"Crank" by Ellen Hopkins (Theme)

   
   You would think that life is about being yourself, and not letting others influence you in any negative way possible, but lets say one of those negative influences was your dad. Lets not forget the fact that you're around 16 years old, and you haven't seen your dad in eight years. He's got a job at a bowling alley and he does drugs on a daily. He talks to you about messing around with his boss and how maybe if he "gave her a line" she'd let him. You would think that you'd have the time of your life, being surrounded by new people, but in reality, you're at home all day long. In "Crank", by Ellen Hopkins, what I'm really taking in from the book is that not all influences are positive, and that change isn't always good. 

   In this case it's Kristina who is slowly changing. She seems so innocent and yet a bit miserable at times. When she visits her dad for about two months, she comes back home to her mom, step-dad, brother, and sister, a whole different person. She's even more independent and not exactly in a good way. She's way more secretive and she's hiding things. For example on page 220, Kristina refers to the tattoo she got when she was in Albuquerque with her dad. When her sister finds out she refers to it as their sisterly secret. Every year, there is a community gathering that has to do with Kristina's step-father, Scott. It's a pool party. The only bad thing is that her sister bought a bikini for her, and she can't wear it or her mom is going to kill her. Lets not forget the fact that the tattoo was infected just a few days before. You would think the old Kristina would've told her mom about it. They used to be so open with each other. Now, after she analyzed the fact that her mom tends to Scott more than anyone else, she's changed, and you can tell her mother isn't liking it at all.

   One huge change that Kristina goes through is trying drugs. When she goes to live with her dad, she not only gets negatively influenced by him, but this guy Adam that she starts to "mess around" with. She begins to do drugs and spend time with Adam. Now the old Kristina would've stayed away from Adam, whether she had an attraction to him or not. I feel that her hanging out with him was a bad choice. Not only did Adam have a girlfriend, but when Kristina found out that Lince, Adam's girlfriend, had a suicidal attempt because of seeing them two together, she should have just dropped this "relationship" with him. Her dad gets high all the time and doesn't care. So them getting high together along with Adam was nothing, which I find unbelievable. What type of father does that? Kristina would never do that with her mother because her mother wouldn't allow it. As Kristina slowly changes, she turns into this new person. Bree.

   Bree is Kristina's negative side. I say this because throughout the book when she compares herself to Bree, Bree is the one who makes the negative choices. Bree is who she told Adam she was. It's almost like Bree is the person she always wanted to be, but never got a chance to be. Bree likes alcohol, drugs, and intercourse, or rather, sex. Kristina isn't the type. Before living with her dad, Kristina kept her grades excellent. School was her main focus. She was never interested in drugs and alcohol much. Bree had been developed a while before Kristina went to Albuquerque. It almost seems like Bree makes the stupid choices. not just the negative ones. On page 8 she talks about Bree as the other side of her. She symbolizes Bree as her secretive side, or rather, where "good girls drown."

   I've only gotten up to page 233 out of 537, but you can tell that there is a lot more negative choices ahead. It seems that secrets are never good in books at all. Whether the secrets are minor or horrible, it never ends well. I think that towards the end of this book, Kristina will change back into who she was. I don't think Bree will appear up often in the book anymore, which is a good thing. That means that Kristina has become more responsible. Hopefully, Kristina will make good choices throughout the rest of the book...