Suspense And Conflict In April Henry's Girl Stolen

In the novel Girl, Stolen, April Henry uses suspense and conflict to show the importance of the theme, never giving up and doing the right thing. Bear Grylls once stated, "Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up." Truer words could not be used to describe the character of Cheyenne, a girl with odds stacked against her, who perservered despite the situation at hand to an outcome you wouldn't expect. Suspense is buliding as Cheyenne, a blind girl batteling pneumonia, refuses to give up. At one occasion "... Cheyenne swung the wrench in its swift and terrible descent." (156) Cheyenne uses the wrench to knock Griffen out as an attempt at escaping. Cheyenne screams, "Come back", as Duke, Griffen's dog, runs after something

In Girl, Stolen, Griffin experiences conflict of the internal kind. He is faced with having to steal a car to impress his father and then realizes that the stolen vehicle has a girl inside. " Griffin could hear Roy shouting at him, almost as real as the girl in the backseat, the girl who would not stop yelling." This quote gives the impression that Griffin would do anything for his father, such as stealing a car.The family has a created a business out of stealing cars, erasing vin numbers and reselling the vehicles for profit. This puts Griffin deeply embedded in the situation with his family, making the internal conflict to do what is right, even more difficult. Cheyenne pointed out to Griffin, " Just because you took my stepmom's car, doesn't mean you have to keep going down this road." The conflict comes in when Griffin has to decide between doing the right thing and doing what his father wants. If he goes against his fathers wishes, he loses the connection between him and his dad. If he helps the girl, he opens himself up to a world of trouble for not only stealing a vehicle, but for kidnapping. And he puts his dad at risk for trouble because of the ransom. In the end, Griffin chooses to help Cheyenne despite the risk and despite the outcome because doing the right thing, in the long run, overcame his internal