The dark side: it's a line never to be crossed. It's that place that has so many warnings and barbed wire fences keeping you away from it, holding you back from becoming the unknown. But what if all of those warnings and barbed wire fences are just illusions? What if we constantly are drifting from one side to another, but we just don't notice those warning signs on our way there? In Crank by Ellen Hopkins, Kristina/Bree is a teenage girl who was once, and part of her still is, a smart, sensible girl who became addicted to Crystal Meth, referred to as "crank" or "the monster." She crossed over to a darker side by way of "Bree," her (kind of) alter-ego. Through Kristina/Bree, Ellen Hopkins conveys that we all pass from the dark side of our personality to our better side constantly.
Ellen Hopkins uses her structure to show this. For example, in the poem "I was Aglow," she describes the plainer facts about a party on the left side, like "Soon the house filled/with friends,/ with acquaintances,/ with complete strangers." These are thoughts of a simple, stable girl. The thoughts of Kristina. Then, on the right side, she says, " and I wanted to get to know each and every one." These are clearly different. They are form the mind of a crazy, wild, audacious personality. Bree. She subconsciously moves from her dark side to her regular side quickly, without even thinking. Her dark side is a part of her. It's not like jumping out of a body and into another. It's you.
Like Kristina, we all have this part of us. Though everyone believes that their dark side is so far off, so hidden away, it's not. It not just this dead part of us that you can never even imagine going to. It's a place we constantly drift towards without knowing, without noticing that we're doing it. The bad parts of our selves are not covered in glass. Our personalities don't work like that. It's not like one day, you break the glass and it all comes pouring out. It's always inside of us, unconfined, yet unnoticed sometimes. Remember that you don't need anything to get to this place- it's just a part of you. It shows in some more than others, but it's still not untouched. No matter how pure a heart is, it's still there, looming, waiting far you to cross that blurry border to have a thought, or an action, or even a word that is subtle, but everything about it is still dark.
Hi Sarah, great post! I loved your metaphor about the imaginary barbed wire fencing! i think that you make an interesting point. many people would never even dream of taking crystal meth, knowing the effects it has, but Kristina/Bree was one of the people who had steered clear of the "bad side, " but landed in it, none the less. I think this shows how fast people can slip under the barbed wire fence.
ReplyDeleteI found it really interesting that you said that Bree was a part of Kristina. Most people, like me, think of Bree and Kristina as two totally different personalities. I never even thought of them as similar, but now I see that I may not be completely correct. Great job!!
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