Leaving Paradise Essay

What happens when the person who ruins a life, turns out to be the only one who can save it? A year ago, Caleb Becker was convicted of drunk driving; a year ago, Maggie Armstrong was forced into physical therapy. Finally, the two meet up again, and anything can happen. In the novel Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles, the author portrays real life experiences by Maggie feeling hurt, Caleb feeling confused, and the two struggling to let go of the past.

It’s the beginning of the school year, and Maggie’s dreading going back. She’s sure that she won’t fit in, that she’ll hear floating whispers and feel pity stares. But who wouldn’t, if they were in physical therapy for a year? Maggie starts the year off by going to the party her old friends and cousin are going to, but mostly out of her mother’s doing. If it was up to her, she would rather stay home, avoiding her peers once again. However, something inside her tells her to go, and she finds herself sitting on a lawn chair, by the pool, at some stranger’s house. Maggie eventually wanders to the park, a haven, somewhere to think. There, she sees Caleb for the first time in a long time and becomes frightened, memories from the past year bubbling back to the surface. One glimpse of that face and the pain returns. During the novel, Maggie shows hurt by the way she handles seeing Caleb again.

When Caleb comes back from prison, he finds that everyone has changed . . . Or so it looks like to him. His sister turned Goth, his mom’s emotionless, and his dad’s a wimp. The Beckers and the Armstrongs aren’t as close as they used to be, a result of the accident. Everyone just seems totally out of it, like life moved on without him. Just like Maggie, Caleb receives stares and he hears gossip about himself, and he’s completely aware of it. Instead of doing anything about it, he feels like everyone should just move on . . . he has, obviously. In response to everything, Caleb expresses confusion when he finally comes back home.

Dealing with the heavy gazes and whispering, Caleb and Maggie struggle to let go of the past. Maggie knows it’s the right thing to do, forgiving Caleb, but he was the one who left her like this, who left the hideous scars on her legs. He’s the reason she has a limp, the reason for her life being ruined. And he just can’t be forgiven that easily, can he? Meanwhile, Caleb has problems as well. It’s painful to see Maggie every day, the way she hobbles down the sidewalk in pain and how she won’t look at him. If a stranger would ever observe the two, it’d look like he had killed part of her. Did she ever think of how the accident would affect him? Maggie’s not the only one who was upset by what happened, but no one seems to notice.

In the novel Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles, the author portrays real life experiences by Maggie feeling hurt, Caleb feeling confused, and the two struggling to let go of the past. The two teenagers are given drastic situations to deal with, neither one being more painful nor frustrating than the other. They both have a hard time trying to find peace within the town of Paradise, both hoping for things to go back to normal again. It seems like, to Maggie and Caleb, that everyone changed, every thing’s different. But maybe, just maybe, they were the ones that changed. And then, maybe the only thing the two need to help get through struggling times . . . is each other.

This is just an essay I had to write... Nothing special. Please don't flame! Reviews appreciated:)