A scene in my book that best depicts a critical moment for Finch is on pages 306-307 when Violet tells Finch she found out that he tried to overdose on sleeping pills and ended up in a hospital. All Violet wants is to help Finch, but he says to her “I don’t need help. And I’m not Eleanor. Just because you couldn’t save her, don’t try to save me.” This makes Violet very upset. So he then goes on to say “Listen, I’m the freak. I’m the weirdo. I’m the troublemaker. I start fights. I let people down. Don’t make Finch mad, whatever you do. Oh, there he goes again, in one of his moods. Moody Finch. Angry Finch. Unpredictable Finch. Crazy Finch. But I’m not a compilation of symptoms. Not a casualty of shitty parents and an even shittier chemical makeup. Not a problem. Not a diagnosis. Not an illness. Not something to be rescued. I’m a person. I can’t help it. It’s what I am. I warned you this would happen.” Violet storms out of his house after he says all of this. In this book, the author organized it to have one chapter from Finch’s point of view, then the next chapter is Violet’s point of view, and they go back and forth like this for the whole book and switch off every chapter. In Violet’s chapters we see her point of view and hear her innermost thoughts and same goes for Finch in his chapters. But in this scene of the book, we’re in one of Violet’s chapters, but we get to hear Finch’s innermost thoughts shared with Violet. Finch always worried about a situation like this happening. Where his thoughts and feelings spiral and they hurt Violet in the process. I think the way the book was organized plays a big role in how this scene shows a critical moment in Finch’s life. 

In my own life, I’ve definitely gone through many identity crises. In my middle school years, I was bullied for how little I weighed. People would ask me if I was anorexic, or if I was starving myself. Because of these hateful comments, I only saw myself as the things people called me. It made me struggle with my self confidence for years. The words people say can stick with you for so long, and it’s up to you whether you want them to stay with you forever, or try your hardest to push them aside. In my life recently I have also had an identity crisis because of the trauma I’ve gone through. It's been hard for me to separate myself from that and find out who I truly am without letting my trauma define me, but this is something that I’m continuing to fight through. My heart hurts for Finch throughout this whole book because he doesn’t want to receive help from anyone, let alone trying to help himself. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak in any way, it shows you have strength to better yourself.