It graphically describes the waking hell into which the main character descends, her heartfelt but futile battles to return home and stay clean, her pleas to god to. Go ask alice teaches you what can happen when you get into drugs and its hard to stay away from them once you have started and know how easy it is to get ahold of them. Originally sold as the real diary of an actual teenager, go ask alice is the fauxmemoir of a 15yearold girl whose life is dominated by her drug problems. Alice meets a freshman at the university library, joel.
I remember being able to talk to her when i was little but its as though we speak a different language now and the meanings just dont come. A book report on go ask alice english literature essay. The list go ask alice has been one of the most frequently challenged books, according to the american library associations frequently challenged books of the 21st century list, since its publication in 1971, for content relating to drugs, sexual explicitness, offensive language, and inappropriate themes for the target age group frequently challenged 1. This is appropriate for all ages, it is good for everyone to know what can happen if you get. It graphically describes the waking hell into which the main character descends, her heartfelt but futile battles to.
Go ask alice quotes showing of 55 im not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things ive gotten from books. A year later came jays journal, the diary of an adolescent boy who succumbs to satan worship, which similarly credited dr. The main character struggled with drug use and her family always was there to try to help even through her running away and coming back. It is not a definitive statement on the middleclass, teenage drug world. As anonymous herself says, the diary is her one consistent best friend. Go ask alice is the firstperson tale of an accidental downward spiral into drugs, alcohol, unwanted sex, and impoverished living. Novel versus the movie adaption of go ask alice essay. Within months, she was hooked, trapped in a downward spiral that took her from her comfortable home and loving family to the mean streets of an unforgiving city. Included are new features, more interaction, better integration with social media, and a widget to have go ask alice.
Alices adventures in wonderland, chapter 9 the white rabbit put on his spectacles. Advice from a caterpillar, alices adventures in wonderland, lit2go edition, 1865, accessed may 17, 2020. Everything seems normal at first, but that soon changes when she is enticed into the world of drugs. This study guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of go ask alice. Alice is an anonymous character and the most we know about her is that she is white, middleclass teenager who struggles to fit. I need a few quotes from the book that are either very profound or really sum up the theme of the book. With over a million copies in print, this book has become a classic. In an episode where the diarist describes having sex with a drug dealer, she quotes an onlookers. Im not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things ive gotten from books. Go ask alice is a supposed diary of a young girl caught up in the wild life of drug abuse in the late 1960s. Attributed to anonymous, the book is in diary form, and was originally presented as being the edited. Created during the height of the drug era, the girl could be anyone from this time who found him or herself seduced by the mindaltering affects of marijuana, lsd, bennies, dexies, and heroin. A book about a girl with drug addiction and she writes about drug life. But those of you old enough to remember the latter portion of the 70s might remember that beatrice sparks, the editor of go ask alice, also edited a bunch of other alarmist books aimed at teens, all supposedly taken from teenagers diaries.
Anyway i seem to be doing less and less right, im getting so that no matter what i do i cant please the establishment. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Alice, once a shy, innocent girl, is sucked into the heartless world of drugs because of her need to be accepted. Im very sorry youve been annoyed, said alice, who was beginning to see its meaning. I think this book writes in a interesting way while it teaches us a life lesson by expressing in diary form.
Pray dont trouble yourself to say it any longer than that, said alice. Open library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published. And just as id taken the highest tree in the wood, continued the pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, and just as i was thinking i should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from the sky. Mar 23, 2017 then, in 1978, a book called voices, a compilation of stories about troubled teens, was released, with jacket copy attributing it to beatrice sparks, the author who brought you go ask alice. Throughout the whole book, it brought the readers attention by giving us enough details. Both chris and alice decide to go to san francisco thinking that moving to a different place is going to help them with quitting their addiction and habits towards drugs, alcohol, and sex. Go ask alice is a 1971 fiction book about a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of selfdestructive escapism. Novel versus the movie adaption of go ask alice essay cram. Essay about go ask alice by anonymous 837 words bartleby. Insight into the wisdom treasures hidden in the adventures of alice in wonderland itll. As such, we hope it will provide insights into the. As powerfuland as timelytoday as ever, go ask alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction. Attributed to anonymous, the book is in diary form, and was originally presented as being the edited real diary of the unnamed teenage p. D espite the popularity of go ask alice, the mystery of the diarists identity has never been truly solved, and none of her relatives have ever come forward to claim a share of the royalties.
In the same vein, go ask alice is young adult literature because thats the audience it was specifically geared toward. Go ask alice is still awash in controversy, 43 years. Who does she sell drugs to that makes her feel really guilty and upset. This story follows the typical template for the say no to drugs genre of liturature. Begin at the beginning, the king said gravely, and go on till you come to the end. For example, the back of the book includes the quote after youve had it, there isnt even life without drugs it doesnt have to be that good and if in doubt just tell me anyway, it might be exactly. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of go ask alice and what it means. The book go ask alice was the reallife diary of a teenage girl. Joel gave her alice a lot of strength and offered her to go to the funeral. Jan 01, 2006 go ask alice is a memoir that follows the diary of a teenage girl during the late sixties. The go ask alice book of answers is a groundbreaking guide that mines the best material from the eponymous awardwinning web site. Creating film adaptations for movies has become very common because directors can be sure that their target audiences are intrigued by the topic of their future film.
