Celia Behind Me analysis
Celia Behind Me
By Isabel Huggan – 1989
The pressure to be perfect, to fit in, to be part of the group and accepted. These are things the majority of teenagers go through in their early years. At the time it will seem like the most important thing in life and an insecure teenager or child will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. The persistence to achieve the desired social status and acceptance from fellow classmates will often lead to the horror of bullying. Upgrading yourself by downgrading another. This is the main purpose of bullying.
The victims of bullying are left with emotional scars that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Being bullied is a serious matter, filling the news are stories of young boys and girls resorting to what they feel is their last option – committing suicide.
Suicide may have been the victim of this short story’s last resort. In the novel ‘’Celia Behind Me’’ by Isabel Huggan, the reader is presented with the horrible story of the 4th grader Celia, told by her own bully and the main character Elizabeth. The story is told as a memory of Elizabeth and is therefore written in past tense.
Elizabeth is, in the memory, the age of 9 and is having trouble trying to fit in with the cool kids at school. These kids’ favorite hobby is bullying their classmate Celia and though she and Elizabeth are very much alike, she joins in on the bullying.
The reader is informed of the recent death of Elizabeth’s two aunts and an immediate connection between Celia their death is made. Elizabeth makes the simile herself when she compares her mother’s description of her aunts’ accident to the shape of Celia’s head. By connecting these things Elizabeth channels all her unresolved feelings to Celia making her hatred of her grow.
Elizabeth’s mother and father seem to be somewhat neglecting her. They have failed in helping her process the loss of her aunts, causing her to be filled with so much hatred, as well as in educating her properly. The
By Isabel Huggan – 1989
The pressure to be perfect, to fit in, to be part of the group and accepted. These are things the majority of teenagers go through in their early years. At the time it will seem like the most important thing in life and an insecure teenager or child will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. The persistence to achieve the desired social status and acceptance from fellow classmates will often lead to the horror of bullying. Upgrading yourself by downgrading another. This is the main purpose of bullying.
The victims of bullying are left with emotional scars that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. Being bullied is a serious matter, filling the news are stories of young boys and girls resorting to what they feel is their last option – committing suicide.
Suicide may have been the victim of this short story’s last resort. In the novel ‘’Celia Behind Me’’ by Isabel Huggan, the reader is presented with the horrible story of the 4th grader Celia, told by her own bully and the main character Elizabeth. The story is told as a memory of Elizabeth and is therefore written in past tense.
Elizabeth is, in the memory, the age of 9 and is having trouble trying to fit in with the cool kids at school. These kids’ favorite hobby is bullying their classmate Celia and though she and Elizabeth are very much alike, she joins in on the bullying.
The reader is informed of the recent death of Elizabeth’s two aunts and an immediate connection between Celia their death is made. Elizabeth makes the simile herself when she compares her mother’s description of her aunts’ accident to the shape of Celia’s head. By connecting these things Elizabeth channels all her unresolved feelings to Celia making her hatred of her grow.
Elizabeth’s mother and father seem to be somewhat neglecting her. They have failed in helping her process the loss of her aunts, causing her to be filled with so much hatred, as well as in educating her properly. The