Friendswood Homework 

November 17, 2016

Works Cited

"Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships." Hall Health Center, University of

               Washington, Jan. 2014. Web. Accessed 15 Nov. 2016.

Sherman, Nancy. "Shame and Responsibility: A Response." The New York Times,

              25 July 2011. Web. Accessed 15 Nov. 2016.

Southwood, Kate. "Toxic Relationships." The New York Times Book Review, 7 Sept.

              2014. Literary Resource Center. Web. Accessed 15 Nov. 2016.

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. New York, New York, Riverhead Books, 2014.

                For the third essay, I will be writing about Dex and Willa's friendship. After Willa was raped, Dex decided to befriend her, despite his romantic feelings toward her. I plan on analyzing further Dex's motivation behind this action. In order to do this, I have found my sources to back up my writing.

                I chose the article from the Hall Health Center in University of Washington in order to find differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships. I want to use these examples to decipher if Dex and Willa's friendship is a healthy one. If it is, than I can conclude that Dex knew his friendship with Willa would benefit her and that it was the right thing for him to do.

               I chose Nancy Sherman's article because it deals with the topic of shame and guilt. She also relates it to soldiers fighting and how the ones that seem like heroes are actually dealing with guilt or shame. I can use this article to discuss if Dex befriended Willa because he felt shame or guilt for not speaking out in the first place.

               Kate Southwood's article reviews the book of Friendswood. In it she discusses unhealthy relationships and analyzes some examples in the book. One of the examples she uses is Dex and Willa. I can use her article since she talks about Dex and Willa's relationship in particular, which is what my essay is on.

               My last source is the book Friendswood itself. It wouldn't make sense to write an essay on a topic in the book without using it to back up my writing.

           



     

      

Friendswood Essay Ideas

November 9, 2016

      For the next essay, students are to propose a problem or question, and solution in relation to the novel Friendswood. For my essay, I have decided to write about the relationship between Dex and Willa. My question is: What is the motive behind Dex's friendship with Willa? There are other questions to consider when writing this essay. They include:

1. Did Dex befriend Willa knowing she was mentally unstable and needed a friend?
2. Was Dex thinking about himself first and destroying his feeling of guilt when he decided to be friends with Willa?
3. What are the negative effects of this relationship? What are the positive?
4. Does their friendship ruin or help anyone's reputation?
5. Would Dex have gain the confidence to speak out if he never befriended Willa?
6. If Willa was never raped, would Dex have still pursue a friendship?
7. Is Dex's friendship a sign of dissent?
8. Why did no one else wanted to befriend or help Willa?
9. Is this friendship a sign of how close-knit the community is despite their struggles?
10. Should Cully follow in Dex's footsteps?

I believe Dex was thinking of Willa first when he decided to be friends with her. Therefore, my thesis at the moment is: Groupthink is a problem in Friendswood since may people fail to speak out and help one another, therefore they must learn to create new relationships that motivate them to dissent, overall creating a healthier community.

Friendswood Homework

October 23, 2016

Discussion Question

       8. As Friendswood comes to an end, the reader starts to see changes among the characters and the plot wrapping up. Sometimes the end can be a cliche, "happily ever after" ending or a surprising act that catches the reader off-guard. For example, Lee tries to blow up the building site of Taft Properties, and unfortunately Cully gets caught in the explosion. Cully was obviously injured by the explosion, "bleeding through his plaid shirt...his face so bloody she [Lee] couldn't see his eyes" (Steinke 360). Lee does the least she can do to help by driving him to the hospital and even was wiling to stay with him until she was certain he was alright. Cully however sends her away since he feels that fate is punishing him for raping Willa. The significance in Cully sending Lee home shows that not only did Lee help him literally, but also metaphorically. Cully finally accepts that the rape was his fault and realizes it is time for him to receive his penalty. He constantly blurts out how his injuries are a sign that "it was supposed to happen like this" (363). In other words, Cully takes positive accountability for his action instead of blaming Lee for what happened. He doesn't even tell anyone that she was on the site during the night of the explosion, and ultimately makes up a story that it was done by a group of guys. Thanks to Lee's decision to blow up the building site, the reader can now summarize Cully as a changed character for the better and stops blaming. 

         The explosion at the building site begins Cully's transformation as a character, making him a dynamic character. In the beginning of the novel, Cully is depicted as an all-star football player that always had his life handed to him, wether it was winning games or getting the girls he wanted. After raping Willa, he never apologizes to her and believes that it wasn't his fault. After the explosion, instead of blaming the rape on Willa or his injuries on Lee, he takes responsibility for his action and accepts it as a punishment from God, supporting the idea of positive accountability. In positive accountability, one of the behaviors is "to thoughtfully acknowledge an error...and consider how to repair it, if necessary" (Dr. Alasko 107). Cully tries to repair his error by apologizing to Willa through a letter written by him. All in all, Cully starts to show that he is a dynamic character in the novel.

