Firegirl by Tony Abbott
Uploaded by CaseyP on Nov 24, 2017
As a reporter I would say the realistic story of a 7th grader Tom and his fellow classmates at St.Catherine catholic school evokes empathy. Tom’s only friend Jeff has issue with his parents and usually appears sad. Jessica on the other hand is a burn survivor and is new girls in Tom’s class. The rest of the student appears to be scared of her because of her condition. However tom the seemingly antisocial boy seems to get along well with Jessica. Tom’s relationship with Courtney his crush takes a positive turn as everyone in class starts to notice him.
Tom Bender is a fat smelly boy who has a crush on stunning Courtney Zisky and often fantasizes of how he could save Courtney’s life however Courtney hardly notices him. Tom’s attention is drawn away when Mrs. Tracy announces a new girl will be arriving that day. Mrs. Tracy announces that the new girl Jessica was involved in a fire and will be attending their school will visiting the nearby hospital for treatment. Little is known on the reality of Jessica’s looks to Tom and his classmates even after Mrs. Tracy warns them of Jessica’s looks .Jessica arrives and Tom and his classmates are shocked by Jessica’s appearance. Toms thinks she must be in a lot of pain and even suggests that with that kind of burns may make one scream to death. Tom’s friend Jeff Hicks is disgusted by Jessica’s appearance. Tom slowly learns about Jessica that her parents are from Boston. Jessica has had many skin grafts and that she has been to many schools and that she might not be around for long.
Firegirl is a story that tries to bring forward the fact that a person’s appearance does not really reflect who a person is. This is clearly demonstrated by the interaction between Tom and Jessica. Jessica is severely burned and his and this has really altered her appearance making her classmates speculate about her. Toms describes her face appearing like a mask and her lips swollen such that they could fill the space between her nose and her chin. He even looks at her face back and forth wondering if he is looking at a dead person. Later Tom’s perspective on Jessica Feeney changed after learning about burns. He describes how he started staring at her in class especially when he knew she wasn’t looking. He...