Analyse af 'Ernie Breaks' af Genevieve Scott

Have you felt as though everything around you is changing in order for you to grow up and become a more responsible individual? Perhaps sometimes, even though you are doing your best to act grown up, you still feel hopelessly confused. It is themes such as these that are portrayed in the short story, “Ernie Breaks” by Genevieve Scott. “Ernie Breaks” is a coming of age story about a girl named Cara, and her recent trials in school and at home. As mentioned, the main theme revolves around growing up, and how difficult it came be at some points for kids such as Cara. This story shows the ups and downs that she is dealing with at school, such as her failure at math and dealing with social situations with her mean classmate, Valerie. It also shows the ups and downs of her home life, such as her mom’s maybe serious smoking addiction, the distance growing between Cara and her brother, Jed, and the main storyline of Ernie and his eventual mistreatment. This story also portrays the naive thought process Cara has, whether she is cursing, talking about inappropriate subjects such as the size of Valerie’s breasts, or using slang terms that her mother scolded her for, such as “gay”. All of these factors add up to the main theme of “growing up”. Cara is constantly learning something from all of these uprising situations, therefore proving this theme of growing up.