Caden’s issues has affected his personal relationships throughout the novel. He begins changing, thinking things that aren’t realistic, being fearful of people, having paranoia, and hearing voices in his head. Shortly, his mind betrays him and his life unravels. People around Caden try to pressure him into changing behaviors that he no longer controls. In the hospital, Caden gains and loses friends and gains and loses hope. His journey is traumatic because his journey to and from Challenger Deep shows how he struggles and overcomes the illness for a short time. Caden gradually loses his hold on reality by not focusing on anything, proclaiming that a kid at school wants to kill him, and saying that he is being visited by an erratic, one-eyed …show more content…
One relationship with a friend of Caden's is with a guy named Hal in the hospital and he doesn't end up so well in the end. He goes off his medication which leads to Hal committing suicide, “Besides the navigator has bee moodier than usual. He’s begun to close me out the way he closes out others (Shusterman, 182).” Hal doesn’t act the same way he usually does which gives hints that Hal is not enjoying his life which leads him ultimately to commit suicide. In the story, Caden never finds out certainly if Hal's attempt was successful or not, but Caden believes it was. Caden himself doesn't want to commit suicide and believes his love for his little sister will keep him strong and alive. His personal relationship grows closer to a girl named Callie who he meets at the hospital that speaks to the struggle of the illness: “But if we endure it… I will find myself as I was before. We do, you know. Find ourselves. Although it’s a little harder each time… Then we squeeze ourselves back into the skin of who were before all this. We put the pieces back together and get on with things (Shusterman, 240).” Callie leaves the hospital because she gets better from the same mental illness Caden suffers