Differences In Icy Sparks

The Girl Who Embraced Her Differences

In the novel Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio a young girl named Icy makes an extremely unfair and harsh conclusion of herself based on her condition. Icy Sparks is from Kentucky in the 1950s, she is an orphan who lives with her grandparents, and she has an illness called Tourette's Syndrome that goes undiagnosed until her adulthood. Because of her disease Icy is teased and tormented. Icy thinks that she is a strange and unusual girl but what she does not know is that she is who she is because of her condition. Icy is an extremely strong person because she has to learn how to overcome a disease that has taken a great toll on her life. She is strong in the way she overcomes her differences and shows herself

Icy does not know why the urges began nor how to stop them. She thinks that if she hides them they just might disappear, or at the very least no one will know her secret. Icy does not trust anyone with this secret she is keeping. “Whenever it became too much, after hours of hoarding blinkings and poppings that threatened to to burst out in a thousand grotesque movements, I’d offer to get Matanni a jar of green beans from the root cellar… and, once inside, I’d close the wooden planked door and let loose. Every blink that had been stored up spilled forth. Every jerk that had been contained leaped out. For ten minutes, I’d contort until the anxiety was all spent” (Rubio 9). Even though Icy was small she had a very big secret to

Icy went back to her old life of hiding. As Icy continued to grow older she felt more and more alone. Especially after her grandfather's death, Icy and her grandmother both needed something to fill the empty void in their life. Icy’s grandmother turned to the church, leaving Icy feeling more alone than ever. Eventually Icy’s grandmother was able to persuade Icy to come to a church gathering. Icy was so set on denying the church that it took her to the breaking point to finally accept God’s love. “Alone! my thoughts reminded me. Exasperated, I covered my eyes with my hands. “Don’t let your heart be afraid,” I thought I heard Patanni say. “If you’re waiting for darkness, you’ll never see the light.”’ (Rubio 288). Finally Icy saw the light of God and realized that she was not alone at all. Icy went to college and not only did she get an education she also got a diagnosis. She finally found her calling as a therapist, and she was able to accept herself as she