Over the summer I read two books that really showed people trying to find right in a world of wrong. These books were Shine by Lauren Myracle and Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan. Shine is about a teenage boy beaten horribly and left in a coma at the hospital all just because he's gay. The book is told from his former best friends point of view as she searches from the person who hurt him, as she finally learns to get over being raped. Sources of Light is about a girl and her mom living in Jackson Mississippi in the 60‘s. The book is about the high school girl trying to balance her feelings about civil rights and trying to fit in. I think that these two books relate to each other because they both are about how a high school girl tries to find justice for some of the worlds modern issues.
In both books the characters are both battling over issues. In Shine, Cat had been raped by her brothers best friend. Cat shuts down and doesn’t let anyone in. She tries to find out why the people she once trusted didn’t protect her when she was being attacked. I think that what Cat deals with is heart breaking. She is left where she’s alone, and I think that it’s amazing when she finally gets over it and has her moment of strength it isn’t for herself, but for someone else. In Sources of Light Sam deals with fitting in. She isn’t as wealthy as all the other girls at school are and her mom is very over the top democratic, which is not at all common in 1960 Jackson. I think that Sam initially just wants to fit in and she doesn’t really care about the bad thing that come along with the popular people, their racial beliefs. As the book unfolds Sam learns to love and respect her mom for what she believes in and learns that there are more important things in the world than being popular. I think these girls both fight hard battles and in the end they both conquer.
One thing that is the same in both of the books is that someone is beaten horribly because people don’t like what they are doing and who they are. In Shine Patrick is beaten up because people don’t like that he is gay. In Sources of Light this applies because Perry, a man who photographed the protests for blacks equal rights, is beaten to death by a crowed of white men angry for melding in their business and supporting civil rights for the black. I think that this is really depressing that people could have so much hate that they could murder people in cold blood just for existing. I think that the reason that things like this happen because people are scared of things that are different, they turn their fear into anger. I think they people would be less scared if they could just learn about peoples differences and understand them.
Another thing that is similar in both books is that their is a character trying to find justice for the wrongs in their world. In Shine this comes up where the main character, Cat, tries to find the person who attacked Patrick, and make sure that he pays the consequences. In Sources of Light this comes up in which the main character Sam finds pictures of Perry’s attackers on his old camera. She makes the choice to give the pictures to the police even though she knows it’s dangerous. In this way both characters are searching for justice, though they might do it differently. I think that this would be a really brave thing to do. I think this is the way that people overcome others hatred, by doing what is right and what you believe in.
In the end, I wish I could have the bravery to do what either of these two characters did. I think that they end up being really strong people who aren’t afraid to challenge things they don’t believe in. When I step away from these two books they really inspired me to try to do what they did, and make the world a better place.
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