Friendswood Homework

September 25, 2016

Classes 11-14 Reading Logs

        1. Usually after being rape, the victim feels alone and lost in the world, sometimes even judged and put down by their peers since they are unaware of the struggles the victim went through and continue to go through. Luckily, Willa, the poor and innocent girl that was a virgin before being raped isn't completely alone since she still has true friends, such as rebellious Dani and now Dex, a guy that was at the same party where the rape occurred. One can infer that Dex is not like the other guys that were at the party since he genuinely cares about Willa and doesn't blame her for the rape. For example, when Bishop, one of Cully's friends, says "'That girl's [Willa] trouble, no way around it,'" Dex defends Willa by quoting, "'I can't believe you guys'" (Steinke 214). This comment coming out of Dex's voice shows that he understands the boys are blaming their unethical actions on Willa in order to discharge their responsibility and protect their "All-American Boys" reputations. He is shocked that they are actually convincing themselves that they did nothing wrong and that it was Willa who caused the rape. Makes sense since it is always the rape victim's fault for their sexual assault, is it not? In response to the rape, Dex starts to feel bad for Willa when he sees how the incident negatively affects her life, such as forcing her to stay at home and learn as opposed to a conventional school environment, and he then realizes that "'She doesn't deserve that [this],'" (209). He also probably begins to miss seeing Willa since he did like her and they were partners in English. He takes the initiative to make Willa feel like part of the school again by creating friendship with her and partnering up with her on the new English project. Even though she's still not in school, it is the least he can do since he feels guilty for her rape. Dex feels guilty for not stopping Cully from raping her originally, and he is also afraid that some type of authority will find out that he was at the party. If he was at the party and is genuinely a good person, people will begin to wonder "Why didn't he stop it?" Despite doing nothing wrong, Dex knows it was not enough on his part for helping Willa, and he doesn't want to deal with this type of pressure from authority.  

       2. Hal has always loved his son Cully, even after the rape incident. However, he tends to obsess over his son, living vicariously through his success as a football player and all-around "good boy" reputation, in order to forget his past of wrongdoings. When Hal receives a phone call from the principal informing him that Cully has once again got himself in trouble, the news "surprised him how hard it was to say, how much he got chocked up" (Steinke 227-228). The reasoning behind his reaction is because he knew that his son's football career was over for the season, the career he never had when he was a young football player. There was nothing he could do but just deal with it and let his son learn the consequences of his mischievous actions. Unfortunately, Hal believes there is more he can do in order to save his son, by blaming religion. After his failed attempt of convincing Coach Salem to let his son continue playing, he believes that the reason Cully is acting up lately is because "He needed the holy spirit in him. He needed righteousness...faith" (229). Once Cully finds himself within religion, for sure he will start acting appropriately and life will continue to go his way. Even after the rape, Hal has been training his son to find God and start practicing religion. Hal is obviously in denial because religion is not the scapegoat for his son's barbaric and purely evil behavior. His son needs better parenting, as in he needs parents that won't be afraid to punish him when he does rape a girl or gets in a fight in school. He needs to be taught the hard way by his parents that what he does is wrong and must stop. Instead, Cully has a sweet mom that doesn't act and a dad that has an ego bigger than his intelligence and is so consumed in his son that he refuses any harm or pain to touch him. The only reason Hal is blaming religion is because he uses Cully to vent his feeling of humiliation of his dark past of love affairs and alcoholism. If Hal acknowledges that his son is always in trouble because of his poor parenting, then it shatters his reputation that he is trying to rebuild from his past in order to trick people into thinking he means good. All in all, Hal is protecting his son so he can also protect himself, just like the selfish character he is. 

