One of the characters, Steven, must cope with Jeffrey’s illness. His coping starts off with him sullenly trying to escape reality. This comes in the form of drums. When drumming Steven says that he is able to escape the reality stuff (Sonnenblick 53). Since he hasn’t yet come to terms with Jeffrey’s illness, he still isn’t sure …show more content…
She even quits her job so she can be with him and help him through treatment. The Mom is really concerned about Jeffrey, so she does everything she can to increase the chances of him surviving. She even prays for him so that “God’ would keep him alive.
Near the end of the book, she tries to help Jeffrey emotionally. She stays with him until she is sick and can’t because she might get him sick too. She then gives detailed instructions to the Dad on everything she does for Jeffrey.
Since he is a small and spirited child, Jeffrey has very simple coping mechanisms, Matt Medic and Steven. At first, Jeffrey sees Matt Medic as a hero to help keep himself brave (Sonnenblick 112-113). In “A man’s journey”, Jeffrey has to look to Steven for bravery for the first time. He later does this when he gets sick at Steven’s concert.
When there is a challenge, something must change for the problem to be fixed. As each character’s priorities change, so do their coping methods. Overall, the coping of the characters of the book became more productive, with each character trying to contribute as much as possible. Now, each character is able to consciously control how they deal with things. We see a each change in response to an obstacle in the story. These changes must also happen in real