Individual Text Feature: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Individual Text Feature: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

                  As a young adult who took interest in reading, the one text that really affected me in a way that others could not was the novel Go Ask Alice. The book is written in diary form from the perspective of “Alice” (her name is not revealed and is assumed from the title of the book) and her struggles with drugs and sex as a fifteen-year-old who has difficulties with identity and communication. It is to no surprise that this book is censored in many schools for it’s explicit use of drugs and sex, but it offers a depth to the reality of adolescent and portrays a character that most can identify with: an outcast. This book confronts YA readers with real issues such as drug abuse, homosexual affairs, prostitution, and pregnancy.

                  Go Ask Alice follows the diary of fifteen-year-old for approximately two years of her life. She begins writing in this diary after being asked out by a boy she likes, Roger, hoping to share her feelings and thoughts in this diary. We soon find out that Roger is not interested in dating her which leads to her first feelings of rejection and isolation. As the entries follow, she complains about typical teenage issues such as weight. After a few diary entries, the readers find out that Alice will be moving, which leads to optimism of a new life away from her self-acclaimed miserable life. Soon after this news is revealed, the readers get a deeper look into Alice’s character where she begins speaking about losing her virginity, getting upset at her mother for being concerned of her eating habits, and trying to fit in; these are all typical thoughts of adolescents.

                  Before she moves, Alice attends a Christmas party; although there is little detail about the party, Alice opens up about her desire to be able to speak to her mother about issues in her life; she instead confides in her journal. Once they move into their new home, Alice faces the harsh reality that things will not be much different than before; on her first day of class, no one speaks to her. After a few months in this new setting, Alice seems to be the only one in her family who has not adjusted to this new lifestyle until she befriends a Jewish neighbor, Beth. Alice soon learns about Judaism and admits to being saddened about not knowing more about her religion. Unfortunately, Beth had to leave for a Jewish summer camp, and Alice left to live with her grandparents for the summer in the town where she once felt as unwelcomed as ever. However, this time around she meets a popular girl Jill, and this is where the beginning of Alice’s rebellion begins.

                  Jill invites Alice to a party, and to her surprise, she doesn’t feel like an outsider. As the night progresses, Alice unknowingly takes some LSD; although she said her experience was exceptional, she vowed to never take drugs again. However, this opened her up to the curiosity of other drugs, such as marijuana, and due to the inappropriate information in her diary, she decides that she must lock up her diary in case someone finds it. Alice later goes on a date with a boy Bill, who was taking care of her while she was on LSD, and introduces her to new drugs, specifically on this date she injects speed.

                  When her grandfather suffers from a minor heart attack, Alice begins to think about death. Due to her grandfather’s medical condition, Alice stays with them a bit longer to aid her grandmother. This leads her to go to a party at Billy’s where she takes LSD again and loses her virginity. She then expresses her concern of being pregnant in her diary. When Roger, her original crush, visits her grandparents, he asks out Alice, but her guilty conscious of losing her virginity and her consumption of drugs does not allow her to connect to him; this leads to her taking other drugs, sleeping pills. When she returns home to her parents and siblings, they are concerned for her. Instead of speaking to them about her concerns, she continues to write in her diary; she wishes she can talk to Roger of all people about her experience with drugs. Although Alice did not where to get drugs from in her new home, this all changes when she meets a girl Chris, who gives her a pill that makes Alice feel happy and gain energy.

                  As school starts, Alice gets a job where Chris works and is now seen as a popular girl in school. This causes her parents to have concerns about her new hippie lifestyle. Alice soon befriends one of Chris’s friends Richie, and the girls begin to sell drugs for him. This comes to an end when they find out the Richie is having a homosexual affair with his roommate and causes the girls to move away to San Francisco and give information to the police about Richie; they decide to stay off of drugs together. Once in San Francisco, both girls find jobs, but Alice continues to express her shamefulness in abandoning her family and how she misses them.

