Examples Of Adversity In A Monster Calls

Adversity is a theme that many authors have incorporated into their novels over time. Novels that contain adversity tend to include forms of grief, loss, bullying, family matters, and unbalanced relationships. Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls and Wendy Harmer’s backstory in Don’t Peak in Highschool contain many similarities in terms of facing adversity. A Monster Calls involves a young boy, Conor, who is struggling to cope with his mother’s unfortunate illness, while encountering continuous bullying from his peers. Don’t Peak in Highschool involves a young Wendy Harmer who is struggling to cope with her insecurities and bullying. Conor and Wendy demonstrate different ways in which they react to and deal with difficult situations that have been thrust upon them. In many ways, Conor and Wendy are comparable. Most notable of these comparisons are their shared resilience, courage, and, most of all, maturity. These three traits, when analysed further, show that Conor and Wendy are incredibly similar. …show more content…
Examples of real-life adversity that young people face are shown in A Monster Calls and Don’t Peak in Highschool. In A Monster Calls, a young boy by the name of Conor, has to learn to let go of his mother. Whilst in Don’t Peak in Highschool, Wendy Harmer learns how to accept herself for who she is. Both characters show how different types of adversity can affect people. For example, Wendy Harmer had to deal with loss in her life: ‘My mother left home when I was ten, so Dad brought us up for quite a few years.’ (pg. 47) As did Conor: ‘His father, who Conor had grown used to not having around as the trips from America grew less frequent and the phone calls got further and further apart.’ (pg. 75-76) These two quotes exemplify how similar both Wendy and Conor are in terms of loss, which is a growing factor in both the real and literal