Surviving The Applewhites Character Analysis

Being born into an unstable family can change a person. All human beings are born innocent creatures. But when exposed to bad influences, these can corrupt an innocent person. When exposed in right atmosphere, these can shape a person into someone pure. In the book Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie S. Tolan, the main character, Jake Semple, morphs from an overweening and fake troublemaker to a respectable teenager who is true to himself. Jake starts out as a thirteen year old delinquent. This was because when he was younger, his parents weren't the ideal role models. They cursed and smoked, causing Jake to learn and copy these unacceptable and harmful traits. Flash-forward to the present day, Jake gets sent to the Creative Academy because no other schools would take him in. While at the academy, he tries to unnerve the Applewhite family but doesn't succeed. Gradually, Jake begins to break out …show more content…
An example of him being conceited was when he was smoking at the very beginning of the book. He blew the smoke into E.D.'s face and thought,"Doesn't bother me girl-you can bug off completely as far as I'm concerned"(6). This is proving that Jake doesn't care about others because he didn't bother to listen to what E.D. said about the Applewhite's property being smoke free, and smoked anyway. He also blew smoke into her face, which is incredibly rude. In another instance, Jake went out to smoke and,"realized with considerable shock that he didn't really like the taste smoking left in his mouth [and] that he'd never liked it"(181). I believe that this is metaphor for Jake not knowing why he causes trouble and him realizing that he never actually enjoyed doing the things he did. This confirms that his true self was always hiding underneath his unknown urge to be a "bad kid", causing him to not be true to himself. His actions show that he doesn't really care about others and isn't