       3. At the Lawbournes' house party, it is clear that Willa was victimized by Cully while his friends partied hard in the house, but Dex was also there. He feels guilty now for not doing anything to stop the rape, resulting in his reasoning to try to make up for it now by befriending Willa. Despite him not taking part in the rape or drugging Willa, he is still ashamed of his failure to act and for even being at the house, also for forging a note from his mother togo to the house. Most importantly, Dex is concerned of what institutions such as his school, football team, and even his parents will think of him when they discover that he was in the house, even though he did nothing wrong nor good. This is significant since it shows Dex's character as a kind boy that respects authority. Also, he has a conscience since he cares for what above institutions think of him and he feels guilty for not helping Willa. Along with his character and conscience, Dex feels humiliation when his mother finds out that it is possible that he was also at the party. His mother may not know that he was there, but the fact that she knows there is a possibility, makes him feel even more guilty since "she trusted him too much, and that was a wrench in his heart" (Steinke 181). Dex's mother's reaction to the news of what happened at the Lawbournes' was one of shame and shock, since she knew the young boys personally. It was shocking to her that the "'boys here would do that, boys I've had in my own house,'" (181). She doesn't ask Dex if he was there because she is probably afraid of the truth and doesn't want to believe that her son was part of a crowd that took a girl's freedom away. After all, Dex was her "little boy" that looked after her and his sister, picked up her medication and more. In colloquial terms, Dex was the father-figure of the household. Therefore, she blames the other boys that were at the party, in order to protect her son and to ignore the possibility. Her action of blaming the other boys is also a tactic of reverse psychology, because since she knows Dex respects and cares for her, he will start to feel even more guilty for his mother not blaming him, which is a form of silent criticism, letting Dex know that she is disappointed in him. This reveals Dex's mom's character as one of love, admiration and a good parent for her family since she is protecting Dex while "punishing" him. But this action also shows that she is not oblivious to her surroundings and is in fact pretty sneaky. Hal should learn a thing or two from Dex's mom about how to blame.

Friendswood Homework
September 11, 2016
Classes 5 & 6 Reading Logs

       1. In classes 5 & 6, we start to see Lee finally standing up to the leaders of her corrupted town. It is natural for the citizens of Friendswood to think that their leaders are not corrupted, until they have experienced their wicked games first hand. Lee, for example, is one of those citizens who see the truth behind the fake smiles and speeches of her mayor, councilman, etc. Lee believes that City Hall is hiding the horrible and malignant conditions of the Banes Field-Rosemont area in order to help "drive down the value of their homes, so the land could be repurchased and sold for an exorbitant price" for a realtor company (Steinke 71). In other words, City Hall is trying to excavate a little more money for the town and have made a secret comradeship with realtors in order to carry out the plan. Due to this, Lee's perception of them, especially of Mayor Wallen, is one of negativity as shown when "she didn't believe in his feigned exhaustion or in his modest blue jackets and khakis. She believed in the black deadness of his eyes" (87). Lee however tries to keep her perception grounded and doesn't burst her depiction of them since she doesn't want more people to think she's crazy as many already do. After the mayor refutes her claim of poison still being present in the land, she simply replies, "'Mayor Wallen, it's right where they buried the container, according to the cleanup plan'" (71). She still shows respect to the Mayor despite her contradictory feelings and instead of angrily accusing them of purposely not finding evidence, she simply explains her reasoning in a calm manner. At the city council meeting, Lee was prepared to disprove the EPA's statements, even though she was uncertain if City Hall would give her time to speak again. She knows that they are not fond of her and belittle her at times, as proven by the act of Mayor Wallen and Councilman Burns telling Lee to basically "shut up and sit down" when she proposed her new research. The councilman even gave a sarcastic comment when he said, "We're very familiar with your work, Ms. Knowles," even though it's clear that they are more bothered than familiar (90). City council meetings are supposed to be a judge-free place for civilians to state their worries and issues in order to improve their home town, but if City Hall keeps on ignoring and mistreating one citizen who has scientific proof of poison in the area, then they are buffoons failing miserably as the so-called protectors of Friendswood.

       2. Lee once again shows moxie as she fights with a representative from the EPA at the city council meeting. The representative, Ms. Dawson, states how the EPA has done numerous thorough testings and how all results have returned inconclusive of chemicals still being located on the land. Lee interrupts to grab the attention of Ms. Dawson in order to show her research that serves as a perpendicular statement to what the EPA claims. Surprisingly, Ms. Dawson doesn't intimidate Lee or tell her to sit back down, but instead responds to Lee asking, "'Can you have that sent to me?'" and gives an educational explanation of how the cancer might be caused by other factors and not the toxins on the land (89). This shows that the EPA is finally listening to Lee and are interested in what she has discovered, or are at least deceiving Lee and acting like they are. She agrees to send her research to Ms. Dawson under one condition, which is if she gives her personal address and not the EPA's. Surprisingly, Ms. Dawson said, "'I will do that'" (91). The fact that Ms. Dawson agrees to give her personal address, knowing that Lee understands that if she sent it to the EPA they probably won't look at it for months, shows her cooperation to get to the bottom of this mess. Ms. Dawson turns the dark image of the EPA around and shows that they are in fact doing their job to help the people living in Rosemont, unless they are just showing that they care so Lee can finally quiet herself before more trouble erupts.

