Lisa Bright

& Dark Essay, Research Paper

John Neufeld is the

author of ?Lisa Bright & Dark?. He lives and works in New

York City these days. He was educated at Yale. His style of

writing are usually touching stories. Finding information

about John Neufeld is quite difficult since the Internet nor the

book has provided any help whatsoever. Lisa Shilling is the

main character of this book. She is just sixteen as she slowly

loses her mind. Lisa is quite an example of teenager with

problems which is why she?d be classified as a very real

character. Her dangerous state of mind reflects the realism

that this does happen. Her moods are forever changing.

Lisa?s motivation as a teenager is to live her live normally.

This is hard to do since she is in need of help. Many can

relate to Lisa and her illness because it is among teenagers

today. Her mother and father snub her off completely

overlooking her serious unstableness. Luckily, she has

friends that care enough to help her. The main conflict of this

book is the struggle to convince Lisa?s parents that she is ill

and needs serious help. Her parents did not pay attention in

the beginning when Lisa started to act a little different. This is

rather understandable. Lisa was in school and pricked

herself with a needle that drew blood. Many told Lisa?s

stubborn parents that she needed a psychiatrist. They simply

refused to accept the fact that their daughter was in need of

anything. When Lisa even screamed out that she needed

help, they simply wouldn?t understand. She even walked

right through a glass window. Her parents didn?t understand

until it was almost too late. The conflict was finally resolved

after they got her the help she was in need of. This is an

example of man verse himself since the conflict deals with

Lisa fighting her illness. This book type is about a social

problem. This means that a dilemma occurred in the social

area. In this case it involved Lisa Shilling and her struggle

with society and her illness. One example of this social

problem would be the fact that society such as Lisa?s

classmates were uneducated about her problem so they

didn?t understand her. Another example would be how

Lisa?s parents were too busy with their life to notice their

daughter?s plea for help. Yet another example would be

how the teachers and guidance tried to look around the

problem. Today, the same social problems are still faced.

The book?s them dealt with mental illness and treating it. It

was about Lisa and her problems. This book showed that

the perplexing problem could be treated right just as long as

she got the right help. Her friends were the main people to

help her overcome it all. It can be seen that this situation was

very difficult then and now. The moral of this story is based

on the illness of a girl and society?s impact on her. It goes to

show that she was helped and hurt at the same time. This

passage caught my eye. It?s a moment of shock and surprise

caused by Lisa?s illness. This is a sudden outburst no one

was prepared for. They handled it well under those

circumstances. Lisa had shoved Elizabeth toward the dying

fire, and had jumped on her in one movement. She began

hitting Elizabeth?s face, then changed her attack and began

punching Elizabeth everywhere she could – her sides, her

stomach, kicking at her legs, grabbing her by he hair. It was

terrifying. This is the list of ten vocabulary words that I didn?t

know as I read ?Lisa Bright & Dark?. Most of them deal

with Lisa?s illness is some way. 1. schizophrenia : a

psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the

environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of

functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of

personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought (as in

hallucinations and delusions), and conduct — called also

dementia praecox. 2. confidante : CONFIDANT especially

: one who is a woman. 3. conscience : the sense or

consciousness of the moral goodness or blame worthiness of

one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a

feeling of obligation to do right or be good. 4. immobility :

the incapability of being moved. 5. Mountie : a member of

the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 6. quarry : a

diamond-shaped pane of glass, stone, or tile. 7. aquiline :

curving like an eagle’s beak. 8. analyst : a person who

analyzes or who is skilled in analysis. 9. docilely : easily led

or managed : TRACTABLE. 10. barbiturate : any of various

derivatives of barbituric acid used esp. as sedatives,

hypnotics, and antispasmodics.