Character Sketch Essay
What if your world was turned upside down because of vitamins? That’s what happens to Kate I Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott. Kate has to go through some rough times because of one decision and because of that decision she changed by the end of the book. Kate has to make decision and choices for her family and try to be strong but sometimes there is only so much someone can deal with. Kate Brown is an ordinary girl with ordinary problems, but on decision changed everything in her life.
Kate was a sophomore at Jackson High School. She is an ordinary girl. She is self-conscious and always looks on the down side of things. She is confused about life and how she is supposed to live it. In every situation, she looks for something to make her unhappy about her life instead of just living it like she should. She is not popular and things that no one popular could ever like her. She had many problems in this book that end up, in the end, changing her.
The first major thing that changed Kate in this book was when her dad quit his job to pursue his dream in selling “Perfect You” vitamins. According to Kate, “Vitamins had ruined my life” (Scott 1). Whether they had or not was up to her. The story of why he quit his job was, according to Kate, “Dad decided that the whole desk breaking thing was a sign he needed to change his, life and that the unbroken vitamin bottle meant something” (4). She is mad at first and thinks that it ruins her life but it really helps her in some ways. This choice affected her because had to start working at her father’s stand in the mall. This also brought her closer to Will Miller, the popular guy at school, who has kissed every girl in school and starts to act interested in her. They start having daily make-out sessions until she realizes that she probably was just another girl to him. He really does like her though. The second event that changed her was brought on because of the first one. Her parents start having problems. They started having issues with money and with their marriage. It all happened because when her dad quit his job, and he wasn’t selling anything. He started buying more things to try to get people’s attention but it finally got to the point where they could not pay for anything anymore, including their house and they ended up selling the house. Kate’s mother started to get very stressed and annoyed with her dad. She ended up telling him, “I’m not saying you have to give up your Perfect You business, Steve. You can still do it part-time I just… I need you to get a job. A real one” (241). She also asked that her father to leave if he wasn’t going to help out the family and that’s when Kate thought her world was going to end. Her father did end up leaving. The final thing that changes her is her best friend, Anna, starts acting like she does not exist. Anna loses a lot of weight over the summer and starts hanging out with the popular kids, like Diane and her new boyfriend Sam. She wants Anna to be her best friend again. One day Anna starts talking to Kate again and she thinks that they will be okay. Anna even tells Kate, “I don’t want you to hate me. I’d go insane if I didn’t know I could count on you being there for me” (168) repeatedly. She ignores Kate at school though and Kate eventually realizes a real friend would want to be with you and she didn’t care that they weren’t friends anymore. All of these things change Kate, mostly for the better.
Change can be a good thing and a bad thing. In Kate’s case it is a good thing. In this story, Kate changes from a self-conscious person and someone who looks on the down side of everything to a more confident person who learns to live life and try to be happy. She lets good things happen to her. By the end of the book she matures and figures out that not every change is bad, that some are just the beginning of something great. Once they sell their house Kate, her mother, and her grandmother move into an apartment. Her father and mother get separated and he ends up losing his place in the mall and goes to work for Perfect You store in a bigger mall. Kate and Will end up dating and being very happy together. Kate misses Anna but knows they cannot be friends if she doesn’t want to be seen with her. In the end Kate says, “I guess vitamins didn’t ruin my life after all. They just changed it. Changed me” (282) and its true they changed her life and she learned that you have to be happy with your life because it’s the only one you have.
In Elizabeth Scott’s Perfect You, Kate is an ordinary girl with ordinary problems until her dad quits his job, but she learns that she has to be happy with the life she has. This story teaches you that just because something bad happens it doesn’t mean it has to ruin your life. You should try to let good things happen to you because when you do you will be happier.
