Someone Like You External Conflict

The novel that I have been reading for my ISP is Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen. The second half of the novel continues to take place in Lakeview, a suburban neighbourhood. During the beginning of Halley, the protagonist, and Scarlett’s junior year, Scarlett finds out she is carrying her deceased boyfriend’s baby. Halley must now take the initiative in supporting Scarlett, while she continues to have problems with her mother, the antagonist, and must deal with her new boyfriend and troublemaker Macon Faulkner. There are multiple main conflicts within the second half of my novel. One such conflict is person vs. self. Halley, for the first time ever, must learn to support Scarlett and herself. The second main conflict is person vs person.

When Halley was in middle school, she was best friends with her mother;however, as Halley has grown up they have become increasingly distant. Halley has even started to resent her mother. This is confirmed when Halley says, “‘my mother is driving me nuts...I almost killed her on the way to school today’”. (Dessen 105) Their relationship is changing because Halley is now an adolescent and wishes for more independence and trust. Her mother, on the other hand, wonders why “ [Halley] can’t just listen to her [her]” and why Halley “can’t understand that [she] might be right...might know what’s best”. (Dessen 238) I empathize with Halley because as I grow older, I want to start to make more decisions for myself and be able to rely on my own judgement. As teenagers, we just want to feel like we have some control in our own lives. Afterall, that is one way that we can find ourselves and be confident. Often times I feel like Halley when she explains to her mother, “‘ why don’t you ever wait a second and see what im planning, or thinking, before you burst in with your opinions and ideas? You never give me a chance”. (Dessen 245) I can relate to her sentiments because while I know that I am smart and make good decisions, I sometimes feel like I am not being taken seriously by my

The novel emphasizes this through multiple ways. First, people are quick to make judgements and insinuate that the pregnant teen is stupid. This is evident when Scarlett says, “I know everyone will think I’m crazy or even stupid”. (Dessen 113) I think Sarah Dessen is being fair in the way she presents people’s general opinion towards teen pregnancy. Most people generally assume that the teen was being dumb for not using protection and getting herself into a difficult situation, but this was the opposite of Scarlett’s reality. Second, society thinks that a teen mother is foolish for keeping the baby. At a party, a girl tells Halley, “It’s funny that she’s keeping the baby...I’d kill myself before having a baby”. (Dessen 228) This makes me call my own actions into question if i ever found out that someone I know is pregnant. I hope that I would not be so rude expressing my thoughts, no matter what my opinions are. Third, society would agree that teen moms are ruining their lives. This viewpoint is presented by Halley’s mom who says, “she will [think it’s a mistake], later. When she’s tied down to a baby and you and all her other friends are going off to college”. (Dessen 121) This common perspective always ignores the teen mother who truthfully believes that they made the right decision, no matter the