At the 16th of june, alices grandmother died in her sleep. For thirtyfive years, the acclaimed, bestselling firstperson account of a teenage girls harrowing decent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. First video, so sorry for all the editing mistakes. The girl who wrote this diary lived in two different worlds, the real world and a fantasy world.
The main conflict of this book was drug use and abuse. Or maybe you saw the 1973 madefortv movie based on it costarring star treks william shatner. Go ask alice is a reference to a jefferson airplane song called white rabbit, which alludes to rampant hallucinogenic drug use in lewis carrolls alice in wonderland. But i dont want to go among mad people, alice remarked.
Go ask alice is a 1971 fiction book about a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and. Yet it was originally promoted as nonfiction, its still sold as by anonymous and the copy i have has this is alices true story on the cover plus the blurb on the back, the foreword and the psychologists comment at the back everything is still packaged to make out this is nonfiction. Jul 03, 2014 go ask alice was published anonymously in 1971, but in the last two decades, it still lives in the top 25 most frequently banned books, according to the american library association. Lines from go ask alice that, in hindsight, should have tipped me. He and alice get to know each other better, as does her family. Go ask alice is a fiction work written anonymously and first published in 1971. In the 1970s, this fake diary scaredand temptedteenage. For 35 years, this acclaimed, bestselling firstperson account of a teenage girls harrowing descent into the nightmarish world of drugs has left an indelible mark on generations of teen readers. Her habit eventually becomes a problem, leading her to run away from home numerous times, before landing herself into serious danger. She is a pretty typical teenage girl in the late 1960sshes mostly concerned with school, boys, her hair, and fitting in okay, thats pretty typical for any decade when her fathers new job causes her family to move across the country, alice is thrust into a new school at a time when she is at best sensitive. It is, however, a highly personal and specific chronicle. Some people maintain that alice in wonderland can only have been written by an author with considerable hallucinogenic mushroom experience under their belt. The rise and fall of a generation, ask alice, and derby day, which was nominated for the booker prize and was selected as a washington post best book of the year. Go ask alice is still awash in controversy, 43 years after.
An award winning novel by the name of go ask alice did that. She decides that diaries are for babies, though, so the entries stop and the book abruptly ends with an epilogue that reveals her mysterious death from overdose. Pressure to use drugs at school intensifies, as the kids harass alice and her family. Go ask alice was a stark counterpoint to the freewheeling ethos of the early 70s that was ahead of its time, eventually fitting in perfectly with the war on drugs and d. As such, we hope it will provide insights into the increasingly complicated world in which we live. Our english teacher gave this book to us when we were 12 and told us it was a real diary. If only alice could have some perspectiveyou know, without having to go through an overdose, massive mental breakdown, and subsequent hospitalization. As powerful and as timely today as ever, go ask alice remains the definitive book on the horrors of addiction.
Teenagers of every race, religion, and clique relate deeply to the words of the anonymous teenager within the book go ask alice, by an anonymous girl whose life enters a place where, as most teenagers, she has no idea who to turn to, or where to go. Go ask alice is based on the actual diary of a fifteenyearold drug user. Both chris and alice decide to go to san francisco thinking that moving to a different place is going to help them with quitting their addiction and habits towards drugs, alcohol, and. Go ask alice was published anonymously in 1971, but in the last two decades, it still lives in the top 25 most frequently banned books, according to the. She gets a fever and has to go the hospital with help of someone. Every book on your english syllabus summed up in a quote from the office.
Taylor is a novelist, critic, and biographer whose orwell won the whitbread prize for biography. Only publishers weekly threw shade, remarking that it seems awfully well. Go ask alice is a diary of a teenage middleclass girl. Alice begins to sell drugs to help her boyfriend earn money. Go ask alice is written as the diary of a fifteenyearold girls daytoday struggle with drug addiction. All picture source titles are hyperlinked to the pages that they appear on this site. The diary begins right before alices fifteenth birthday. Go ask alice by beatrice sparks, 198208, avon flare edition, mass market paperback in english 1st avon flare printing 77. This is appropriate for all ages, it is good for everyone to know what can happen if you get into drugs, and it can scare young kids away. Every time after she uses, she feels guilty and low and vows to stay away. Nowadays ya lit is pretty universal harry potter really opened the doors for people to read childrens books no matter what their agebut in 1971 when our book was written that wasnt really the case. B elow you can find famous quotes from the books alices adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass. A summary of undated july in anonymouss go ask alice.
Go ask alice has been around for decades, and is even being used as reading material in high schools. This passage from the book go ask alice was when alice first decided to quit using drugs and to stay clean. Only parents can decide if they want their children to read go ask alice. Lyrics in the song white rabbit by the band jefferson airplane 2. This is my second read of go ask alice, and i loved it just as much the second time around im an advocate for banned stories that teach difficult lessons the. Explanation of the famous quotes in go ask alice, including all important speeches, comments, quotations, and. Go ask alice by anonymous about the book she doesnt want to get hooked on drugs. Go ask alice is a 1971 book generally viewed to have been written by the author beatrice sparks, however the novel was published originally under the pseudonym anonymous. Based on a 15yearolds diary, go ask alice is the intimate account of one girls fatal journey into the world of drug addiction. As powerfuland as timelytoday as ever, go ask alice remains the. In striving to enrich the lives of all readers, teachingbooks supports the first amendment and celebrates the right to read. A website that has information about health for teens 3. Alice acted like she was sick, so she didnt had to go to school. But she just cant resist the way the drugs make her feelbeautiful and popular and connected to the world around her.