My Takes and Thoughts on Goodbye Days

BLOG SIX - GOODBYE DAYS Written by Aaliyah Strayhorne  After reading Goodbye Days, I feel as though people can learn a lot if they read it themselves. This book was full of strong emotions and lessons throughout but I think the biggest take away would be the idea that there is always a way out of the darkest holes you face in life. Carver, the main character, demonstrates this when he is faced with the death of all of his closest and best friends. And he can only blame himself. However, Carver eventually finds help, learns to take care of himself, and gets better. Of course, like many people, Carver wanted to give up but he kept pushing, even when he thought he couldn't. I feel as though many people can learn from Carver. In life, we are met with many challenges, some minor, others large, but either way, they could impact us negatively. We go through trauma. It’s the human experience. Getting out of bad times is also the human experience. When we go through something, it’s hard to ...

BLOG FIVE - GOODBYE DAYS Written by Aaliyah Strayhorne  In the book, the number one question is, who is to blame? As we know, Carver had texted his friend while they were driving, which as his friend was attempting to respond, they got into a car accident, ending with the death of all Carver’s best friends since they were all in the car at the time. In the book, there seems to be a debate over whether Carver is to blame or not. Carver did text his friend while he was driving and also demanded a text back, which does make it seem like Carver’s text is to blame for the entire situation. Many characters in the story believe it is his fault. I mean, if he never sent the text, his friend would not have had any text to feel obligated to respond to. However, it is the driver’s responsibility to stay off their phone while they are operating a vehicle. It is illegal to go on your phone while you are driving. So when you look at it from this perspective, the driver is in the wrong. While Car...

BLOG FOUR - GOODBYE DAYS Written by Aaliyah Strayhorne       So far, from what I've read in Goodbye Days, I noticed the vocabulary is that of a teenage boy as it is written from the main character's perspective. As we know, the main character is a boy in high school and the author truly uses diction and phrases that a teenager would. The author does implement a couple curse words as well as slang. However, I feel as though the author was playing the part too well, but not in a good way. The character, Jesmyn, has been described as an Asian girl with white parents. She said she was adopted. Carver is white. There have been a couple instances where Carver has made comments about her race, but not quite in a bad way. Except, there was a part where they were sitting in the car and Jesmyn was talking about her favorite food, which was southern food. Carver thought it was a bit funny and surprising since she was Asian. Jesmyn knew he was slightly making fun of her but she ...