The book Alienated by Melissa Landers tells the story of how a student exchanges and takes care of an alien student, who is a part of the L’eihr race. Although the idea of an exchange student romance is a common concept, this story differs from others by having a deeper meaning that is conveyed throughout the novel. This deeper meaning is that people let others impact or control emotions which can be a leave a negative effect.
The theme previously mentioned is supported in the beginning of the book when Cara was first offered to exchange with a L’eihr, an alien named Aelyx, that found the cure for cancer on their planet. Many people were revolted by the thought of an alien joining the school, so they made …show more content…
Landers uses short, choppy sentences to show panic and anxiety from characters as represented in the quotation below. “Then something happened that sent Cara’s stomach dipping like a yo-yo. Eric took Tori’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Eric and Tori. Touching,” (Landers 153). That shows how Cara was affected by having the knowledge that her ex boyfriend and her ex best friend are dating. Later on, this caused Cara to break down crying. This shows that Tori and Eric’s feelings affected Cara in such a huge, negative way, which is foreshadowed by the staccato dialogue presented, which in depth shows how Cara let others impact or control emotions which can be a leave a negative effect which ties back to the …show more content…
Eron, another alien exchange student, was reported to have been tortured and murdered by the extremists, HALO, and a mob of Humanists were trying to kill Aelyx and the other L’eihr exchange students (Landers 284). That explains exactly how someone's feeling can impact their actions majorly. This means that HALO was told rumours about how the L’eihrs are and decided to take action because of their thoughts. Their actions majorly affected all of the characters in Alienated, Cara had to evacuate, Aelyx was trying to escape attackers, Tori and Eric had to pretend they still didn’t agree with the L’eihrs even though they were trying their hardest to save Cara and Aelyx from the war going on at their local