Scott Hudson's Sleeping Freshman Never Lie

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High school. It’s tough. Especially if you’re a freshman. Everything changes when you get to high school. You start to notice specific people more, your friends start to change, and even your likes and dislikes change. These may just sound like the typical high school cliche sayings, but in the novel Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, written by David Lubar, Scott Hudson had to go through all of that in just his first year of high school. Throughout the novel, Scott Hudson encounters many changes in his freshman year of high school including, the arrival of a new baby sibling, friends coming and leaving, being on student council, writing for the school’s newspaper, working on the school’s play, all while he is chasing the “girl of his dreams”. The …show more content…

The story starts off with Scott saying, “we plunged toward the future without a clue. Tonight, we were four sweat guys heading home from a day spent shooting hoops. Tomorrow, I couldn’t even guess what would happen. All I knew for sure was that our live were about to change” (3). Scott was indeed right, his life was about to change when he entered high school. This clearly ties in with the theme of growing up, because entering high school and going through major changes is all part of growing up, and growing up is inevitable. Scott has to grow up no matter what so he has to somehow learn to deal with the changes he will be faced with. It is clear that Scott knows he has some growing up to do when he states, “Freshmen? Unbelievable. Fresh? Definitely. Men? Not a clue” (4). This shows how Scott starts off the year knowing that he has a lot of maturing to do, because high school is not at all like middle school, it is way harder. Lastly, by the end of the book, Scott wrote in his journal, that he plans on giving to his baby brother, “And, wow, I’m not a freshman anymore. I’m a sophomore. Imagine that. ‘Flux rox,’ Scott said, conclusively” (279). This demonstrates how Scott recognizes that changes will still be happening, but he can do nothing than to make the best of those changes and go along with it. Overall, it is clear to see …show more content…

As mentioned before numerous times, the story takes place in high school. High school is a very confusing place, which undoubtedly represents growing up. As Scott states, “I spotted more freshman. Familiar faces from Tom Paine Middle School, looking like Easter eggs in their new clothes” (9). This shows how everyone is ready for change, by dressing up in their nice clothes, even though they have no idea what is coming their way. As for Scott, all he needs are tips in the new environment of high school, “Tips about high school would have been nice, too. Today would have been so much easier if I’d had advice from someone who’d already been there” (29). When one is growing up it is common to want advice and tips, and especially in high school. Finally, the setting of high school has many, many, many scenarios that can relate to growing up. Specifically, when it comes to people's confidence about high school, “ ‘High school,’ Mouth said, staggering to the side as someone pushed him out of the way. ‘Here we come. This is going to be great. We’re going to rule this place.’ Wrong, Mouth. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong” (14). As you can see both Mouth and Scott have different views towards high school, which chow show different people deal with change different ways. In the final analysis, it is obvious that the setting of the story, which is high school, helps create the overall meaning of the story. To conclude,

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