♡ BLOG ONE ♡

Courage for Beginners

Karen Harrington

    I have begin to read the book "Courage for Beginners" so far I have found out that the main character Mysti Murphy's mother is agoraphobic. Being agoraphobic is having a fear of crowded spaces and enclosed public areas. Mysti says she does not like change, but it seems to happen that change will over ride her future. Her father is the only one of their family that can drive and works since her mother is agoraphobic. Mysti’s father is climbing up a tree to get a towel that has gotten stuck there and falls down onto the pavement face first. Since Mysti’s mother cannot drive and is to afraid of riding in car they cannot see their father in the hospital. They get check ups on him everyday, but I feel that this is not the enough for Mysti, her mother, and sister Laura. She starts seventh grade and her friend Anibal doesn’t talk to her at school because he is trying a social experiment where he is a “hipster”. Mysti’s is not use to change but now it’s changing quicker then ever, and not in the best ways.

      I have noticed that Mysti or another character uses the word nefarious a lot, or it seems to pop out in every other chapter. The word nefarious means an action or activity that is wicked or criminal. In the text  her mother had used the word saying, “Don’t talk to nefarious strangers. Keep your eyes.” I feel that this word keeps showing up again because maybe something else wicked might happen to Mysti again like her father’s accident. I have read other texts in the book that use this word, and I feel like it has to do with something. This word “nefarious” seems pretty important in this book, because it is a word brought back up over again while not being a typical word and it shadows something bad.