LoveSick Erica Character Analysis

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May change/be updated - still in progress - may still contain inaccuracies

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 corut, 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 tryong 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 proablely 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 filt that she should defy her father, or try and do something he can't control. By not playing a closer role in Erica's childhood, Erica's father set up this to happen.

need quote source: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574868/Bulimia.html