Coping January 22, 2010

I think that most or maybe even all of the characters are coping terribly wrong with their problems. Alcohol and drug abuse is one of the main sources that the characters in this novel decide to ‘cope’ with their problems. Throughout the book Lisa goes through a ton of tragedy, and has to cope with more problems than anyone should have to go through at her age. After Uncle Micks death, her Grandmother (Ma-ma-oo) passing away, and her brother going missing, Lisa slowly looses her way in life, and turns to drinking, partying and doing drugs to try to take away the pain. Lisa is also a smoker, and tries to keep this from her parents, but eventually fails. After her brother goes missing, Lisa experiences two weird things I thought stood out to me the most. One being, that she sees a little red headed man sitting on her dresser, sometimes before she goes to bed. Lisa believes that when this man visits her that something bad is sure to happen. The second being, a word that Lisa is constantly reminded of and a word that she keeps hearing when she is conscious, sleeping, sober, and high. This word is La’es, which means ‘go down to the bottom of the ocean’. No matter how drunk or high she is, the pain never leaves her and gets worse everyday. Eventually Lisa changes her looks, cuts her hair off, and starts to hang out with Frank and his friends, the ‘bullies’ from school. When all of this changes, she drops out of school, moves to Vancouver where the partying starts. She slowly gives up hope that her brother will return home safe, and looses faith in herself and her life. What Lisa does not understand is that no matter how hard things are for you, there is always someone going through something worse, and she should never give up on herself, and someone who means so much to her.

After a childhood in a residential school, Aunt Trudy is left with the horrific memories of the abuse that was done to herself and Uncle Mick. To cope with these problems, Trudy tries to drink away her problems and becomes very physical towards the ones she loves. Along with the incident with Josh and the beer bottle, and pushing him down the stairs, Aunt Trudy says some very awful things to her daughter Tabitha as well. There is a time in the novel when Aunt Trudy says some stabbing words to her daughter when she is drunk in front of Lisa. Though Tab says nothing, and walks away subtlety, Lisa opens her mouth and calls her aunt a drunk, and points out that she should not be talking to her daughter that way. After arguing, Lisa comes over in the morning to find that Aunt Trudy has no memory of anything said the night before. She gets so drunk that she wakes up forgetting the night before.

Lastly, we have Uncle Mick. Staying in the same residential school as Trudy, Mick went through some very tough times as a child. Though he is scarred, he does a very good job at hiding it and bottles all of his feelings up inside. Though he has had a few rough times coping with himself, he has tried his best to move on with his life, and to forget about what was done to him.

 

Is there really a point in coping? January 16, 2010

Copping isn’t really the point.

.

Residential Schools and The Coping? <– Check It Out.

I don’t think that anyone in this book is coping well with the events that happen to them and the people they are close to.  Lisa doesn’t cope well with her brother disappearing or her Uncle Mick and Grandmother passing away. She turns to drugs, alcohol and cutting a large chunk of her hair off  as a last resort and doesn’t pay attention to anyone around her. She feels like she has lost everything and has nothing left to live for, but in the end she was wrong people do care for her but she is to ignorant to see it.  While coping wtih her loses she also has to put up with the night terrors that bring a little red-haired man to sit on her dresser.  Lisa also hears the words ” ‘ La’es ‘ ” meaning  ‘go down to the bottom of the ocean’. Whether she is concious or not. These words haunt her day and night. No matter how high or drunk she gets the nightmares and flashbacks worsen. After her parents leave her to live with her Aunt Trudy and Tab, as they go in search of her brother Jimmy, she listens to tales Tab tells her and begins to ponder whether she is really worth living with or if they will ever find her brother.

Aunt Trudy as well doesn’t cope well with the things she has expierenced outside and inside of the residential schools. She was rapes and assaulted but no one doesn’t really seem to understand why she is a drunk and why she throws tantrums out of no where.  No one was there except Uncle Mick who she could confide in. When he passed she was heart broken not only becuase of how he died but because of the fact that she would have no one to speak to about her problems and flashbacks from the Residential School dilemmas. When Mick passed her alcohol obsession got worse and tore her family apart.

The people in Kitamaat ( Monkey Beach) all have their own way of coping, sure its normal but not in the ways they do it. Drinking, partying, smoking and running away from their probelms when they aren’t perfect isn’t the right thing to do because realistically nothings perfect and they just need to realize it, before things take an even more dramatic turn for the worse.

– Taylor 🙂

Are the characters coping well with their problems? January 15, 2010

I’m not sure that Lisa is coping well with the loss of her brother. She’s always having these nightmares that are seeming to worsen. They usually lead to her seeing the creepy little man who likes to sit on her dresser when she opens her eyes. La’es is one thing she keeps hearing, conscious or not. It means go down to the bottom of the ocean…maybe that’s where her dear brother Jimmy is. Drowned and dead, caught up somewhere like how Uncle Mick had been caught in the fishing net.

Aunt Trudy is still drinking heavily and I’m kind of waiting for her to drink to much and maybe drown in her own vomit or something. I’m also worried about the people around her, mainly Josh and Tab(atha). She is very violent when she is drunk and has minimal control of her actions. She could hurt them…again. She has already beaten Josh, broken a bottle over his head and finally he was pushed down a set of stairs and his leg was broken. Tab is always taking her mothers shit. She’s constantly yelling at her and in a way making fun of her so Tab feels really low. Tab could snap eventually because she just sits there and takes it. I think she should say something back or try to talk it out with her mother…even if she is drunk (which I’m sure is a very hard things to do: reason with a drunk)

 

Since Jimmy is still missing Lisa’s parents are still in a constant state of worry. By now I’m thinking he’s dead and possibly they are too. They just want their son back so they don’t have to worry about his being missing anymore.

I can’t even begin to imagine the torture they are going through.

I can’t imagine how it must feel to be drunk all the time, unaware of what your actions are.

I can’t imagine how it must be to be picked on by your own mother.

I can’t imagine how scary nightmares are when they repeat and say the same message over and over again.

I just can’t imagine.

La’es, la’es, la’es.

In Search Of The Elusive Sasquatch

 

Drinking, partying, smoking, running away…do these seem like good solutions to deal with problems? No, but unfortunately these are the most common strategies the characters in Monkey Beach choose to use. What they fail to understand is that by coping with their problems in this manner, results in even more problems on top of thier original cocerns.

 

There are so many other options they could consider. Including talking to friends and family who are dealing with the same problems, that way, they would understand what they were going through and help them see that life goes on wether we want it to or not.

 

One solution Lisa used to cope with her uncle Mick’s death, was cutting a  large portion of her hair off. This helped her move on, though it may have been strange, it was a reasonable solution. No one was hurt and it made her feel relieved, so why not?

 

Everyone has thier own way of coping with loss and pain and this is completely normal. It just makes more sense to deal with it in a more mature way. Sure drinking may clear the mind and ease the pain for a few hours, but what happens after the fun is over? Nothing changes. Having a more suitable solution and sorting everything out in a more appropriate manner will help conquer the problem forever, rather than one night out.

 

-kaprise