The Adoration Of Jenna Fox Analysis

How can you be yourself when everyone wants you to be someone else? In Mary E. Pearson’s novel The Adoration of Jenna Fox, seventeen-year-old Jenna finds herself with no memory of her past after a mysterious tragic accident. As she struggles to piece together her history, she finds it difficult to discover her true identity among the different versions of her perceived by her parents and others in her life. In her thought-provoking novel, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson reveals that it is challenging to stay true to yourself when the people around you have expectations of who you should be.
Pearson shows that it is difficult to resist the commands of those who are in a position of power, even when you wish to do otherwise. At one point in the book, Jenna is thinking about how she obeyed her mother’s order to go to her room, and realizes that she is programmed to follow her mother’s instructions. Remembering her mother’s command, Jenna thinks, “Go to your …show more content…
After watching the tape of her recital, Jenna reflects on her actions. “A bit for someone here. A bit there. And sometimes they don’t add up to anything whole. But you are so busy dancing. Delivering. You don’t have time to notice. Or are afraid to notice. And then one day you have to look. And it’s true. All of your pieces fill up other people’s holes. But they don’t fill your own.” (Pg. 231). This quote shows how the little favors and changes you make to benefit others seem inconsequential, but they add up and you are left with nothing to help yourself. Jenna danced to make her mother and the audience happy, but it did not better herself. She realizes that one sacrifice might not seem like a big deal, but when everything in your life is a series of sacrifices to satisfy other people, you give up little bits of your identity and happiness until there is nothing

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