Theme!

Drugs are everything to many of the characters in Perfect, by Ellen Hopkins. The four main characters, Kendra, Andre, Cara and Sean, are all facing different issues within their families' and love lives'. The characters all cope with these issues in different ways, some take drugs, like Sean and Kendra. Others take it out on the people around them, like Sean. I've decided to focus on Sean, because in a way he has the most 'messed up' coping mechanisms.

When Cara breaks up with Sean, he is really upset. And he doesn't deal with it in a proper manner. Cara broke up with Sean because she realized she was lesbian, she still loved Sean, just not the same way she loved Dani, her girlfriend. In an act of retaliation Sean decides to take private pictures of Cara and Dani. Not only does he trespass to take them, but he then sends these embarrassing pictures to the whole school. This forces Cara to tell her parents that she is lesbian, which may have been one good thing about Sean's act. Sean only did this out of jealously and longing, he wanted Cara back and hated her for leaving him. But his choices definitely weren't the correct ones.

Sean is a star baseball player at his school, and he is aiming for a sports scholarship to Stanford, so he can be with his true love, Cara. But his game has been off lately and he decided to go the "easy" way out. Steroids. Now, Sean (from what I've inquired) is a seemingly good kid, he's a high achiever and isn't a drug addict or alcoholic. When the pressure is just too much for him, he resorts to steroids, which are provided to him by his brother. Which makes the purchase of drugs extremely easy. "Chad, steroid expert, is also my supplier... his living expenses... dealing illegal substances." This shows that Sean didn't learn this from just anywhere, he got it from his brother, who he says is the only person he can talk to in a time of desperation. So why not take the steroids right? I mean, if your brother does them why not you? His parents are both dead, and some of these actions may be a reaction to the anniversary of his mother's death. But still. . . his aunt and uncle (his guardians) don't seem to be paying enough attention to him at this hard time.

As you can see from the two examples given above, Sean doesn't really know how to deal with his problems. He mainly just tries to pause them for a bit... and then they start up again, and sometimes even worse than before. For example, with Cara, if he had left it alone, he wouldn't have gotten into a huge mess with the cops. Or with steroids, if he hadn't begun taking them, he wouldn't need rely on them so desperately. Dealing with issues is hard, and there's always an easier seeming way that will result in a larger problem, and a harder way that will turn out alright.