Tears Of A Tiger Theme Essay

Teenagers do not expect to experience death, they believe that only grown up people deal with death. In the novel Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper a group of teenagers suffer the death of one of the group, Robbie Washington. After they have won a basketball match, Robbie, Andy, Tyrone and B.J. celebrate drinking some beers. When Andy is driving them home they crash and Robbie dies. This causes them to feel extreme pain and guilt. For teenagers a friend’s death is life changing and this is because:
“When an adolescent dies, for the close friend something in them can die as well. Sharing so much, caring so much, confiding so much, the loss of this valued relationship leaves their world sadly diminished. “I don’t have anyone to tell my secrets to anymore. I have no one who knows me so well. I have no one that close I can call. I feel like I have lost a part of myself.” This last is true because the friendship was from and for the friend, but now there is no friend to connect that caring to. Now there is an emotional wound to heal.” (“Adolescence and the Death of a Close Friend” by Carl E Pickhardt) …show more content…
His psychologist helps Andy understand his problems and he tries to make Andy see that life is worth living. After some sessions the psychologist tells him he no longer needs to come back, Andy is happy with this but the truth is that he needs a psychologist to get over his guilt and pain. This absence of care and love leads Andy to commit suicide, it is his way to escape from suffering. The problem is that he leaves all his relatives and friends devastated, they cannot forgive him for what he has done. This novel helps us understand how important it is to help those adolescents whose best friend has died. We have to make sure there are no teenager suffering alone, pleading for a shoulder to cry