Dreamland- By Sarah Dessen (Ellie's book report #3)

Dreamland-Sarah Dessen

 Ever since the morning Caitlin’s eighteen year old sister took off with her boyfriend, Adam, leaving only so much as a note, Caitlin has fallen into what seems to be a semiconscious dreamland type state. Her best friend, Rina, just a few days after Cass left, convinced Caitlin to try out for cheerleading, which happens so fast Caitlin isn't even quite sure it did. Her mom, the second  Caitlin tells her, becomes completely involved and practically obsessed with Caitlin’s cheerleading. Her mother had always been planning out Cass’ life and watching so carefully over it that when Cass is leaves and doesn't want to be in contact, Caitlian is who she turns to. At a cheerleading party that Caitlin is drug to by Rina, she sees him for the first time: Rogerson Biscoe. Rogerson is dark, with deep, compelling eyes. He’s magnetic, intriguing, mysterious, and someone who you can’t help but get drawn to, even when you know they’re someone you shouldn't be falling for. He hasn't said one word to her and she can already tell just from taking him in that he’s trouble. Caitlin, seemingly wonderstruck, gets into Rogerson’s car after just saying “Hi” and being offered a ride home. After making out and going all the way to 2^nd base in his car by her driveway, Caitlin, as if being held back by a daydream, heads into her house as to not break curfew. The more Caitlin got deeper into her relationship with Rogerson, the more she slipped out of reality. Her school grades skyrocketed downward, and so did her cheerleading effort, though her parents didn't notice, as her mom moved onto home decorating to keep busy, while her dad was working a full time job. It wasn't long until she saw it. Rogerson’s dad beat him hard, just for being a few minutes late. It was only a day or two later when Rogerson hit Caitlin for the first time, coming as such a shock to her, the only way she knew it wasn't just a dream was the increasing pain from her cheek to her temple. As the hitting grew more frequent, Caitlin pushed everyone out of her life more and more, only focusing on not being late to meet Rogerson or not doing something to set him off. People wondered, but they never asked. Caitlin’s life was heading down a downward spiral. She was drowning deeper and deeper into Rogerson, which brought her deeper and deeper out of reality; out of careful watch withdrawn mother and missing sister. 

It wasn't until Rina forced Caitlin to spend a day with her, since she hadn't in ages, literally dragging her down to the beach. By the time Caitlin got home, Rogerson had been waiting an hour in her driveaway. He immediately started swearing and yelling things like “Where the hell were you? I've been waiting for an HOUR.” Before Caitlin could respond, Rogerson grabbed her, hit her just about everywhere, and threw her to the ground multiple times. It wasn't until Caitlin’s mother heard and ran outside, calling 911 as Rogerson disappeared into the woods. Caitlin, basically out cold, was taken to the Evergreen Treatment center where she recovered for a few months. She spent her days under structured schedule, having nightmares and flashbacks of Rogerson and his beatings on her. When she finally got to go home, she felt as if she was waking up for the first time since Cass had gone missing. Almost as if she had been so deep underwater, but was now so close to resurfacing.

Sixteen year-old Caitlin has deep brunette hair and light, enchanting hazel eyes. Caitlin lets life take her wherever it wants to once her sister leaves and her parents become distant, which leads her straight to someone who changes her life in the worst but best way; Rogerson Biscoe. Caitlin sparingly interacts with her parents, afraid they will be able to tell that something is wrong. A quote from Caitlin to support this analysis is this one: “Lying to my parents had become easy. I just answered their minimal questions at the dinner table, and used cheerleading as an excuse when I was really going to meet Rogerson.” Caitlin’s minimal interaction includes saying just things like the usual Caitlin is even too afraid to talk to her sister, Cass on the phone when she calls, because she knows that Cass knows her too well, and will know that something is very wrong with her. A quote to support this analysis is this one from Caitlin: “I opened my mouth but no words came. I wanted to talk to Cass so bad, but I was afraid if I did she could immediately tell somehow that something was wrong.” Caitlin’s interactions with Rogerson, however, include asking him the answers to her homework, because she seems to always be dozing off in school, quickly failing. Rogerson he seems to know absolutely EVERYTHING when Caitlin asks, which can be supported by when he says “I watch a lot of Jeopardy”. Caitlin begins to worry about what she says to Rogerson once he starts to hit her, afraid she will say something to set him off. This can be supported by this quote from Caitlin: “I wanted to tell him how horrible my day was, how I had to work with Mike Evans for a project and how upset Rina was when I said I couldn’t hangout, but I just couldn’t. I was too afraid I’d say the wrong thing and set him off, so I answered with the simple “It was okay.”’ Caitlin slowly loses interaction with Rina as Rogerson begins to take up more and more of her time. A quote from Caitlin to support this analysis is this one: “I felt bad for telling Rina I couldn’t hangout, again, but the guilt didn’t last long, as I ran to meet Rogerson before I was late.” This character analysis described the main character in Dreamland, Caitlin, and her interactions with others.

