Tears of a Tiger

With the almost epistolary approach that Sharon M. Draper opts to use in this first section of the novel, she capitalizes on the advantage that the format provides to introduce a creative variety of narrative techniques. Rather than utilizing one smooth story overseen by an omniscient narrator, the author employs newspaper articles, essays, homework assignments, and clippings in order to incorporate many disparate voices into a patchwork depiction of events that keeps readers engaged and propels the plot forward. For example, Draper opens the novel using a news article to introduce the tragedy of the car accident and its fallout. Because a news article is a fact-based medium in which information is conveyed as quickly and concisely as possible, it deliberately omits the emotional elements that such an event would otherwise be expected to include. By initially focusing only upon the primary journalistic questions, Draper postpones the extensive emotional and psychological backlash that such a traumatic event will necessarily cause, thus heightening the dramatic tension of the plot even before the protagonists are properly introduced. With its detached, unbiased tone, the news article lends verisimilitude to the story’s events and sets the stage for the development of the main characters—Robbie, Andy, Tyrone, and B.J.

In a sharp contrast to this almost emotionless beginning, the next two chapters focus on connecting the audience with the characters. To that end, the quasi-epistolary format continues, but this time Draper uses more detailed documents such as transcripts in order to convey the full range of emotional nuance that a conversation can contain. No longer are the characters just names in a newspaper article—now, they have personalities, hopes, and dreams. With the lighthearted beginning, in which the boys revel in their recent triumphant basketball and look forward to spending time with their girlfriends, Draper creates a celebratory atmosphere that contrasts deeply with the imminent arrival of The Impact of Grief and Guilt once the event of the crash becomes widely known and Robbie’s death shakes the community to its core. By showing who the characters are before this pivotal event occurs, Draper provides readers with a much more comprehensive understanding of their subsequent transformation.

As the story progresses and the emotional fallout of the crash unfolds, the author sets the stage for Recognizing a Mental Health Crisis by relating the boys’ varying reactions to their grief and trauma. As the driver, Andy cannot escape a crippling sense of responsibility for the crash and therefore has a very different experience than Tyrone and B.J., who are merely passengers. Likewise, all of the boys must deal with a more intense degree of trauma than secondary characters like Keisha and Rhonda, who are not directly involved in the accident and therefore have the luxury of remaining somewhat detached from the full effects of the crash itself. Of all the characters, however, it soon becomes apparent that Andy suffers the most grievous mental health crisis, for his grief is complicated by guilt that compels him to wonder if he deserves to be alive when Robbie died because of his mistake. Although it will not be revealed until the conclusion of the novel, the car crash ultimately claims two lives, for Andy’s death by suicide is a direct result of his failure to come to terms with his guilt, and his community’s failure to provide him with the adequate support to do so. Thus, Draper’s novel ultimately stands as a cautionary tale, and as Andy’s struggles unfold, the author attempts to provide readers with a primer on how to recognize the red flags exhibited by someone in a similar situation of mental distress.