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Backlash Sarah Littman Analysis

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What happens when the pills are sealed and protected, a laugh unexpressed, and a text never conceived? If the story is expunged and replaced with these acts of life’s choices, how does the story change? Would Sarah Littman’s book Backlash be the same? While taking apart the novel Backlash there are three objects that makes the reader question what if the story differentiated itself into these other possible factors. The objects that are meaningful to the story are the pills Lara is capable of taking, the laugh that is perceived, and Bree’s mother’s obsessive texts.
Lara goes to the bathroom medicine cabinet, but it is locked: “Anything that might resemble a pill is under lock and key in our house” (Littman 76). The pills are a significant …show more content…

Lara laughing out of the joy of making the cheerleading team turns Bree’s heart malevolent towards Lara. Bree took Lara’s laugh out of context like a third grade boy putting large words into his paper not knowing the true meaning ☺(Simile). Lara’s laugh caused Bree to chain-react with cyber bulling through Facebook on her computer. If Bree does not hear Lara’s laugh she would not have to tell the police the truth about her fake Christian profile because, it would not happen. With a malicious Facebook account uncreated it leaves Lara invulnerable. With Lara in a stable place in her life theirs no complications. It is all broken down to the laugh made by Lara. If this laugh does not take place then all the horde actions by Bree would not take place, leaving everything smooth and the neighborhood of Lara and Bree a calm and …show more content…

Pressure beings to arise from Bree’s mother and her obsessive texts: “No.STOP.I’LL TXT YOU! :/” (Littman 115). The texts that are popping up on Bree’s phone are making her anxious about her position on the cheerleading squad. Bree wants dance and her mother wants cheerleading. When Bree comes to find that she does not make the cheerleading squad she tries to put the blame on her ex-friend Lara. If Bree’s mother does not text her while she is in class, she should have been calmer and at ease when getting cut out of something she no longer wanted to participate in. Because Bree’s crazy obsessive mother kept texting her, Bree’s emotion from her mother got taken out of her hands and unfortunately took a jarring turn for her and her ex- friend Lara’s relationship. If Bree’s mother texted only once verse ten times would Bree have reacted differently?
The objects that are evocative to the story Backlash by Sarah Littman are the pills Lara is capable of taking, the laugh that is perceived, and Bree’s mother’s obsessive texts. All of these objects are taken into different accounts of thought through each individual reader in the novel Backlash. These objects are important because if they are not there the story would be a different story (Full circle ending).
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