Book Analysis: Shattering Glass

Jessica Hernandez
Zeko
English
12 December 2016 The Struggle to make it on top
"Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble." Yehuda Berg explains that words have a big impact and can apply to any situation. Everyone character experiences a little taste of what these words can do to them.In the novel Shattering Glass by Gail Giles we can see through psychological lens through character development.
Audre Lore said “ We are powerful because we have survived.” What we go through each day makes us stronger as person. What Rob had went through was traumatic for him and ruined his childhood. He was molested and taken advantage of. Surely that was a main factor of why
Simon Glass’s character in the beginning of the novel was the typical nerd who gets made fun of and pushed around. Simon Glass was an insecure person and resulted to him to having no friends. “What's the deal, Rob? You just woke up this morning and decided Simon Glass was your best buddy?” Simon is confused why Rob wants to be his friend because he's the school nerd and Rob runs the school (22). Simon gets accepted into the group and is now liked by people. Overtime Simon starts to get more comfortable and changes more into Rob saying “This was all Lance. I didn't make him do anything. I just gave him the rope to hang himself” (130). It's now Simon who knows what it feels like to be in control and wants more if it. But not everyone liked that idea and not everyone liked the new Simon. At the end of the book it seems everyone likes Simon and he's taken over Lance’s spot. Nobody really knew what happened behind the scenes. Rob did change Simon but not for the better. At the end when Rob was beating Simon he shouts “Christ, what a group we've got here. One is the son of some kind of faggot, another who's so chicken that he ought to be a woman, and you…” He jabbed his finger in my direction. “One who's such a pussy that he gives up his girl because somebody told him to. And to think, Young, it was all for nothing. Ronna’s gone and Simon Glass has her and all you're left is shit. Tell us how
It's what unites us. The trick is not to let it destroy your trust in others when it happens. Don't let them take that from you”- Sherrilyn Kenyon. Young had such a tremendous change as a character. He was the straight A student who had such a bright future. After while Young gets fed up with everyone deciding everything for him. “Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn't realize it until the day we killed him”(1). Simon got what he wanted. Young envied that and started to hate Simon. It made Young a horrible person. “Cut the crap, Glass. You want to ask Ronna to the dance, and you're afraid I'm an obstacle”(182). At this point of the book Young just gets annoyed by anything Simon does or says. It mainly has to do with the fact that Rob made Young give Ronna away to Simon. He doesn't like how happy Simon is. As we get deeper into the novel we start to see more of Young’s darker thoughts. But we wonder if Simon is the reason he starts to think that way or he's the reason he's letting them out with him saying “Kicking someone else's ass feels so much better than kicking your own, and I wished that I could run over Glass right there in the street. I could imagine how satisfying it would feel when his body thudded against the bumper” (183). Young is not the same as he was in the beginning of the