Friendswood Homework 

Septemeber 7, 2016

"Who Should Speak? When is it Permissble to Dissent?"

       While reading Classes 3 and 4 of Friendswood, we start to connect the dots between the characters and further understand each one's personality and unique situation. Lee is still suffering from grief following the death of her daughter and is trying her best to dig up more secrets from the oil-filled land at Banes Field and Rosemont, to try to stop the construction of Taft Properties. Hal finally gets lucky with his job and feels a little more satisfied in his life once he gets a crucial job offer from his entrepreneur friend Avery Taft. A love triangle is uncovered when Willa exposes more of her hallucinations and love for Cully where as Dex, a character the polar opposite of Cully, lets us in on his family life and his secret admiration for Willa. However, the love triangle among the three teens becomes dramatic and dangerous when we start to realize that Cully, the all-star football player blessed in the popularity department as opposed to academics, might have raped Willa.

       Rape is very controversial and at times an uncomfortable topic for people to confront especially when they come from a small, conservative town that is oblivious to deviant behavior. Numerous times when a victim is raped, they don't report it for many reasons, varying from embarrassment or because they were intoxicated and don't remember the event. In Willa's case, it is presumed that she doesn't recall the act since she still carries affection towards Cully and agrees to go on a date with him alone. In situations involving rape, there is one question that remains in society, who should speak? I personally believe that the victim is the one who holds the heaviest voice when it comes to speaking out about rape. If a victim is caught in such an unfortunate event, it is never their fault and they should report it since the offender has tarnished their security and should be punished. In the victim's statement from the Stanford rape case, who also doesn't remember the night her security was taken away, she stated, "I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't interact with anyone" (4). Sadly, sometimes the victim is too disturbed to speak, which in that case their peers should speak out because a voice still needs to be heard if justice is to be won. Rape is a crime not taken serious enough and if it takes a whole community to speak, then they should just for the sake of their neighbor and to improve the feeling of safety in their town.

       Even when it comes to polluted land and a construction project being performed illegally, the citizens should speak out. Sometimes esteemed institutions are greedy and just want to make money. For example, the EPA is being untruthful and is allowing Avery Taft to build his new properties on the contaminated land on the Banes Field-Rosemont area with tests coming out negative. The land is obviously still contaminated as proven by Lee's detective work of taking pictures and protesting. They should be taking accurate tests that reflect the danger of the land and prohibit Taft from constructing there, but it's clear that they don't really care.  Lee is trying to prevent the project from happening, but she is being viewed as an outcast and crazy. This goes hand in hand with another question, when is it ok to dissent?

       In the town of Friendswood, "no one is thinking of Rosemont anymore" (Steinke 49). In colloquial terms, the people of Friendswood don't see the purpose of stopping the building of Avery's homes in the area since they view the land useless already. Lee refuses to give up and is pushing her way to stop the process, an action that seems worthless to the citizens and goes against their opinions. I believe it is appropriate to dissent when one strongly believes in something and are able to back up their opinion with reasonable explanations. Also, if one's unique ideas go against the group but doesn't harm them, it's permissible to dissent. After all, Lee is doing the town a favor since she knows the land is still contaminated and may still bring up cancer. Overall, as the drama strengthens in Friendswood, hopefully Willa or her peers will gain the courage to speak up and Lee will continue to be her headstrong self.

The Town of Friendswood

       Friendswood in its self-named novel is a small yet tight-knit community where everyone seems to know and relate to each other despite their differences. The town is located in Texas and has just been hit by a hurricane. The aftermath has left the town old and more wrecked than after the oil spill.  The novel describes it full of "fallen branches and toppled road signs" and "collapsed bleachers" but "things were [are] getting back to normal" from the storm, but not from the oil spill (Steinke 3). Comradeship is proven however when Lee, one of the main characters, donates blankets to a local shelter for those in desperate need. Even though the storm left some damning effects in Friendswood, the oil spill was much worse. The place is contaminated, especially in a section called Rosemont, where signs read "Contaminants Danger and No Trespassing" (6). In fact, chemicals were hidden there "in a number of truck-sized vinyl containers, no better than giant Tupperware" (7). People lost homes and animals lost lives, such as the headless copperhead Lee found "slick and oily" with a scent of petroleum (27). Sadly, there seems to be no one taking action or even caring, except for Lee, as noted by one character stating that, "'I heard she's just gotten stranger about the old Rosemont site. Made a scene last month at the city council meeting" (23). All in all, Friendswood may be a small town with folks that know and help out one another, but the novel has described it as painted in oil, with the hurricane worsening the condition.