Surviving The Applewhites Analysis

Surviving the Applewhites is the story of thirteen-year-old Jake Semple who after accidentally burning down his school, has been forced to live with an eccentric artist family to avoid being sent to a juvenile detention center. The experience of living with this open-minded and loving family changes Jake's view of the world and ultimately of himself.

From the moment Jake Semple steps foot on Wit's End, the sprawling land owned by the eccentric Applewhite family, he knows he doesn't belong. Jake has dyed red hair gelled into spikes, an eyebrow ring, and he wears all black clothing. All his life, people have been telling Jake that he's a bad kid and that no one has high expectations for his future. He is a foul-mouthed smoker bent on making

and Jake, two teenagers who feel as if they don't properly belong anywhere. Jake, an outcast in society due to his bad behavior, feels as if he is misunderstood, that he is not as bad as everyone makes him out to be. E.D. on the other hand, feels invisible in her family of artists. She has no real artistic talent, and she feels as if her family ignores her because of this, that they have no appreciation for her talent: organization. When Jake arrives to live with the Applewhite family, everyone embraces him with open arms. Everyone, that is, except E.D. who does like the idea of sharing her academic curriculum with a delinquent. For the first few weeks of the new move, Jake is miserable. He hates the mostly-vegetarian diet the Applewhites subscribe to, hates meditating, hates monitoring his own school work, and most of all, hates the weird artistic family that has put their faith in him. All this changes when Randolph Applewhite is asked to direct the community theatre's new production of The Sound of Music. After a string of accidents and mishaps, he is left with no directorial team - no sound crew, no costume crew, no make-up girls, no assistant director, etc - and the show has been threatened to close. Showing their staunch support for each other and their familial love, the entire family bands together to keep Randolph's performance on the stage. Even Jake surprises himself by agreeing to act as Rolf, the teenager