Always and Forever
By: Lurlene McDaniel

When times get tough, would you leave your family? Trying to live life without anyone supporting you is hard. Luckily, Melissa is loved and cared for by her family and friends. Melissa has cancer. She is being treated with chemo therapy, where you lose your hair, your whole life outside of the hospital, and sometimes even your family. Pulling through to a better life may not always be the case. This story shows a sense of tragedy with its plot line, symbolism, and characteristics while showing how difficult it is to face cancer.
The plotline of the story Always and Forever fits the tragedy of this story. In the beginning the world is conflict for the main character. Melissa has cancer. The first few chapters of the book explain to the reader that Melissa is dealing with something people go through everyday. The beginning of the book reminded me when I got bad news that my grandpa had died. Melissa may not have died so soon, but it was bad news to her family and friends. However, Melissa’s mom and brother believe in her all the way.
Many families’s everyday go through the struggles Melissa and her family went through. Melissa seems to rise to power, and get remission. Through the plotline we see Melissa is falling through to a tragic end. In addition, the plotline does point out Melissa is at the tragic flaw, a human weakness. Melissa is trying to battle off her second round of cancer. The tragic flaw now becomes a tragic fall.
Melissa is in the hospital again. She finds out the cancer can beat her and gives the last bit of energy she has before she says her last goodbyes. Melissa has died not through fault of her own, but the battle she has taken.
Along with the plotline, the symbolism also fits into the story. In the first few chapters of Always and Forever when the world is in conflict, the home is always where the family can be found. Not all the symbolism fits in, such as the wolves, and bats. Though the cold winter nights, and thunder storms occur. That is how the book Always and Forever can also fit in with the moral lesson.
Finally in the book, Always and Forever the main character is in control because of the ways she fights her cancer. The cancer did not beat Melissa, because she did her best to defeat it. The moral lesson in this story is to have your family by your side, because you never know when your last day will come.