Respond to the two questions below in your blog post.
- Can you in any way justify China’s telling Jeremy to “Just get rid of it” and then later agreeing to testify against him in court for getting rid of it?
- What was your immediate reaction to reading the story? Take a day or two away from the story and then write your reaction after having some time to digest it.
1. I suppose that if China legitimately thought that she had a miscarriage and/or that the baby was stillborn she could have meant to get rid of it because she didn’t want to see her dead child. I feel that if she knew the baby was actually alive like Jeremy did she would not have said that because if China really didn’t want the baby altogether she wouldn’t have gone through with the pregnancy. I suppose that in her grief of learning that she hadn’t actually miscarried and the coldness she was feeling from Jeremy, she could have been persuaded to testify against him to help her own case.
2. My immediate reaction to reading the story was being completely shocked. The story began as a romantic novel and everything was perfect. Obviously, I knew most storylines would soon introduce conflict which Boyle did do, but I did not think at all that it was going to be as intense as it was. After taking a day away from the story I am able to sympathize with China. If she really thought she miscarried, I would believe her. Considering she didn’t hear the baby cry and didn’t check to see if the baby was breathing, she could have believed it was stillborn. The amount of bleeding that she had after the birth could have also made her think that she really had miscarried. Being 18 and very naive and scared, I don’t think her defense is unrealistic. On top of already grieving, being admitted to the hospital, going to jail, and then finally seeing Jeremy again and being met with his cold presence, I just feel bad for her.
Since China and Jeremy are both young, I understand why China would tell Jeremy to “just get rid of it.” Perhaps the reason she even has these thoughts is because when they both found out she was pregnant, Jeremy was the one who first stated, “You’ve got to get rid of it.” However, later testifying against him in court came as a shock to me since she has been in love with him for the longest time. Her testifying against Jeremy was probably her last way to save herself. Maybe she blames him for not giving her the support she wanted while she was going through this pregnancy alone. That was her choice to make and it can be justified in her and our minds if she and we, as readers, blame Jeremy, even just a little.
When I began reading this story, I knew that something bad was going to happen. It started off being the perfect romance, and perhaps, too perfect. Her getting pregnant was expected, but I would have never guess that Jeremy would throw the baby into the dumpster. I would have never expected for him to end up convicted and for China to testify against him. It made me feel very sad as I read their relationship develop with their many fights. Ending the story with Jeremy convicted and China living a life full of ridicule and humiliation was extremely depressing.
1. I can not justify China telling Jeremy to “Just get rid of it” and then later agreeing to testify against him in court for getting rid of it. She had months to look into various options for herself and to decide what she wanted to do. Instead of doing so, she ignored what was growing inside of her. In the passage it states that “she was spoiled. . . spoiled by her parents and their standards of living”meaning China had BOTH her parents to ask for financial and emotional support. Additionally Jeremy did not abandon her and stated that he would be there for her no matter what, although he was not the most helpful in this situation, he respected China’s decision making- because he understood that it was ultimately her decision. The resources were always at her disposal and she choose not to use them.
China’s decision to tell Jeremy to “Just get rid of it ” was not an impulsive one. Since the beginning of her pregnancy she did not want anyone to know and did not want to go see a doctor, because she made her pregnant so secretive it gives light to her constant intention which was to discard of the child as soon as she gave birth. Moreover the night before her water broke she told Jeremiah that he’d have to rent a motel room, further showing her intention to discard of the child. Due to all of the evidence in the text that shows what her intention always was, it’s unjustifiable that she would later testify against Jeremy.
2. I was startled at the story. It started off like a typical high school sweetheart story and just turned into a story of neglect. The reason I had such a strong reaction was because of the similar age between the characters and me. It was clear that the characters have not had a reality check of what life is until that moment in which they got arrested. It seemed like they were living in their sugar coated protected world where they truly believed that they were above other people. I say this because in the beginning of the story China states “I will never, never be like those breeders that bring their puffed-up squalling little red-faced babies to class” which is extremely judgmental and unnecessary for her to state. I could understand their situation if perhaps they weren’t well off, didn’t have an education, or parents, but it was simply selfish to neglect what was happening to the extreme point that they did.
1. It can be justified for her decision of telling Jeremy to get rid of the baby as she had initially thought it was a miscarriage. Later it is revealed to her that it was not the case and Jeremy had murdered the baby knowing that it was alive. This can be used against Jeremy to testify against him as she did not have any intention of murdering a baby.
