Ernie Breaks
The process of becoming a teenager is confusing. There are a lot of things to think about. Especially when dealing with a brother or a sister, one of the closest people to you. You might agree that it might not always be easy growing up with them. Sometimes they can make you very angry or sad. It can be hard to keep up a friendly relationship, while fighting and arguing. That is one of the themes in the short story “Ernie Breaks”, written by Genevieve Scott. One day Cara and Jed receives a turtle looking tough on the outside, but will its shell protect it? In this essay I will talk about the main theme, give a characterisation of Cara and her relationship to her brother and analyse the use of symbols.
The main person Cara is also the first person narrator of the story. Our knowledge to the events in the story is limited to her feelings and experiences. She is 10 years old and in 4th grade. She is sensitive and reflects a lot about the opinions of the people around her. This can be seen when her brother talks about children with special needs: "Jed calls it the retard room" - "[...] I am terrified that I'll fail or get moved into the retard room.” (l.20-21). Furthermore, she seems to lack confidence in her own skills: “Everyone around me is scratching things down super fast and it’s like a race where I’m the slowest.” (l.76-77). Cara not a only child anymore, but yet to be a teenager can be seen as a tween. She describes some events as a child: “We pay for the turtles for a hundred years.” (L.42). But dislikes how her mother perceiving her as a child: "Isn't Gary's store neat?' Mom says, like I'm six years old." (l.15-16) At school she seems to be unpopular and has social difficulties with her classmates. When Valerie says: “You are the one with the problem,” - “You’re retarded” Cara is triggered and draws on Valerie yellow. Cara then tries to escape from responsibility: “I put the tip of my marker on my own sweater and draw a faint line so I can say she attacked me first” and at home waiting for the potential phone calls from her teacher or Valerie in order to prevent her mother hearing about her trouble. Cara’s older brother Jed also plays an important role.
Jed is Cara’s role model it is important to her what he thinks on different subject: “Jed won’t like them. They sound gay.” She looks forward to get his acknowledgement: ”He’ll at least think it’s cool that I got in trouble.” (l. 79). The age gap between them does not seem to play any role in their friendship: “Jed and I create obstacle courses for Ernie” (l.66). This changes over time: “I don’t get to play with Ernie as much because Jed stops letting me in his room” (l.71-72) Cara’s feelings towards Jed is one-sided as Jed does not seem to show any respect to Cara: “Ignore her”, Jed tells Toby she is a retard”. (l.89). After the death of Ernie Cara keeps Jed in the faith that he was the cause of Ernie’s death, this means that their relationship is falling apart. The death of Ernie Breaks can be seen in the title. Ernie breaks.