Destroying Avalon

Destroying Avalon is a book written by Kate McCaffrey. It is a book that reflects realistic attitudes and values in society. This is shown through the actions made by Avalon and the other people involved in her being cyber bullied. Bullying has been an existing problem for many years and Destroying Avalon is a book that helps reflects the effect of it on life which is shown through Avalon’s story. Avalon was a normal teenager, having normal friends and quite a peaceful life but that changed when her mum got a job in the metropolitan area and she moved. This is where her life became miserable due to her being bullied. She became a victim of cyber bullying which started on the first day of going to her new school. I think that it is she is partly responsible and partly not responsible for her being cyber bullied.

I partly agree that it is her own fault for being cyber bullied because she could have stopped it the first day they started bullying her. Instead of telling someone about it she decided to keep quite instead and she didn’t say anything to anyone. I think that she did the wrong choice because as she could see it didn’t stop. It kept going. Every day the bullying got worse and she didn’t want to do anything about it. Cause if she did want to do something about it she would have done something to stop it. At least tell her parents and teachers. But she kept quiet, and she let the bullying get worse.

Also its her fault because she was the one that was too curios about reading the message she got even though she knew that it was an unknown number and it was anonymous. She could have at least showed her dad who was next to her in the car when she got the message but instead again she kept quiet. “I held the phone cupped in my hand so he couldn’t see the screen……It was like a warning sign…..”This is quoted by Avalon in the book. It shows that she did know that it was not a good sign. But still out of curiosity she still read it and she still went on the blog site which was all about her and it was where she saw all the bad comment said on her. Again, even though she went on it she could have at least showed her parents, teachers or someone that she knows could have helped her at school that could have helped her. It’s partly her fault for keeping it as a secret.

Also the last point why I think it is her fault is because of her denial ways. If she had listened to Marshall’s advice about telling her parents and asking for help she could have gotten out of the bullying earlier. But instead she denied and she kept looking for negative situations if she had sought for help. She thought that her parents would start being too overprotective and would embarrass her. But she didn’t get it. Her parents could have helped her. They are there to help her not to embarrass her and even though they embarrassed her at least they could have known what was happening and they could have look for solutions to stop her from being cyber bullied and help others who was in the same situation as her, including Marshall who because of Avalon’s selfish actions could have prevented him from being bullied earlier if Avalon had done something to stop her bullying.

That is because if she stopped herself from being bullied and if people or/and teachers knew what was going on in the school it could have raised awareness to also stop the other bullying victims from getting bullied. But even though it was partly herself to blame for her being bullied there were also situation where it was completely out of her hands. These situations she could not control and she could not avoid. For this reason she was also partly not to blame for her being bullied.

The first situation that she could not avoid was moving schools due to her mum getting a job back in the metropolitan area. In the first place, I think that she wouldn’t have been in the bullying situation is she hadn’t moved schools. Avalon’s parents are partly to blame. They could have listened to Avalon’s opinion and accepted that they loved Grace Point. But instead they didn’t listen to Avalon’s opinion and idea and decided that they were going to move and that Avalon had to accept it because she didn’t get a say in it and even though she did have a say they wouldn’t take no for an answer. Also, Avalon is not to blame for her being cyber bullied because in the first place she didn’t ask to get bullied. She didn’t ask not to be liked and to be ridiculed and hated amongst the kids at her new school. But she tried the best to fit in, even though it was hard for her. She couldn’t stop the kids from making fun of her. It was out of her control to avoid being a victim of bullying.

But Avalon was the only person being bullied, Marshall was a victim of bullying too and he definitely wasn’t to blame for it. Marshall was no stranger to bullying as his journal revealed. He had endured years of insults and harassment and physical attacks. Chosen as a target for his differences he has inflamed the aggression of these bullies. Even though these rumours we not true he still got bullied for no reason. He couldn’t help it and he shouldn’t be blamed for it.

So, as we can see there are many realistic attitudes that exist in our society but some of it we aren’t noticing it like we should and this is why some of them are starting to get more serious. And this is what happened to Avalon, she let the bullying continue when she should have stop it and it got worse each day. The same thing happened to Marshall and he ended up taking his life. So this is why you should always seek help when you need it and if your being bullied.