Difference between revisions of "LoveSick Erica Character Analysis"

Revision as of 14:53, 19 August 2007

Erica is one of the main characters in LoveSick by Jake Coburn. She is a freshman in college; the daughter of a very wealthy father who is over protective of her. She is also bulimic.

Story

In LoveSick, Erica's father hires Ted, a former basketball player whose hopes and scholarship for college basketball vanished in a drunk driving accident. Ted is suppose to spy on Erica in her freshman year, in return for a free ride through college. The two soon find themselves at a snooty private college where the only real friends they make are each other. Ted is nervous conducting his spying, but he is reassured by Erica's father's agent Michael who threatens harm if Ted refuses to complete his end of the deal.

Erica does not fare much better the first time "alone" from her over protective father, whose protection she despises. In addition to Ted, her father pays for private sessions from a psychiatrist, which Erica, first unwillingly conducts, but soon becomes more comfortable pouring out her feelings to someone she knows will not share them with her father.

Erica soon becomes friends with Ted, and thinks that he is her only "real" friend in college, and also in her life.

Erica also takes Prozac at the request of her psychiatrist. However, she finds out that alcohol and Prozac do not mix well after she forgot everything that happened the last night when she wakes up..

Bulimia

Erica life is also complicated because the suffers from Bulimia. Bulimia, is an eating disorder where Erica eats too much food and then throws it up. It is dangerous to her life because she must hide it, because she does not want others to know about it. This makes her withdraw from being around people.

Ted

Erica is able to bond with Ted because he too is fighting an addiction. Ted lost his basketball scholarship in a drunk-driving accident. He now attends Alcoholics Anonymous, at first he was ordered to go by the court, and then he continues because he likes it. However, Ted too tries to hide the fact that he has an addiction. Because he too is fighting an addiction while trying to hide it, he is able to connect with Erica.

Father: Overprotective

Erica's father is a rich man. He shows great concern for Erica, but is not around her much. Although, it's not clearly mentioned, Erica was probably well cared for in her childhood. However, not by her father, but be people he hired. Thus Erica was always looked after, probably even too well, but she didn't have access to the love of her father. Erica's father thinks he can solve the problem by throwing money at it. This lead Erica to turn towards an addiction in order to try and straighten out her life. She may have even gone out of her way, so that she should defy her father, whom she calls "The Ferret" (Coburn 159). The addiction could have started out as doing something which he can't control, in order to rub it in what a poor father he was to her. Because he restrict her so much, Erica felt a great need to defy her father. By not playing a closer role in Erica's childhood, Erica's father set up this to happen.

just wants to get away from her father (rehab paid w/ cash) (mad at Td) calls dad ferret

"my father controls people/things/life with money because that's all he knows" p212

End of the Book

Towards the end of the book, Erica and Ted fall in love and kiss. However, something snaps in Ted, and he suddenly becomes unwilling to spy on Erica anymore. He quits and also drinks a lot of alcohol, which he knows he shouldn't because that is what got him into this situation in the first place. While he is drunk, he also tells Erica that he was hired to spy on her by her father. This makes Erica very angry, because her only friend turned out to be working for he father and the world she hates so much. She borrows a car from a friend and leaves collage in a huff to go to New York City. In New York, she takes the advice of her psychologist and checks into rehab, where she pays cash to not alert her father

Michael, Erica's father's agent, wants to be paid, however, after Ted tells Erica, Erica's father doesn't want to pay. Michael finds Ted and wants his help to steal a painting from Erica's father to cover what Erica's father won't pay. However, Ted has other plans and crashes the car they're riding in into a tree. Ted and Michael both make it out alive.

Ted and Erica then reconcile their feelings for each other. Eventually they understand how their lives are shaped by trying to overcome addictions. They kiss and make up, as well as decide to travel the world, instead of returning to collage.

focus on quotes, phrases, and paragraphs! source: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574868/Bulimia.html

• the book its self