I had SO MUCH fun with this class, I ended up writing pages and pages from all the questions and even separated my chapters along with writing out the structure for my first. Rlly cannot stress enough how insanely helpful this class was 😭🫶 

I wrote way too much to put it all down here so I'm just sharing my theme and story summary.

 

Theme: 

Circumstances beyond your control don't have to determine your life course.

 

Story summary:

Hugo (our protagonist) takes care of his semi verbal younger sibling (Benji) in an abusive household. Meltdowns, dirtiness and loneliness are common here.

Hugo fits into his role of caretaker by repeatedly being seen taking care of his brother and father, he stands out in his day to day life due to being angry, intimidating, impulsive and generally awkward. His father is the primary villian.

Benji makes friends (Jacob and Alyssa), very out of the ordinary, causes them both to act and feel more like the average person. The house is cleaner, Hugo is calm, Benji is laughing.

Hugo needs money to escape his living situation and having savings motivates him to improve himself, his father steals this money. Hugo turns back to anger in an extreme way.

Benjis sadness after Hugos anger drives his friends away, fills Hugo with guilt and decides that he wants to get better for Benji even if for nothing else.

When Hugo is confronted violently by his father he prioritises Benjis mental well being and Jacobs physical over fighting back. After leaving he finally asks someone for help and escapes his home with his loved ones. 

Hugo learns that family isn't just blood and this causes him to be kinder to himself and the world around him, he still takes care of Benji but now he also works as a fitness therapy trainer working with people that have ptsd, anger managment issues, ect. His day to day life is calm and happy there are still struggles but nothing that can't be dealt with.