Go Ask Alice--Blog 3

The novel continues to change as we read further and further on our way to her downfall. This section of reading has been full of ups and downs, both characteristics of the novel, and bad decisions for the narrator. We left off the reading with the narrator being so upset about how her parents were watching her after her latest drug bust. Since then, there has been great advancements in the plot. This sections begins with the narrator hitchhiking her way to Denver when she was under the influence. She meets a couple kids and travels with them to various locations. These are hardly the type of kids someone wants to bring home to parents, especially not in the narrator's situation. One thing I found very interesting about this reading was how she found a church where she was staying that she enjoyed being around. It was this church that inevitably called home for her and sent her back to her family. During her escapades as a hitchhiker and wherever that might lead the narrator, she is using drugs all along the way. She becomes sick from being out in the cold and not taking care of herself. While at the doctor, she meets a fellow druggie named Doris. They become close immediately and begin using together. That is one thing of Alice's character that has been consistent throughout the novel. She becomes very close to people very fast. I think this is sometimes a good thing, but in her situation I don't think it is very healthy. Most of the times, when she has become close to someone in this novel, they have also been users and they have used that similarity to party. Another thing I have noticed about the narrator is she truly loves her family and her home. During her travels "abroad," she thinks about family a lot and how much she misses them. On the outside, she acts like she hates them but truly, inside she loves them. I still think the narrator is just as confusing as ever but I think that is part of her character. I think she is supposed to be confusing and not steady and it's not just us not understanding her. At the end of this section of reading, she looks back at all of her past diary entries and cannot believe everything she has said and done. Luckily, she ends this section on a somewhat good note, drug wise. She is still not using but her grandpa died, which I know, based on her personality, will send her into another downward spiral. Her character hasn't developed very much, but in a way, I think that is her personality. I think she doesn't fully understand herself as she's writing these journal entries, so there is no way for us to understand her either. I think even by the end of the novel we will still not understand the narrator fully. Hopefully, we will get more of a grasp of her personality but her mysteriousness and how confusing she is it what makes us understand her most.