Before I Fall, a young adult novel, is written by Lauren Oliver. The novel is about a popular girl named Sam who ends up dying in a car crash. After dying, Sam relives the day of the crash seven times, each day learning more about how her and her friends’ words and actions have an impact on their fellow classmates’ lives. Some of the issues Sam encounters in high school are similar to issues also encountered at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. However, some of the issues Sam encounters in high school do not occur at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. Three of the issues Sam encounters at her high school are bullying, suicide, and popularity. Bullying is an issue at both Sam’s high school and at Saint Thomas Aquinas. However, the bullying that
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At Sam’s high school, Juliet gets so severely bullied that she feels it is better to end her life than to keep living. Juliet is in an extremely dark place when she decides to kill herself. Even though Sam tries to convince Juliet to not kill herself, Juliet has her mind set to end her life. Sam tries to apologize on behalf of herself and her friends for all the times they have been mean to Juliet, but Juliet does not listen to the apologies. The bullying Juliet experiences has led her to living an unhappy life and which the only option seems to be to end her life. “‘You don’t know me… you never knew me. And you can’t make me better. Nobody can make me better.’” (pg. 388) While suicide is a problem at Sam’s high school, suicide is not a problem at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. Since Saint Thomas Aquinas had opened in 1988, not one person has committed suicide while attending the school. Nevertheless, each year Aquinas has a suicide prevention week to help try to keep there from ever being a suicide at the …show more content…
Sam and her group of friends believe that being popular is the most important aspect of high school. They do whatever it takes to maintain their popularity. For instance, Lindsay blames Juliet on wetting the bed in fifth grade to maintain her popularity. “But when Ms. Bridges came in and asked what had happened Lindsay just pointed her finger at me [Juliet] and screamed, She did it. I’ll never forget her face when she screamed it - She did it! Terrified.” (pg. 392) Lindsay was willing to blame her best friend at the time, Juliet, in order to maintain her popularity. Similarly, at Saint Thomas Aquinas popularity is a topic encountered in the lives of the students. Like Sam and her friends, some students at Aquinas also believe that being popular is the most important goal in high school. These students will do anything to maintain their popularity. They make sure to go to all of the parties. These popular kids additionally make sure to not talk to the non-popular kids for fear that they will start to be associated with them. The idea of popularity plays an important role in both Sam’s high school and Saint Thomas
At Sam’s high school, Juliet gets so severely bullied that she feels it is better to end her life than to keep living. Juliet is in an extremely dark place when she decides to kill herself. Even though Sam tries to convince Juliet to not kill herself, Juliet has her mind set to end her life. Sam tries to apologize on behalf of herself and her friends for all the times they have been mean to Juliet, but Juliet does not listen to the apologies. The bullying Juliet experiences has led her to living an unhappy life and which the only option seems to be to end her life. “‘You don’t know me… you never knew me. And you can’t make me better. Nobody can make me better.’” (pg. 388) While suicide is a problem at Sam’s high school, suicide is not a problem at Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. Since Saint Thomas Aquinas had opened in 1988, not one person has committed suicide while attending the school. Nevertheless, each year Aquinas has a suicide prevention week to help try to keep there from ever being a suicide at the …show more content…
Sam and her group of friends believe that being popular is the most important aspect of high school. They do whatever it takes to maintain their popularity. For instance, Lindsay blames Juliet on wetting the bed in fifth grade to maintain her popularity. “But when Ms. Bridges came in and asked what had happened Lindsay just pointed her finger at me [Juliet] and screamed, She did it. I’ll never forget her face when she screamed it - She did it! Terrified.” (pg. 392) Lindsay was willing to blame her best friend at the time, Juliet, in order to maintain her popularity. Similarly, at Saint Thomas Aquinas popularity is a topic encountered in the lives of the students. Like Sam and her friends, some students at Aquinas also believe that being popular is the most important goal in high school. These students will do anything to maintain their popularity. They make sure to go to all of the parties. These popular kids additionally make sure to not talk to the non-popular kids for fear that they will start to be associated with them. The idea of popularity plays an important role in both Sam’s high school and Saint Thomas