The Adoration Of Jenna Fox Character Analysis

‘The Adoration of Jenna Fox’ Character Essay
Jenna Fox is one of the characters I found interesting in the novel ‘The Adoration of Jenna Fox’ by Mary Pearson. The novel is written in first person narrative, which helps reveal Jenna’s thoughts, hopes, fears, and dreams. Another technique that Pearson used to help expose Jenna’s personality is character relationships, which helps the reader to learn more about Jenna from another point of view. A third way that the author made Jenna interesting to me was by making Jenna the same age as the target audience, which helps the readers and I to sympathise with her. Collectively, these techniques help to make Jenna interesting to me.
As the novel is written in first person narrative, we are shown who
Jenna is through her own eyes. We get to experience her thoughts, opinions, hopes and fears. This creates a close bond between the reader and Jenna; the reader can easily identify with Jenna as we are exposed to her point of view and opinions on topics. An example of the author using first person narrative to expose Jenna’s thoughts is shown in the quote ‘I feel full, powerful, like I haven’t felt since I woke up.’ This quote is relevant as it portrays Jenna’s feelings. It provides a deeper understanding as to how she feels dealing with her recovery from the accident; the coma; coming to terms with the fact that she does not know who she is; and that she is now made from Bio Gel. The fact that she is now made from Bio Gel makes her unsure of if she is even human. This is demonstrated using first person narrative ‘I don’t even know if I’m human.’ Through the use of this technique we see that Jenna does not know how to react once she finds out that her parents have reconstructed her body from Bio Gel, and have uploaded her brain from the mere ten percent that was left after the accident. I find this form of writing interesting as we are shown more into the thoughts of Jenna than we would have seen if the novel was written in second or third person.
Another way that the author helps to reveal Jenna’s character to the reader is by using character relationships.
This technique kept me interested in Jenna, as the relationships she has with others helps to expose who Jenna was before and is now after the accident. By the relationship between Lily (Jenna’s grandmother) and Jenna, we discover that Jenna thought that she had to be perfect, depicted when Lily said to Jenna, “Your parents never thought you were perfect. You did.” This reveals more about Jenna to us, as we now know that Jenna is afraid of not pleasing her parents. Furthermore, Jenna’s friendly relationship with Mr Bender also provides detail on who Jenna is and previously was. Evidence of this is shown when Mr Bender becomes the first source of information on what happened to Jenna regarding the accident. He researches Jenna and tells her what happened to her. We are shown this when Mr Bender said to Jenna “I read that you were injured in an accident. They didn’t expect you to survive.” This relationship is a source of information for the reader and Jenna as to why she was in a coma for a year, which helps her to mature as the new Jenna. I found the technique of using character relationships helped to reveal different details about
Jenna.
A third technique that the author used that kept me interested in Jenna was by making her in the same age group as the target audience for the novel. This technique allowed me to relate to Jenna as she is seventeen years old, shown in the quote ‘I’ve gone from sixteen to seventeen’ because we are of the same age group and therefore have some things in common, for example, understanding the troubles Jenna is having with her parents, Lily, her friends, and herself. This technique keeps me interested in Jenna’s character as I can more easily relate to what she is experiencing.
The author helps me to become interested in Jenna’s character by using several different writing techniques. She uses first person narrative to expose Jenna’s thoughts and opinions; she also uses character relationships to give the readers another perspective on who Jenna is and previously was; and lastly she created Jenna the same age as the target audience for the novel, which helps me to relate to Jenna and what she is going through. I personally thought that Jenna was a very interesting character, and was compelled to find out more about her. I felt sorry for her because of her situation, and how she had to rediscover who she was with no touchstones but her parents. I felt that Jenna and I have many things in common, as we are both teens trying to discover who we are and what our purpose is in life. I think that it would have been difficult for Jenna to try and build relationships with others when she did not even know who she was.