Vera Dietz Thus Far

A. S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz, many different things have happened within the 100 or so pages that we have read since the last test. The reader finally learns about why Vera's mother's name appears as Cidny Sidny since she changed her name after she left Ken and Vera and moved to Las Vegas. As Vera grows older and continues to hang out with Charlie she starts to view them someday as a potential couple. Ken becomes very frustrated with Vera for her continuation of drinking because he knows how he, himself, is affected by alcohol and he really does not want Vera to follow along the same path that he went down. Ken then allows Vera to attend the Pagoda Pizza Holiday party because he wants to trust her even though she was just drinking and Ken is still mad at her. However, when Vera is trying to leave the party after heavily drinking, she is pretty much mauled by Mike before she can actually leave. This all goes back on what Ken was warning Vera about. Vera also acts invisible in high school because she does not want people to know that her mother was a stripper and it goes hand in hand with the title of PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ. Vera also goes on a Valentines Day date with Charlie but it really does not turn out very well, since Jenny is there and Charlie is pretty much conflicted in regards to his feelings between Charlie and Vera. He pretty much ends up choosing Jenny while practically forcing Vera out of his life. The reading section then ends with Vera saying, "Of course, I was lying to both of us." Meaning that Charlie and Vera were pretty much never meant to be.

In regards to King's way of depicting teenagers in today's culture I feel that she does a very poor job. There are teenagers today that are affected by alcohol as well as drugs, but I feel that it is not as prevalent as King makes it seem like it is. Especially in regard to school and academics, she does a very poor job trying to write about a senior in high school that has only two classes that they need to study for. Vera is complaining about memorizing five vocabulary words and reading Lord of the Flies in class. Really??!! I understand that U of D is on a higher level than the school that Vera is going to but public schools in my community and that I know about are so much more rigorous than whatever school Vera is going to or that King makes it out to be. That is what is extremely frustrating about this novel is that King completely fails at what she is trying to accomplish in writing about a teenager's life. There are a few things that are true about people changing as they grow older, typical teenager stuff, but besides that she does a terrible job.


In regards to covering teen issues importantly, I feel that she tries to do so but does not really know exactly "how" to cover them without humor. She tries to cover them with the help of humor, I feel that she tries this so that people will be more comfortable talking about this controversial topics; however, I feel that she really waters the topics down too much for them to be taken seriously. It is because of this "watering down," that I personally do not feel that they are taken seriously enough for the novel. In regards to alcoholism and college as well as Vera's future, I feel that they are not taken seriously enough in this novel and because of it the message that King is trying to get across, simply is unable to be completely understood. Anything school related in this novel is covered as if Vera was in kindergarten or First Grade, NOT a senior in high school!! Again, if the humor was a little lighter, and not so overbearing throughout the novel, I feel that the messages that King was trying to get across would get across. I apologize for partially answering this question in the above paragraph.