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Compare And Contrast What Happened To Lani Garver And 13 Reasons Why

2056 Words9 Pages

Henry Hewitt
Ms. Salgado
Language Arts 8 Period 8
6 March 2023
Book Bundle Comparative Analysis Essay
“How can some people’s lives look so good when they’re so foul underneath?” (Plum-Ucci 1) In the small town high schools of What Happened to Lani Garver and Thirteen Reasons Why, there is a dog-eat-dog system of popularity. People only rise to the top in this system by pushing others down through bullying and harassment. The bullies are unredeemable, static characters, but the bystanders and ordinary kids are the foundation of the system. In the novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, and the novel What Happened to Lani Garver by Carol Plum-Ucci, the authors raise the idea of how the prejudice and gender stereotyping associated with bullying and harassment are caused by toxic social systems. However, the way they present this idea differs.
In both novels, the authors utilize social settings to demonstrate the toxic social systems. In What Happened to Lani Garver, the setting is that of a small town high school on a distant island. Since everyone knows everyone, conformity is one of the most valued traits in this setting. This is displayed by the description of the social climate, stating, “There was a kind of hope whizzing around the corridors. Joe Hunk could ask you out …show more content…

At the beginning of this novel, this man, whose name is Charlie, undergoes a medical experiment to increase his IQ. Throughout the following chapters, this experiment appears to work as Charlie develops stronger social and intellectual skills. Charlie states that he still struggles with connecting with others. However, Charlie makes a discovery towards the end of the book that his intelligence is beginning to degrade. Hurt by this knowledge, he says his farewells to his friends and family and regresses to his previous

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