Hate List

Author's Note: This is a piece on the analysis of the book Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I have analyzed three key pieces to the story and they are each described throughout the essay. 

An enemy that you see every single day. You pass them in the halls; their overall existence bugs you, and there is absolutely 100% nothing that you can do about it. That is life for Valarie and Nick, and many other kids worldwide. Constantly being bullied is a big problem in many schools, yet most people don't take the measures that Nick went to, to get what he wanted. Shooting them. Shooting the people he hated most; those who would never be gone unless he decided it would be so. Obviously, there were some things that really popped out in the story, other than the shooting itself. The Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk, are the three key elements that really made the biggest impact in this story. 

Do you ever wish that the people you hate the most would just disappear? So do Nick and Valarie. Creating a list with everyone and everything they have ever hated at one time or another, helping them deal with their feelings. In this book, also known as the "Hate List," they promised each other that it would never go anywhere and nobody would get hurt. It was just a way to make them feel better about themselves, so they weren't down all the time; something to make them feel happier around each other knowing that they each felt the same way. This book is a main symbol in the story because, it would have absolutely no point and there would be nothing to tie the story to. Sure, someone can go and shoot up a school, but there is always a reason behind it. Taking away the Hate List from this book would be like taking away someone's meals for a day and wondering why they are hungry tomorrow.

Drawing is what some people do without thinking. It just comes naturally to them, and makes them happy, just like Valarie. Ever since the shooting, she has been the outcast at school, as usual, and she's been seeing a therapist. The therapist is really trying to help her get her away from her past, and into the present. By doing so, he tells her to draw things how she really sees them.  For instance, say there are people in a lunch line choosing their food. Most people would see that normally, however, she drew it with lions fighting over some meat. Different, huh? Drawing is a main symbol, because she draws things honestly, and how the pictures in her brain are seeing things.

The last thing that everyone should learn how to do is talk. Not just talk for fun and enjoyment, but seriously. Talk about their feelings, and what they're thinking. In this book's case, talk about their suicidal thoughts and actions that they've been doing to harm themselves. Deciding to talk is the last main symbol, because this is how Valarie coped with Nick being dead, and also making new friends, who were thought-to-be enemies before. Her therapist really helped her get through such a rough time of being accused of murder, and wanting to kill people.  

The three key elements that stood out the most throughout the entire story were the Hate List, drawing, and deciding to talk. Though Nick seemed like he would be a bad person, underneath, he wasn't. People did lots of things to tick him off, and he didn't think that people should be thought of as "lower" than others just of because of what they wore or if they were quiet or not. One thing that Nick would always say to Valarie was, "You know, sometimes we get to be the winners." And that right there, is a very true statement.