Reading Response on Crank by Ellen Hopkins

     A lot of people in the world go through hard times which ultimately leads to bad choices. The book Crank by Ellen Hopkins is about a girl named Kristina, also known as Bree. The book takes you on the journey that Kristina has with the monster (crank,a type of drug). During her journey, Kristina goes through many struggles.  

      Kristina goes through drug addiction, which has caused hard times with major set backs. Ever since staying with her father in New Mexico, Kristina has become more intrigued with taking drugs. It has become a necessity of hers to have the drugs, it's something that makes her happy. Since Kristina takes too much drugs it has affected things that she does. For instance, the book states, on page 315 that "For two days too much crank, no sleep, liquid diet. The first day of school was a nightmare." This shows how Kristina has lead herself to a point where it affects her functioning. Her need for drugs have been out of control. There for, the drugs majorly affected Kristina, made it a struggle to do things. Since Kristina choose to take drugs , it has made it relatively hard to do things, and has caused a major struggle in her life.  

     
      Even when things are going well it can result to something bad and hard to deal with. In one part of the book Kristina is dating a lifeguard named Brendan. He seems to be doing fine until he takes her out o a secluded spot far away from home. Thats when things turn ugly. He wanted to he one who oat Kristina's virginity. While in that spot the book says that," kisses segued to bites. Bruises. pain rippled through my body...I realized I was in serious trouble." (Page 341). This shows how even good things turned out hard to deal with. Brendan was fine until he decided to rape Kristina. There for, Kristina had a hard time with the situation at hand. Hard things can come out of the worst or bet times.

     When someones parents are divorced, it can make life very hard and difficult. When Kristina was a little girl her her father left her. He left Kristina alone with her sister and mother. Life was very hard for then without a father figure. At the beginning of the book it states that, "Mom struggled to raise two kids on her own...As for Dad, well truth be told, his love for drugs surpassed his love of family." (Page 40). This shows that the divorce of Kristina's parents made doing things hard. Also being that drugs went in the way of her family it was hard to deal with that harsh reality. There for, divorce leads lots of hardships in life. Sometimes things in the home can leave many struggles.

      This text connects to  the real world. So many people have gone through hard ships such as drug addiction, rape, and divorce. Those things can really cause problems. It makes me wonder what life would be like if those things would't happen in his world. It makes me wonder if life would be easier without them. Now I can realize that when hard things happen you can learn something from it. Maybe not always but it can happen. Hard things happen but you just have to deal with it.