                  Although Chris and Alice pledged to stray away from drugs, this does not last very long; when they are invited to a party by Sheila, Chris’ boss, and the girls are introduced to heroine. They soon find out that they were raped and abused by Sheila and her boyfriend and decide to call it quits on drugs once again. The girls successfully open up a jewelry boutique and stray away from drugs. As Christmas time is approaching, the girls decide to return home, and Alice feels acceptance from her parents. Everything seems well in Alice’s life until she returns to school where the kids harass her to sell them drugs. This pressure opens up the possibility for Alice to do drugs again, starting with Chris offering her marijuana. Although her social life seems to be better when she is under the influence of drugs, it leads her to trouble when the police raid Chris’ home where they find the girls actively using drugs leading to them being on probation.

                  While on probation, the constant monitoring of her actions makes Alice extremely irritated leading to her departure to Denver. Although she does not have a lot of money, she continues to consume drugs with other drug users. Alice’s drug addiction has led to her prostitution for drugs and begins to form a hatred to the drug users she’s constantly with. In hopes of getting some sort of closure, she speaks to a priest who calls her parents. Inevitably, her parents claim to still love her, and she decides to go home and quit drugs once more. She expresses her thoughts on suicide, and instead of taking that route, she decides to take an active role in the community to help other runaway kids.

                  Once she is back home, Alice is determined to live a new life away from drugs, but she finds it difficult to fit in, considering she does not want to hang out with the kids who use drugs and the straight edge kids do not accept her. She then again finds herself as an outsider. Luckily, instead of resorting to drugs this time, she decides to indulge in her studies. While at the university her father works at, she meets a boy Joel who she befriends and feels comfortable to talk about her past with and does not feel any judgment from him. Although the kids at school continue to harass her, she does not fall back into her old drug habits and is relieved when summer comes.

                  Unfortunately, Alice is surrounded by malicious teenagers who do not stop taunting her. This results in her being drugged while babysitting and having a “bad trip” on LSD, where she is banging her head on the wall and clawing at her skin. This leads her to be hospitalized and later taken to an insane asylum. She does not feel like she belongs there and will not be released until she admits there is something wrong with her, but she does not think she has anything wrong with her. She is eventually released from the asylum and returns home where she starts hanging out with straight edge kids and continues a romantic relationship with Joel. Alice concludes her diary saying she now has people in whom she can communicate with and does not feel the need for a diary. The story ends with the death of Alice from an overdose, but it is left unclear if this was intentional or an accident.

                  Go Ask Alice brings up a lot of issues that YA novels aim to reach. While many books try to relay their message subliminally or indirect, Go Ask Alice does not leave room for many questions. It unapologetically tells the tale of a girl who suffers from the realities of drug addiction and isolation at a young age. As an analysis, I want to explore the impact a diary entry form of a narrative has on YA readers, where we get the whole truth in Alice’s feelings and her encounters. Although this book is fiction, I want to know how this diary base format adds to the authenticity of the novel and Alice. This form of literature is prevalent in YA literature, but it is usually tied to an actual event. This novel also further supports the repetitiveness of diary format from a young woman’s perspective rather than a male’s perspective.

                  Along with the format of the novel, I hope to understand the image of drugs that this novel reflects on it’s YA readers. Alice is either infused in the world of drugs or extremely “straight edge,” even claiming to want to wait until marriage to have sex again. The novel makes the issue of drugs a black-and-white issue, where there is not a middle ground; one is either a drug addict or a saint. Although this novel shows the extremes of the world of drugs, I don’t know if it is portraying the best message to young adults. An analysis of the two extremes will be beneficial to understand the complexities seen when adolescents become involved in drugs. Since readers nowadays are more familiar with drugs thanks to programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) at a young age, I want to explore the effectiveness this novel has in keeping adolescents away from drug-related behavior seen in characters like Alice.

                  When I read Go Ask Alice as a fourteen-year-old, I became afraid of the world of drugs immediately. However, when I read it now as an adult, I don’t think that the issues of drugs are explained realistically. I have never met someone that has fallen into the extreme habits that Alice has, making it seem less relatable. Considering that the diary format of this novel adds character to Alice and builds a relationship between the reader and the narrator, I believe that this format is effective, especially when dealing with issues that an adolescent does not feel comfortable talking about aloud. This novel comes full circle and gives off a message that people are bound to fall back into bad habits; this is further explained due to Alice’s death from an overdose. Go Ask Alice is a book that is often referred to when speaking about YA literature, and its censorship in many schools adds to adolescents’ curiosity about the novel, which nonetheless them to read it.