Change this, Change that, Can't We Just Stay the Same..Please???

    Tyler has been through a lot of change throughout the book. Physically and most definitely mentally. This is all thanks to the conflict and trouble in his life through the story.

    In the beginning, Tyler has never had good self esteem. To add to that, his father makes it worst. Ever since Tyler got arrested for the graffitti accident, his father has been extra tough on him. He say things like, "Miller men have disipline...". He constantly reminds Tyler of what he's not, rather than what he could be. This just adds to Tyler's...problems. He has already explained that ever since the seventh grade he has been sucidial. Now that he's a senior he has gotten even worse. He calls himself, "worthless.." or "..a waste of human flesh...". This conflict with his father has made his self esteem even worst. Mr. Miller thinks he's making Tyler better with his harsh words. Or is he just making things worst? Is he a terrible father for making his son feel this way? How do you think he would feel if he really knew what was wrong with Tyler? Would it change anything between them?

    Along the way of the story, Tyler starts to get close to his long-time crush, Bethany Milbury. Along in their friendship, Bethany gets drunk at a party and Tyler tries to help her. The next day pictures of Bethany are all over the school. While Tyler tries to make things better, he ends up making things worst...for himself. The police get involved again and the whole school finds out. Everyone thinks he did this to her. Bethany, being popular, has the whole school on her side. Her brother especially. The bullying just gets worst for Tyler. Walking in the hallway has become a dangerous thing for him. He would get punched, kicked, and have things thrown at him. Not only did he ruin his chances with Bethany but the whole school, besides his sister, Hannah, and his bestfriend (also her boyfriend), Calvin, is against him. This is the biggest conflict of the book. Now, this problem has Tyler actually going through with his suicide. He says he can't handle it and that he was just going to do everyone a favor. He was planning out the details like, he didn't want to do it at home, because he didn't want to leave his mom with that image. He didn't want it to be messy, because he didn't want to leave a big mess for anyone to clean up and give them a reason to dislike him even more. At this point he was so sure of it.

    Do you think parents should be more involved with their children and the schools they attend? If Tyler's parents were, do you think Tyler would be considering this? Or will he still have his problems?

There's Change...But...No Change

    Tyler has never really been noticed by anybody. He was always scrawny and had pimples. He decides to get noticed by playing a prank before summer started. One thing led to another and then the police got involved. Then, he ended up spending the whole summer working with the janitors on the school. That summer did pay off though. Tyler grew muscles and got abs. To add to that, all his acne is gone. He's like a new Tyler. He literally went from Nerd Boy to Tyler the Amazing Hulk. It's like now people notice him. Whether it was good or bad, he was still noticed if he liked it or not.

    This tranformation didn't do anything for Tyler though. Ever since the seventh grade, he has always been very depressed. There have been many times when he just thinks about himself being dead. He has even considered suicide multiple times before. He still does for a fact. He never really knew how he would do it but he always knew he would. Towards the end of the book he finally decides how he was going to do it. No matter what Tyler looks like he still feels as though he is "a waste of human flesh".

    Do you think any teenager should ever feel this way towards themselves? If you could, how would you help them? How would you help them not feel this way?