Synthesis Page

Crank by Ellen Hopkins 

Critical Thinking Question: How does this book help you to think about social issues you care about or causes you are committed to?

1. Drug Addiction: Kristina was a straight-A high school student and a perfect daughter. Ever since she tried Crank, she became addicted to it, and started becoming the monster side of herself. For example, she started hitchhiking, and was caught by a cop and sent to Juvenile hall. I think that drug addiction is a common issue for teenagers and adults. It can cause someone to change a lot in many horrible ways, and it's not easy to control this issue. Drug addiction seems to be really strong once you tried drugs for the first time, and you may continue to get addicted to it.

2. Raping: At first, Brendan seemed like a good boyfriend for Kristina, but, he only used Kristina for raping. I think that raping is a serious problem, and can be really harmful to people. It can ruin someones life, make someone suicide, etc. Raping seemed to be common in some books dealing with social issues, and mostly happens in unexpected love.

3. Helping someone with their social issue in a bad way: Kristina was addicted to Crank, and she was desperate for more when she ran out. She would mostly do anything to get more Crank. Brendan offered Kristina more Crank in exchange of raping her, except that Brendan didn't actually state that he wanted to rape her. Drug addiction is a serious issue, and Brendan is helped Kristina getting more Crank, making her more addicted and crazy. I think that people shouldn't help others, when they know that it would destroy them, or even more. It's a common social issue in this world, and most people don't care about it, since it doesn't affect themselves.