, that Jeffrey would get better (Sonnenblick 80). This shows Steven going through the stage of bargaining because in this situation Steven is by definition “making a deal with God” it's just that he’s bargaining something random, either way, this shows Steven going through the stage of bargaining. Additionally, when Steven’s mom comes in the middle of the school dance to pick him up he immediately knew what was going on, ‘Right on the spot, without knowing what exactly was going on, I made God one final offer “Take me. Don’t take Jeffy. Please, Lord. Take me” (Sonnenblick 97). This shows Steven going through the stage of bargaining because when he sees his mom at the dance he immediately knew it was about Jeffrey, and “made God one final offer” and offered himself for …show more content…
Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim”. In Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, Steven is trying to swim through the overwhelming ocean. But even then sometimes it calms down. In conclusion, in the novel Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, the main character Steven Alper goes through the five stages of grief as a result of Jeffrey’s illness. The five stages of grief being denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Fortunately enough though, Steven made it to the stage acceptance and now can live