Nineteen Minutes

By: Jodi Picoult

Protagonist

Josie is the main character in this book. She is the character that everyone has a connection with. The book really revolves around her life, and this big event that has taken place.

Antagonist

Matt is Josie’s boyfriend. He is the one that brings all of the negative into the story. He is a huge part in why this school shooting happened, and why he was killed. He made Josie become someone who she wasn’t.

Favorite Character

My favorite character is Patrick Ducharme. He is the police officer. He was the first one into the shooting and because of him lives were saved. Not only was he a hero, but he also ends up falling in love with Josie’s mom Alex. After all that has happened in their lives, he has really proven to their family that everything can and will be normal again in the future.

Least Favorite Character

My least favorite character is Matt. He was Josie’s boyfriend. He is the one that made her popular. She did not respect him at all and hated who he had made her. She never ended it because she wanted to be popular even though she hated who she was because of it. Even though Josie didn’t know it, he tortured her in so many ways and was a big bully. Matt ends up dying in the school shooting.

Exposition

The two main characters are Josie and Peter. These two go way back in their lives. They were best friends all through their childhood. There were two things that stopped them from being best friends through high school. The first one was an incident that happened when they were younger when Peter showed Josie his Dad’s guns. Alex Josie’s mom didn’t allow them to hang out anymore. The second reason was that Josie really just wanted to be popular. Peter didn’t care for that, and continued to live his life. Peter was really “different” and didn’t really have friends. He didn’t fit in with anyone. Josie went in the other direction and got her boyfriend Matt and became one of the popular crowd even though she hated who it made her.

Rising Action

Peter became the boy who was always bullied and tormented. The final humiliation was when he was trying to get Josie to sit with him at lunch. Everyone laughed at him, and Matt pulled his pants down. He stood there half naked and completely mortified, and then he ran out of there. A few days later, Peter stole a gun from his neighbors house. This is when he started planning for his revenge.

Climax

On March 6, 2007, Peter Houghton brings chaos to Sterling High School. He shot and killed ten people, and injured many more. Josie was not shot but had hit her head and put uncontieous. When she woke up she didn’t remember a thing. Matt had been killed in the shooting, and when Josie found out she didn’t know what was going to happen to her life. She didn’t think she could be the popular girl without him.

Falling Action

After the shooting they have to figure out a lot of what really happened, and how it happened. Patrick takes charge in this case. If feels really close to home for him, he says that this is the worst thing he has ever seen. He gets everyones side of the story. Peter takes the blame for all that he has done. His parents can’t believe they didn’t see this coming and they don’t know how they hardly knew who he really was. Josie begins to go on with her life, she hardly talks to the popular crowd anymore.

Resolution

Five months after, Josie comes out with the truth. She admits that she is the one that shot Matt. She goes to jail for the next four years. She should now get the help that she needs. She turned her back on a friend who needed her, she became popular and hated who she was, and she was always thinking about killing herself. Now she can get the help and when she gets out of jail she can just be Josie. She will love herself for that.

Setting

Time Period: The book goes back and forth between the present time and the past. So really it goes back to when both Josie and Peter were born. She goes to jail in March 2008. The book covers about 18 years of their lives.

Place: Sterling, New Hampshire. This is a very small town where everyone knows everyone.

Themes

1. Peer Pressure: Teenagers need to be taught and learn how to be their own person. They need to realize that it is okay to be who they are, and stand up for what they believe in.

2. Violence: No matter how bad things get for, you should never result into violence. It only brings you down to their level and in this story ends up ruining the rest of your life.

3. Bullying: Bullying is being just straight up mean. This usually means that you have something wrong with yourself, or you do this to make yourself feel better about you. There is just no way to justify that bullying is the right thing to be doing.

Rating

I give this book a 10 in rating. I really loved this book, it taught me a lot, and also just always kept me wanting to know more. I never wanted to put the book down.

Social Issue

I have put this book into two social issues that I think go hand in hand with each other. They are….

BULLYINGSCHOOL VIOLENCE

You Tube Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJut7KQhI4

MUSIC

POEM http://www.gotpoetry.com/Poems/l_op=viewpoems/lid=23895.html

School Violence by Crys

You put your kids to bedWith Good intentions in your headYou tuck them in tightYou wish them a good nightTomorrows another school dayAnd with it knowledge comes their wayYou teach them to careYou teach them to shareYou teach them to trustYou teach them that learning is a mustMorning comes and you send them to schoolWith the knowledge they should follow the rules

Later in the day you get a call...Theres been a shooting...Your child has taken a fall!

Another student full of rageWent to school with guns and hand grenadesTeachers and students are running scaredTheres blood everywhere, bodies in the hallsFriends and teachers are involvedYou don't know what to doYour in a daze, it happened so fastIt all ended in a blast!Your child has been taken awayAnd it happened within a school dayWe all must wake up and stop the violence!Speak up! Don't be silent!Our kids are dyingAnd some of us aren't even tryingWe have to take a standAnd make this craziness end!!!Life is worth livingAnd love is worth giving...So why is this world taking our young soulsInstead of letting them grow old?Why are we killingInstead of healing?

