“I want to be me,” claims female protagonist Sloane Barstow in New York Time’s best selling author Suzanne Young’s latest teen fictional series The Program. “...and yet I’m not sure who I am.”
Not knowing who their true selves are, is a major role in both The Program, and Ned Vizzini's fictional novel It’s Kind of a Funny Story which was loosely based on his very own experience in a mental hospital. Both of these teen fiction stories deal with the lives of those affected by depression and the spread of suicidal thoughts and acts. Young teenagers are forced into a depression whether it be due to the stress of getting “flagged”, or the upcoming homework that one cannot finish.
In It’s Kind Of a Funny Story, Craig Gilner is a freshman in highschool who has just been accepted to one of the most prestigious schools that will help him with his ambitions. Greg studies for a year just to make it into the school, and once he is in, he does not know what to do. Assignments, parties, and drugs pile on and he can no longer deal with his “tentacles” (a term used in place of stress between him and his shrink). After months of clinical depression, eating disorders, therapy, and oblivious friends, Greg decides on committing suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. But rather than go straight …show more content…
In The Program, it is said that depression is widely spread due to the fact that it is contagious and that the epidemic spread due to a chemical in antidepressants that were being taken by many. Passing the negative effects along through generations. In It’s Kind of a Funny Story Craig comes to find out just how many people are taking antidepressants and how many more think they need them now that one has admitted to being clinically depressed. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is almost like the background/ beginning to the spread in a way and The Program is a futuristic world that may come after years of this increasing
Not knowing who their true selves are, is a major role in both The Program, and Ned Vizzini's fictional novel It’s Kind of a Funny Story which was loosely based on his very own experience in a mental hospital. Both of these teen fiction stories deal with the lives of those affected by depression and the spread of suicidal thoughts and acts. Young teenagers are forced into a depression whether it be due to the stress of getting “flagged”, or the upcoming homework that one cannot finish.
In It’s Kind Of a Funny Story, Craig Gilner is a freshman in highschool who has just been accepted to one of the most prestigious schools that will help him with his ambitions. Greg studies for a year just to make it into the school, and once he is in, he does not know what to do. Assignments, parties, and drugs pile on and he can no longer deal with his “tentacles” (a term used in place of stress between him and his shrink). After months of clinical depression, eating disorders, therapy, and oblivious friends, Greg decides on committing suicide by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. But rather than go straight …show more content…
In The Program, it is said that depression is widely spread due to the fact that it is contagious and that the epidemic spread due to a chemical in antidepressants that were being taken by many. Passing the negative effects along through generations. In It’s Kind of a Funny Story Craig comes to find out just how many people are taking antidepressants and how many more think they need them now that one has admitted to being clinically depressed. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is almost like the background/ beginning to the spread in a way and The Program is a futuristic world that may come after years of this increasing