Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel

1. BreathlessbyLurlene McDaniel Created by Abby Catlin

2. (narrator, Emily)“We hear Travis scream the minute he bobs up in the lake. He thrashes and I think he’s drowning. Cooper hits the water at a dead run and grabs him under the arms. Darla and I meet them half way to the beach. ‘No,’ Travis says through clenched teeth. ‘My leg. I can’t stand. It hurts. Oh man, it hurts.’” pg 17 As Travis jumped off the cliff he heard his leg bone crack. When he reaches the water he is in serious pain and doesn’t know how severely he his hurt. The conflict of the story is discovered when Travis ends up breaking his leg and finding out he has a much more serious problem than a broken leg. He has cancer.

3. (narrator, Emily)“’Its osteosarcoma. Bone cancer.’moms words hit me like stones. I cant say a word. ‘the tumor just starts growing. There's no way to predict who’ll get it. It just happens.’ ‘but Travis isn't sick’ ‘the bone in his leg is sick’‘what will they do?’‘chemo and radiation. And surgery.’‘to cut out the tumor?’‘to cut off his leg.’”pg. 19 • Obviously when Emily finds out they will have to cut off her brothers leg she is heart broken. Especially when her brother is a champion diver with his whole career ahead of him. When the family tells Travis the news he is in denial and is not going to let them cut off his leg. The conflict worsens as the story goes on and becomes more depressing and this new discovery take a big toll on the family.

4. (new narrator, Cooper)“The first time Travis tells me what he wants me to help him do, my brain goes numb. ‘what did you say?’ He repeats the words patiently and I know this is no drill. This is real. This is my best friend asking me to help him die.” Pg 95 • At this point Travis has his leg cut off and its been almost a year that he has been stuck on a couch in serious pain. He just wants this to end. When Travis asks Cooper to help him kill himself this causes a big conflict because if cooper doesn’t do it he will find someone else to help, but Travis really wants his best friends help and cooper cant figure out what the best choice is.

5. (narrator cooper)“Travis had a seizure , a small stroke that paralyzed him on one side, and now he's trapped in ICU, stuck with needles and all the medical crap he was trying to avoid. Tubes seem to be coming out of every part of his body, and machines surround his bed like prey. He's alive- a machine breathes for him, another monitors his heart; another cleans his kidneys. He still has brain activity. I know because his eyes follow me around the room. Pg 155 • Travis is pretty much dead right now. This causes a conflict because all his friends knew this is exactly what he didn’t want. His friends feel like its their fault they didn’t follow through with their plan for him to die sooner. Later in the story one of his friends ends up unplugging the machine so he dies and isn't stuck in the hospital pretty much dead. That reveals how much the friends loved him because you know it was hard to kill him but Travis wanted to be dead.

6. On the first day of summer we all head out to our secret spot on the lake with my dads awesome boat and its oversized motor. Pg 13 • This setting is extremely important, this is where Travis decides to jump of the cliff and goes to the hospital and realizes he has cancer and that is the conflict of this whole story.

7. Travis is stuck in the ICU room. He's dying with machines attached to him everywhere. pg. 157 • This setting of the hospital is very important because this is where Travis ends up after his seizure and is exactly where he didn’t want to end up. Travis dies in the ICU room so that is why this is so important.

8. The lake and its clear blue water, its perfect. Pg 40 • This lake plays two important roles in the story, its where the conflict began and its where Travis wants to die so everything ends. Travis really wants to drown here so he can not feel the pain of cancer and the lake is his favorite spot because he loves the water.

9. (Travis as narrator) “I jump, and I hear my leg bone crack before I feel the pain that follows me all the way down into the deep, dark water.” pg 16 • In this book the narrators are different in each chapter. The narrators are either Travis, Emily, Cooper, or Darla. This text shows that this story is first person because it is telling it from one persons view and tells what they are thinking. The narrators attitude is he is scared and in pain.

10. (Emily as narrorator) “I’m shivering and shaking Darla gets in the boat next to me.” Pg 18 • This shows how scared Emily is and lets you know what is going on in the setting at the moment when Travis is going to the hospital.

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