The novel go ask alice is written by an anonymous author and is based on a diary kept by a conventional teenager who then turns into a suicidal drug addict. The novel, or diary, deals with the downfall of a young teenage girl in america, and her journals over the course of two years and a few days. The script allows for great impact with a minimal set. Go ask alice title was inspired from thelyrics jefferson airplane white rabbit 3. Novel versus the movie adaption of go ask alice essay. Go ask alice by beatrice sparks, 198208, avon flare edition, mass market paperback in english 1st avon flare printing 77. Through out the history of film, many productions have been made based on best selling novels. Begin at the beginning, the king said gravely, and go on till you come to the end. Go ask alice quotes showing of 55 im not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things ive gotten from books. Go ask alice is written as the diary of a fifteenyearold girls daytoday struggle with drug addiction. Go ask alice is a 1971 fiction book about a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of selfdestructive escapism. As powerfuland as timelytoday as ever, go ask alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction. She is a pretty typical teenage girl in the late 1960sshes mostly concerned with school, boys, her hair, and fitting in okay, thats pretty typical for any decade when her fathers new job causes her family to move across the country, alice is thrust into a new school at a time when she is at best.
Go ask alice has also ranked among the most frequently challenged books for several decades due to its use of profanity and explicit references to sex and rape, as well as drugs. July 2729 alice tries to pray but feels the words are false and meaningless. See all 25 questions about go ask alice lists with this book. Go ask alice is a 1971 book generally viewed to have been written by the. The book was adapted into the 1973 television film go ask alice, starring jamie smithjackson and william shatner.
Oh dear god, help me adjust, help me be accepted, help me. Go ask alice is a novel by youth counsellor beatrice sparks, first published in 1971. Read another book that deals with teenagers and drugs, such as crank by ellen hopkins and smack by melvin burgess. The dose is exponentially high, her mindset is depressed and her tolerance is low after months of sobriety. She feels very alone and misunderstood, seeking approval from her mother and other people. This book is advertised as being nonfiction written by an anonymous fifteenyearold author. Still alices script isnt always up to the level of moores performance, which is so profound and simple, so devoid of sentimentality or actressy selfregard, that it almost seems obscene. So many people mistake the words they are reading as a tool to promote what the book is talking about. The book and especially the ending shows the harsh reality of drugs and addiction in teenagers. Originally sold as the real diary of an actual teenager, go ask alice is the fauxmemoir of a 15yearold girl whose life is dominated by her drug problems.
Throughout the whole book, it brought the readers attention by giving us enough details. Pray dont trouble yourself to say it any longer than that, said alice. Attributed to anonymous, the book is in diary form, and was originally presented as being the edited real diary of the unnamed teenage protagonist. First video, so sorry for all the editing mistakes. I removed the last part of the summary because you didnt want the ending to be revealed. This is my second read of go ask alice, and i loved it just as much the second time around im an advocate for banned stories that teach. Alice loses consciousness and drifts off into a reverie that she thinks is either a flashback caused by lsd residue in the spinal cavity or a schizophrenic episode. Ending ruined anything positive this book had to offer. Speaking specifically of his haircut and sideburns, mike wanted his individuality which contributed to his. Go ask alice is the diary of a fifteenyearold girls experiences within the 1960s counterculture of drugs and free sex. A first person account of someone addicted to drug. It is not a definitive statement on the middleclass, teenage drug world.
For thirtyfive years, the acclaimed, bestselling firstperson account of a teenage girls harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. The dates and locations mentioned in the book place its. A summary of july 27epilogue in anonymouss go ask alice. Joel gave her alice a lot of strength and offered her to go to the funeral.
There is an alice in the book go ask alice, but shes a minor character mentioned in only one paragraph. Go ask alice has been around for decades, and is even being used as reading material in high schools. The author of this book really had no say on whether their name was added or not, because go ask alice is teenagers diary that was put into print, after she had passed away. The video is in english but the book is available in french. Returning to it as an adult feels a bit like youre taking part in a piece of pop culture in the vein of scared straight or reefer madness. Lyrics in the song white rabbit by the band jefferson airplane 2. It was simple to stage, yet the action carries the plays powerful theme.
What happens to alice at one unsavoury party changed her life forever. The diary begins right before alices fifteenth birthday. Both chris and alice decide to go to san francisco thinking that moving to a different place is going to help them with quitting their addiction and habits towards drugs, alcohol, and sex. Anonymous when alice turns 15 she under goes a lot of changes. Go ask alice by beatrice sparks is an epistolary work, meaning that is structured as a series of entries such as letters or in this case, a diary. The go ask alice community note includes chapterbychapter summary and. Gee, those adjectives make this book sound like a load of fun, dont they. Only parents can decide if they want their children to read go ask alice. It is famous for its drugs are bad message, being banned for references to sex, rape and drugs, and almost certainly being a fake. Some people maintain that alice in wonderland can only have been written by an author with considerable hallucinogenic mushroom experience under their belt. All picture source titles are hyperlinked to the pages that they appear on this site. Feeling that roger wont understand, she stops speaking to him and refuses to.
