Liz Murray's Breaking Night

912 Words2 Pages

Breaking Night is the sad but hopeful story of Liz Murray and the obstacles she overcame throughout her childhood. The story starts out in greenwich village in Liz's rundown apartment, where she lives with her two loving but drug addicted parents Jean and Peter and her older sister Lisa. Liz is forced to grow up fast, both her and her sister due to her parents neglectful ways. After watching her family separate, mother being diagnosed with HIV, dropping out of school and becoming homeless, liz is still able to find it in her to start over again. Liz Murray plays the role of author, narrator and protagonist. Throughout the novel Liz never stops caring for her parents, always showing concern despite their terrible job of parenting. Her ability …show more content…

Throughout the book Liz is in constant survival mode, taking life day by day. As a child she is left to fend for herself for food or any basic need, this being instilled in her at such a young age gave her the will to survive. The feeling of hunger became the norm for liz, in chapter two she describes being so hungry that she and her sister share a tube of toothpaste and chapstick to hold them over. In her younger years she survived off of eggs, left overs from apartment A1 and the occasional family dinner at her friends Danny and Ricks house. When liz moves out and is on the streets she goes long periods of time without eating, with the kindness of friends she's able to get the occasional meal and scraps but soon resorts to stealing from the local market to survive in between. Liz starts to feel like a burden to her friends, having to rely on them for food and a place to stay; she wants to be independent. Liz is motivated after meeting Paige and hearing her story on how she was able to graduate after dropping out and running away during her high school years. She tells Liz she was able to do complete her credits at a alternative high school. Not long after liz is enrolled at Humanities Preparatory Academy. With her ability to survive off of little to nothing she’s able to graduate high school while living on the streets. Her determination to graduate was what motivated her to get up in the morning. constant fight for basic needs like food and shelter gives her the drive and determination to go back to

Open Document