At last I pray, "Dear God, Bless those who are left behind,And let them keep this in mind...We can not change what happened that sad day,But maybe we can stop the sorrows of tomorrow."

BULLYING

Bullying includes a wide variety of behaviors, but all involve a person or a group repeatedly trying to harm someone who is weaker or more vulnerable. It can involve direct attacks (such as hitting, threatening or intimidating, maliciously teasing and taunting, name-calling, making sexual remarks, and stealing or damaging belongings) or, indirect attacks (such as spreading rumors or encouraging others to reject or exclude someone).

statistics

About 30 percent of teens in the US are said to be involved in school bullying. They are involved by either being a bully, a target of teen bullying, or being both a bully and a target. It shows in a recent national survey that was taken of students in grades 6-10 that 13 percent of them said they were a bully towards others, 11 percent said they were the target of school bullies, and 6 percent said they were both a bully and a target for bullies.

Age differences

Teen bullying is much more common with younger teens than it is with older teens. It is shown that as teens grow older, they are less likely to bully others and be a target of bullying.

Difference between boys and girls

It is proven that bullying occurs a lot more among boys than it does girls. Teenage boys are a lot more likely to bully others than to be bullied themselves. Most teens say that they are bullied by being made fun of the way they look or talk. But in reality, boys are more likely to report being physically beaten. Teenage girls are often more sensitive to rumors and sexual comments. These things are often what the girls are targets of. Usually when a girl is bullying, she is bullying another girl. On the other hand, boys target both boys and girls. Girls usually use more subtle and indirect forms of bullying while boys use more aggression.

How do the targets of bullies really feel?

Teen bullying can cause teenagers to feel many different emotions.

tense anxious afraid It can affect the way they act in school and around others. A lot

of the time it leads them to avoid school, and other crowded surroundings. As the bullying continues, it can begin to affect ones self-esteem and also their feelings of self-worth. It is known to increase their social isolation. This leads to them becoming depressed and withdrawn. Some teens go to the extreme and carry weapons for protection or try to take violent revenge. Others who feel desperate will consider suicide.

statistics

Teen bullies are four times more likely to be convicted of crimes by age 24 than non-bullies. 60 percent of teen bullies have at least one criminal conviction in their future.

School Violence

There is no single reason why students become violent. School violence is very difficult to understand. Some teens follow the behavior they have seen at home, on the streets, or in the entertainment like video games, TV and movies. Sometimes, people who have been victims of teasing and feel like they would do anything to make it stop turn violent. Another reason is one who may feel isolated and rejected by their peers. There is one thing that all experts do agree on, and that is that having access to guns or other weapons makes it easier for some people to lash out against the things or people they don’t like.

statistics

It is safer to be in school than it is to be in a car. Twice as many 15-19 year olds die in car accidents than in shootings. That is all shootings, not just the ones that happen in schools. Less than 1% of all homicides among school age children happen on school grounds or on the way to and from school.

Prevention

Some schools will now require guests to check in at the office, and some have even installed metal detectors. Greater awareness of problems like bullying is another thing that helps make schools safer. There are many schools that are trying new programs to fight these issues. The programs help teachers and administration know more about protecting students from this type of violence.

Prevention

The community is a big part in preventing school violence. School violence is a reflection of what goes on in our communities and neighborhoods. Schools are most effective in confronting school violence when the community around them gives them support.

School violence prevention

Schools must build a school-wide foundation for all children.

Schools must identify students at risk for severe academic or behavioral difficulties early on and create services and supports that address risk factors and build protective factors for them.

Schools must identify and provide intensive interventions for the few children who are experiencing significant emotional and behavioral problems.

Treating a victim of bullying

Tell the child or adolescent that you care and are concerned. Gather a complete violence history from the child or adolescent that

addresses exposure to violence, safety issues, stressors in school, family, and community.

Talk to the child's parents/caregivers about bullying and its seriousness. Address any myths they might hold about bullying. Some parents may believe that bullying is a normal part of childhood and that children are best left to work it out among themselves. Some believe that fighting back is the best way to stop bullying.

Provide the child's parents with information about bullying and how to help their child respond to bullying.

Provide the child or adolescent with information on bullying. Encourage the child's school to implement a comprehensive violence

prevention plan that includes an anti-bullying component.

Bibliography

Aid, F. F. (n.d.). School Bullying and Teen Bullying Statistics. Express, T. &. (2010, January 30). School Violence Needs Real

Solutions. Halligan, J. (2003). If We Only Knew, If He Only Told Us. llbo, T. C. (2010, February 25). Bullying on the Rise in Elementary

Schools. Picoult, J. (2007). Nineteen Minutes. New York. Prevention, N. Y. (n.d.). Elements of Effective School Violence

Prevention Plans . reports, S. (2010, February 23). Bill that targets bullying clears

committee at State House. p. 1. TeensHealth. (n.d.). Bullying is a Big Problem. pp. 1-6.