After reading go ask alice and preparing a research project on it, i feel that the biggest reason books are banned is because of depiction vs. Go ask alice was designed to be the true events of a young teenagers life. Also serves as a cautionary tale i quite enjoyed it. Go ask alice is written by an anonymous author essay 1234 words 5 pages. Terrifying, yes, but not depressing, and surprisingly beautiful.
She is jealous of both of her younger siblings, a brother and a sister, believing she is the letdown child. It is the story of a troubled young woman who seeks solace in drugs and the counterculture. An award winning novel by the name of go ask alice did that. Overall go ask alice is a really fantastic bookdiary.
This passage from the book go ask alice was when alice first decided to quit using drugs and to stay clean. Go ask alice summary an unnamed fifteenyearold diarist, whom the novels title refers to as alice, starts a diary. But i am not what i say or what i do or what i remember. After an introduction to lsd, she ends up on a ride of highs and lows, from the loss of friends she once had to the gaining of a new selfawareness. On july 7th, while babysitting, she is unknowing laced with acid planted by jan. Essay about go ask alice by anonymous 837 words 4 pages. I did the a summary for you and the answer is in there. Oh dear god, help me adjust, help me be accepted, help me belong, dont let me be an outcast and a drag on my. The novel climaxes in march 2005, 14 months after alices diagnosis, when she delivers a speech to the annual dementia care conference. Go ask alice is a reference to a jefferson airplane song called white rabbit, which alludes to rampant hallucinogenic drug use in lewis carrolls alice in wonderland.
Alice comes home and is excited to renew her life with her family. Life in the asylum is draining her in all ways, as it has already done for babbie. Created during the height of the drug era, the girl could be anyone from this time who found him or herself seduced by the mindaltering affects of. To ask other readers questions about go ask alice, please sign up. Being diagnosed with alzheimers is like being branded with a scarlet a, she tells the audience. A book about a girl with drug addiction and she writes about drug life. The shellshock from the deaths sends the diarists into a deep depression, and the visions of decomposition become more frequent. A book report on go ask alice english literature essay. Every book on your english syllabus summed up in a quote from the office.
Then write an essay comparing and contrasting the book to go ask alice. Go ask alice was a stark counterpoint to the freewheeling ethos of the early 70s that was ahead of its time, eventually fitting in perfectly with the war on drugs and d. She imagines she may go into child guidance or psychology some day to help out others, and she vows to quit drugs. It graphically describes the waking hell into which the main character descends, her heartfelt but futile battles to return home and stay. Alices adventures in wonderland, chapter 9 the white rabbit put on his spectacles. Go ask alice title was inspired from thelyrics jefferson airplane. Teenagers of every race, religion, and clique relate deeply to the words of the anonymous teenager within the book go ask alice, by an anonymous girl whose life enters a place where, as most teenagers, she has no idea who to turn to, or where to go. The diary also functions as the engine for go ask alices epistolary narrative a. Realistic fiction, drug abuse fiction, diary fiction 4. Go ask alice is still awash in controversy, 43 years.
All of her family is okay and accepting the change except alice. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these. I found a short plot summary of go ask alice at wikipedia. The diarys triumph comes at the end since alice discards it in favor of. Go ask alice, by anonymous by alyssa guthrie on prezi. Essay about go ask alice by anonymous 837 words bartleby.
Alice, once a shy, innocent girl, is sucked into the heartless world. A website that has information about health for teens 3. She questions the sobriety of lewis carroll when writing his novel. The main character struggled with drug use and her family always was there to try to help even through her running away and coming back. Her father is invited to give a speech at a distant university, and. Or maybe you saw the 1973 madefortv movie based on it costarring star treks william shatner. Alice acted like she was sick, so she didnt had to go to school. The main conflict of this book was drug use and abuse. I think this book writes in a interesting way while it teaches us a life lesson by expressing in diary form. The diary chronicles her struggle to free herself from the pull of the drugs and her efforts to establish her own identity. In go ask alice, the diary is written by a teenage girl over a twoyear period and chronicles her experiences with. Go ask alice is based on the actual diary of a fifteenyearold drug user. Written by the pen of an anonymous girl, go ask alice details the life of a 15 yearold drug addict for two years till just after her 17th birthday. She starts going to school at the youth center, which is a relief compared to her room.
Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. Review by richard gage, struthers high school, struthers, ohio excellent script with a great message. Its an added unexpected ending you knew was coming,but you were not expecting to happen the way it did. With a sensitive, observant style, she records her adolescent agony. She is having a hard time finding new friends and feeling like she fits in. Though go ask alice is a classic, its not a good book. The story begins with the books path to publication. But theres controversy surrounding that hopeful ending. At the 16th of june, alices grandmother died in her sleep. She thinks someday shed like to get married and raise a family. Her dad is offered a new job and her family is moving to a new town. Go ask alice is the firstperson tale of an accidental downward spiral into drugs, alcohol, unwanted sex, and impoverished living.
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