Premium Essay

Winter Girls

In:

Submitted By bestintheworld
Words 762
Pages 4
English 2 Pre-AP
April 12, 2012 A Bumpy Road to Recovery Lia Overbrook is an anorexic girl who seeks recovery for her cut up and weightless body. As a child, Lia and her best friend Cassie swore to become the skinniest girls in school. This evolved into an obsession by both girls, causing problems not only for friends and family, but for themselves as well. Cassie’s death haunts Lia throughout the story and seeks literally as well as figuratively. In Winter Girls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Lia Overbrook demonstrates her addiction to weight loss as a way to cope with her mental instability by concealing her weight and making reckless decisions. Lia’s craze for extreme weight loss leads her to mental breakdowns in her life. Lia expresses her mind versus body conflict with her thinking she could “gnaw off [her] right hand (Anderson 27).” Lia’s eagerness for a decent meal becomes uncontrollable at times. However, she refuses to eat in fear that she will gain fat. Even as a youthful individual Lia’s contemplations and fears about gaining weight had been engraved into her brain. Her anxiety and despair constantly damages her sense of awareness to the point where her life is in danger. Lia’s self-reasoning and insecurities about gaining weight drives her to having a negative connotation about food, “You eat and are punished in the same bite (Anderson 31).” To Lia, food is endless calories that lead to a life of obesity and problems. Food is portrayed as a toxic monster ready to kill her whereas in reality, food is not detrimental. Throughout the story, Lia denies help leading her to having a mental break down and a wrong outlook toward life. Lia fails to please herself and anyone else as she strives for a body that is unachievable and impossible to obtain. Lia constantly refuses to accept the help offered, which

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Winter Girl

...* Professor Overbrook tries to talk to me, too bad he doesn’t exist; I don’t have a father or a mother. I just have white spaces with no walls and the box of garbage bags. (216) * I showed her how I’d been making tiny cuts in my skin to let the badness and the pain leak out. They were shallow at first, and short, like claw marks made by a desperate cat that wanted to hide under the front porch. Cutting pain was a different flavor of hurt. It made it easier not to think about having my body and my family and my life stolen, made it easier not to care.... (166) * Yes, I’d love to tell you that Cassie’s voice is on the phone in my purse and she is haunting me because I let her die. If I do, you’ll give me even more drugs. If I tell you what I ate today, you’ll pull the alarm and send me back to jail. (117) * You’re not skinny. You are a pus- filled whale. Your mom wishes she had given you up for adoption. Your dad secretly thinks you’re not really his kid. People laugh at you when your fat jiggles. You’re ugly. You’re stupid. You’re boring. The only thing you’re good at is starving, but you can’t even do that right. You’re a waste.” (244) * If I don’t, there’s a good chance she’ll wrestle me to the floor, pry open my mouth, and pour it into me . Or drive me to the hospital and stick me with IV’s until I inflate and bounce along the ceiling like a Thanksgiving Day parade balloon....

Words: 277 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Comparative Essay

...“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” This is one of my favorite quotes that were spoken by Henry David Thoreau. When the seasons alter from winter to spring or summer to autumn there are many changes that the world seems like a happier place. The two seasons that seems to stand out the most are autumn and spring. Although there is exquisite beauty in the seasons of autumn and spring, there are also distinctions, which allow each season to stand on its own. One of the first notable differences between them is the weather change. When spring arrives, the temperature rises and the days get longer. There are mass amounts of colorful flowers with beautiful smells that make everyone’s days a little brighter. The grass turns green and the flowers begin to blossom. One of my favorite spring memories is when I was eight years old and I loved gardening with my mother. We have a garden in our back yard that we call the “love garden” because it was shaped like a heart. We would put certain flowers in places to make a pattern. When you looked down from my deck, it doesn’t just look like colorful flowers, it appears to be like a mosaic picture. Spring is also known to accumulate a great amount of rain. Windshield wipers are on full blast so drivers can see. Children are constantly jumping and splashing in the puddles like a cat playing with a ball of yarn. I always like watching all of the birds...

Words: 1097 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Persuasive- Summer/Winter

...Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin COM 170 Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin Do you like summer in Wisconsin or is it winter that gets you excited? Do you like frigid temperatures or is it the hot sun that gets your goat? For me, summer is where it’s at. I am patient for 272 days every year waiting for June 21st to come around (even though I start my summer as soon as the local schools let out), and when it does, let the good times roll and the festivities begin! Winter, on the other hand, is a dreadfully cold and treacherous event that I would really rather not deal with or talk about; I will talk about it though just to let everyone know how I truly feel about it. The weather itself is an absolute disgrace and the season in general is horrible (except for Christmas, snowmobiling and sledding)! For some people, winter is their favorite season, but for me, it is summer and its glorious weather that gets my vote. In the summer, the days start to get longer; the sun rises earlier and goes to bed later. There are sounds of children running around playing tag, screeching hysterically because they are about to be “it”. Neighborhood dogs are barking incessantly because of all the commotion and just because they can. The air starts to smell sweet, like that of freshly cut grass. To me, one of the best parts of summer is the sweet smell of freshly cut grass. Nothing beats walking out of your house on a warm summer afternoon, having the sun instantly...

