Chapter 12-15; Summary & Analysis
Summary
Shannon comes home for Christmas before the accident. Her parents only got Shannon a stocking that has hanging above the fireplace next to Shane’s. Shane was already dead at this point. Her mom is treating her as if she is a little kid again and hands her hot chocolate with little mini-marshmallows because she used to like that when she was little. She opens her presents and gets 5 boxes of condoms, all of different varieties. Her parents then started to give her a speech about HIV, and how it leads to AIDS and other transmitted diseases. Her parents tell her that they know she is popular and gets with guys all of the time and that she doesn’t stand up for herself. In Shane’s stocking is a gift her parents bought claiming it’s from Shannon. It is a donation in Shannon’s name to the World of Aids Research Fund. Shannon goes in a rant, and tells us her brother’s accident that caused the scars on his face.
Their family got in a big fight one day and Shane went outside to burn the clothes hanging on the clothes-line outside, in the family garbage can. In the can was a big can of hairspray, and it exploded in Shane’s face. It broke many veins in his face and he was swollen black and unidentifiable. He went to the hospital and her Dad gets accused of abusing Shane. For 6 months child services are investigating their family, and eventually ended up tearing apart their whole family anyways. Shannon is still constantly being accused and thought of as the person who purposefully threw the can of hairspray in the garbage.
We are confusingly jumped to a new recollection of Shannon’s. Seth/Manus is in Evie’s house with Shannon pointing a long knife at Shannon. However, Shannon is holding Evies rifle, and eventually Seth surrenders. After this incident, we are told that Manus becomes Seth. He is a part of Brandy Alexander’s Witness Reincarnation Project also. Shannon locks Seth in a closet and decides to call her dad. He picks up and she speaks. Only, her father can’t understand Shannon because this takes place after her face is gone. Her parents don’t indentify her own child, and think they are being hate-crimed instead. They are highly sensitive and defensive against harassment of having a gay son. They defend themselves and say they were proud to have a gay son. She tells us of when Shane was kicked out. He was looking into Shannon’s window with her light on, waiting for her to open it. Instead she just closed her blinds and turned off the light. That was the last time she ever saw him.
While Manus was being locked up in a closet by Shannon, he blurts out that Evie is the one who shot Shannon in the jaw. Shannon gets angry and lights Evie’s house on fire while Manus is still trapped in the closet. She eventually lures him into the back of his Fiat Spider, and is locked in the trunk. Just as she is about to leave with her love locked in the trunk, she calls Evie. Evie answers and thinks it is Manus and says that she doesn’t want to see him anymore and if he doesn’t stop calling, she’d call the police and tell him how Manus shot her in the face. Shannon doesn’t know who to believe anymore.
Analysis
Shannon gets annoyed and upset when her parents give her a multitude of condoms because she doesn’t want to suffer for her brother’s mistakes and choices. Her parents forgot to look past their own grief and didn’t acknowledge their daughter’s. I definitely think it is unnecessary to get five whole boxes filled with a different variety of condoms. First of all, she doesn’t get around at all. Second, her fiancé is gay. Everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else, blaming them for shooting Shannon. It leads me to believe, that maybe they are hiding something. Not something as easy as who shot Shannon, but as if they are lying trying to protect someone or something.