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Consequences In The Book Harmless

1425 Words6 Pages

Angelina Cifarelli
Mrs.Pomerantz & Ms.McGarrigle
English 4: Senior Paper
21 December 2022
Hopeless

All high school students lie, it does not matter how big or small. Dana Reinhardt's 2007 novel Harmless shows how your actions will come with consequences. The three main characters, Emma, Anna, and Mariah were inseparable best friends who enjoyed partying and having fun with older boys. One night they were all caught by their parents and the only option the girls came up with was to lie to their parents. They claimed to everyone that a man tried killing and taking them, which got the police involved in a false investigation. Emma reveals to her guidance counselor the truth and the girls end up expelled from school with community service and never seeing each other again. Throughout the story Anna, Emma, and Mariah faced many repercussions; such as, with everyone at school knowing the “lie”, their friendships slowly disconnecting, Emma falling into a deep guilt and depression and towards the end of the book and Emma finally telling the truth to the cops and facing the consequences. This story represents the theme of consequences as a …show more content…

The themes of the novel elucidate the girl's ability to lie, which is similar to my own, by means of me also lying to my parents about where I am, what I’m doing, and what happened; Although my lying is often white and unharmful, it’s still lying similar to that of Anna, Emma, and Mariah. The girls ended up feeling awful for what they’ve done and hopefully will learn from their mistakes. This opinion is supported by Kirkus Reviews which states, “they all wish they’d just told the truth” (“Review”). Overall, this book held great value to me as it showed me the harms and consequences of deceiving people, with the girls being expelled from school and losing various

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