Words: 1119 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Svdp

...Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin Tricia Pawlowski COM 170 Summer vs Winter in Wisconsin Do you like summer in Wisconsin or is it winter that gets you excited? Do you like frigid temperatures or is it the hot sun that gets your goat? For me, summer is where it’s at. I am patient for 272 days every year waiting for June 21st to come around (even though I start my summer as soon as the local schools let out), and when it does, let the good times roll and the festivities begin! Winter, on the other hand, is a dreadfully cold and treacherous event that I would really rather not deal with or talk about; I will talk about it though just to let everyone know how I truly feel about it. The weather itself is an absolute disgrace and the season in general is horrible (except for Christmas, snowmobiling and sledding)! For some people, winter is their favorite season, but for me, it is summer and its glorious weather that gets my vote. In the summer, the days start to get longer; the sun rises earlier and goes to bed later. There are sounds of children running around playing tag, screeching hysterically because they are about to be “it”. Neighborhood dogs are barking incessantly because of all the commotion and just because they can. The air starts to smell sweet, like that of freshly cut grass. To me, one of the best parts of summer is the sweet smell of freshly cut grass. Nothing beats walking out of your house on a warm summer afternoon,...

Words: 1278 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Drjane.Com – Custom Vitamins

...Center is an ice-skating rink with a conventional hockey rink surface. It is the only indoor ice rink in a northern U.S. city of about 450,000. The city’s recreation department operates some outdoor rinks in the winter but they don’t regular ice skating programs because of weather variability. To try to increase the profits, Claude is trying to expand and improve his public skating program. As his calculator, he could have 700people in a public season at one time, and he could got 3500USD for two hours period (charging 5usd/person) replace for 200USD an hour. But unfortunately, it is not like Claude thought. Only few times seem likely: Friday and Saturday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. In total, he generates a little more revenue are extra costs but he need to pay more money for hire more people like guards, a ticket seller, skate rental, and more concession help. That means the net revenue is the same. Next action is he could cancel some of the less attractive public sessions and he also recognize the different public skating sessions do seem to attract different people and really different kinds of people. The Saturday and Sunday afternoon public skating sessions have been the most successful, with an average of 200 people attending during the winter season. Typically, this is a “kid-sitting” session. In the spring and fall, however, attendance drops by about half, depending on how nice the weather is. The Friday and Saturday evening public sessions are a big...

Words: 1320 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Sunset Grill Case

...Background – Sunset Grill at Blue Mountain (Sunset-at-Blue) located in the Village at Blue Mountain in Toronto is an all-day “fresh to order” breakfast restaurant owned by Bruce Melhuish and his partner. Unlike most diners in the location, Sunset Grill at Blue operates only one shift per day with the hours of operation from 7am to 4pm all year round. The franchise philosophy is to maintain a friendly environment serving made to order fresh and healthy food. To retain this image, Sunset Grill selectively approves the owners. It is one of two Sunset Grill franchises located in Toronto’s tourist destinations. This location has contributed to both the success and some challenges to the franchise owners. For example, due to being located in a tourist area, many customizations with the layout, floor finishing, and inventory management added to the initial investment costs. However, in the first year of operations, Sunset Grill at Blue broke even financially. Although Bruce has made this success in the first year, the business currently faces some operational issues which hinder the potential for Sunset-at-Blue to generate more sales. Bruce has noticed several problems with the restaurant operation which create constraints to their sales generation potential. Several of the problems Bruce noticed are as follows: 1. Queues on weekends could take up to 25 minutes of wait time to be seated by host. 2. Usually 40 to 50 chits/orders waiting in the kitchen to be cooked. Bruce...

