Lisa Bright And Dark :: essays research papers

When someone has a nearly "perfect" life, its hard to believe that person could be going out of his or her mind. Lisa silver and Dark, by John Neufeld, explores the world of mental illness through Lisa Shilling, a sixteen year old who believes she is going crazy. Though she and her friends know this, she is unable to overhear help because her parents think she is making it up. With no adult help, the problem has to be taken into the hands of Lisa and her three teenage friends.&9Lisa Shilling starts rack up as any normal teenager, attending school, going out with friends, and even dating. As the novel progresses, Lisa slips into dark, depressive moods on occasional days, and then into depression altogether. Lisas friends get word her change and take it into their own hands to give her "therapy" because Lisas parents are not willing to accept her sickness. As the depression progresses, many frightening incidents happen, scarce Lisas friends stick with her, help ing to give strength to Lisa as well as themselves. &9Lisas friends stick with her when no one else will. superstar incident happened where Lisa went into an almost trance-like episode and then proceeded to attack one of her three friends. Even through the difficult times, Lisas friends would not give up on her. The basic theme of friendship is expressed throughout the novel.It is never told exactly what has caused Lisa Shilling to slip into this state of depression, which helps to make the atmosphere of the novel very mysterious. in effect(p) when it appears that Lisa is getting better, another episode occurs. The story is disturbing, being set around Lisas school and home. With other characters in the story, such as Lisas parents, do conflicts with Lisa receiving proper treatment, the story is given a disturbing yet realistic feel.&9Instead of the story being told from the main characters point of view, it is instead told by one of Lisas three friends who is trying to hel p. This keeps the reader from being able to tell exactly what is going on in Lisa Shillings head.