The quote, “Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves,” applies to many characters in Chris Crutcher’s novel, Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes. By taking journeys you must take the steps to get closer to your goal, overcome the obstacles ahead of you, and realize that you had the courage to do it all along. Characters that seemed to practice this mantra were Sarah Byrnes, Eric Calhoune, and Mark Brittain.
Sarah Byrnes had been faced with the challenge of being scarred both emotionally and physically. Her father, Virgil Byrnes, was consistently putting her down and making her feel like that was where she belonged. Sarah felt like she had to adapt to this because no one would be able to help her without her father going on a rampage. With the insisted help of Eric and Ms. Lemry, she was able to leave the Sacred Heart Hospital, so she could contact her mother who inadvertently abandoned her for the second time. With nowhere to turn to, Sarah felt more alone than she had at the hospital. When she tried to run away, Ms. Lemry caught up with her and took her home where she would soon be living. Sarah accomplished what she had thought to be the impossible and finally felt accepted and safe.
Without the everlasting friendship of Eric Calhoune, Sarah would have left the hospital just to go right back where she began, with her father. Even though Sarah pleaded Eric to keep her secrets, he had to make a decision and took both of their lives in his own hands. He had come face-to-face with the intimidating Virgil Byrnes, who he escaped from with a knife protruding from his body. In the end, its seemed that Eric had made the right choice now that Virgil was found and Sarah could live comfortably.
Mark Brittain had been preaching the importance and quality of life from day one in CAT class. What he failed to mention was that he had prodded his girlfriend, Jody, to get an abortion saying that it was just “an error in...