Words: 460 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Lnokufko Tf

...The Selfish Giant “The selfish giant” is a short story by Oscar Wilde with the elements of fantasy and fairy tales. Oscar Wild, the author, is a famous Irish story-teller, playwright. A lot of stories show the mastery of Oscar Wilde’s story narrating skills. The Selfish giant is a bright example of his witty, intriguing and absorbing works. In this story, the writer wants us to know that if we are selfish and vile toward one another, we will always have a storm in our lives. The story explains that the Giant had a continuous winter storm in his garden because he wouldn’t allow the children to play there; this showed us his selfishness. The writer also revealed that the Giant kept company with a Cornish ogre (a giantic hideous monster that ate humans) thus, revealing how vile the Giant was. The Giant was moved with compassion when he saw a little boy struggling to get into a tree. The writer later conveyed that the little boy represented Jesus and because the Giant "blessed" the little boy and other children by letting them play in his garden, God blessed him by allowing the Giant into His Paradise. My opinion is that the writer is trying to inform us that if we give happiness to others we can also feel happiness in our life. This story teaches the reader the importance of the friendship. When love is involved it is important to be careful in the way you treat your friends and the way your things are shared because what it is given is what it is going to be received. The Selfish...

Words: 905 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Poetry Analysis

...9 August 2010 A Season of Changes In “To Autumn” by John Keats, the narrator uses visual imagery and personification to emphasize autumn’s progression towards winter. By using visual imagery, the narrator captures the season of autumn not only as a time of maturity, abundance, and warmth, but also as a time of death and dying, the cold desolation that becomes winter. The narrator personifies autumn as a woman, allowing the grace and beauty of the season to emanate from the words on the page. Autumn is a season that delights the senses with all of its colorful grandeur, yet autumn is also a season of gray, melancholy days that beg for quiet reflection as winter’s decay invades its existence. Autumn’s passing is gracefully mourned with the knowledge she will return to delight us again the following year. The first stanza uses visual imagery to appeal to the senses of sight and taste. The “seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness” (1) captures the atmosphere of autumn in England. Autumn is a time for the cool fog that often permeates the morning dew as the sun rises. The richly colored leaves of yellow, orange, and red and the cornucopia of the harvest symbolize the maturation of autumn. An abundance of apples on “mossed cottage-trees” (5), “fruit with ripeness to the core” (6), and “plump...hazel shells” (7) tempt the taste buds with an array of succulence that cannot compare to any other season. Autumn is a time to savor the colors, the crisp morning air, and...

Words: 935 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Poem Analysis: Those Winter Sundays

...Robert Hayden 1913-1980 Those winter Sundays Sundays too my father got up early And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, Then with cracked hands that ached From labor in the weekday weather made Banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, And slowly I would rise and dress, Fearing the chronic angers of that house, Speaking indifferently to him, Who had driven out the cold And polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know Of love’s austere and lonely offices? Poem “Those Winter Sundays” is wrote by Robert Hayden, generally seen as a crafted lyric on a universal theme---paternal love, describing a past day and showing a present reverence for author’s father. The title “Those Wither Sundays” emphasizes the time background. It is Sundays, not Tuesdays or Fridays. Sundays are days at home, days completely belongs to ourselves, days that we see our families the most. Hayden recalls the past and realizes how much he had to thank his father. It was a normal Sunday in winter when the author was a little boy; his father got up early, made the fire with his “cracked hands”, woke him up and polished shoes for him. The theme is presented directly and explicitly through every rich physical detail. The poem doesn’t use a masculine pronoun; it sounds more like a woman’s. Through the choice of the gender of voice, I can see the speaker is a soft and sensitive man...

Words: 839 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Frost After Apple Picking Analysis

...speaker begins by saying that his ladder is still pointing toward heaven, which conveys a sense of the afterlife. He goes on to describe one barrel of apples that was not filled, which could be a metaphor describing his fulfillment in life. When he is done apple picking, the speaker describes the change from fall to winter. He describes his feeling of sleepiness that is associated with the winter. This seasonal change and the deep sleep that the speaker is about to enter may represent the transition from life to death. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker is giving up on apple picking, but there is definitely a sense that this has a larger meaning: And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple picking now. Essence of the winter sleep is on the night. (lines 3-7) Before this quotation, the speaker notices that his ladder is pointed toward heaven. After he notices that, he expresses that he is giving up on apple picking. In this passage, the speaker conveys a feeling that he wishes he had picked more apples. He has to give up because of the impending winter sleep. The entire passage might be about giving up on life. The barrel he did not fill and the few apples he did not pick may represent some things in life that he was unable to do. Although he did not do everything he wanted to do in life, he still accomplished a lot of things. The things he did accomplish are represented...

