Literature Analysis #4

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
1. The book opens with Lia's best friend, Cassie, dying in a motel room alone after calling Lia 33 hopeless times. Lia's life continues to spiral out of control as she starves and cuts herself, and pushes everyone away from her. Years ago, Lia and Cassie established a bet on who could become the skinniest. They both struggled together. Lia is anorexic and Cassie was bulimic. Cassie's death had an immense impact on Lia and Lia continued to lose weight. She had gone to rehab and therapy but nothing worked. Lia would cheat on her treatment plan, and rigged the scale at home to show that her weight was increasing when it was really decreasing. Lia didn't get along with her mom so she lived with her dad, step-mom, and younger sister. Everyone would try to help Lia but she refused it. They thought Lia was getting better, but she secretly was getting worse. A boy, Elijah, that worked at the motel the night Cassie died befriends Lia and tells her what he knows. Lia then begins seeing Cassie's ghost everywhere and can't escape it. She would take pills or exercise at night, but her visions only got stronger. Lia's refusal to eat causes tension at home, which is something she tried to shield her sister, Emma, from. Lia goes and sees her mom who tells her that Cassie died after her esophagus ruptured from many years of vomiting and drinking. Lia's visions of Cassie become stronger and Cassie tells Lia that she will soon be with her. Lia is slipping and it becomes visible to her father. They fight over Lia going back to treatment. Emma then walks in on Lia after she sliced her chest open multiple times. After almost dying and being discharged from the hospital, Lia's mother who is a doctor takes care of her. After Lia's session with her psychiatrist, where she's told that she should be placed in a psychiatric-care facility, she visits Elijah at the motel where Cassie died. She wants to leave with him, but while she's asleep he lives without her. Lia is malnourished, dehydrated, and about to overdose on sleeping pills. She toys with thoughts of suicides. She decides to leave because her sister Emma needs her, but then she sees Cassie in the room she died in. Cassie tells her that her heart is about to stop and it's too late. Lia the grabs the symbolic see-glass out of Cassie's mouth and sees her future. She apologizes to Cassie for not answering her calls and phones her mother to tell her where she's at. The ambulance come, Lia's heart stops, but she lives and is taken to the hospital. Lia is readmitted for treatment and this time she wants to live. Lia wants to recover and rebuild her life and relationships, and knows she can do it by taking baby steps.
2. The most prominent theme of this book is self perception. Lia struggles throughout the entirety of the book with how she sees herself. She strives to become the size she wants but her weight is never low enough. At 89 pounds Lia still sees herself has fat and ugly. Cassie too struggled with negative self perception which led to her death.
3. The tone of the book is depressing and distant. The story is dark and the way the author writes Lia's point of view shows that she doesn't see herself as a real girl but as a lost cause. She is never happy and she doesn't want to deal with her problems. Lia acts as if Cassie's death didn't effect her when deep down inside it did. "Me and my dad never talk. We just pretend to think about talking and we mention from time to time that one of these days we really should sit down and talk. It'll never happen."
4. Allegory: "Dr Parker and all my parents live in a paper-mache world. They patch up problems with strips of newspaper and little glue."
Repetition: "Must. Not. Eat. Must. Not. Eat. Must Not. Eat."
Motif: The number 33. Cassie called Lia 33 times before she died. Lia's heartbeat was 33 beats per minute in the ambulance. They sewed Lia up with black thread 33 stitches.
Symbolism: "You're not dead, but you're not alive. You're a wintergirl." Lia (and previously Cassie) is frozen in this state of not being dead but not being alive. The story takes place in the winter so Lia is also physically cold because she is so thin.
Personification: "I put Band-Aids on my weeping cuts."
Irony: "I failed eating, failed drinking, failed not cutting myself into shreds. Failed friendship. Failed sisterhood and daughterhood. Failed mirrors and scales and phone calls. Good thing I'm stable."
Onomatopoeia: "The front door closes hard with a muffled whoomp that pushes air against all the windows."
Simile: "Her hair looks like an over-brushed doll's wig..."
Metaphor: "Drops of blood fell, careless seeds that sizzled in the snow." 
Allusion: Emma asks if Jesus is Santa's cousin.
Characterization
1. Direct: "Me- a scrawny elf girl the size of a small second grader standing up to a future varsity football player, offensive tackle."
"She was puking on purpose so she wouldn't get fat."
Indirect: "Most of the girl's soccer team is there too, along with Cassie's friends from the stage crew, and a couple girls from the musical."
"We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds.”
The author uses both direct and indirect characterization approach to make the story deeper and more diverse. It allows the reader to know exactly what the authors wants them too as well as allowing the reader to make an opinion of the characters on their own. The indirect characterization allows the reader to form their own understanding.
2. The author/narrator's syntax/diction/tone changes when talking about different characters. The syntax/diction/tone develops a character. Lia's thought and dialogue are portrayed different when talk to/about her innocent sister Emma and her mother with whom she doesn't get along with.
3. Throughout the majority of the story, Lia is a static character. She doesn't change at all. She keeps her close-minded ways. At the very end of the story, Lia proves to be a dynamic character when she decides that she wants to live and take care of herself to become healthy. Lia is also a round character. She believes she's a lost cause and tries to distant herself from emotions. Deep down however, the reader knows that she is affected by things and has feelings.
4. After reading this book I feel like I have met a person. The author did I great job of taking the reader inside of Lia's brains and showing us her thoughts that she never let her family see. This story provides insight into a real condition that many people struggle with.