Independent Reading Book Essay

“Drugs are the enemies of ambition and hope- and when we fight against drugs we are fighting for the future.”-Bob Riley. Many people face the problem of addiction and that’s why they choose to do things that they’re not supposed to do.We All Fall Down by Nic Sheff  is a memoir  about Sheff retelling the story of his troublesome young adult lifestyle and struggles with addiction.  He is put into a detox and therapy to help him but he always feels the need to drug himself. Although drugs seem helpful they’re not always the right decision.

Nic knows that he shouldn’t be doing drugs but feels the need to do it anyway. While at a trap house  Nic describes the dealer giving him plate of crystal meth and says, “ When he handed over that plate… it was like they almost looked evil to me...It was sinister. It was like being in the presence of death.” This makes me think that he feels as if one part of his brain is telling him not to do the drugs  but the other part is telling him to do the opposite. Therefore, he knows he shouldn’t do it but it makes him feel good. After snorting the meth, he begins to say, “the whole world just closes down on me. There are new opportunities, no callbacks ever come. My car gets towed, and I end up losing everything all everything. This makes me think by doing all these crazy drugs causes him to lose everything and throw his life away. In other words, he knows it’s wrong but continues to do it.

Nic’s addiction had a huge affect on his troublesome life. When talking about his relationship with his girlfriend he says, “Relapsing-shooting heroin, cocaine, crystal-popping pills till we couldn’t even feel them anymore-smoking crack. We sold our clothes, book, CDs for drugs.” He and he girlfriend gave up everything just for drugs. He doesn’t realize that the drugs are only making his life worse and that they aren’t helping him in anyway. When explaining the fact that he had been offered a book deal to write a memoir about his life he said, "the book is on hold. Actually may have blown the whole thing completely. I have no money, no place to live, no car, no cell phone, nothing.” These drugs are becoming even more of a problem because he was offered such a big opportunity in writing a memoir but wasn’t able to do so because he devoted his life to doing drugs. Furthermore, he’d even give up a life-time opportunity just to smoke very harmful drugs that will affect his future.  

When sent to a detox Nic’s receives a lot of mentoring from his counselors and new friends to help him become sober. When speaking to his new friend, the friend says, “You start opening up and doing all this shit they [counselors] tell you, I guarantee, not only are gonna stay sober, yer gonna come out of her lovin’ and respecting yourself like you never have in yer life.”  This makes me think that Nic listens to what he’s saying, and he will stop drugging himself and try to do something with is life instead of wasting it on buying these unnecessary drugs.Therefore It will make him a better person if he were to quit drugs. When responding to him, Nic says, “I, uh… you know… thank you. I wanna change. I really do… I believe you that this is the place where that can happen.” This makes me think that he understands what his friend is telling him and he now has to find a way to prevent himself from doing drugs. Furthermore, he knows what he’s doing is wrong and he wants to live a better life.  

Even though these destructive drugs are sometimes a reliever of pain they’re not always the way to go. If you feel the need to use some sort of nonprescription drugs you shouldn't do it because you can end up  throwing your whole life away by doing so. To all the teenagers out there who feel the need to use drugs should seek help because no matter what, drugs are never the answer.

Ashes Essay

        Every person will face a moral problem In their life. In Susan Beth Pfeffer’s short story, “Ashes,” the reader is introduced to a family facing divorce. Ashley, nicknamed, Ashes by her father lives with her mom and sees her father every Tuesday. Through the complicated relationship between her and her parents the author shows the reader how the decisions we make shape who we are.
The relationship between each of her parents is different. In the story Ashes explains how she feels with her father and says, “Felt like every time I saw my father the sun cast off just a little more warmth than it had the day before.” This makes me think that the distant relationship between her and her father makes every time she with feel special.  This shows that the days that she sees her father are a lot more special to her than the days without him.  Ashes also talks about what the father would promise her and says, “Used to promise me the stars for a necklace, but like most of his promises, that one never quite happened.” He promises things but never follows through. The father doesn’t understand that by promising something so big can have a bad affect on Ashes if that promise doesn’t come true. 
The reader experiences Ashe’s doubt and disappointment with her father. While describing the relationship between her father and mother Ashes says, “Dad could make everyone in the world smile except Mom.” The mom realizes that the Dad is a bad person and Ashes notices it but wishes it weren’t true. She loves her father but from what her mother thinks about she knows something is up. While her and her father are deciding where to eat, the dad suggest a diner and Ashes says surprised, “Can you afford it?’ I asked after doing the mental arithmetic of diner versus pizza.” Ashes is beginning to question the fact the dad can afford such a fancy dinner when they usually get pizza. She’s trying to figure out where her father is getting all this money and why is he giving her such a fancy meal. 
In the end she has to make the big decision to listen to her father or stand by her mother. The father begins to tell Ashes about how he needs money and tries to persuade her into taking money from her mom’s secret money safe and says, “It’s me she’d be angry at...I’d have the money in your hands by Friday,” Ashes then says “Dad I don’t know...that’s a lot of money...what if Mom finds out?” The dad makes it seem like it’s fine for her to steal the mom’s money. Ashes feels that she shouldn’t steal the money from her mom but yet she wants to help her struggling father.  “I looked out the window and saw only ash grey sky. In the cold stillness of the night, I could hear my father’s car keening in the distance. ‘You’re one in a million,’ it cried.” She is starting to feel hesitant to take the money. She also feels guilty and torn between the two parents.

Many teens are faced with problems of having divorced parents and often have to make important decision that affect their lives. In the end I predict that Ashes makes the decision to take the money from her mom’s secret money safe because even though she’s stealing from her mom she wants to help out her struggling father. She realizes that her father isn’t financially stable and even if it’s taking money from her mother she wants to help out her dad anyway she can.