Words: 697 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Example Sonnet 17 Review Wip

...prevailing images. In the first one it is the change of seasons, passing times of the days in the second one and in the last quatrain it is the development from fire to ashes. In the first quatrain there are symbols which refer to the change of seasons. "When yellow leaves, ¦.. (l.2) for example symbolizes autumn, "cold and the "bare ruined choirs (l.3/4) refer to winter and " ¦where late the sweet birds sang (l.4) stands for spring and summer. In the second quatrain "sunset (l.6) refers to evening and "death ´s second self (l.8) stands for night. In the last quatrain "glowing (l.9), "fire (l.9) and "ashes (l.10) are part of the prevailing image: a fire which is dying down. Spring/summer, morning/noon and the fire symbolize youth. You are still active, strong and your soul is carefree and not burdened by many memories of things you have lost in your life. Autumn, evening and the glowing of fire refer to becoming/being old. You lose your beauty and your passion, you are not that active anymore and you have a lot of hurting memories of beloved things and persons you have lost. Winter, night and the ashes refer to death. Life is over now and you can not change anything anymore. The couplet at the end has the function of a resume. The lyrical I says that you will love "things more strong by being aware of the fact that you are going to lose within a short...

Words: 314 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Marketing Project Business Plan

...Stepping Out of the Climate: Climacon A Comm 223 Project Group Members: Vincent Bernard 6084400 Marcelle Saulnier 6642322 Erica Jackman 6572820 Kamilia Bouraoui 6460305 Aida Hassar 6376479 Tung Nguyen 9218416 Professor Elana Cooperberg Comm 223/ Section Q Due Date: April 16, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Identification of a New Product 3 Identification of Two Sources of Inspiration. 3 Description of the Product. 4 Explanation of the Product’s Success. 4 Macro-environmental Impact 5 Demographic Environment. 5 Economic Environment. 6 Natural Environment. 6 Technological Environment. 7 Political Environment. 7 Cultural Environment. 8 Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning 9 Identification of Two Potential Markets for the product. 9 Selection of the Target Market. 9 Value proposition. 10 Differentiation. 11 Unique selling proposition. 11 Explanation of our logo… 11 Secondary Data & Sales Potential 13 Secondary Data… 13 Sales Potential… 14 Marketing Mix 15 Appendix 20 References 27 IDENTIFICATION OF THE NEW PRODUCT Identified below are two sources that were used in classifying our product: 1. www.thefancy.com This website...

Words: 5566 - Pages: 23

Free Essay

Heaven on Earth

... The land of the heavens, also known as Valldemossa is put on par with the divines for many different reasons’. One, is the luxurious landscape- mountains emboss the earths crust giving the land characteristics, such as the haze grey mountains were an expressed feeling from the earth itself. Continuing on, the mountains towered in groups as if they’re standing a post, watching, and keeping guard for troubles that lurks along the ocean’s horizon. The luscious vegetation filled the landscape, and skirted the contour of the mountains- as if it was water filling the volume of the available space. Or better yet a Bernhardt page 2. blanket that covers the mountains and its surroundings keeping them warm through the winter season. Although its the winter season, when the temperature...

Words: 550 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Process Design

...A TIE-DYE SHIRT BUSINESS Process design, according to Slack, Brandon-Jones, and Johnston (2013, p.97), means getting everything from the looks, arrangement, and workings of something well-prepared in order to make it official. I and my friend have discussed a number of ideas for the product we are going to sell and finally decided that ‘tie-dye shirts’ is the best option. We have a clear strategy for our product to go out and make an impression with the customers. In this essay, I am going to apply the process design in the production of the tie-dye shirts, which I believe it can be a huge success on the market if our strategy goes as planned. Since most Vietnamese people are not really familiar with the term ‘tie-dye shirt’ and we are the newcomers to the business, the project processes is the best option for us to start the trial for our product. Different designs will be released in limited number for people in the capital city, Hanoi to test the market and people’s thoughts on tie-dye shirts. The curiosity of customers will be high as it could be the first time they have ever looked at a tie-dye shirt. As a result, many of them would have high interests in making purchases for our products, which is a positive note for a new start-up business like ours. At this early stage, we plan to introduce to the customers the best products with the best quality because we need to earn the reputation as well as their trust in order to make our business prosper in the future. In...

Words: 963 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Powell Plumbing Research Paper

...How do you keep your pipes from freezing? Rather than heading out of town and coming back to a nightmare, the licensed plumbers at Powell Plumbing & Pumps in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, recommend winterizing your pipes before going on vacation in order to save money and prevent damage to your residential or commercial property. Check out these reasons to winterize your home, brought to you by the professional plumbers at Powell Plumbing & Pumps: Protect Your Property: While it may seem like a smart decision to turn off your heater during weekend getaways, this is a sure-fire way to cause your pipes to freeze and burst. Before leaving on vacation, contact the plumbers at Powell Plumbing & Pumps to install quality insulation, inspect your plumbing...

Words: 305 - Pages: 2