No Looking Back
There are many people who may have grown up with parents or guardians who had mental illness or had parents who suffered from alcoholism, causing them to have to grow up at an early age and step up for their family in many ways. At least that was the case for CeeCee Honeycutt. Beth Hoffman is the author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. The story is about a young girl named Cecelia Honeycutt who was forced to mature and grow up at an early age due to having a mother who was severely mentally ill with psychosis. Eventually, Camille, CeeCee’s mother, dies which causes CeeCee’s great aunt to step up and take CeeCee in as her own. CeeCee moves all the way from Ohio to Georgia to finally have a childhood and experience everything…show more content… All these people end up helping CeeCee begin her healing because she feels accepted when she is around them. For example, Miz Goodpepper finds out CeeCee loves books and reading so she invites her over to her house so she can look at the library she has. “…please come over and go through my library. I have thousands of books” (Hoffman 81). But most importantly, she also got to meet Tootie’s Cook, Oletta. CeeCee and Oletta end up having a great relationship, Oletta is not only seen at CeeCee’s best friend but also as a mother figure. CeeCee does everything she can to please Oletta, but she also doesn’t ever want Oletta to be disappointed in her. Oletta sees CeeCee as a daughter and knows the importance of disciplining her and is not afraid to do so. For instance, when CeeCee goes around taking photos of Miz Hobbz bralette secretly, eventually Oletta finds the pictures laying around. When Oletta finds them she confronts CeeCee and tells her that she is not getting off the hook so easily. CeeCee does not want Oletta to be mad at her and says, “Oletta, I know what I did was wrong. Please don’t be mad at me” (Hoffman 208). CeeCee then continues to ask “so… so, I’m not in trouble?” (Hoffman 209). Oletta then says, “I never said you wasn’t in trouble. You’re in trouble plenty” (Hoffman…show more content… Most of the time a person’s past will always be in the back of their head. This does not always have to be a bad thing, having those memories in one’s head can be good so that in the future the same mistakes or events that happened can be prevented. But, the good outweighs the bad which can help overcome the negative aspects of a person's past. With so much love surrounding CeeCee in her new home in Savannah, she experiences new feelings and new adventures each and every day that she would never have got the chance to if she still lived in Ohio and her mother was still alive. Particularly when Oletta takes CeeCee to Tybee Island. CeeCee has never been to a beach before but finally gets the chance to. In the book, it says, “I let out a squeal and danced around the kitchen. I’m so excited. I’ve never seen the ocean” (Hoffman 141). This new life was all about firsts for CeeCee. As stated in an earlier paragraph, CeeCee had no friends her age in Ohio, something she longed for her whole life. While touring her new school, CeeCee meets a girl who is also new to the school, her name is Dixie. After chatting about their love of books, English, and the library, Dixie and CeeCee hit it off as friends and decide that they will walk together on the first day of school. This event makes CeeCee happy because she was scared she would never make a friend in school and for it to happen while touring the school
