Cancer In Ellen Dodson's 'Farewell To Violet'

Could you imagine finding out that you have cancer? “Farewell to Violet” By Ellen Dodson. Nicole is a young teenager who has found out that she has cancer, and will loss her hair. She blocks her mom out, so she doesn’t have anyone to talk to about what she is going through. Nicole takes control of what’s happening to her in her own way. In “Farewell to Violet” Nicole feels powerless about having cancer but decides to take control of it in her own ways. Nicole won’t tell her mom what’s going on. She won’t tell her how she feels and what she’s going through. Her mom doesn’t try very hard to communicate with her about her cancer. “Nicki?” The voice traveled up the stairs. “What, mom?” She called over her shoulder. “What are you doing?” “I’m leaving for a while!” Before she could finish her escape to the back door, a jogging suite rounded the corner. “But, honey…” Nicole feels like she can’t talk to her mom about what’s going on. Her mom wouldn’t understand what she’s going to do and would just get mad at her. As a result she decides to do something that will help her coop with losing her hair.
She dyes her hair purple, the purpose of doing this is because she hates purple, so she won’t mind having to get rid of her hair. “Regurgitated Wine isn’t a very pretty color against your skin. Want to look some more?” Nicole shook her head. “Just do it.” She doesn’t care if it doesn’t look good against her skin, she’s dying her hair for a totally different reason, and the hair dresser doesn’t understand, and she doesn’t feel like explain herself. She is doing this to feel like she has power over having cancer, so she can control at least one thing out of her crappy situation. Another thing she does to feel like she has control is go visit a place that has value to this