The Last Child Analysis

The Last Child is the story of Johnny Merrimon one calamitous year after the kidnapping of his twin sister, Alyssa. Johnny’s father left, his mother’s only present physically, and the police still have no lead on Alyssa; his world is broken with no fix insight. Johnny has learned that there is no safe place and there is no one to protect him. There was no one there to protect his sister after all. Johnny wants answers. Johnny wants to spit in the face of all the bad things that invaded his life. He wants his sister back and if no one will find her? He will. The Last Child is a twist, but the three most important twists are that of Johnny’s mother, finding Tiffany, and finally finding the one girl Johnny’s been looking for the last year, Alyssa. …show more content…
She was once a sociable, kind lady, and the most beautiful woman for miles around, everybody wanted to be with her; many still do. Then Alyssa was kidnapped, Johnny’s dad disappeared sometime after, and Johnny’s mom broke. She turned to drugs and alcohol as a nepenthe; she turned to Ken Holloway for money and a home for herself and Johnny. She’s lost in her head, and if she has any clarity it is in sadness and anger and bitterness. Johnny’s mom, as most parents are, controls what kind of home her last child will have and the basics of her world. Johnny’s mom represents Johnny’s life and the changes that have come to it. She characterizes the bitter brokenness, the jaded wildness, his world has become. She is a marker of the changes in his life and an indication of the pain Johnny felt from Alyssa’s disappearance; making Johnny’s mother’s transformation very …show more content…
She was killed in an accident and was covered up with the false claim of kidnapping by people that are quite close to Johnny; the Cross family, the family of Johnny’s only friend, Jack. Alyssa and Jack had been working on a school project at the library. It had gotten late and Alyssa’s dad had not come and picked her up so Jack lent her his bike. He then called his brother Gerald to pick him up. Gerald tried to spook her by giving a little chase by truck, but Alyssa lost control and fell under the truck. Gerald’s father, a policeman, quickly covered it up so his oldest son’s future as a football player would be safe by hiding Alyssa’s body and making up the story of her kidnapping. Alyssa was not kidnapped. She’s been dead for over a year. Johnny’s dad died looking in the wrong places. Johnny almost died, and all this time, the person Johnny called his friend; the person who even helped him search for her had known where she was the entire time. Jack had been in the very truck that ended Alyssa’s life. The goal Johnny has been striving towards from the start could never be completed. He can’t bring Alyssa home. It’s very bitter but it puts a fitting end to The Last