Why was help declined?
The book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is a tragic story of a young teen named Sarah Byrnes who was abused by her father. Eric Calhoune became Sarah’s friend partially because they were both outcasts, Eric was very overweight and Sarah Byrnes had burns all over her face so she was very ugly. Sarah Byrnes claims that she has scars all over her face and hands because when she was three years old she knocked over a pot of boiling spaghetti on herself. Although she has this as an explanation for her burns, it has been doubted many times. Many people have thought that the explanation of her burns was a lie and that she was really abused by her father Mr. Byrnes. If this assumption is true that Sarah Byrnes was abused, then why would she not tell anybody about it?
One day, Sarah Byrnes does not leave her desk at school and stops talking. She is taken to a Hospital so she can recover, but yet she still does not talk. Later we find out that Sarah Byrnes went there because she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen to her again. Her dad was getting crazier and crazier by the day and she did not want to be in his presence any longer, because she knew if she did she would get hurt again. I understand why Sarah Byrnes would make this decision because she did not want to be alone with her father any longer. The question is; why wouldn’t she just go to child services?
I understand completely why Sarah Byrnes did not turn her dad in. I think she did this because she knew it would not end up perfect, and that somehow her dad would come after her. Mr. Byrnes was a crazy and scary man and I’m sure she did not want to be around him any longer. Sarah Byrnes mentioned in the book that her dad was drinking more and more and threatening her more and she just wanted to get away from all of it. I believe that she did not tell the cops because her trust level was very low. You’re probably thinking, “How does this affect why she would not tell the cops?” If Sarah Byrnes came clean with her dark child hood past with the cops there would not be a 100% chance that her father would be sent to jail. If her father figured out that this information got to child services or the cops she would just be in more trouble and have to fear her father even more. In my opinion the scariest thing that could happen to a child being abused, is whoever is abusing you finds out that you are trying to get them caught or put into jail. This will just anger them more and cause you to have more fear in them. You have to make sure that they will not find out and that’s probably why Sarah Byrnes kept this a secret for so long.
I can see how all of this drama in your life and how miserable it made Sarah Byrnes would make her want to kill herself. I’m glad that she thought twice about it before she did though. Sarah Byrnes is a strong girl and after being at the hospital that she was at and meeting teenagers that have gone through the same exact thing she has gave her strength to continue on. She realized that if other people who have gone through abuse just like her are not giving up and moving on, than she will not give up either. I think that Sarah Byrne’s inspiration is an example to all of us that you can not give up no matter what you are going through because life will go on but it depends on how you handle it.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
7 comments:
Ellie.
I like how you expressed your opinions and shared what you thought of the book. It does seem like Sarah must have been a very strong girl and your blog shows that. You have good word choice. Excellent Job!
Koop.
I enjoyed your question-answer approach to this post. I liked how you asked a question, presented the facts surrounded it, and then answered it by a conclusion that you made about the question from the book. I thought your technique was very entertaining to read. Nicely done.
I liked this blog the best because of how it was laid out. I really liked how you asked a question and then gave background information on in incase the person that was reading the blog hasn’t read the book and then told the answer to the question. I also liked how you tied in the part of how she grew stronger after she saw the other kids in the hospital. One question I have is do you think that the kids knew that she was faking and do you think she secretly talked to them or not?
Koop.
Thank you very much for your comment! Yes, I agree wuth you when you say that Sarah Byrnes sounds like a strong girl, because she very much showed that in the book. At first, she did not seem like a strong girl but by making people take her to a hospital, and running a way from her dad she showed how strong you can be. Sometimes people are underestimated.
ellie.
Long arm of the law.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed my approach! I tried to make an original way to present this blog. When asking the question, I wanted to present the answer that I thought and then back up the reasons for it. I also wanted you to understand why I answered what I did to the question, so I gave a brief background of the story and why Sarah Byrnes did what she did.
thanks again :]]
ellebell
dog lover.
Thank you, I'm glad that you liked this blog the best! To answer your question about do you think the kids new that Sarah Byrnes was faking it and do I think that she secretly talked to them? To answer the first part of your question, yes, I do think that the other kids at the hospital had some sort of an idea that she was faking it. I do not think that they were sure of their assumption though. No, I do not think that she told any of the other kids or talke to them about it. Because, she didnt even seem like she wanted to tell her best friend Eric Calhoune. Probably because she had such a hard time trusting people and she did not want anyone to figure out her secret. Thanks for commenting by the way :]]
ellie.
That’s what I think too. I think that the kids at the hospital knew that she was faking and since they knew what she was going threw they didn’t tell any body. Over all though, I think that they helped her immensely with her recovery, and figuring out that she needed help.
Post a Comment