Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

           

In the book “Dreamland”, the main character Caitlin’s sister runs away in the beginning of the book. This takes a huge toll on the family’s life so like always Caitlin becomes invisible. Then she gets into a relationship with Rogerson and ends up being domestically abused. For the period of time that this is happening to her, she does not speak any word of it to her family, close neighbors, or friends. Instead Caitlin denies the fact that she's being treated this way and turns to drugs. Within the book her family never noticed her change in behavior because they seemed more interested in finding Cass. Also Caitlin didn't say anything about her abuse  and just accepted it naturally which has many explanations to why in the book.

After Cass left, the family went into a funk. No one could contact her or find where she was. Caitlin felt it too bugetting less attention from her parents didn't faze her at all. She was used to not being noticed. Cass was always the center of attention. Some part of me thought, while reading this beginning part of the book, that maybe Caitlin used Rogerson as an invisible cloak, to cover her up. As their relationship grew and the abuse began not telling anyone was an excuse to try and make them notice.

Although as the violence became frequent, she began to cover the small wounds or come up with stories for the bruises. She also started to block her friends and family out so that they wouldn't guess anything. This made my decision change a bit because I was curious. If she wanted the attention and then she got it, why wouldn't she use a topic so important for a family to share, to receive that attention? Half of me thought that she was afraid that if she told he would find out and hurt her even worse. On the other hand, I think that the fact of her parents knowing that she had a problem and finally seeing her and having to see her like that scared her.

When Caitlin started doing drugs it was to kind of prove to Rogerson, she wasn't all that he thought she was. She was as innocent and inexperienced and he thought she was. But once she started taking harder doses after she was beaten, it was more to hide the pain and just keep the future blurry, never knowing what was coming next.

All the tactics that Caitlin used to cover up her pain, her feelings or bruises was transparent. I felt that maybe if her parents did pay a little more attention to her they would have seen it long before the end of the book.

From reading this book I've learned two morals. One is know your children well enough to see when emotions change or they’re not who they were when they were younger. That is a good key to parenting; making sure your child knows that you’re always there for them. The 2^nd moral I learned from reading this book is that you have to be able to trust your parents with any serious situations in your life because if not, life can a rocky journey. You've got to understand that as a kid you can’t do everything yourself, that's why there are adults to put you back in gear.