The Running Dream Character Analysis Essay

In the novel, The Running Dream, the character who changes the most is the main character Jessica, whom undergoes many significant changes in her mentality after she lost her leg in a traffic accident.

Before the accident, Jessica was a strong and determined runner. Running was literally her life. She was one of the fastest track runners in her division and it seemed like she was always setting a new record. After the accident Jessica is at an all time low, it now takes her five minutes to move twenty feet when she used to be able to run 400 meters in less than a minute. She falls into depression and has to ward off a medication dependency. Although Jessica heals quickly, it is very hard for her to learn to live without her leg.

When Jessica
returns to school she is scared that she will lose all her friends and not fit in. Jessica was totally surprised when her track team threw her a welcome back party at lunch. Jessica realized that she was not in this alone. The other students don't know how to respond to Jessica, they either ignorantly stare at her or pretend they don't see her. School is already hard enough for Jessica but now she is really behind in her classes. Jessica is seated next to a girl with cerebral palsy, named Rosa, in her math class. At first Jessica does not like this because she does not want to be associated with the handicapped. But after a little while Jessica realized how terrible she was being. Jessica and rosa passed notes and started to become really good friends . Jessica began to feel less alone and more positive.

Later in the novel it seemed like Jessica’s mentality was up , something would knock her back down, it was hard and frustrating for Jessica and did not help her positivity at all. Then Jessica is finally ready to be fitted for a prosthetic. She does not like how unnatural it looks but she begins to have a more normal lifestyle. The basic ability to walk does wonders for Jessica's confidence. One day Jessica and her friend Fiona came across a video of a girl who had lost her leg but had a special prosthetic that enabled her to run.
After watching this Jessica became super optimistic that maybe someday she could run again. She researched it and found out that they are really expensive. The track team hears about this and decides to start a fundraiser to get Jessica this prosthetic.It takes a while but they finally raise enough money. Jessica becomes extremely happy and determined again, her mentality was at an all time high. Although the prosthetic was really uncomfortable and hard to use, Jessica was determined to run. She trained and trained and worked as hard as she could. When running is finally manageable for Jessica she decides to take it to the next level.By this pont Jessica and rosa are good friends and Jessica wants to share something special with rosa. She decides to train hard enough so she can push rosa the length of the ten-mile river run so rosa knows how it feels to cross a finish line. The run was tough but Jessica made it. Soon her story spread and everyone was inspired by her.

To conclude, Jessica changed the most in the novel because at one time she was really negative and had no confidence and at the end of the story she ended up inspiring others with her determination, positivity and her
compassion.