Indledning
Many students experience pressure during their time as a student. There is pressure from society to do well in school and to graduate. This makes some students feel like failures if they cannot make it to graduation.
The story “She’s The Bomb”, written by T. Coraghessan Boyle and published in 2017 expresses the consequences it can have for a student who drops out.
The main character, Hailey, is willing to call in a bomb to avoid the humiliation for not participating in the graduation.
The short story takes in the state of New York. The text mentions two fictional towns: Hibernia in the state of New York and Poughquasic Falls, which is located fifteen miles south of Hibernia.
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Uddrag
The main character Hailey is described through descriptions from the narrator’s point of view. Her age is not mentioned, but since she goes to college, she is probably around the age of 20.
Her appearance reflects a normal teenager’s: “black Topshop jeans, suede ankle boots, and a tight tee that read HOMEMADE across her tits” (ll. 132-133).
For a while, she goes to Hibernia College, in the College of Arts and Sciences. After she is arrested, Hailey starts working as a salesclerk at Nordstrom Rack in a town called Poughquasic Falls, which is 15 miles away from the place she used to study.
Hailey is experiencing a very turbulent period in her life. She drops out of college, she lies to people who are close to her, and she goes through a depressive period.
She starts hating herself and does unethical things. Hailey struggles with her mental health.
She has low self-esteem, which leads Hailey to a depressive period. The depressive period makes Hailey hate herself and stop participating in social events that she usually enjoyed.
She also refers to herself as a “nobody” (l. 174). This shows that she is unstable and stressful situations affect her mental health.
Her low self-esteem results in suicide thoughts, which she mentions multiple times in her text-messages. She seems to have a strong relationship to the person she texts with since she is telling the person about her deep thoughts.
Hailey has a complicated relationship with her mother. When Hailey’s mother tells her how proud she is of her for being the first in the family to graduate, she feels the need to keep up the pretense which indicates that she is afraid to disappoint her mother.
She confides her problems to the person over the text-messages, since she does not feel comfortable confiding with her mother.
Her mother seems to be demanding and criticizing her daughter: “Her mother, since as long as she could remember, was always harping on her.” (l. 46).
The person she is texting gives her the support and positive attention that she does not receive from her mother. When falling in love with Connor, her life becomes more chaotic.
She goes to bars that offer large amounts of alcohol and she drinks at breakfast. She also drops out of college. Her mother will only support her in attending college.
Therefore, her relationship with Connor makes the relationship with her mother worse. Hailey seems to be more concerned with herself than the people among her when she wishes for situations where she puts other people’s lives in danger.
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