4.25.13- Literary Essay

When I'm reading, I always like books that have a storyline or a character that you can imagine in your life. It makes the book seem more realistic, as if it could really happen. Stories like Swim by Jennifer Weiner, where the main character Ruthie learns that sometimes you have to not let what's past affect your future.

In the beginning of the book, Ruthie is continuously reminded of her past. The problem is, she remembers her past so vividly, but she doesn't want to. She hates her past, and she is forced to explain it everyday. She finally learns that she needs to forget about it, and not think about it. So even when her ex-coworker that betrayed her calls offering a job, she denies it and hangs up. She finds that when she pays more attention to the future, part of her thinks that its was the weirdest thing. Even when she meets someone new, he reminds her of someone else from her past, but she decides to ignore it. "Ruthie pulled a notebook out of my purse and flipped to a fresh page. Part of her thought this was the weirdest thing she'd ever heard.”

Before she decided to not care, she used to be reminded of it every day because
when she was younger, she was in a really bad car accident that killed her parents and she got a scar on her cheek. So when someone comes up and reacts to her scar, she used to get mad. But now she has decided to just ignore the question. Even later, on page 52, “I don’t think I am, but who knows? Maybe I’m wrong.” Before, she would have hated them for life. I think part of her learning this lesson is also learning that sometimes you have to forgive and forget. Now she just says simple things to avoid their question. Like on page 54, "Got it,” Ruthie murmured. She didn't exactly want to talk about it."

Finally, at the end of the story she gets over everything, but before she can fully end, she is affected. For example, she says, '“I nodded numbly. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. I breathed deeply, hoping he wouldn’t see that the blood had drained out of my face.”' But after she goes through this, she recovers with the help of her friends and her grandma. She even goes and gets a new job, to start over. Plus, when the new people she meets at her job try to change her decisions, she doesn't. She keeps going.

Ruthie learns throughout the story to not let anything that has happened in your past affect where you are today. The moral of this story is to stay yourself and not let anyone change that or use your past against you. This story is a very inspiring story and definitely teaches you to be who you are.