To Prevent Flare-Ups
F or my English short essay, I talked about the chapter "rocks" in Black Swan Green and its domestic "war". When reading Sag Harbor , I saw a lot of parallels between "rocks" and "To Prevent Flare-Ups", particularly because both chapters focused on family dynamics. Eventually, I became more interested in "To Prevent Flare-Ups" as a standalone narrative where it uses storytelling to show a more complicated, and sometimes negative, side of Sag Harbor, specifically in how the dad's alcoholism is treated. One of the only characters that directly makes reference to the Cooper family's toxic dynamic is Elena. Although Elena isn't heavily featured in "To Prevent Flare-Ups" , or much of the book as a whole, she makes a surprise appearance in "Breathing Tips of Great American Beatboxers". Benji only talks to Elena because he happens to see her in Southampton, visiting New York but not her family. In her ...