Many people in today’s society face challenges within themselves. Some challenges deal with adults paying their bills, while others involve kids and their self-esteem. In the novel Cut, by Patricia McCormick, a young teenage girl experiences just this, self-esteem trouble. According to Angela Kennedy in the article “Self-Injury on Rise,” a shocking 25 percent of people who self-injure said they started by sixth grade or younger; 60 percent by seventh or eighth grade and 12 percent in ninth grade. Inside the book, the reader views Callie’s thoughts from a first person point of view. At first, everything seems normal as Callie runs in her cross-country meet. Things escalate quickly as she runs off the track to her house where she turns to self-mutilation. …show more content…
First, some people harm themselves simply because they can. A friend of Callie’s, Amanda, cuts herself and said to Callie, “Listen, I don’t see how what I do is so different from people who get their tongues pierced. Or their lips. Or their ears, for Chrissakes. It’s my body” (McCormick 37). She doesn’t see the harm in hurting herself which is why teaching this book could tell teenagers that this isn’t the path to go down and that there are other alternatives. She thinks that this is normal and a way to cope with her problems on a day-to-day basis. Amanda is one of the 1,400 out of 100,000, and growing, people who admitted to self-injury (Kennedy). Secondly, some people self-injure to cope with their feelings and tensions. Callie explains to her therapist about her father’s job situation and said, “’Now he just sells to companies nearby.’ I don’t tell you [her therapist] about how it seems like all the companies nearby already have computers, that for a while he took people out hoping they’d become customers and that now he mostly just goes out. ‘He has to work a lot’” (McCormick 111). Callie explained how her fathers situation seemed to cause her a lot of stress and how she seemed worried for him. To add, “some reasons why teens self-injure include: release of tension and feeling overwhelmed” (Styer). This is a lesson that could be taught in …show more content…
One may say that this novel shouldn’t be taught in schools, because this doesn’t happen to teenagers. However, it was found that of teenagers who have been sexual assaulted in their life, 70-90 percent of them experimented with self-injuring methods (Kennedy). Also, someone doesn’t have to be sexually assaulted to intentionally injure themselves. An untrue belief is that all self-injurers have been sexually abused, however this is not the case as many have a history of not being sexually abused in the first place (Styer). Another argument could be that this book shouldn’t be taught in schools because self-injury is a suicidal attempt. This is not true, because the person hurting themselves doesn’t intend on dying, but rather releasing the tension in their lives in order to cope with their thoughts. In the book, Callie is worried when a friend of hers is seriously injured and says, “’So she’s going to be OK?’,” while her therapist responds, “‘I can’t say. She will be, if she begins taking responsibility for her health, for her recovery here’” (McCormick 96). This concludes that not all people who self-injure are suicidal, because from this point on Callie became proactive and had a willingness to become better. In summary, many people may disagree and state that the novel shouldn’t be taught in schools; nevertheless, the book has life lessons that are
Thesis—The award winning novel, Cut, written by Patricia McCormick has been challenged worldwide in many educational systems because it has been proven to be extremely triggering for all ages, especially young adults, and includes harsh themes. Although some readers may agree with this, Cut is actually a very moving and life-changing book. This novel helps others better understand mental illness’, encourages teens to seek help and talk about inner hidden thoughts, and creates a both unique and strong connection with others battling demons screaming within their bodies. This takes them closer to shore and further from the distant island of isolation and loneliness they are too familiar with.
Nevertheless, the girl screeching in horror of her own reflection is not the only teen, who talks about, each and everything they despise about themselves. Furthermore, this girl relates to Charlotte, in the book Girl In Pieces, which is about a young 17-year old girl that was so insecure that the cuts that were imprinted on her wrist, she was determined to hide them. She made such an effort to look somewhat normal that she had to wear long-sleeves even when it was scorching hot outside. She was so insecure about herself, which caused her to suffer on the inside. This is the problem, teens suffering because of their insecurities.
Self-harming has always been a sensitive and harbored topic for the people worldwide. They see the concept of self-injury from text books, media, novels, and celebrities. Cheryl Rainfield, the author of the book Scars, has delivered a significant and strong message about self-wounding through the main character, Kendra, and her story. With the use of imagery and the alternation of Kendra’s past and present, Cheryl Rainfield has revealed the struggles that lead to Kendra’s way of living such life. Not only in fictional books, there are people in everyday life fighting to live by abusing themselves. Demi Lovato, an US-UK famous singer who is known for her strong, warm voice, an optimistic spirit and a bright smile that always appears on her face, is a victim of self-harm. Demi had eating disorder and cuts on her body as the evidence of all the hardship that happened to her. Even though she had finally found help and gotten over her fear, it is still a heart breaking surprise to everyone that knows and loves her. As stated above, self-harming is a sensitive subject that is defaulted as a wrong and crazy action. It does not matter how life goes or how worst things are, nothing would ever be bad enough for a person to hurt and harm themselves, because it is a sin. However, all people have is a misunderstanding, and such misconception has made people indifferent and the situation get worse for the victims.
