Lisa Bright And Dark :: essays research papers

When someone has a nearly "perfect" life, its hard to believe that person could be going out of his or her mind. Lisa Bright and Dark, by John Neufeld, explores the manhood of mental illness through Lisa Shilling, a sixteen year venerable who believes she is going crazy. Though she and her friends know this, she is unable to receive help because her p arnts rally she is making it up. With no adult help, the problem has to be taken into the hands of Lisa and her three teenage friends.&9Lisa Shilling starts off as any normal teenager, attending school, going out with friends, and even dating. As the novel progresses, Lisa slips into dark, depressive moods on occasional days, and then into depression altogether. Lisas friends come across her change and take it into their own hands to give her "therapy" because Lisas parents are not willing to accept her sickness. As the depression progresses, many shake up incidents happen, but Lisas friends stick with her, hel ping to give strength to Lisa as well as themselves. &9Lisas friends stick with her when no one else will. One incident happened where Lisa went into an almost trance-like possibility and then proceeded to ravish one of her three friends. Even through the difficult times, Lisas friends would not give up on her. The basic theme of friendship is evince throughout the novel.It is never told exactly what has caused Lisa Shilling to slip into this state of depression, which helps to deal the atmosphere of the novel very mysterious. Just when it appears that Lisa is getting better, anformer(a) episode occurs. The floor is disturbing, being set around Lisas school and home. With other characters in the story, such as Lisas parents, causing conflicts with Lisa receiving proper treatment, the story is given a disturbing yet realistic feel.&9Instead of the story being told from the main characters suggest of view, it is instead told by one of Lisas three friends who is trying to h elp. This keeps the ref from being able to tell exactly what is going on in Lisa Shillings head.