Late Second Thoughts

       Brent will never get used to being in the hospital. Every time he thinks he is progressing and everything will get better, there is always a bad side to the situation. An example is when he explains that “…the good part is I don’t have to have another major surgery. That’s good. The bad part is that I have to lie on my stomach for another four days.” (p. 85) Runyon has resigned to the fact that he will need to live his life under those situations and the best thing he can do at this point is collaborate with the therapists and doctors in order to get a full recovery as soon as possible. He constantly regrets not having stopped before lighting the match and putting it beside the robe, but he knows what is done is done and he has to accept the consequences of his actions. When I do something wrong, I always think about a lot more about it after the situation took place. Although this is very good to learn from your mistakes and not do them the next time, you have to keep on going and strive to be better. If you stay mourning on your errors for too long, you will probably lose confidence and will not get better.

       In this point, it is important to highlight that the book is written from Runyon’s perspective when he was fourteen years old, which allows the narrator to have a much closer relation with the audience. This also adds suspense to the memoir since the future is unexpected and unknown. Also, Runyon allows the reader to connect and sympathize with him by providing insight on his thoughts and feelings. The short sentences used throughout the book emphasize the key points Runyon wants to imply. This variety in the sentence length makes the book active and enhances the understanding of Brent’s thoughts. Most of the book is written in a regretful and hopeless tone. Brent never talks about his wishes of getting out. Although he probably has them, he knows that his stay at the hospital is going to be a long time.

       One of the things that Brent misses the most is going out with his brother and his parents. Although he explicitly says that he does not like to go visit universities with his brother, the fact that he talks about these trips means that he misses them and that they were important to him. In one of his reflections, he says: “I’m glad Craig thought that was funny.” (p. 86) For the first time Brent talks about how he misses his brother and how it would all have been different if he had not ignited that robe. Will Brent be able to enjoy the same activities as he did before the accident when he gets out? Did he really learn his lesson? He says he certainly did, but the only way to really find out is when he goes back to the outside world.