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Kelsey Deming

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd. 4

17 December 2021

High School Reality: Teenage Struggles and Incognizant People

“High school is about finding who you are, because that’s more important than trying to

be someone else.” (Nick Jonas) This advice could have been used for Jodi Picoult’s main

characters, Peter and Josie, in her novel, Nineteen Minutes, during their high school journey.

Throughout the novel, Peter and Josie struggled with self-image. Peter’s issues resulted from

reoccurring bullying accompanied by an unstructured home life. Josie’s problems were caused

by constantly stressing over being a person her friends would like, rather than being who she

wanted to be. This led to both Peter and Josie making life-altering decisions that left some dead,

devastated, or wondering where they went wrong. Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes uses the

characters to highlight struggles that teenagers go through and causes the reader to question his

or her own actions.

The characters in Nineteen Minutes were used to display real-life struggles that teenagers

experience daily. The conflict in the novel results from bullying and difficulties with self-image.

These are common struggles that students, especially teenagers, deal with frequently. In the

opening of the novel, Josie is getting ready for school when she notices herself in the mirror.

This causes her to stop and look at herself; however, what she notices in the mirror is what she

knows her friends and boyfriend see; although, she feels like what she is looking at is a false

view of herself (Picoult, 8). This describes how Josie has a problem with how she views herself

and that she doesn’t see what everyone else sees. Through this, the reader can understand that
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Josie doesn’t feel comfortable with herself, and it explains the pressures she feels around the

people she feels closest to. Peter, the other main character in the novel, experiences bullying that

traumatizes him to the point of killing himself and others. One of the most embarrassing

moments happened in the cafeteria of Sterling High following the event of Peter becoming

vulnerable and confessing his feelings to Josie. This email was forwarded to Josie’s entire friend

group, including Peter’s worst bully and Josie’s boyfriend, Matt Royston. This led to a prank on

Peter that ended with his pants around his ankles in front of the entire cafeteria (Picoult, 319).

This demonstrates events that occur to high school students often, almost even daily. These

events can be viewed as traumatizing, as they were for Peter, and they can relate to all other

students who are bullied, no matter the severity. It can result in life-changing events, like those

Peter and Josie went through during their choices at the shooting. Attention needs to be brought

to the problems with self-image and bullying that Peter and Josie are experiencing, as well as

bringing attention to other that students in school experience.

The characters in Nineteen Minutes were used to make the reader question his or her own

actions. Throughout the novel, the characters dealt with matters that made them reflect on their

actions and made them question if their choices affected the outcome. This allows the reader to

become self-aware of his or her own decisions and make him or her knowledgeable of them

before it is too late to change them. For example, after receiving the news that Peter was the

shooter, Peter’s parents, Lacy and Lewis, started to think about life before the shooting. Lacy

started to blame Lewis for taking Peter to learn how to hunt and blaming herself for not noticing

that Peter was hurting (Picoult, 59). This highlights parental choices that resulted in a horrific

outcome. This leaves the reader to listen to Lacy discuss how she wishes she could go back and

change events to try to notice concerns that could be out of the ordinary. This allows the reader
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to self-reflect on topics occurring in his or her life and makes the reader want to change himself

or herself before it is too late. Following the beginning of the trial, Alex, Josie’s mother,

removed her from school stating, “I wanted to see you…Those people, they didn’t get to have

any other days.” (Picoult, 266). This explains that Alex came to get her daughter from school

because she was able to and the parents who lost their kids were not. The reason Alex came and

got Josie was because she still had the chance to, and she realized that. This causes the reader,

especially mothers, to think about the relationship he or she has with his or her kids. It shows that

it is never too late to start something. Parents in the novel wish they could have their child back,

causing the parents who still have their children to be more appreciative of them.

Overall, Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes highlights the struggles that teenagers go

through and causes the reader to reconsider his or her own actions. Bullying and problems with

self-image are large issues that teenagers must face worldwide. These troubles can lead to

serious events that not only affect the primary person, but also everyone around him or her. After

traumatic events take place, people are left to wonder where they went wrong; however, this

allows the reader to understand that and try to fix the issues before it is too late. Like Nick Jonas

stated, the students need to find themselves and be comfortable with it before issues like this

occur.
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Work Cited

Picoult, Jodi. Nineteen Minutes. New York: Atria Books, 2007. Print