This document summarizes the book "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini. It discusses how the main character, Craig, struggles with depression and has a mental breakdown after getting into a prestigious high school. He ends up calling a suicide hotline and is admitted to a mental hospital called Six North. While there, Craig interacts with other patients and begins to feel better through talking about his problems and experiences. The book explores Craig's mental health journey and recovery process during his week-long stay at the hospital.
1. Funny Story Theme
It's Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini takes place in Manhattan, New York and is mainly about
a young teen, Craig, and his struggles with depression. Craig Is motivated by money and success but
that eventually took a toll on his mental health when he got into one of New York's most prestigious
high schools, Pre Professional high school. Before Craig got admitted to the mental hospital, he
spent the majority of his time studying or chilling with his best friend Aaron and his girlfriend,
also Craig's crush, Nia. One night craig had a mental break down and was very close to attempting
suicide so he called a suicide hotline, which directed him to Six North which is a mental hospital in
New York when craig later stayed for a week. While craig...show more content...
I love books that make me feel a bunch of different emotions throughout the course of the novel
because it keeps me interested. Once i finished this book i felt really inspired because craig really
turned his life around and was able to get out of such a dark place. I also felt grateful and more
appreciative of my life because depression is a real thing that so many people experience and i
couldn't imagine going through some of the things he did and having to be that strong. I also
really liked how even though this story covered a serious topic, there were points that made me
laugh and were comical. In addition to that, all of the characters were really complex and had
different personality traits that came out, so it made the book even more realistic. One thing i
didn't enjoy about this book was that at some points i felt bored because it seemed a bit repetitive.
For example, each day of craigs life was the same and nothing new was really happening, but i
think the author did that to help the reader understand craig's feelings about his life better by
dragging the days on. However by no means was this book a boring story and i've already
recommended it to a couple of friends! I can definitely see myself reading it a second
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2. Life Is Funny
Justin Merriweather
September 25, 2013
Reader Response Journal
Life is Funny by E.R Frank 1. There were parts of the book that made me laugh, sad, and have
much sympathy for the characters. One encounter is when PPPPPP parents were fighting and
PPPPPP dad would beat on his mother. She didn't any one to know that her husband was beating
her. PPPPPP is always around when she is getting beaten by his dad. He tells his dad to stop, but he
doesn't listen until PPPPP calls the police one day to get rid of his dad. Another incident is when
QQQQQ is raped by her dad as a little girl. On weekends she would go over her dads and she would
come home crying and sick, because of what he did to her. Her mother never really listened to her,
...show more content...
The title of the book fits the plot of the story very well, because life really is funny. The way that
they met each other was through ways to better themselves. It's funny how lots of people go
through things in their daily life they have to deal with, but you would never know unless you sat
down and got to know that person. Some people try to just hide it all and pretend that everything is
okay when it really isn't. The story was told from more than one point of view. It was astonishing
how it all fit together, but to understand what was going on you had to pay close attention and be
focused.
3.Most pars of the book seem very believable to me, because these types of situations can happen to
any human being. Things such as people committing suicide, getting raped, beaten, or peer pressure
are all real things people deal with everyday. They can have long term effects on you weather
they're good or bad. If I could make all these things unrealistic I would, but unfortunately it's more
than I can bare and beyond my control. Ido believe that it could happen to anyone at any given point
in time. Hopefully most people don't have to go through these types of situations.
4. The thing that makes me wonder in this book is life itself. It makes you think about how many
people are going through these types of situations that you see everyday. Some cases can be more
severe than others and you could never know. Most people are to
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3. Funny in Farsi Essay
In the book Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, there are five concepts from our textbook, Lives
Across Cultures: Cross–Cultural Human Development by Harry W. Gardiner and Corrine
Kosmitzki. Three of the concepts are components of Firoozeh Dumas' developmental niche such as
the psychology of her caretakers, the customs of her child care, and the social settings of her daily
life growing up. The other two concepts are individualism and ethnocentrism. Dumas' developmental
niche is apparent throughout her memoir. The psychology of her caretakers, her parents, is shown in
one light when Dumas tells about her summer camp experience. Her father was cheap yet generous
at the same time. He came from a hard childhood, having his parents pass away...show more
content...
Another significant concept shown in the book was Dumas's social component of her developmental
niche. She illustrated the importance of not only her immediate family but her extended family as
well. In the chapter, "It's All Relative", she points out that her native Persian language has many
precise words for relatives. There is not just one word for cousin, but eight words. The names for
aunt depend on if it is her father's sister or her mother's. This is an example of how her Iranian
culture values family.
An example of how her family values each other is her description of the conventions and norms of
her family. They are thoroughly supportive of one another, attending every graduation, baby shower,
birthday, and house warming party. Her father and siblings have burial plots together so that they
are never separated. Life is lived with everyone being connected and concerned for not only each
person's well–being, but happiness as well. She says her "relatives form an alliance that represents
a genuine and enduring love of family..." Individualism is shown in the story of Dumas's father
trying to forcefully and exasperatingly teach her how to swim. His method of teaching was not
matched for Dumas' way of learning. Lesson after lesson and she could not swim, she merely
sank. On her own and in her own time, she decided to swim. She went against her father's
collectivist approach to learning a skill with the rest of her family; she was determined to do it by
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4. Funny Girl Essay
Many women have certainly proven that women can be funny by breaking into an entertainment
forum that is still today seen as quite the "boys' club": women like, Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller,
Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and plenty more. These women are comedians, the
funny girls, but what does it mean to be a funny girl? Using history and the feminist theory, this
paper will provide a perspective of what it really means to be that funny girl. So when did women
become "funny"? I mean, I'm sure that they always have been but when exactly did they begin to be
recognized for being that way? Female comedians have made large contributions to the feminist
movement. During the 19th Century women were using humor in things that go...show more
content...
With all the strong females within the Vaudeville Era they were stillwoman in theatre being stifled
by the all male climate and were simply seen as sex objects to keep the men at the performance,
or objected to being laughed at in a demeaning manner. Still around 1910 most women had found
themselves with more free time. So, they began to look deeper into their own personal identities
and found that they liked going the theatre. "More than forty percent of popular theatre audiences
were made up of mostly women" (Fields). One can see how women like Sophie Tucker and Fanny
Brice wanted to be a part of the "stage–struck–girl" movement (Fields). These Women were not
meant to be underestimated. As Vaudeville evolved into musicals, so did the amount of powerful
females commanding the spot light.
Theatre brought on a great amount of funny women. One of the well known "funny girls" was Fanny
Brice. She was a burlesque performer turned comic when Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. saw her potential. She
had quite the unique way of using self–deprecation and stereotypes for laughs using caricature like
acting. In an attempt to get serious roles she received plastic surgery to change her nose, "a
characteristic that she felt most reflected her Jewish heritage and caricature acting" (Editors). After
failing to get serious she moved back to comedy and
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