Running with Scissors (pg.69-138)

Summary

Augusten has changed dramatically since we last seen him. He's not that little innocent boy who always had to be neat and carefull about everything he does. Augusten has been through a life changing experience and he's only 13 years old. He found that he's sexaully attracted to men and espicially attracted to Dr. Finch's adopted son Niel Bookman. In a disturbing night Bookman raughly showed Augusten what he was asking for and he, along with a few headaches and resentment, excepted the challenge. Augusten came to find out that he wasn't the only one having to find his sexuality. His mother also shared this journey with him, one he didn't know about and was surprised to find out. The way he found out only added to the tension that he already had with his mother. He had started to swear and disrespect his mother in a way that no one else would. With his mother paying more attention to her poem and life, she began to push Augusten away only causing him to resent her more and more. Being 13 he had created a attitude and never wanted to go to school but he and Dr. Finch had a plan for him. Augusten would have to pretend that he was suicidal to skip a view months of school, but as soon as he get's in the hospital he began missing his outside life, espicially his current "boyfriend" Niel.

Quote

"You are an adult," she said "You're thirteen years old. You've got a mind and a will of your own. And I have my own needs right now" (Burroughs 120).

Reaction

You kind of wonder how Augusten feels when his mother said this, but in a way he acts like an adult and makes himself seem like hes older then he is. In another way, Augusten had no choice but to take care of himself and grow up faster then the regular kid. Being traumatized by his childhood and being dropped off at somebody's house to life changed him and this quote proves that his mother isn't really involved in his life. People always say that a mother should always put her needs behind her child's and the fact that she said she had her own need and doesn't want to deal with her son show's her true colors. It would be interesting to see how his mother ends up and if she even ends up in his life or not.