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Suicide In Mr. Gizmo By Drew Hayden Taylor

1716 Words7 Pages

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among youth aged 15-29 (WHO). Among the Canadian indigenous population, the suicide rate was 24.3% which is a striking 3 times higher than non-indigenous people (Stober). The short story ‘Mr. Gizmo’ by Drew Hayden Taylor takes a look into what that is like for a teenage boy who struggles with finding the willpower to continue living. By embracing his indigenous background the main character comes to terms with and learns to value his life, since he and other young indigenous kids are the future—the Elders of tomorrow. When the main character beings to embrace and relearn his culture, he finally gains more confidence in himself. The main character has established that his toy robot, Mr. Gizmo can …show more content…

Mr. Gizmo shares a story about the main character’s uncle. One where he was just depressed if not more than the main character. Taking your life because it is painful does not make the pain go away, it just transfers to someone else. “The robot was speaking the truth. As horrible as things were for him, the boy didn’t want to be responsible for other people following his example” (Taylor 89). In this quotation, the main character is thinking he's looking back on his actions and the thoughts that he had of committing suicide because he hadn't realized that it would affect more people than just himself. just like how his grandmother is dead and his father went to prison and his mom disappeared although those affected those people specifically he had felt the pain and if he had killed himself that pain of his death would simply move on to his grandfather who then would bear the pain of all those events in one. he's just realizing that his actions have consequences. After letting the main character have the information soaking Mr. Gizmo then adds a very important lie. “The virus starts and stops with you”(Taylor 89). Suicide is a virus. it's a virus that continues spreading and it affects everyone, not just the person who got sick. it affects the family and affects the community it affects everyone personally involved with the person who killed themselves. For example, if there was a group of friends and one of the said friends killed themselves the whole group would feel the lasting impact of their death whether it be emotional physical, or mental to the point where maybe that was the last straw for one of the other friends and it leads them to kill themselves, therefore, affecting the whole group once again. sometimes having one person do something might seem more acceptable for you to do the same the

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