Transcript The Burn Journals - A

The Burn Journals
By: Kirslyn Foster-Yee
Period 1 Anatomy
April 2012
Questions
 Title: The Burn Journals
 Author: Brent Runyon
 Publishing date 10/11/2005.
Published by Knopf Doubleday
Publishing Group
 Genre: Memoir, Autobiographical
 ISBN: 978-1400096428
 Author’s Purpose: Runyon started on February
4, 2001, exactly ten years after the day he
set himself on fire. Originally, the book began
as a way to let go of his past, but when he
was finished he decided to publish it with the
title The Burn Journals. The memoir
describes one year of Runyon’s life.
Summary (1)
The Burn Journals is a true
story following the journey
of recovery for Brent
Runyon, who at the age of
fourteen years old set
himself on fire at the
attempt of a suicide. Brent
suffered second and third
degree burns of partial and
full thickness to over 85%of
his body.
Brent spent four months at the Children’s Hospital,
where he received lengthy and painful treatments to
try and regenerate the skin he lost from the fire.
After Brent moved to a rehabilitation hospital for
three months, enrolling in physical therapy sessions
and seeing psychologists. After being allowed back
home for a little while, the Dominion Hospital
Treatment program was Brent’s last stop for his
treatments, where he stayed for two months and was
treated for mental problems. After all these
treatment centers Brent finally, after almost being
out for a year, returned to school and although being
nervous to begin classes again, all the treatments
seemed to have helped Brent as he realized that why
he burnt himself had become less of a big deal.
The story takes place from February 4, 1991 to
January 26, 1992.
Summary (2)
 Throughout The Burn Journals, Brent Runyon uses sarcasm in
order to cope with his ordeal. Swears are used frequently,
and his sense of humor is shown throughout the book.
 Written in the composed style of a young teen barely able to
grasp his own, this memoir offers an honest and painfully
unemotional portrayal of regret and hope.
 As Brent struggles to convey to his parents, and to himself his
reasons for wanting to die, he slowly pieces together a weak
but possible blueprint for wanting to live again.
Did this book affect me?
 Reading The Burn Journals
definitely had an affect on me. The
way that Runyon gave very vivid
detail throughout his year in
therapy and rehabilitation facilities
made me never want to go through
what he had to go through. Suicide
is something I think no teenager, or
anyone for that matter, should
have to decide for themselves.
Being able to be apart of Brent’s
journey of successfully finishing
treatments and having the courage
to return to school after a year
shows that after everything he’s
had to deal with, he’s able to take
control of his life and create a
better future for himself.
It’s a story based on depression that some
kids our age go through every day. I learn
about how Brent went through high school,
and all the consequences he suffered from
his thoughtless mistake. There's portions of
the story where I thought his life will never
be what it was before, and I was right. But
Brent never gave up. When Brent returns to
school he’s greeted by all his friends who
were there for him from the start. All
though there's plenty of thing's he'll never
be able to do, and plenty of things he might
never be able to try, he lives with the
consequences of suicide attempt.
Connects to A & P
 The Burn Journals connects to anatomy and
physiology because us readers are transported
into Brent’s extensive treatments and numerous
surgeries to attempt to re-grow skin he lost from
the fire. Readers learn second and third degree
burns, how burns affect skin, how much
immobility Brent experiences from the tightness
of his newly grown skin, etc.
Recommend to others?
 I would recommend The Burn Journals for others to
read because of the journey into Runyon’s own mind
he takes us on. He shares his thoughts and hopes and
fears with such steady honesty that we begin to
fathom what it meant to him to want to die, and how
it feels to struggle back toward normalcy.
 Despite its dark subject matter, this powerful book of
Brent's journey to heal expresses hope, celebrates life
and provides an opportunity to slip inside the skin of a
survivor with a unique perspective.
Themes
 Within The Burn Journals there are various themes
that come about.
 Depression
 Regret
 Rebirth
 Self-injury
^ These four themes I found were recurring
throughout the book, however I believe the most
significant theme in the novel would be that
accepting who you are is part of growing up.
Thesis
 The thesis of the book appeared in the first
chapter where Brent declared to the reader that
he was going to commit suicide by going into his
bathroom and lighting himself on fire. The tone is
then set for the entire book, following the
aftermath of his suicide attempt, and how his life
was forever changed because of that simple
mistake.
Works Cited
 http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20
146252,00.html
 http://www.enotalone.com/health/5413.html
 http://www.burnjournals.com/content.html
 http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/0
3/22/brentrunyon/
 http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780375826214-1
 http://chsreviews.blogspot.com/2009/02/summary-iread-book-burn-journals.html
 http://worldsstrongestlibrarian.com/418/book-reviewthe-burn-journals/