Love and Other Four Letter Words

            I just started the book called “Love and Other Four Letter Words” by Carolyn Mackler which a girl named Sammie whose parents are getting a “trial separation” and Sammie and her are moving to New York City.  Sammie’s best friend Kitty is always condescending and she makes Sammie feel bad about herself and I don’t know why she’s still friends with her, Sammie is always taking about how normal she is, and she refers to it as a bad thing but I don’t agree.

            Sammie’s best friend Kitty wants badly to be a part of the “beautiful people” and is drifting away from Sammie. In the book Sammie says,” It was only on he drive back to my house that I realized Kitty hadn’t asked me anything about the move. It had been all Kitty, Kitty, Kitty and Jack, Jack, Jack.” I think that being friends with Kitty is just bringing Sammie’s self esteem. Sammie says that compared to Kitty she was nothing and no guy is going what to go out with her. She said, “ And I’m not even heavy, though next to Kitty, who is 4 inches taller and fourteen pounds lighter then me, I must look like a whale.” If someone makes you feel like that you shouldn’t be best friends with that person. But I think that Kitty’s the only person that Sammie has because she won’t open herself up to everyone else because she thinks no one will be impressed by who she is.

            Sammie’s saying how normal she is and acting like it’s some horrible thing, but I don’t think that it is. Just because you might seem more normal then others, that doesn’t make you bland or uninteresting. Sammie says, “ Eventually I gave up and resigned myself to my fate: to be absolutely, completely average.” Everyone has quirks and if you can find one in yourself that’s because you have tried to differentiate yourself, you don’t want to show that you’re unique. If Sammie thinks that it’s so bad to be “average” she should open herself up and show that she’s different because somewhere inside of her she is different. It’s not just about looks that might make you unique; it’s about your personality.

            I don’t see why Sammie is making herself feel so bad and unimportant by being friends with Kitty, and by thinking that her “average” looks are bad. She’s scared of leaving Kitty and opening herself up to others because of her parent’s separation. She’s also terrified because she thinks that no one will ever love her, and that’s why she won’t express her true self to anyone.