In the beginning of the novel Con had just returned from the hospital for attempting suicide. Right off the bat Con finds it hard to wake up in the morning because he is afraid that anxiety and failure will be waiting for him. He makes himself think of reasons to get out of bed. Then he goes through the whole ritual in his head. Con was depressed. He would be a treated very fragile wise by his teachers. He also was a very doubt full person. When it came to his brother's death, he would wish that he could have done something different. Con would go through the whole scene in his head over and over again pondering on what he could have done right. He also feels isolated from his mother. Although he loves his mother, she could never love him back. Most of the time he would feel obligated to stay away from her. Because Lazenby reminded Con of his brother, Con decided to break up their friendship.

Throughout the novel one person who had an affect on Conrad was his father. From the beginning of t

I found that Berger had a good affect on Conrad. As Con's psychiatrist, he was always there for him. At the beginning of the sessions he lets Con know that the sessions were controlled by his success. Through out the sessions Berger began to help Con relax. Berger was able to help Con out in realizing that he was doing too many things. He was able to help Con quit the swimming team. By doing this Con was able to have more time on his hands. Through every meeting Berger was able to build a friendly relationship with Con. When Karen committed suicide, Con was able to contact Berger and meet with him. Through meeting with Berger I felt that Con was able to fill a void in his life that his mother couldn't. Like having someone care for you and help you out.

The mother had a negative affect on Conrad. After the brother's death, and Con's attempted suicide, she could never deal with Con. When the brother died so did a part of her ability to love. This mad it hard for her to cooperate with Con. The only way that she knew how to deal with him was through leaving the situation and escaping to a distant place. Through refusing to deal with Con, he was left hating his own mother. She was also obsessed with her appearance viewed by her relative

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 848
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)