the devotion of jenna fox

I've been thinking a lot about Jenna's parents and the lengths they went to in order to keep her alive.  I'v been thinking about their utter devotion and, in their world, their means and ability to bring her back from the brink of death.  I thought it was brilliant that Mary E. Pearson created Jenna as a character who questions their devotion and decisions.  She's a smart, complex and often humorous character and I'm glad to have met her.  

I often use the word "adorable" when describing something that I find especially charming.  But adoration... that's a heavier word.  Worship.  Devotion.  These are words that I associate with the term "adoration."  Jenna's parents worshipped their daughter and looking back on the book I appreciate the correlation between the type of worship that takes place in the ancient mission and Jenna's parents' worship of family and science.

Jenna also is a devoted character.  She's devoted to her friends and to protecting them.  This devotion is an admirable quality - it is her strength and humanity.  For those of you who read the book, what strengths do you think Jenna possesses?  And how does she use these strengths throughout the book?

Comments

[Jacqueline]

Jenna Fox is a very interesting character. I think that Jenna possesses a very good strength to ask questions and not just say yeah thats what they tell me so thats what I have to believe. Her parents might have never told her what really happened to her if she didnt stumble across it herself. Its interesting to think of what they might be able to do in the future with synthetics and such.

I enjoyed seeing her progress through the book. I really became emotionally envolved in this book and loved how it was so entertaining.

I could never deal with having to be perfect all my life and to have so much attention to be put on me watching my every move and having my whole life pretty much to be taped. I liked how finally Jenna became fed up with it and told her mom how she felt.

[Amelia]

I agree with Jacqueline. I think that her strength was not doing as she's told, and questioning the unrealistic orders her parents gave/programmed into her.

I thought she really exhibited her strength in fighting for doing things she enjoyed even when her parents told her not to.

Her parents were very interesting characters, because they actually reminded me of very real parents today. Some parents try to protect kids from the world, when, they will find it eventually. And when they do, they're more likely to do harmful things just to spite their over-protective parents. We all have a bit of teenage rebellion in ourselves, but I think it comes out in over-protected kids more.

I agree, this book was very emotional!

[Caitlyn]

I think that this book puts a completely different view on life. In my opinion it is a very scary thought to not remember anything. I would feel empty if I had no memories, lonely if I had no friends, and almost betrayed if I found out a secret like Jenna did, the way that she did.

This book speaks to me because I have a family member who was in an induced coma for a week, and hearing her talk about what she remembered last was strange. I think that something like this would be very scary to go through, but I also believe that with our constantly advancing medical technology, some of these ideas may not be too far off.