Nineteen Minutes Second Draft
Natasha Arts
Ms. Hayden
ENG 4U – U5A1A1
April 21, 2015
ISP Journal
Nineteen Minutes
By: Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes, tells the story of the residents of Sterling, New Hampshire and how their lives were shattered in one nineteen minute long act of violence, a school shooting. Nineteen minutes represents a theme presented in the whole novel because at any time, at any ordinary minute, your world can be transformed. It takes a matter of minutes to change ordinary moments in our lives into ones that are permanently life-changing.
The novel starts off without character introductions and without establishing a setting. The novel begins with “In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game….In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem.
In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge” (Picoult 5).
Picoult uses this beginning as a way to draw the reader in, by establishing a foreboding tone, the reader is left curious for more. It details rather uneventful, common events but, in the last two sentences, the concept is a bit more broad and foreshadowing. It creates suspense and hints to some sort of revenge.
Picoult uses the first person narrative of many different characters to express that there are many different ways that a person can be the victim of such a tragedy. The novel mainly follows Peter Houghton the boy who is the school shooter and has been bullied all his life. The narration also follows Josie Cormier, a teenager who used to be Peter Houghton’s best friend and who has changed to become popular to fit in. There are also many other characters that are intertwined into the novel as well.
In addition to switching perspective, the novel also alternates every chapter between present time and flashbacks. Picoult uses these
Ms. Hayden
ENG 4U – U5A1A1
April 21, 2015
ISP Journal
Nineteen Minutes
By: Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes, tells the story of the residents of Sterling, New Hampshire and how their lives were shattered in one nineteen minute long act of violence, a school shooting. Nineteen minutes represents a theme presented in the whole novel because at any time, at any ordinary minute, your world can be transformed. It takes a matter of minutes to change ordinary moments in our lives into ones that are permanently life-changing.
The novel starts off without character introductions and without establishing a setting. The novel begins with “In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn, color your hair, watch a third of a hockey game….In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk a mile. You can sew a hem.
In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world, or you can just jump off it.
In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge” (Picoult 5).
Picoult uses this beginning as a way to draw the reader in, by establishing a foreboding tone, the reader is left curious for more. It details rather uneventful, common events but, in the last two sentences, the concept is a bit more broad and foreshadowing. It creates suspense and hints to some sort of revenge.
Picoult uses the first person narrative of many different characters to express that there are many different ways that a person can be the victim of such a tragedy. The novel mainly follows Peter Houghton the boy who is the school shooter and has been bullied all his life. The narration also follows Josie Cormier, a teenager who used to be Peter Houghton’s best friend and who has changed to become popular to fit in. There are also many other characters that are intertwined into the novel as well.
In addition to switching perspective, the novel also alternates every chapter between present time and flashbacks. Picoult uses these