2. I was very surprised by the strange turn of events, I didn’t expect it at all. The story started off as a beautiful romance, and I am still surprised by how much Jeremy “changed” over a single event. I expected Jeremy to be a wonderful partner but instead, he turned out to be a twisted character. That scene where Jeremy threw the baby into the dumpster seemed unrealistic because I don’t think anyone could change so much in a matter of seconds. I feel like there should’ve been a longer buildup where maybe slowly he becomes more and more twisted rather than a single moment which broke his mental state.
1. I can see that there is a lot of stress between the two and that having a baby at that young an age is very stress inducing. These two don’t know anything about birthing a baby so thus there isn’t much for them to know what to do. They don’t know how to handle the situation because they are young especially Jeremy. It is obvious neither is ready to be a parent. She was the one that did not want the baby but that was because she and Jeremy were freaked out. So there isn’t any way to really justify it because it looked like something Jeremy got scapegoated for because two young people didn’t know what they got themselves into.
2. This is one absolutely crazy story. I still think it’s that two teenagers that didn’t know what they got themselves into. They found themselves in a position that nobody should ever be in and it remains something that is just crazy.
1. I can see why China would say “Just get rid of it” at the time because she was in a substantial amount of distress and did not know how to handle the situation slowly. In addition, they were both young at the time so their youth could be another reason as to why they reacted in that manner. I suppose that after a certain amount of time, she was able to digest what had occurred. With that said, the time could have made her realize what she had said was not a true statement of how she actually felt.
2. My immediate reaction to reading this story was astonishment because everything in this story happened so fast-paced. Another reason as to how it shocked me was that the characters were around our age. This created a simpler way for me to connect with them as they are facing this life crisis.
1. In my opinion I think China knew what she was doing and at the moment she felt instant regret for keeping the child which led to her irrationally telling Jeremy to “just get rid of it”. China was under extreme distress which played a factor into why her immediate reaction after giving birth was unpleasant. However later on she agrees to testify against him in court and betrays him by putting blame on him. China claimed that she “never saw the baby” and “thought she had a miscarriage” (Boyle 322).
2. After reading the story I thought that it shed light on real life situations that people could possibly get themselves in. The story also confirms the idea that love can blind people into doing things that can lead to horrible consequences. Jeremy loved China so much that he was willing to even kill their baby for her. This notion was also constantly being repeated throughout the text when Jeremy calls China the “love of his life”. Therefore I was even more taken back when China turns against him and uses him as her scapegoat. I think this really defines the love that they had for one another and that clearly one was more invested in the relationship. In my opinion, China comes across as a selfish person and was only concerned about her future and had no regards toward Jeremy’s.
No, no, no, no. There is absolutely no justifying what China did. After reading the story, with the way she turned out to be, there is definitely no understanding what she did. She did not want to have that baby, she didn’t want anyone to know about it, and she did not want to go to the hospital to have that baby because she didn’t want there to be any record of that child being born. She planned exactly what happened. There is no way she could’ve thought she had a miscarriage. If she actually thought she had a miscarriage, she would’ve used that argument a lot sooner with the authorities, and with the way she was speaking with Jeremy when she saw him, she knew she was guilty.
I honestly had no idea where the story was going. At first, I wasn’t the biggest fan. The initial plot didn’t pull me in. However, the choice of words, the figurative language, and the descriptions of the way the story was being told did pull me in. There were multiple points in the story where I had to stop to reread what I had just read just to really understand it and take in the actual language. After the first page or two is when it had me hooked. I was really deep into it. Things just escalated so quickly and I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. By the end of it, I HATED China. Like there were so many other options for her, and she chose the absolute worst one. And she didn’t even think about Jeremy or her relationship. She didn’t think at all. And it’s ironic how she’s the one that made the mess, she’s the one to put most of the blame on, yet at the end she ended up being the one to be the one to miss Jeremy and realize how much she loved him. She ruined both their lives, yet got the easier way out, then had the audacity to sit there and reminisce on how much she loved him.
I completely agree with what you’re saying. China definitely thought about this in the beginning of her pregnancy and planned to discard the baby secretly. She made herself look pity at some point and did what she had to do to “get rid of the baby” under Jeremy’s name. However, we have to take account for their age, family, and their financial situation. They were in no place to have a child and to even raise one. Maybe she did what she had to do so she can come up with a legitimate reason to blame Jeremy for making her to have this child and abandoning the child in the end. I also wasn’t a fan of this text in the beginning because I thought it was just gonna be like another one of those romance pieces. As I kept reading, the choice of words and descriptions made me feel like I was there witnessing what was happening and I found myself indulging in the text. I liked how the story line escalated from a calm and heart warming exposition to a dramatic unexpected climax and ended in the same way the story started. This was definitely a different writing style from most of the text that I’ve read in the past.
