I have read the two books "Back On Track - Diary Of a Street Kid" by Margret Clarke, "Junk" by Melvin Burgess and watched the movie "Trainspotting" directed by Danny Boyle and based on a novel by Irvine Welsh. All of these texts involve the issue of drugs and how the affect young people. I chose this general topic as it is so relevant in today's life, yet I feel not discussed enough. I have found that this issue discussed was not the only similarity linking the three texts, there are many underlying points that are comparable between them that both interested, bored and shocked me.

"Back On Track" is the diary of 'Simone Fawkner' following the struggles of her life as a street kid, and is set during the 1990's in different parts of Australia.

"Junk" is the story of a few different young people and their lives filled with problems of drugs, homelessness and insecurity, and is set in Bristol in the mid 1980's.

"Trainspotting" is a movie about a group of young male friends and the way they deal with their lives in a world of drugs and poverty, and is set in Scotland in the 1980's.

There are two themes that I found very prominently outlined throughout all three books: low self-esteem an

The author of "Back On Track", Margaret Clark, used the style of writing the novel in a diary form to help develop the emotional involvement between character and reader. As the main character was supposedly writing the diary, it held more of her own very personal feelings and thoughts than it would have if an outsider were narrating the story. This made you feel that you really got to know her closely, so different things impacted you on a more personal level. When Simone was raped you are not only told of the event, but the way it made her feel, which emphasises even more so this huge betrayal and tragedy.

One point that impacted me in "Junk" was the loyalty of 'Tar' to his parents. Even though they are the people who are supposed to love and care for him, they have put him through so much and hurt him so greatly. Yet 'Tar' still stays loyal to them and feels guilty for leaving them.

'Tar' from "Junk" is a very sensitive and naive person. He seems to be quite passive as he is not comfortable speaking his thoughts due to his low confidence. I feel really sorry for him because I, as the reader, can see how much easier life would be for him if his self-confidence and esteem hadn't been pushed down so far.

One problem that each of the main characters in the texts shared was that each of them, at some point, attempt to quit using drugs. "Junk" and "Trainspotting" had very similar situations involving 'Gemma' and 'Renton'. Both made a snap decision to quit by going cold turkey. Both put themselves in a situation where drugs aren't available (Renton locks himself in a room, Gemma goes away to the country) Both end up falling back to drugs when they cant cope. The character 'Simone' from "Back On Track" also decided to quit drugs. She doesn't lock herself away, but does it with the support of friends and counselling, and actually does quit.

'Renton' from "Trainspotting" is often very negative and hostile. I see him as a pessimistic person and am also impacted by how he shows no emotion at times when others would be greatly affected. I believe he has become like this because of drugs, as it is the only thing in his life that he really cares about. This points out strongly to me how much drugs can affect someone.

The three authors convey different messages, but each makes you think about and realise the things that most of us would prefer not to. That you will often find untrustworthy traits in people you least expect, and that you need to be very careful as not everything and everyone in this world is there for good. While one author makes you feel that no matter what happens there is always hope and someone there for you, the other shocks you into seeing that you need to be wary of even your closest friends, and the last shows you that being too loyal can get you hurt. I think that all of these very different messages can be learnt from.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2109
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)