& Dark Essay, Research Paper
John Neufeld is the
author of ?Lisa Bright & Dark?. He lives and works in New
York City these days. He was educated at Yale. His style of
writing are usually touching stories. Finding information
about John Neufeld is quite difficult since the Internet nor the
book has provided any help whatsoever. Lisa Shilling is the
main character of this book. She is just sixteen as she slowly
loses her mind. Lisa is quite an example of teenager with
problems which is why she?d be classified as a very real
character. Her dangerous state of mind reflects the realism
that this does happen. Her moods are forever changing.
Lisa?s motivation as a teenager is to live her live normally.
This is hard to do since she is in need of help. Many can
relate to Lisa and her illness because it is among teenagers
today. Her mother and father snub her off completely
overlooking her serious unstableness. Luckily, she has
friends that care enough to help her. The main conflict of this
book is the struggle to convince Lisa?s parents that she is ill
and needs serious help. Her parents did not pay attention in
the beginning when Lisa started to act a little different. This is
rather understandable. Lisa was in school and pricked
herself with a needle that drew blood. Many told Lisa?s
stubborn parents that she needed a psychiatrist. They simply
refused to accept the fact that their daughter was in need of
anything. When Lisa even screamed out that she needed
help, they simply wouldn?t understand. She even walked
right through a glass window. Her parents didn?t understand
until it was almost too late. The conflict was finally resolved
after they got her the help she was in need of. This is an
example of man verse himself since the conflict deals with
Lisa fighting her illness. This book type is about a social
problem. This means that a dilemma occurred in the social
area. In this case it involved Lisa Shilling and her struggle
with society and her illness. One example of this social
problem would be the fact that society such as Lisa?s
classmates were uneducated about her problem so they
didn?t understand her. Another example would be how
Lisa?s parents were too busy with their life to notice their
daughter?s plea for help. Yet anot
how the teachers and guidance tried to look around the
problem. Today, the same social problems are still faced.
The book?s them dealt with mental illness and treating it. It
was about Lisa and her problems. This book showed that
the perplexing problem could be treated right just as long as
she got the right help. Her friends were the main people to
help her overcome it all. It can be seen that this situation was
very difficult then and now. The moral of this story is based
on the illness of a girl and society?s impact on her. It goes to
show that she was helped and hurt at the same time. This
passage caught my eye. It?s a moment of shock and surprise
caused by Lisa?s illness. This is a sudden outburst no one
was prepared for. They handled it well under those
circumstances. Lisa had shoved Elizabeth toward the dying
fire, and had jumped on her in one movement. She began
hitting Elizabeth?s face, then changed her attack and began
punching Elizabeth everywhere she could – her sides, her
stomach, kicking at her legs, grabbing her by he hair. It was
terrifying. This is the list of ten vocabulary words that I didn?t
know as I read ?Lisa Bright & Dark?. Most of them deal
with Lisa?s illness is some way. 1. schizophrenia : a
psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the
environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of
functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of
personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in
hallucinations and delusions), and conduct — called also
dementia praecox. 2. confidante : CONFIDANT especially
: one who is a woman. 3. conscience : the sense or
consciousness of the moral goodness or blame worthiness of
one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a
feeling of obligation to do right or be good. 4. immobility :
the incapability of being moved. 5. Mountie : a member of
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 6. quarry : a
diamond-shaped pane of glass, stone, or tile. 7. aquiline :
curving like an eagle’s beak. 8. analyst : a person who
analyzes or who is skilled in analysis. 9. docilely : easily led
or managed : TRACTABLE. 10. barbiturate : any of various
derivatives of barbituric acid used esp. as sedatives,
hypnotics, and antispasmodics.