1. A possible way to justify China saying to “Just get rid of it” after giving birth and then later testifying against Jeremy in court after he followed her instructions would be that she was clearly in a state of distress after not only hiding her baby for many months, but also refusing to give birth in a hospital. Even if China asked to get rid of the already born baby, Jeremy, who hadn’t gone through a pregnancy with no sort of medical assistance, should not have killed the baby just because China said so. Overall, what I believe would truly justify China’s words, would be if all of the events leading up to and including her pregnancy were too much for her to handle mentally, and that anything she said following should not have been taken in earnest by Jeremy because of all that she had already been through.
2. What shocked me the most about this story was how quickly everything had changed after China became pregnant. The toll it took on both her and Jeremy was tremendous, and am surprised that they still remained so close even with their disagreement of what to do with the child. China’s reasons for not wanting to go to any sort of medical professional was very unexpected and I am still not sure why she made that decision. Jeremy throwing the baby in the dumpster was not a surprise at all considering all his rhetoric surrounding childbirth in the earlier parts of the story. It seemed as if the child’s life didn’t matter both in and outside of the womb. I believe that he was ready to throw the baby in the dumpster regardless of what China said, and her verbal command was enough to set his body into action. I am confused about why Jeremy did what he did leading up to the pregnancy, I am sure he should’ve had made more of an effort to alert an adult or get China the medial attention she needs.
1) She could say she believed the infant was stillborn. After noticing the baby was not crying, she assumed that she miscarried. China probably didn’t want to get attached, so she told Jeremy to “get rid of it.” She could’ve given the baby away if she didn’t want it. China didn’t have this choice because Jeremy made her believe the baby had died. It was unfair that Jeremy was out on bail when he was the one who threw the baby in the dumpster after knowing the baby was alive.
2) I immediately thought that China and Jeremy were naïve. Not wanting everyone to know about the pregnancy is one thing, but putting your life and the baby’s in danger is another thing. I wouldn’t know what I’ve done in the situation, but having someone inexperienced deliver the baby is not something I’d do.
After thinking about the story for a day or two, I thought about the beginning and ending. I did not predict the story would end in such a way. A lesson I got from the story is to not act rashly because it can have unforeseen consequences. Her path to do everything by herself inevitably led to her demise.
1) I can completely justify China’s initial, irrational response of “just get rid of it”. She was the one who had to carry the burden of hiding a pregnancy for nine months. I cannot begin to imagine the amount of stress she was under, especially during the birth of their daughter in a dingy motel room without anesthetic or medical staff. Deciding to blatantly lie that she had “never seen the baby” when she made the (albeit, stress provoked) comment that the baby looked “like that thing in Alien…” is completely disgusting. Having to testify against Jeremy was probably inevitable. Lying to save face instead of assuming mutual responsibility for the murder of her child is pathetic.
2) When I read the story, I immediately referred back to high school health class. While it is easy to be blinded by love, especially for young, naive teenagers, using protection seems like common sense. We were given so many free resources regarding sex and pregnancy. They could have bought condoms on the way to their camping trip, copped a Plan B the next day, or gotten consultation at a Planned Parenthood. I find it ridiculous, but at the same time realistic, that neither Jeremy or China had the brain power to pursue a solution in the nine month period they had. Although they’re immature and inexperienced, both of them (especially Jeremy, the Ivy League student) should have realized the exponentially more difficult problems they’d face if the baby was born.
1. China mentions that she “will never, never be like those breeders that bring their puffed-up squalling little red faces babies to class”. This demonstrates that she didn’t want to become a mom. Also, she referenced his child as “like that thing in Alien”. Therefore, she could have legitimately wanted to get rid of the baby. In addition, it is justifiable that she agreed to testify against Jeremy because the author doesn’t mention that China had knowledge that the baby was alive. There is no proof for her committing the crime. However, it is mentioned that Jeremy “knew in his heart that it was” alive, so it’s enough evidence to implicate him.
2.The descriptive language made it very interesting to read but it also caused the text to be very dense. This density made it difficult to follow the sequence of events. However, the imagery helped me to connect with the characters and their situations. Despite this, I got bored because there were too many extra details that I felt didn’t add to the plot. The story itself made me reflect on the different perspectives of love. It made me question if they truly loved each other and if Jeremy was all that mattered to her as she claimed.