Who are the main characters of your book? Describe their personality and what seems to motivate them.
In the novel Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I have found that within every chapter of the book, she tells the story from many different characters' points of view. This makes it hard to narrow it down to just a few characters. But the most significant characters in this novel seem to be Josie Cormier, Peter Houghton, and Judge Alex Cormier.
Josie Cormier on the outside is a sweet, uber popular, carefree teenager. She was the girlfriend of popular jock Matt Royston and friends with all the right people. She seems to have the perfect life with the perfect friends. However, on the inside, Josie is struggling. She feels like a fraud in her social group, and doesn't agree with how her friends treat others who aren't as "cool" as them, "Sometimes she had nightmares in which Matt realized she was a fraud- that she wasn't beautiful; she wasn't cool; she wasn't anyone worthy of admiration" (Picoult 216). Josie spends a lot of her emotional energy worrying about what others are thinking of her, how she looks, and impressing her "friends". Josie really isn't as shallow as she appears to be. Josie's motivation right now is to keep her status as High school's Perfect Girl. It's what she cares about the most and strives to be.
To put it bluntly, Peter Houghton is an outcast. He is brutally picked on at school, mainly by Josie's popular group of friends, "'Get away from my girlfriend, homo,' Matt said. 'Go find a nice little boy to play with.' Peter had landed face down on the pavement" (Picoult 217). He isn't particularly smart, extremely nonathletic, and strange. The boys at Peter's school call him "homo" and "faggot", which makes Peter worry a lot about his sexuality. Peter's thoughts turn very dark and morbid as he grows older and continues to get picked on. Peter begins to completely hate himself, and wants to end his life. Peter's extreme hatred towards himself and others is what motivates him. It motivates him to create violent computer games, think morbid thoughts, and eventually cause a deathly school shooting.
Judge Alex Cormier is the mother of Josie. Alex is extremely sensible, wise, and fair. Alex likes being in complete control of her life, and when life gives her a curve ball, she becomes alarmed. Alex also believes in complete justice and is very devoted to her work. She is so devoted, that sometimes she forgets to be a good mother. When Alex's daughter Josie is affected by the school shootings by Peter, Alex becomes extremely motivated by her love for her daughter. When Alex sees her daughter struggling with the death of all her friends, Alex is motivated to become the best mother ever, and make up for lost time. This new act put on by Alex is foreign to Josie, "'You want chocolate chip cookies then?' Josie blinked at Alex. "Are you on crack?' Alex sounded ridiculous even to herself, but she was desperate to show Josie that she could and would take care of her, and that her job came second" (Picoult 107).
The characters of Nineteen Minutes all seem to have an exterior shell, that sometimes hides the way they truly are on the inside. Jodi Picoult shows the truth to all these characters through first person narration which really gives the reader a deeper look into all the complex characters.
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Amanda, I like the fact that you used Richard's hunger as positives. I also think that he his hungary for knowledge and it will help him succeed in life. I think the fact that he wants to learn so much and take opportunities thrown at him will help him become more than the average person.
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