Failed Failure

In “The Burn Journals” first fifty pages we are driven into the life of an eighth grader. H e is not a common eight grader, yet a rebel with many problems. He steals, begins to fail all his classes, does arson attacks, and tries to kill himself in various ways.

The style Brent Runyon uses makes the book very interesting to read. It is written in familiar diction, therefore using language similar to the one teens use in their daily lives. By using this language with words such as what sup? Fuck, dude and so on the writer reaches a common place. While reading this book I got very intrigued and wanted to continue reading, for it uses proper language making it very easy to understand, while using a lot of vividness to describe the situations. For example, when he is in the hospital he describes every single detail, creating a mental picture for the reader and making you feel like you are part of what is happening. This book really stirred up my emotions.

The main topic is basically suicide. We can see Brent has a lot of problems, he doesn’t know how to deal with so he turns out and tries to run away from them by committing suicide. He tries several different ways and doesn’t achieve it. It isn’t until the day he is all burnt in the hospital with his family and letters and cards from his friends that he realizes life is very valuable and there is a meaning to life. There is no point in committing suicide. Life is precious and we shouldn’t take it for granted.

His reasons for killing himself are very stupid from my point of view. Here we can see when Brent is talking to his psychologist and she asks him, what were the reasons for his attempt to commit suicide, he replies, “Once was before they caught me for stealing school supplies in algebra. And another time when my parents were about to find out about me failing science.” This we can infer is a kid who lives his life scared. Is it really worth it dying to no get punished are the consequences of this actions worst than it can be taking you life away? I believe taking your life away is not the answer to any problem no matter how big or small!