The Connection Between Twisted and the American Justice System

In Twisted, Tyler (the main character) is falsely accused of a drunken crime. However, because the kids at school don't like Tyler, many rumors circulate that it was him. What's more is that the police actually believe the drama-fanactic teenagers and come to Tyler's house to question him and end up taking his computer to search through, thus giving Tyler's father yet another reason to yell at him.

This quote is from a law firm website: "Believe it or not, many people who are convicted of a crime and end up in prison were falsely accused. Although the American criminal justice system works in most cases, not all juries get things right, and the consequences can be tragic." Um, duh. Believe it or not? What, do you really expect us to believe that the American justice system is without flaw? Personally, I find it demeaning, and quite frankly, insulting that a lawyer would word it like that. Does he think he's better than the common person just because he went to law school and now makes a living lying under oath? Of course, I'm very thankful to live in America with all the freedoms I have, but no one and no thing is perfect. America always has and always will be a work in progress. But that's the great thing about living here. Everything's always changing, and you have to believe it will, in the end, be for the better.

Emotional and Physical Abuse in Twisted and Real Life

Throughout Twisted, Tyler (the main character) is verbally and emotionally abused by his father. Eventually, it gets to the point where Tyler feels he has no worth and has nothing to live for and decides to kill himself. In modern times, we often hear horror stories about parents physically abusing their children. However, what about the millions of other kids and teenagers who are being emotionally abused? Where are their stories? And where is the line between discipline and abuse?

Tyler's Thoughts

While reading Twisted, I found the most interesting parts to be the snippets in italics which represented Tyler's (the main character) thoughts. I found the contrast between his actions and his thoughts humerous. Sometimes, for example, Tyler would be attempting to act civil with his father, but would be thinking of all the different possible ways he could harm his father witht the items he saw around him. It was basically just Tyler holding back his thoughts and emotions when he's actually mad. This is something I can relate to, so i found it rather funny.

About the Author

Laurie Halse Anderson is an acclaimed author who writes for kids and teens of all ages. She has written historical thrillers and young adult books as well as several non-fiction titles. She is known for tackling tough topics in her books, such as death and suicide, with humor and sensitivity. Her work has earned many ALA and state awards. In fact, two of her books, Speak and Chains were National Book Award Finalists. Currently, she resides in northern New York with her husband and four children.

Trophet: The Intertwinement of the Video Game with the Main Story Line

Throughout Twisted, Tyler often plays a certain video game called Trophet. In a nutshell, the video game goes through levels of Hell. Once you beat one level, you move up to the next highest level of Hell. This repeats until you complete level one, and complete the game. If you die, you don't really die. You just re-spawn as a weaker spirit and restart the level. The emphasis on Trophet varies at different points in the novel; sometimes Tyler won't play for weeks, and other times a whole chapter will be dedicated to it. However, there is always a purpose for its presence at a certain point in the story. When Tyler encounters a problem in his life, he'll get stuck on a level in Trophet. When he solves that problem, he'll come back to the game and say something along the lines of  'Oh yeah I completed so and so level. All I had to do was buy so and so or make so and so character do a certain action.' At the end of the book, when Tyler has solved all his problems, he beats the game. In fact, in the last scene of the book, Tyler completes the game and is given a final option in it: to become the Lord of Darkness (basically king of Hell) himself, or to re-spawn as a weak spirit and go back to the bottom level of Hell. The last sentence in the book refers to this and says, "I chose wisely."

Twisted Made into a Movie? I Don't Think So

According to reports, selling the rights of Twisted in order to make a movie adaption of it has been looked into, but no selling has actually occurred. Another of Laurie Halse Anderson’s books, Speak, has been made into a movie. However, it did not release in theaters. Personally, I don’t believe Twisted would make a very good movie. Yes, it has a good story line, but there are too many other stories like it. Suicide, depression, emotional abuse from the father, school issues, and girl problems, the main conflicts in Twisted, are all much too common to make an interesting movie. In addition, this story would mostly appeal to teenage guys, a fairly low portion of the population. On top of that, I think a lot of guys wouldn’t go to see Twisted for fear of being made fun of for going to see a ‘chick flick’. Maybe it’s based on a guy’s life, but it’s still very sensitive. Guys would probably more likely read the book Twisted, than see a movie based on it because they could more easily hide it from their friends and other people. For these reasons, I don’t think Twisted should be made into a movie.

A Brief Overview

Tyler Miller is a high school senior who has been labeled as a nerd for his whole life, all the way up until the end of the previous school year when he vandalized the school building. He was caught, arrested, and sentenced to community service. Over the summer while serving his community service and working at his lawn care job, his appearance changed and girls, particularly one named Bethany, started noticing him. Whether this change was for better or for worse, that's for you to decide. But what's certain is that Tyler's life definitely changed. Throughout Twisted, Tyler has to make several difficult decisions concerning his father, Bethany, his life, and for that matter, death.

L. H. A. Writing From a Guy's Perspective

Anderson had some troubles writing from a male point of view, much like I and other girls and women may have had troubles understanding it. According to her, "I had to get rid of my assumptions of what I thought I knew about teenaged boys. That meant I had to suspend my judgement, too, and respect them enough to really listen to what they told me."A very hard task this was. Or, at least, it would've been hard for me. However, I think she did a good job. While reading Twisted, I felt as if I were listening in on a teenage guy's thoughts, even complete with the perverted parts.

Tyler-A Nerd?

Why is Tyler identified as a nerd? At the beginning of the book, I assumed it was just because he was smart. And my assumptions were, what i thought at the time, confirmed, when the book stated that Tyler was in all AP classes and calculus. But then those assumptions were shot down soon after when I found out that he was struggling in every single one. So then I fell back on the thought that he had been previously more focused on his studies and therefore did better in school. I thought it was just his reputation as a "nerd" that still labeled him as one. However, as the story progressed, it seemed to me that Tyler was not the super-intelligent type. When it counted, moral? Yes. But not genius. So why did the author choose that particular word to describe Tyler in the bullies' eyes? What, exactly, is a nerd if not an intelligent, anti-social type? Or did Anderson simply use nerd out of context?

Conflict in Twisted

Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of such titles as Wintergirls and Speak, has tackled the issues of depression and death in her stories before, but never the way she did in her 2007 book, Twisted. This is because Twisted is told from a male perspective. According to Anderson, "The idea for Twisted came out of dozens of conversations I had with teenage boys. They all talked about three things that bothered them: 1) Girls confused them. 2) They had been bullied, or they had been bullies to avoid being picked on. 3) They were sad because they didn't have a good relationship with their father, or with any man who could act as a father figure in their life. I wove all of these conflicts into Twisted." And she did. Throughout the story, these are the three prominent problems that arise, or at least the causes of the problems. Tyler (the main character) is confused about and has a kind-of sort-of relationship with a girl named Bethany, he was constantly bullied for his previous reputation, and he had an awful relationship with his abusive father.