The novel begins three years earlier while Skye Gilchrist and Jesse Mandel are best friends in elementary school. Just as Jesse is about to ask Skye out on their first date, a teacher informs them that both of their older brothers had been killed in a school shooting at North Hampton. Both of them are distraught, except Skye then finds out that her brother was one of the shooters. Skye is forced to move from Riverside where she spent her whole life previously and bounces from school to school. Eventually Skye is then forced to move back to Riverside. Upon her return she is treated far worse than before, people are all acting different than she remembers, and all the while a mystery about the shooting resurfaces. Skye is blamed for many problems in the school, but eventually Jesse comes to her aid and the truth finally comes out.
Quote:
“‘I didn’t have to,’ she says. ‘I chose to. Sometimes, showing compassion for others means doing things that are painful for us” (108). Once the Mandal family hears that Skye is back in town and is being harassed, Jesse’s mother begins to look into articles of the shooting even though her oldest son was one of those killed. Even though it is extremely painful for her, she chooses to do it anyways in hopes of better understanding the situation in order to help Skye. One of the essential components of compassion is acting selflessly to benefit someone else. The greatest love one can show for another comes from displaying compassion even when it hurts themselves.
Essay:
Tough Situations Create the Strongest People
It is often said that maturement comes with age. As one grows older they develop into a stronger person from their experiences. It appears that time is the key to becoming a stronger individual, but in reality, it’s the occurrences that come with time that changes one forever. Each unique instance in a person’s life changes their perspective and opinion on the world around them. Essentially, personal growth stems from the situations that individuals are placed in. How one reacts to their circumstances is what exhibits their character. In the novel Aftermath, by Kelley Armstrong, there are a multitude of distinctive scenarios that cause characters to develop. In the novel, characters are either left in inescapable painful situations, placed in scenarios where they are uncomfortable, or go through a time where arising problems appear endless. Every character struggles through these, eventually realizing that this is the process of maturing, finally learning from the struggle to become stronger in their own way. The first instance where a character is placed in a painful situation is that of the main character Skye, as she is forced to return to the town of Riverside, the place where her brother was part of a shooting that left four dead and ten injured. After three long years of being away from the town, most people around her have forgotten about her relation to the shooting. Since she has no choice but to return, she is left in a condition where she must remember her past, “Now, three years later, I’m going back. Back to Riverside, where they have definitely not forgotten who I am. Back to Riverside, where I will live two miles from my old house. Back to Riverside, where I will go to school alongside kids I grew up with. I’m returning to the only place I ever truly called home. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it” (11,12). Although in the beginning Skye’s struggle is immense, eventually she grows from being in the difficult situation. Skye becomes a confident leader again and feels content for surviving the ordeal while uncovering the truth. Anyone that is put in painful situations, either emotionally or physically, quickly changes for the better. Broadly, distressing situations are opportunities for immediate growth and development. The next situation was that which came from several characters being placed in situations that were completely new to them. In these scenarios, characters were unsure how to behave and react in their new worlds. Aunt Mae was suddenly placed into a parenting life that was completely unfamiliar to her as she had to raise Skye on her own. The Mandal parents were left with a son who avoids sports and only attends academic competitions, while they were used to cheering on sports events every season. Aunt Mae is left with no choice but to learn the texting lingo and eventually change her food options to support a teen; “The cupboard is stuffed with junk food. Cookies, chips, candies, and those granola bar things that pretend to be healthy but we all know better [...] this is proof that Mae really is trying. Trying so hard” (343). The Mandal parents eventually realize that their son needs support and encouragement to continue pursuing his academics, unlike his brother who required no motivation for sports. Following these uncomfortable situations, Mae became a better family member to Skye and the rest of her family, and the Mandal parents became more supportive to their son. Basically, anyone put in uncomfortable situations is left with no choice but to adapt to better fit their new conditions. The final situation in this novel was from several characters having endless problems arise all around them. Many characters faced random occurrences of bad luck throughout the story. Skye was stabbed with a knife by a stranger, Jesse was shoved off the edge of a roof, many characters lost family members, and even the principal was going through a divorce at the time, “‘I swear you’re the third kid Vaughn has forgotten this term already. He just split with his wife. He has a lot on his mind’” (34,35). Every character has bad things happen to them, they must immediately accept and overcome these obstacles, just like everyone else in life. We all find adversity that we must face, and fundamentally it's how we act in order to conquer these problems that displays our true strength. Overall, the novel Aftermath by Kelley Armstrong contains several lessons to retain about overcoming diversity and finding strength. Through characters being put in difficult situations, in scenarios where they are extremely uncomfortable and inexperienced, and times where they had really bad luck with incidents occurring, every character demonstrated that anyone can overcome these challenges and become a better person because of them. We all will face difficult circumstances in our lives, but it's how we react to the adversity that makes us stronger.
Themes:
Tragedy: Everyone in Riverside was affected in some way by the shooting that occurred at North Hampton. Forgiveness: Each relationship between characters reached a point where they must forgive each other. Mystery: Throughout the entire novel there is something greater happening in the background. It takes some time for the characters and reader to realize this.