Reducing Pain In Suzanne Young's 'The Program'

“”I don’t want to be a patient”” (127 Young). Salone says. How would you feel you feel if doctors were erasing most of your memories without having any say about it. In The Program by Suzanne Young, Sloane, the main character, is just put into the program. The program is a system where you talk to doctors and they slowly erase your memories to eliminate the “pain” so the teens are less likely to commit suicide. They give Sloane so much medication most of the time that she does not even know what is going on. Through the fog that she is living in she manages to make a friend, Realm. She tells him everything and when a corrupt handler/ doctor tries to exchange one memory that she is allowed to keep for a kiss, Realm gets furious. Then, her and

One of the connections that I made was when Sloane first started to hangout with Realm and they started to play cards. “”So what’s the game?” I ask as they pick up their cards. Realm smiles, not looking at me “What else? Bullshit”” (154 Young). I made a text to self connection here because when I went to a summer camp for my friends church a few years back we played this game all the time. I loved to play it and so did Sloane and Realm. Another connection that I made was when Sloane took a shower. “I leave him and decide to take a long shower, the nurses allowing it although one of them stays in the bathroom with me. I must be in there almost a half hour because my skin is pruned and I’m exhausted from the heat.” I connected with this because often times I will take long showers or baths to get my mind off of things. In her case she is trying to take her mind off of Realm because he was annoying her and for me I usually am stressed or just need time to think. My skin will get pruny just like her and the heat will make me tired as well. I made many connections through the reading and am glad that I did. When I make connections to what I’m reading it makes the book that much more real and I ended up enjoying it a lot