Cut
Patricia McCormick
Book Information
Title- Cut
Author- Patricia McCormick
Setting- The setting of the story is in the residential treatment facility called Sea Pines. The residence call it Sick Minds as a nickname for the place. The main places in the story are the bathroom, the cafeteria, the office, and group sessions room.
Characters:
- Callie- The story is told from Callie's perspective. As Callie goes through her day the reader gets a glimpse into her head about what she wants to say but doesn't. In the begininning she doesn't talk at all but as she starts to open up about her feelings she learns that keeping silents won't help anyone.
- Sam- Sam is Callie's younger brother. He is in third grade and has bad asthma that keeps him from going to school. He is a very happy kid that is confused as to why his sister isn't at home. Even though Callie doesn't talk Sam talks for both of them as they interact and play connect four together.
- Sydney- Sydney is Callie's roommate and struggles with drug addiction. Even though Callie doesn't talk Sydney still befriends her and treats her like another person in the facility and cares about her.
- Tara- Tara is one of the quiet people of the group. She is a skinny girl who wears a baseball cap to cover a bald spot where her hair fell out. She tries to reach out to Callie but is ignored at first.
- Becca- Becca struggles with anorexia and bulimia. She doesn't follow through with treatment by hiding her food. In result of her refusing treatment she gets sent to Hammacher.
- Debbie- Debbie is like the mother-hen of the group. She is extremely overweight and struggles with compulsive eating. She is described as being very co-dependent towards Becca and her need to take care of her.
- Tiffany- Tiffany struggle with an addiction to crack and goes to Sea Pines instead of jail. She is indifferent towards Callie and treats her like everyone else. She is much more open in the group and doesn't care if her struggles are talked about as much as others. She has to leave Sea Pines about halfway through the story because her family can't pay the bills for it any more.
- Amanda- Amanda comes in about a third into the book. She is also a cutter but does it more for decoration and attention from people. She is very straight forwards and tries to have the attention on her.
- The Psychiatrist- The name of the Psychiatrist is never said but she is very kind towards Callie. She is understanding of her not talking and respects it. She tries to get Callie to open up to her and the other girls in the group by starting to talk.
"My mind is a video on fast forward. A video with no soundtrack."
Summary Statement
Looking into the thoughts and actions of a 15 year old girl as she struggles with cutting and coming to realize she wants to get help.
Connections to Anatomy
Nutrition-
- Having a healthy diet every day is an important concept in this book. The importance of eating healthy is that if you eat healthy then you won't have to worry about not getting enough food to eat through out the day. This connects to the unit on nutrition and how different types of food effect our bodies and how each organ functions.
Cardiovascular-
- It mentions in the story that Becca has had a heart attack. It is never stated what caused her heart attack but making sure that you get a healthy diet and eating daily keeps your body running properly. This connects to the unit that we just finished about the heart. Making sure that there is enough food in the body to create the energy to let the heart pump blood through the body.
- The heart is the main source of blood in the body and when someone cuts they are breaking the skin and sometimes, trying to cut into one of the major veins in the body to get the feeling that comes from cutting.
- One of the big risk with cutting is that when you are cutting you are risking cutting into the muscle in the area of the body. Cutting muscle will damage the entire function of the body and can have very bad results. This connects with the unit on the muscular system and how each muscle is used to move and go through everyday activities.
- In the book they discuss how exercise is important for having a healthy body. The girls that struggle with anorexia still have to go on walks to stay healthy while the girl that struggles with compulsive eating do more exercise to lose weight.