Once someone has fallen into a dark pit, the white light shining down is the only thing that keeps them going. In “If I Ever Get Out of Here” by Eric Gansworth, we read about a seventh grader, Lewis Blake, who is a Native American failing at making friends at his new school because of his race and social standing. In the beginning of the story, though he never admits it, Lewis was extremely lonely due to lack of friends, causing him to change his appearance just to fit in. Even after becoming ‘best friends’ with the new kid, George, Lewis still feels abandoned because George entered a relationship with his new girlfriend. As things start looking up for Lewis at the end, he finds out George has to relocate due to his father’s job. This sets Lewis back to the beginning, friendless and fighting the battle of loneliness. As one falls deeper into a vast sea of loneliness, they crave comfort, such as a stuffed animal, serving as a liferaft keeping them going. There is one thing that is able to bring Lewis out of his stupor of loneliness: music! When Lewis angrily reminisces about George at the end of the story he angrily kept replaying one part of the song “Things We Said Today”. When Albert asked why Lewis keeps playing this part he states “It’s about two people who know that everything always disappears, eventually” (pg 441). This is significant because Lewis is using music to express his furious emotions towards George leaving saying he knew it would not last. But later the author switches the tone of the scene and George starts singing and strumming “Two of Us” which has much softer lyrics and allows George to emotionally connect with the song about his true feelings over George leaving. In fact, Lewis listens to music throughout the book, which were mainly songs written by the Beatles due to the time period. These songs were able to convey George’s emotions to the reader. Music is a way for him to battle loneliness and bring him comfort. Music also allowed for George to connect with the artist and their emotions. Maya Angelou once said “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” This was the same for Lewis; when he did not want to go to George’s house in fear of exposing his poverty, he found comfort with music, sometimes even listening to the songs with his uncle Alfred.
One way that I cope with loneliness is by building jigsaw puzzles. This is something I did with my father when I was a child, and after he passed, it served as a memory of him. Building a puzzle brings me comfort when I am lonely because it helps me pass the time and brings back memories that I enjoyed as a child. In “The Giver,” Lois Lowry writes, “The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” I share these memories with those I build puzzles with because I can embrace the happiness I feel while building the jigsaw puzzles. Comfort not only brings forth happiness, but can bring back memories that were forgotten or suppressed.
A common theme among Disney movies is that the main character is trapped and alone to the rest of the world. This theme is seen in the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” where Quasimodo’s only companions are statues he speaks to because he is not allowed to show his face to the world. In the clip above this point is proven of Quasimodo talking to statues. This is significant because Quasimodo grew up around these statues and were his only companions, therefore they bring up memories from his childhood and most of the memories with these statues were positive because they have always been there with him. In the video, one of the statues says “If 20 years of listening to you two hasn’t made him sick by now, nothing will” which proves he has known these statues for years and trusts them to comfort him when he is down and to listen to his troubles. Another example is, in the movie “Tangled,” Rapunzel is stuck in a tower and extremely lonely. To compensate for this, she paints everywhere in the castle until there is no room left. Her ‘mother’ would buy her paint as a way to make up for the mistreatment Rapunzel gets. These characters create new memories with hobbies they have done since childhood, which served as a support system their entire life. Comfort can be found anywhere, it depends on the individual to what it is and the memories and experiences behind their relief is unique to oneself.
Sindhu Avadhanula
References:
Gansworth, Eric. If I Ever Get Out of Here. iPhone. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013.
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame Gargoyles Encourage Quasimodo HD.” YouTube, 14 June 2017, youtu.be/eYcJn2NrN1k.
“Loneliness Quotes (3270 Quotes).” Goodreads, Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/loneliness.
Representing Adolescence @ Pitt 