CPI spoke to Devlyn who is in the 10th grade and recently won a contest for writing a short story novel published by Wekiva High School. She has a lot of friends but few very good friends. CPI addressed the allegations with Devlyn, who denies self-harming and having suicidal thoughts. Devlyn indicated that the PGM disciplines her verbally, and the only time she has spanked her was when she was 8 years old. She indicated that she has a good relationship with her parents and her PGM. According to Devlyn the last time she tried to harm herself was when she was in 7th grade because she felt lonely. When she has feelings of harming herself, she will talk to her mother, but has no thought of harming recently. She plans to get involved in counseling
It is estimated that about two million people in the U.S. self harm. Most teenagers or young adults with women outnumbering the men. They are of all races. In recent study, over 4000 self-harming adults are hospitalized per year. 80% of those hospitalized had overdosed and 15% were hospitalized for cutting.
Why do people hurt themselves? In a journal article from the American Journal of Psychotherapy, Louise Ruberman notes that about 2.1 million teens suffer from nonsuicidal self-injury, or NSSI. Young women between the ages of 14 and 18 years old take part in NSSI due to poor development of the relationship with their mothers, childhood abuse, and psychiatric disorders. Although there are multiple ways of causing injury to oneself, cutting of the skin as a means of self-mutilation is said to be the most common (Ruberman 119). We will start out by examining the problems that occur during the relationship development between a mother and a daughter at a young age.
She was thinking this to herself because she actually wanted help near the end of the book and decided to try and get it. She eventually did tell her counselor everything that she couldn’t before. She even overcame her fears and troubles. So in this book, cutters are just like ordinary human beings, they just do some things a little different but they are people all the same. So I thought to myself, maybe I’m not so crazy after all.
There are many cases where girls and boys hurt themselves because they are insecure about themselves. They feel too ugly or too fat. These kinds of people live in depression. They do not feel good about themselves. People like this tend to harm their bodies. The fact that they become depressed makes it even worse. One good example is Bulimia nervosa. It is an eating disorder where the person eats and tries to take it back as soon as they can. This is mainly caused by lack of confidence. The person probably feels like they are fat. Many other kids cut themselves due to lack of self-love. Another good example is if you are being bullied. Being bullied really hurts feelings it makes you feel like you are not good enough. There are tons of kids who are depressed due to the fact that they are being bullied constantly. Many times kids stay like this and do not speak up because they are afraid. However they are only making it worse. They live by depression every day. Anyone can stand up and put a stop to bulling. I’m very confident that if you put an end to being bullied you’ll also put an end to the depression you suffer. Depression can influence our actions. We must love our selves. God mad us all different but we are all beautiful in our own ways. We must love our bodies and treat them as
...y. Publicly hurting others shows everyone just how much they were hurting themselves. Basically all of our mass media platforms of our society, such as television, video games, music, internet, movies, could potentially wear down the humanity, or in a way, the innocence, of the teens. This allows them to find violence as a potentially acceptable, or at least desensitize, to some extent, them to the actual magnitude of murder and violence. They see it as an easy way of gaining attention. People always want to point fingers when these tragedies happen, they want to find a scapegoat, and they try to pin the events on someone else. Teenagers all want attention and when they feel neglected or mad at the world for not having attention, they see violence as a great way of getting what they have always felt they deserved, no matter whose toes they have to step on to get it.
My purpose for writing this essay has been to examine the standard approaches to understanding self-injury and then apply a semiotic approach to the self-injury. The teenagers that I give as examples are individuals whose behavior has defied explanation and treatment through the conventional means. I find some freedom and hope in viewing their behaviors as being more symbolic.
Kress, Victoria, Drouhard, Nicole. (2006). Students Who Self-Injure: School Counselor Ethical and Legal Considerations. Professional School Counseling, 203-208. Retrieved March 12, 2014, from www.schoolcounselor.org
It can often be used as a distraction from emotional distress and a way to release feelings the person has help in for so long. They often feel relief and a sense of calmness after performing the act. This is known as cutting or self-mutilation. Some forms of self-mutilation are cutting, burning, hair-pulling, pinching, scratching, picking at scars, and head-banging. People who self-mutilate often have a history of abuse, whether it be sexual, emotional, or physical. Self-mutilation often piggy backs onto other mental health problems such as eating disorders, substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and many other mental illnesses. Most people who self-harm often have low self-esteem and are perfectionists. They are often very impulsive and have poor problem-solving
Styer, Denise M. "An Understanding of Self-Injury and Suicide." Prevention Researcher Integrated Research Services, Inc., Vol. 13, Supplement. Dec. 2006: 10-12. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Some say that the teenage years are one of the most challenging and trying times in an individual’s life. Many changes take place, both emotionally and physically, which sometimes can give the feeling of excitement… or in other cases… complete confusion and utter turmoil. Because emotions tend to run high during this period of life due to hormones, some teens resort to an unhealthy way of coping to deal with their emotional pain. This unhealthy way of dealing with emotional pain is also known as self injury. Self injury (or self harm) is widely known to take place during the teenage years up until the early years of adulthood (ages 14-24)when judgments become more defined, criticism becomes harsher, and limits are tested. The transition from childhood to adulthood may sound exciting and adventurous to some, but to others, it’s a nightmare they wish they could wake up from.