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Chrissy Pfeil

Mrs. Cramer

College Composition I Period I

11 November 2016

Years of Bullying Ended in Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a shocking novel about a school shooting. In the

United States, school shootings average one per week. Picoult uses this devastating fact to

promote bullying awareness in her novel. Throughout the story, details are discovered due to

various points of view. The main focus of the novel is the effects of bullying on Peter Houghton.

In Nineteen Minutes, Picoult uses realistic characters to reveal her feelings and various themes

about issues that are facing society today.

To begin, Picoult was inspired to write Nineteen Minutes because her kids were being

bullied in school. She wanted to reveal the horrors that bullying can cause. Bullying can drive a

person over the edge, and Picoult effectively shows this when Peter Houghton is involved in a

school shooting at Sterling High School. Peter Houghton was a normal boy who was affected by

bullying throughout his schooling. His first experience happened on his first day of kindergarten;

a bigger kid threw his lunch box out of the window while he was on the bus (p. 66). This evolved

into more intense bullying. Peter fell in love with an old friend, Josie Cormier. She was his best

friend when they were young kids, but Josie became friends with the popular kids, leaving Peter

friendless and alone. Josie regrets this decision, and becomes angry with her new friends and

with herself. She desperately wants to be popular and dates the "cool" Matt Royston. Josie also

befriends popular girls, such as Courtney Ignatio. When Peter sends Josie an email stating his
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feelings for her, Courtney reads it instead. She sends it to another guy, Drew, who sends it to the

entire student body (p. 316). Peter was extremely angry and embarrassed. Fed up with the

bullying, Peter decides to kill the people that caused him misery. Picoult takes the bullying issue

to a new level. She analyzes the impact bullying has on an individual, and uses the effects to

spread awareness about the subject.

Next, Picoult created extremely realistic characters that were relatable to any audience.

Although Josie was drawn to popularity, she also had a sympathetic nature. Josie was abused in a

relationship with Matt, and she realized it during the shooting- she killed Matt with one of Peter's

guns. Instead of handing the gun over to Matt to shoot Peter, she killed Matt herself (p. 440).

Josie was sick of the abuse that she suffered while dating Matt (grabbing her and yelling at her),

so she decided it was in her best interest to end it (p. 330). This is a theme evident in the novel;

women have a hard time standing up for themselves in abusive relationships. Sometimes women

do not know that they are being abused, and if they do, it can be hard for them to take a stand.

Josie rarely stood up to Matt. She excused his behavior, and let him make decisions for her, such

as leaving a party early and who she was allowed to speak to (p. 237). The only time she stood

up for herself was not handing Matt the gun; instead, she decided to end the abuse.

Furthermore, another theme that occurs throughout the novel is meaningful and old-

fashioned: a person should treat another as he or she would like to be treated. Picoult relates to

this theme throughout the novel, and she uses the impact bullying has on Peter Houghton. Peter

was treated terribly by almost everyone in his life. His parents favored their son, Joey, to Peter.

This made Peter feel second best in the eyes of his parents. Josie left Peter to become popular,

and she no longer stuck up for him. The desertion did not sit well with Peter; the person that

cared the most about him no longer did, and that had many negative effects on Peter. Josie's
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popular friends thoroughly enjoyed torturing Peter; it could almost be seen as a pastime. The

bullying techniques used by these kids influenced Peter's life. The bullying would make him feel

insecure and afraid. Peter wasn't treated with kindness and respect, and took his anger out on

those who wronged him. Picoult shows the theme though this cause and effect relationship. The

anger from the bullying and lifelong rejection made him take is anger out on other people. If

these kids would have shown kindness to Peter, the school shooting probably would have never

happened.

Overall, Picoult shows various problems in the world in her novel, Nineteen Minutes. As

a mother, she wanted to show the horrors that issues such as bullying can cause. Picoult created

realistic characters with flaws, secrets, and insecurities. These characters relate to people in

society today, making the novel relatable and meaningful.