The main theme in Dreamland is forgiving someone for something they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. Caitlin is always forgiving Rogerson for hitting her, and always just letting it go, even though she knows he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven. An example from the text to support this theme is this quote from Caitlin: “Each day after he’d hit me I could tell he felt horrible. However, instead of directly apologizing he would bring me a soda, or hold me a little bit closer. By not bringing it up he knew I had forgiven him, even though he never deserved it.” The first time after Rogerson hit her, he’d said “I love you Caitlin. Never forget that, alright? I love you.” Caitlin, of course, forgave him, even though he entirely didn’t deserve it. Caitlin over and over, every time, forgave Rogerson. Never did she bring a hit up after it had happened, never did she say a word about it to him, or to anyone. The examples shown describe the main theme of forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it, and the quotes from the text support the theme.  

I can relate Dreamland to my own life not due to being beaten or hit, because I haven’t, but because of a couple other reasons. First of all, I can relate to the main theme, forgiving someone for something you know they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. I have many times forgiven people, knowing they don’t deserve it. I usually do it because I don’t want to cause drama by making a big deal of it or bringing it up, or because I tell myself they won’t do it again, so why bring it up. I think everyone, at least once in their life, has forgiven someone for something they don’t deserve to be forgiven for. Another occurring part of the book I can relate to is the semi-theme of making up an excuse as to not have to talk about something. quite a bit throughout the book. I can relate to making up excuses to not talk about something because sometimes I just don’t want to talk about something so I make up the excuse of “I’m tired” or “I’m fine”, because I’m not always ready at every second to get into a full discussion about something. I feel like everyone, multiple times in their life, has made up an excuse to not talk about something. Doing this is just a very common thing among humans because we can tend to keep things inside or not feel like having to tell someone something every time you are asked to. The examples shown are how I can relate to the book Dreamland.

I would definitely recommend Dreamland to any teenager, because I feel like it’s too mature of a book for younger kids. I would recommend Dreamland because it brings up the very important topic of abusive relationships, which are so common nowadays, and really shows the early signs of an abusive relationship. Dreamland really gives off the message that it’s not a good idea at all to stay in an abusive relationship, and that it is important to tell someone, or you could end up as just as bad, or worse, than Caitlin did in the long run. Besides that, Dreamland never gets boring to read and will definitely keep you wanting to read to the end of Caitlin’s long, seemingly endless journey through her abusive relationship with Rogerson Biscoe. Dreamland appealed to be because of how raw and true of a book it is, and how abusive relationships can completely change whole life in the worst way. The reason described are why I would recommend the book Dreamland to any teenager looking for a really extraordinary read for this winter season, or any other time of the year. 

            

            

*I chose the first image because the song "I Knew You Were Trouble" By Taylor Swift really describes this relationship Caitlin is in with Rogerson. She knew he was trouble the moment she saw him, but she went into the relationship anyway. I chose image two because it shows a depressed girl wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt, not wanting to show her bruises, just like Caitlin.*

Link to "I Knew You Were Trouble" music video, which  100% describes Caitlin's relationship with Rogerson :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y

Want to learn more about the author, Sarah Dessen? Click here to visit her official website: http://sarahdessen.com/books/

Want to purchase Dreamland? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-ebook/dp/B0023SDQBW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355808725&sr=8-4&keywords=dreamland+sarah+dessen

Image 1:http://musicselects.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/112_9_4_95529906.jpg

Image 2: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgONpRQfHf6XdRkCJUc_aXVN9fkDIbVJiNxlp2fgF2MptWbKbpzAGzYn2LJivz8ctGH2Ol_T8Prs2zHDab3b_Zm_sjZT91kk14wvEuxP2GZN3s2QfM4kW9TfvxxppwLCy-9PaCiBvpiEsxE/s1600/depressed_girl.jpg